"The Incident" 1967 Film (Martin Sheen)

[KAMouflage]

Last night, I caught a film from 1967 that I had never heard of: "The Incident," starring a host of talent including Martin Sheen, Tony Musante, Ed McMahon, Ruby Dee, Thelma Ritter, Jack Gilford, Beau Bridges and a host of others. (For the theatre folk out there, the script felt a lot like Amiri Baraka/Leroy Jones' play, "Dutchman.")

The premise was quite simple: a pair of youths (Sheen and Mustante) terrorize a NYC Subway car coming downtown from the Bronx. Each individual gets their turn, from the hapless and passed-out drunk, to the closeted homosexual and African-American couple. Bridges plays a soldier with a broken arm who finally confronts them at the very end of the film, but not before everyone has been demoralized and shaken.

The thing that struck me (and I'm sure everyone else who watched the film) was the complete cowardice of the people on board. I mean, there were EIGHT MEN on that train, and not a one stepped up to help the others out. And I realized: THIS IS AMERICA! We wonder why we cannot band together to fight these fascist thugs in the administration and yet how many of us would just sit back and say, "Well, at least it's not ME they are messing with," hoping against hope that "they" don't come for us.

While I found this a sad recognition of our current situation, I at least took some comfort in having a partial answer for "why we are the way we are" with regarding to standing up for our fellow men and women.

Good film. Check it out if you have a chance.

[bicentennial_baby]

1. Reminds me of Kitty Genovese

The woman who was brutally murdered in the 50s or 60s in the courtyard of her apt. bldg, screaming for her life as her neighbors peered through the curtains and no one lifted a finger to stop it or call police.

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

5. i remember "That Was the Week that Was"

show doing a great segment on that killing.

any boomers remember that show? they brought that killing to national attention.

www.imdb.com/title/tt0131188


edit added link

[terrya]

2. You know, this film came out a few years after Kitty Genovese was killed..

Does anyone remember that? Kitty Genovese was killed in New York in 1964. Stabbed to death, I believe. She was screaming...loudly. And the people nearby heard her screams...and refused to come out and help her. They didn't want to get involved.

I think that's a premise of "The Incident". I agree, this film is a powerful one. It's about confrontation...or the lack of it.

And I think you're analysis of this film and current events is a correct one.

Terry

[Bucky]

3. Seen it. Interesting that several men on the sub were willing to fight but

No leader stepped up to call them to put down the bullies. As a result all the individuals felt powerless and the main bully ended up becoming President Bartlett.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

4. Not surprising

During the Cultural Revolution in China, small groups of a couple of dozen teenagers were able to terrorize universities, factories, and other institutions that had hundreds of employees. It was literally a couple of years before some factory workers finally fought back.

In The Gulag Archipelago, Solzhenitsyn wonders what would have happened if, every time the NKVD (the precursor of the KGB) came to arrest a dissident, his neighbors had rioted. Instead, most people huddled in their apartments and thought, "I hope they don't come for me next."

I think the mentality is, "If I stick my neck out, they'll kill me." You can have hundreds of people thinking that individually, and they'll all think that they're the only one. But if they realize that others are willing to go along and that they won't be fighting alone, they're more willing to join in.

When I hear of people in an African-American or Latino neighborhood gathering and making threatening noises when one of their neighbors is arrested, I can understand why the police don't like it, but given my knowledge of the Chinese and Soviet situations, I can't help thinking, "Good for them."