The Bedford Incident
| The Bedford Incident | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | James B. Harris |
| Screenplay by | James Poe |
| Based on | The Bedford Incident 1963 novel by Mark Rascovich |
| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Gilbert Taylor |
| Edited by | John Jympson |
| Music by | Gerard Schurmann |
| Color process | Black and white |
Production company | Bedford Productions Ltd. |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release dates |
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Running time | 102 minutes |
| Countries |
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| Language | English |
The Bedford Incident is a 1965 British-American Cold War film directed by James B. Harris, starring Richard Widmark and Sidney Poitier, and produced by Harris and Widmark. The cast also features Eric Portman, James MacArthur, Martin Balsam, and Wally Cox, as well as early appearances by Donald Sutherland and Ed Bishop. James Poe adapted Mark Rascovich's 1963 novel of the same name, which borrowed from the plot of Herman Melville's Moby-Dick; at one point in the film, the captain is advised he is "not chasing whales now".
At the time The Bedford Incident was produced, Harris was best known as the producer of three of Stanley Kubrick's films. The two parted ways when Kubrick decided to make Dr. Strangelove as a satirical black comedy, rather than a dramatic thriller, but Harris remained focused on developing a serious nuclear confrontation film, and The Bedford Incident was released less than two years after Dr. Strangelove.