History Film / TheBedfordIncident

* InferredApocalypse: Given that the film takes place at the height of the Cold War, [[WorldWarIII nothing good]] will come from an American and Soviet sub blowing each other up, especially since nuclear torpedoes were used.

Capt. Finlander is contrasted by two new arrivals on the ''Bedford''. Ben Munceford (Creator/SidneyPoitier) is a newspaper journalist, ostensibly on the ''Bedford'' to write a story about anti-submarine warfare, but really there to profile Finlander. Munceford thinks little of Finlander's fanaticism. Also joining the ship is LCDR Chester Potter (Martin Balsam), a 20-year reservist who has come back to active duty and been assigned to the ''Bedford'' as the ship's doctor. Potter has ideas like improving the health and nutrition of the sailors, ideas that Finlander holds in contempt because he is not interested in anything other than intimidating the Russians.

* KillEmAll: The film ends with the ''Bedford'' being blown up by a Russian nuclear torpedo, killing everybody in the movie.

* TheCaptain: A negative example. Finlander is definitely the man in charge. He has molded a crew so devoted to him that Lt. Commander Potter has nothing to do in sickbay because no one ever reports sick. But his relentless fanaticism pushes the man past their limits. Seaman Queffle, the sonar man, is worked so hard at his post that he has a physical breakdown. And Finlander's relentless bullying of Ensign Ralston leads to catastrophe when Ralston, broken down by Finlander's bullying, mistakes a comment for an order.

* ANuclearError: A keyed-up Ralston, terrorized into submission by Finlander the martinet, launches an anti-sub missile when he hears the words "Fire One" twice in a row (Finlander was actually saying "If he (the sub) fires one, then I'll fire one"). The by-now equally keyed-up Soviet submariners respond with an atomic torpedo before they're destroyed. And because it's a nuclear torpedo the ''Bedford'' is vaporized.

* GoodCounterpart: Meta-wise, Eric Portman's Kreigsmarine U-boat officer character Schrepke can be seen as this to his previous Kreigsmarine U-boat officer character Hirth from PropagandaMachine flick ''Film/FortyNinthParallel'', who unlike Schrepke was a despicable and blinkered ThoseWackyNazis type {{Foil}} to Schrepke's sympathetic OlderAndWiser ex-PunchClockVillain OldSoldier demeanor that averts AllGermansAreNazis.

* GoodCounterpart: Meta-wise, Eric Portman's Kreigsmarine U-boat officer character Schrepke can be seen as this to his previous Kreigsmarine U-boat officer character Hirth from ''Film/FortyNinthParallel'', who unlike Schrepke was a despicable and blinkered ThoseWackyNazis type {{Foil}} to Schrepke's sympathetic OlderAndWiser ex-PunchClockVillain OldSoldier demeanor that averts AllGermansAreNazis.

* GoodCounterpart: Meta-wise, Eric Portman's Kreigsmarine U-boat officer character Schrepke can be seen as this to his previous Kreigsmarine U-boat officer character Hirth from ''Film/FortyNinthParallel'', who unlike Schrepke was a despicable and blinkered ThosWackyNazis type {{Foil}} to Schrepke's sympathetic OlderAndWiser ex-PunchClockVillain OldSoldier demeanor.

* GoodCounterpart: Meta-wise, Eric Portman's Kreigsmarine U-boat officer character Schrepke can be seen as this to his previous Kreigsmarine U-boat officer character Hirth from ''Film/FortyNinthParallel'', who unlike Schrepke was a despicable and blinkered ThosWackeyNazis type {{Foil}} to Schrepke's sympathetic OlderAndWiser ex-PunchClockVillian OldSoldier demeanor.

