The Bedford Incident

The Bedford Incident
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJames B. Harris
Screenplay byJames Poe
Based onThe Bedford Incident
1963 novel
by Mark Rascovich
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyGilbert Taylor
Edited byJohn Jympson
Music byGerard Schurmann
Color processBlack and white
Production
company
Bedford Productions Ltd.
Distributed byColumbia Pictures
Release dates
  • 11 October 1965 (1965-10-11) (Connecticut)
  • 14 October 1965 (1965-10-14) (London)
  • 2 November 1965 (1965-11-02) (New York City)
Running time
102 minutes
Countries
  • United Kingdom
  • United States
LanguageEnglish

The Bedford Incident is a 1965 British-American Cold War film starring Richard Widmark and Sidney Poitier, with James MacArthur, Martin Balsam, Wally Cox, and Eric Portman in support. It was directed by James B. Harris, and produced by Harris and Widmark, adapted from a 1963 novel of the same name by Mark Rascovich, which borrowed from the plot of Herman Melville's Moby-Dick.

At the time The Bedford Incident was produced, Harris was best known as the producer of three of Stanley Kubrick's films. When Kubrick decided to make Dr. Strangelove as a satirical black comedy rather than a dramatic thriller, Harris still wanted to create a serious nuclear confrontation film. With Kubrick's blessing and advice, he did.