Fox News has a story headlined today where Bill Hemmer....one of the co-anchors on its cable news....was embedded with the United States Navy on a mission to the Arctic. It reminded me of a 1965 film based on a journalist embedded on a nuclear armed destroyer in the Arctic....The Bedford Incident....that starred Richard Widmark and Sidney Poitier. I watched it again this evening on my laptop.
Hey it has been fifty-nine years. If you haven't seen this film by now I'm not that worried about a spoiler....and most people that went to the movies back then probably knew how it was going to end anyway....but....if you don't want to know then don't read on.
Widmark is the captain of the nuclear-armed destroyer....the USS Bedford....the name of the town in which John Bunyan pastored....but the main character in Pilgrim's Progress lived in the....City Of Destruction. The screenplay of the film was written by an accomplished screenwriter with the surname Poe....and there is a bit of the macabre in this film.
Here it is....Widmark's character is a highly respected veteran captain where all the men on his ship requested to serve with him. Sidney Poitier is the journalist helicoptered to the ship.....up in the Arctic....to observe and write an article. It just so happens that at the time....Widmark is tailing a Russian nuclear-armed submarine....and his reputation is that of real hardliner with the Soviets in this the Cold War. There are plenty of other characters and very compelling story lines! James MacArthur has a key role....and Donald Sutherland has a bit role.
There is chaos on the bridge of the ship at the end of the film. It's been commented on that Widmark's pursuing the Russian sub was just like Captain Ahab pursuing the white whale. Although the men serving under him view him as a hero....he also terrifies them. Is the Soviet ship going to fire on them....is he going to fire on the Russian ship? People are shouting....the background sounds are jarring....the officer at the control of the missiles misunderstands a command and fires a parachute torpedo at the Russian sub. Everyone on the bridge and the entire ship is in shock....that turns to horror as the Russian sub fired nuclear-tipped torpedoes at them before they themselves were vaporized. The torpedoes approach the destroyer....the entire crew has about sixty seconds to two minutes to ponder the end of life before their images on the screen are vaporized also. The End. Please throw your popcorn bags and paper cups in the trash can on your way out!
The film did not do that well....and there were no Academy Award nominations....but the acting was great....just as with Gregory Peck's 1959 On The Beach....where everyone in the world dies in the end by radiation. It seems that we in America just don't like these type of outcomes in movies....an exception being 1983's television movie....The Day After....meaning the day after a nuclear war....where it was estimated that 100 million people tuned in. ABC even had counseling hotlines available....and Ted Koppel's Nightline followed it with a panel discussion that included Carl Sagan and Elie Wiesel and Robert McNamara and William F. Buckley and Henry Kissinger. There were no commercials after the nuclear missile detonates in the American Midwest midway through the television movie.
Richard Widmark's character....hero that he was perceived to be....must have shown signs that set of some alarms....for they had passed him over for admiral. In fact that is why Sidney Poitier's journalist character was so intent....(he was lowered from a helicopter in the Arctic Sea)....on observing him and writing about him. Others saw the problem but his own crew did not. He led partially by fear....that could breed mistakes....one of which led to each ship vaporizing the other.
I prefer the first Bedford incident....in Bedford jail....where John Bunyan wrote Part One of The Pilgrim's Progress....where Christian sees the city being destroyed....and he perishing in his sins....and after being told to flee the wrath to come....he runs out shouting...."Life! Life! Eternal Life!" The characters didn't have time to flee in this movie. They had about two minutes to say their prayers.
“For when they say ‘Peace and safety!' then sudden destruction comes up on them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman, And they shall not escape" 1 Thessalonians 5:3
Addendum: It probably comes as no surprise....but I see Trump in the chaos of this movie....as he is chasing his own white whale. We are all aware that Mike Pence is not endorsing Trump....reportedly the first time ever that a president's own VP....who should know him....will not endorse a reelection. Trump is like the captain on the Bedford....rejecting the pleas for sanity from those around him....for they to him are weak. Trump said this yesterday in response to a question on his former vice president...."I couldn't care less"....(an obvious untruth)....We need patriots. We need strong people in our country....we don't need weak people."
Update....Wednesday at 1:30 pm: Pertaining to the Bible verse above....1 Thessalonians 5:3....the headline on Breitbart right now is
EXCLUSIVE-Donald Trump: 'Safety And Security' Driving Women, Minority Voters To Me And GOP."