* SpiritualSuccessor: This film would be the closest thing to a spiritual sequel to ''Film/FortyNinthParallel'' which also featured Portman playing a Kreigsmarine U-boat officer, but was a typical ThoseWackyNazis type named Ernst Hirth who tried to RunForTheBorder out of Canada only to fail at the end and gets arrested, while this film set during the Cold War, with Portman's character to be a former Kreigsmarine officer-turned-NATO adviser. It is as though Portman's character in this film can be perceived as Hirth, after getting captured and imprisoned by the Allies at the end of previous film, gets pardoned after the war, only to be DemotedToExtra in contrast to his leading NaziProtagonist role in the last movie, but pulled a HeelFaceTurn (which can double as RedemptionDemotion) following the fall of the Third Reich, helping the government that was once his enemy and having become OlderAndWiser unlike before when he was rash and blindly fanatical.

* ActorAllusion: Eric Portman is [[Film/49thParallel once again a Kreigsmarine U-boat officer]].

* SpiritualSuccessor: This film would be the closest thing to a spiritual sequel to ''Film/49thParallel'' which also featured Portman playing a Kreigsmarine U-boat officer, but was a typical ThoseWackyNazis type named Ernst Hirth who tried to RunForTheBorder out of Canada only to fail at the end and gets arrested, while this film set during the Cold War, with Portman's character to be a former Kreigsmarine officer-turned-NATO adviser. It is as though Portman's character in this film can be perceived as Hirth, after getting captured and imprisoned by the Allies at the end of previous film, gets pardoned after the war, only to be DemotedToExtra in contrast to his leading NaziProtagonist role in the last movie, but pulled a HeelFaceTurn (which can double as RedemptionDemotion) following the fall of the Third Reich, helping the government that was once his enemy and having become OlderAndWiser unlike before when he was rash and blindly fanatical.

* NotSoDifferent:

** After Finlander gives a RousingSpeech, Munceford tries to suggest that he's ANaziByAnotherName, but Schrepke doesn't rise to the bait.

* ANuclearError: Finlander he also rides his crew equally hard, so a keyed-up Ralston launches an anti-sub missile when he hears the words "Fire One" twice in a row (Finlander was actually saying "If he (the sub) fires one, then I'll fire one"). The by-now equally keyed-up Soviet submariners respond with an atomic torpedo before they're destroyed. And because it's a nuclear torpedo the ''Bedford'' is vaporized.

* RepeatToConfirm: Finlander, who is arguing with Schrepke in a super-tense moment, says he won't back even if the Russian shoots, screaming "If he fires one, then I'll fire one!". A jittery Ensign Ralston, by this point terrified of questioning Finlander in anyway, mishears "Fire one!" as an order. He repeats "Fire one!" and fires off a torpedo. This results in both ships being destroyed and everybody being killed.

* VillainousBreakdown: Finlander gives the standard evasive orders ("Right full rudder!") after the report of incoming torpedoes, but after that walks off the bridge in a daze. Munceford chases after him and is still screaming at Finlander to do something to save them when the torpedoes hit and the ''Bedford'' is vaporized in a nuclear blast.

It's a UsefulNotes/ColdWar {{thriller}} set on the high seas. The USS ''Bedford'', a Navy destroyer, is patrolling in the strait between Greenland and Iceland. The ''Bedford'' detects a Russian submarine lurking in the strait, in Greenland's territorial waters. Captain Eric Finlander (Creator/RichardWidmark), a devout anti-communist and Cold Warrior, is determined to force the Russian sub to surface and leave the strait. So determined that, when the Russian sub leaves Greenland's waters for the open sea, thus depriving Finlander of any justification for following it, Finlander follows it anyway.

It's a UsefulNotes/ColdWar thriller set on the high seas. The USS ''Bedford'', a Navy destroyer, is patrolling in the strait between Greenland and Iceland. The ''Bedford'' detects a Russian submarine lurking in the strait, in Greenland's territorial waters. Captain Eric Finlander (Creator/RichardWidmark), a devout anti-communist and Cold Warrior, is determined to force the Russian sub to surface and leave the strait. So determined that, when the Russian sub leaves Greenland's waters for the open sea, thus depriving Finlander of any justification for following it, Finlander follows it anyway.