What a disaster of a movie! This film with a current rating of 7.8 is a total failure and a farce, even for 1967. Are we to believe that two drunk punks can terrorize a carriage of people and nobody raises a finger to stop this nonsense at outset in unison?What made it worse is that the acting is so poor and put on that I forced myself to watch the whole show in disgust. How this trash can be liked is beyond my understanding.This film has nothing in its favor and should be treated as one of the worst movies ever made. I am flabbergasted!

I'm a subway buff. Love underground/elevated trains, stations, etc., and am especially fond of the NYC subway. This is the best subway movie ever made.(I know - some folks will reference "The Taking Of Pelham 123", in one or another of its versions, as being better, and it certainly is fine, but this is better. Just my opinion.) What truly blows me away about the making of this film is that NYC Transit would not allow the filmmakers to shoot, but they did, anyway. The hid cameras in bags and just went ahead and shot without permission. Then they had a NYC subway car interior built for them by the original manufacturer, for the interior scenes. So, perfect realism in all aspects of the scenery.OK, the plot. Marvelous. Two punks terrorize a train full of passengers during the late night/early morning hours. This continues until one of the passengers (I won't tell you which one) finally stands up to them. While the punks are basically abhorrent, they occasionally do something to one or another of the passengers that perhaps makes you believe that they might begin to behave reasonably. Then they don't go in the direction you might wish. They do something even more reprehensible, and that's how the tension is kept razor sharp.Acting? Superb all around. Tony Musante is especially good as one of the punks, as menacing as any character in the history of motion pictures. Hell, just his look is enough to make most of the passengers back off. Martin Sheen, as his buddy, looks more reasonable, but is actually pretty much as vicious. Among the passengers, Beau Bridges is great as a soldier on leave. Another great performance comes from Mike Kellin as the henpecked husband of Jan Sterling. Very surprisingly good dramatic performance from Ed McMahon (!) as parent of a young girl.The ending is both satisfying and sad. We see the punks get some payback, but the hero is never thanked, never given anything even close to what he deserves. Lives have been changed - some irrevocably - but one is also left with the feeling that some of these characters are so into self-denial that they will be just fine with everything in a few days.Fine time capsule of the time period - the 1960's - and of the subway at that time.Highly recommended, even if you're NOT a subway buff.

IT IS INDEED a very humiliating experience to sort of accidentally run across such a film as this! We mean that just when one thinks he knows of all of the truly great movies, both big and small, here comes a relatively unheralded masterpiece; such as this one, today's subject, THE INCIDENT (Moned Associated/20th Century-Fox, 1967).WHILE BOASTING Of A GREAT roll call of acting talent, the film really has no "star" as such. Instead, we are presented with an array of outstanding characterizations of people who are unrelated to each other; other than being New Yorkers who find themselves out late and sharing a precarious trip home via public transportation (aka the Elevated Line).ONE BY ONE we are introduced to couples (Ed Mcmahon & Diana Van der Vis, Jack Gilford & Thelma Ritter, Brock Peters & Ruby Dee, Mike Kellin & Jan Sterling) as well as some individuals (such as Gary Merrill, Beau Bridges, Robert Bannard, Tony Musante, etc). We add to the mix some young couple; who almost continuously swap spits during the first part of the story; being that they are the first to enter the train car, which has only a derelict wino sleeping it off.ENTER THE TWO street punks (Martin Sheen & Other Player), who proceed to terrorize everyone; starting with one couple and moving onto all the others. Their insult and abuse knows no bounds; be it sexually (to the young lovers), physical brutality, or all out mockery, Racial Insults to RubyDee and Brock Peters and mocking,threatening intimidation (as to the young homosexual man).NO Where IS there any attempt to stand up to the thugs. There is no initiative in joining together and put up a united front. All seem to desire to just be left alone and all seem to have cultivated a 'go on and bother someone else' attitude.EVENTUALLY THE CHARACTER of the one soldier (Beau Bridges)is pushed just a little too far and he manages to club tho one thug into unconsciousness with the use of the plaster cast on his right arm. The Martin Sheen thug is dumbfounded and tries to escape. Shortly thereafter, the train stops, the conductor, the police arrive* and take away the bad guys. Slowly and seemingly in turn, all others leave the train.GOING ON THEIR separate ways, in a way of telling us that they have learned nothing. If any of them would find themselves in the same or similar situation; the very same outcome would play out.OUR CONGRATULATIONS TO Mr.Nicholas E. Baehr (Writer) and Larry Pierce (Director) for bringing us an outstanding work of art and definitely a one of a kind movie; which is as great as it is obscure. They've given us what is essentially a slice of reality, which, unfortunately, still finds itself being repeated daily in Big City U.S.A.NOTE: * (Having been a member of the Chicago Ploice Deppartment for nearly 35 years, the reviewer (yours truly) feels the need to comment on one aspect of the finale.) When the Cops enter the train car, they immediately start to frisk the Brock Peters character, the Black Man. While this goes by very quickly, it could portray a fallacious message. No Cop who has any experience would move in such an impetuous a manner. When one enters a scene such as this, caution is one virtue that is expended in all directions. This scene is obviously more an indicator of the attitude of the writer and/or the director; than it is to a realistic depiction of the real world.

This is truly a very horrible story about subway riders in New York City made up of an older Jewish couple, Jack Gilford (Sam Beckerman); two African Americans; two soldiers, one wounded with a broken arm, Beau Bridges (PFC Felis Telfinger); a young couple with a baby, Ed McMahon. All these people are being belittled and degraded by two crazy boozed up guys who will not let anyone off the train and picks on everyone in the car. There is no one to stand up on their own two feet and give these guys a good beating, everyone decides to keep their mouths shut and take the beating they are handing out to them or we could say cowards. There are many veteran actors on this train, Martin Sheen, Donna Mills, Thelma Ritter, Jan Sterling. There is plenty of bigotry towards most of the people riding in this subway, but mostly against the two African Americans. This is a rather upsetting film and I am glad that New York City is better protecting the people in their city by putting police officers in these subway cars running deep under the city.