''The Incident'' is a 1990 American

made-for-television A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

Joseph Sargent Joseph Sargent (born Giuseppe Danielle Sorgente; July 22, 1925 – December 22, 2014) was an American film director. Though he directed many television movies, his best known feature-length works were arguably the action movie '' White Ligh ...

and starring

Walter Matthau Walter Matthau (; born Walter John Matthow; October 1, 1920 – July 1, 2000) was an American actor, comedian and film director. He is best known for his film roles in '' A Face in the Crowd'' (1957), ''King Creole'' (1958) and as a coach of a ...

and

Harry Morgan Harry Morgan (born Harry Bratsberg; April 10, 1915 – December 7, 2011) was an American actor and director whose television and film career spanned six decades. Morgan's major roles included Pete Porter in both ''December Bride'' (1954–1959 ...

which was originally broadcast on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

on March 4, 1990. The film marked Matthau's return to television after over 20 years. The film was followed by two sequels: '' Against Her Will: An Incident in Baltimore'' (1992) and ''

Incident in a Small Town ''Incident in a Small Town'' is a 1994 American made-for-television drama film directed by Delbert Mann, and starring Walter Matthau, Harry Morgan and Stephanie Zimbalist. This is the third and final film featuring the characters Harmon Cobb and ...

'' (1994).

Plot

The story takes place in the year 1944 in Lincoln Bluff, a fictional, small

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

town. The Second World War is still raging when the town's only doctor, George Hansen, is murdered at a local US Army camp, Camp Bremen, holding

German prisoners of war German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

. Harmon J. Cobb, a local lawyer, is railroaded by Judge Bell into being the defense attorney for Geiger, the German prisoner accused of killing the doctor, who also happened to have been Cobb's friend. Cobb has no desire for Geiger to be acquitted; in addition to sharing in the wartime anti-German sentiment, Cobb's son is an American soldier fighting the Germans. However, to preserve his hard-earned standing as a top-notch attorney, he begins to build a nominal defense by asking several of Geiger's subordinates who are also prisoners at Camp Bremen to act as

character witness Character evidence is a term used in the law of evidence to describe any testimony or document submitted for the purpose of proving that a person acted in a particular way on a particular occasion based on the character or disposition of that per ...

es. However, they all refuse to testify, and when Cobb asks Geiger to pull rank on them to get them on the stand, he refuses. Moreover, he angrily accuses Cobb of being disinterested in the real goings-on in the camp. Cobb does not press Geiger for more explanation of his comments. However, when a local acquaintance comes forward with more information, Cobb begins to suspect not only that Geiger is in fact innocent, but that Hansen's death is only the tip of the iceberg in illicit operations at Camp Bremen.

Cast

as Harmon Cobb *

Susan Blakely Susan Blakely is an American actress and model. She is best known for her leading role in the 1976 ABC miniseries '' Rich Man, Poor Man'', for which she received a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama. Blakely also has ...

as Billie *

Robert Carradine Robert Reed Carradine ( ; born March 24, 1954) is an American actor. A member of the Carradine family, he made his first appearances on television Western series such as ''Bonanza'' and his brother David's TV series, ''Kung Fu''. Carradine's fir ...

as Domsczek *

Peter Firth Peter Macintosh Firth (born 27 October 1953) is an English actor. He is best known for his role as Sir Harry Pearce in the BBC One programme '' Spooks''; he is the only actor to have appeared in every episode of the programme's ten-series lif ...

as Geiger *

Barnard Hughes Bernard Aloysius Kiernan Hughes (July 16, 1915 – July 11, 2006), known professionally as Barnard Hughes, was an American actor of television, theater and film. Hughes became famous for a variety of roles; his most notable roles came after mid ...

as Doc Hansen *

as Judge Bell *

William Schallert William Joseph Schallert (July 6, 1922 – May 8, 2016) was an American character actor who appeared in dozens of television shows and films over a career spanning more than 60 years. He is known for his roles on ''Richard Diamond, Private ...

as Wallace *

Ariana Richards Ariana Clarice Richards is an American painter and former actress. She is best known for her role as Lex Murphy in the blockbuster film ''Jurassic Park''. Richards won several Young Artist Awards for her acting as a child, but as an adult has f ...

as Nancy *

Norbert Weisser Norbert Weisser (born July 9, 1946) is a German-born actor based in the US. Based in Venice, California, he is a founding member of Odyssey Theatre Ensemble, the ProVisional Theater, and the Padua Playwrights Festival. A long-time collaborator ...

as Riefenstahl *

Douglas Rowe Douglas Rowe (born 1938) was an American actor. Career Rowe is mostly a character and supporting actor, he has appeared in films such as '' The Incident'' (1990) and '' Appointment with Fear'' (1985), his character as the off-beat, seedy looking ...

as Clarence * Joe Horváth as Major Lilly (as Joe Horvath) *

Helen Stenborg Helen Joan Stenborg (January 24, 1925 – March 22, 2011) was an American actress of stage, screen, and television. She occasionally acted with her husband, actor Barnard Hughes (1915–2006), to whom she was married for 56 years from 1950 until ...

as Edna Mae Hansen * Henry Crowell Jr. as Corporal Sweazy *

David Underwood David Francis Underwood (born 12 June 1951) is a former Australian politician. He was born in Pittsworth, the son of Frank Underwood. He attended state and Catholic schools in the Darling Downs region before becoming a forestry labourer, shed ...

as Lieutenant Morton * Robert MacKenzie as Sergeant Osias (as Robert Mckenzie)

Reception

John J. O'Connor gave the film a highly positive review in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', deeming it "a first-rate production". While he found a number of details in the script didn't make sense, he praised the historical authenticity of both the story and the production, as well as Matthau's immense presence in the lead role.

Awards

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Incident, The 1990 television films 1990 films World War II war crimes trials films Films set in 1944 CBS network films Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Made for Television Movie winners Films directed by Joseph Sargent 1990 drama films Films set in Colorado Films scored by Laurence Rosenthal