ReaderKenka Let's be realistic.

Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

Mischa Redfern I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

Cheryl A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

zn1-58-147766 this was billed as a C4 afternoon movie - a hard nosed cold war captain, now patrolling the oceans for Russians, with a crew that works to its captains every word, all working 100%, with no relapse something is going to go wrong, picked up by poitiers journalist and the doc, the journalist can see what is going to happen, the old German U boat captain with Eric portman doing his best to tell his friend to stop this game or will end in tragedy, this it does, and in a mistake by the weapons officer this game of chess is ultimately won....Its a superb film from shepperton studios, one of their many best, its one of them films that once you have watched it, you will want to see it again, a superb piece of work by the actors, and all the other people involved....I wont forget Finlanders face when he realises this game is over....

midge56 WARNING!!! SPOILERS!!! Well written, engrossing story which draws you in with excellent acting and realistic theme. Despite what some people may think about the bygone cold war no longer being an issue... an obsessed, aggressive single-minded commanding officer with control over WMD firepower from any major world power (whether ours or theirs)... will always be a potential danger to the peace if such a person crosses the line. Even during world peace... it only takes one.This is why it is so critical for all such weapons systems to require no less than 2 command level officers to concur with the order. This type of situation is well portrayed in the movie "Crimson Tide."Although I enjoy Sidney Portier's acting in most of his movies and usually have nothing but praise for his performances... this is one movie where I was not happy with his performance. From the onset, his character came across as cocky, smart-alecky and disrespectful. It was his acting and behavior on screen which permeated this attitude. Not the dialogue. It was totally unlike his normal portrayals for such a role and I don't think the role of this reporter was intended to be cocky and disrespectful like this. But Portier acted like a snide, smart-aleck from the start, before he was even introduced to the captain... doing things like rolling his eyes; looking away and making distracting noises while being spoken to; scoffing, sarcastic laughs and dismissive attitude; behaving like he was raised without any manners; showing all around disrespect for the crew and protocols; rudely snapping photos and getting in the way during critical operations while acting like an insensitive jerk...This was not the way to gain the audience's support or concern about the captain's behavior. The director should have caught this and corrected Portier. Portier's portrayal of this character actually created sympathy for the captain and made the reporter look like a jerk who didn't take his job seriously and had no business being on the ship in the first place. I was quite stunned to see Portier treating a serious role like this. If you listen closely, you'll see it wasn't the dialogue... but rather the body language and behavior of Portier which came across as a snide, backstreet smart-aleck who needed some lessons in manners. A more serious & compassionate approach to this reporter role would have done wonders to focus the concerns of the audience on the captain's growing obsession... instead of detracting from it.Another way to improve on impressing the audience with the deteriorating situation would have been to bring more attention to the fact that the crew had not slept and were dangerously exhausted. There should have been more examples of severe crew fatigue and discussion of the dangers of it before the sonar tech broke down. The sailors were not showing enough fatigue as depicted in their acting to emphasize how crucial this was to the deteriorating situation.One last item would have been to impress upon the audience that these were nuclear torpedoes headed for the ship. Even with the mushroom at the end, someone should have said something at the end that would let both the audience and the reporter know what was headed toward them and why there was nowhere to run. They needed that moment of realization just before the torpedoes hit to make the best impact on the audience. A view of the torpedoes approaching would have also added to the anticipation. As it was, you had to extrapolate from the mushroom... after the fact.I understand that the book had the reporter as a single survivor where the movie does not. It would seem that there needed to be some way at the end where someone knowing the events could survive to tell the story.However, it was still an excellent movie. It is worth watching.

ruggegvg *** This review may contain spoilers ***. More than a war film, this is a film about the psychology of people during a nuclear attack, based on the philosophy that the "defensive attack", speech that combines contradicting terms, to be effective, must be a preventive war, initiated under the belief that future conflict is inevitable, though not imminent. In this context, experts war, Russians and Americans, have calculated that full-scale use of nuclear weapons by two opposing sides would effectively result a winner but the destruction of both the attacker and the defender, called mutual assured destruction theory. In the earlier 1950s, this led to a period of enforced peace and the climate of witch-hunts of McCarthyism, led to an prejudicial anti-communism, leading to the Cold War. The American commander suffers from the so-called Red Scare, despite its good desire and patriotism.

jmdrake1 Unlike Cpt Kirk and Star Trek where everything almost always works out in the end in the tradition of Greek comedy the Bedford Incident is a Greek tragedy. It has a horrific and disappointing conclusion that is meant to teach a lesson about situations which can lead to disaster. From that standpoint it is a case study from which we can learn how to avoid similar circumstances and therefore reach a different outcome.The movie also contains elements of the classic "Moby Dick" in that the Captain is "obsessive" in his approach to his mission. Obsession and the inability to be flexible can leads to rigid actions and possible danger.3. The reporter, Munceford did not agree with Captain Finlander and although the Captain listened to his advisors, he did not always follow their advise. There are some great "lines" in the movie worth thinking about. Especially the mistake (miscommunication) that lead to the actual missile firing. Similar miscommunication between pilots and navigators or co-pilots have brought down aircraft and lead to other accidents.