The Incident

Top-notch acting, excellent research, and interesting characters punctuate this intriguing story. Deftly mixing humor with personal anguish and political intrigue, the plot twists it way towards a surprising conclusion. The production values are so good, It's hard to believe that this is a made-for-TV movie. Appropriate for the entire family.

This movie was interesting and unpredictable. Walter Matthau is ordered by a federal judge to defend a German POW accused of killing the town's doctor. He doesn't want the job and has no defense to present. The townfolks react badly at times to him having the case, but fortunately the reaction is mild and the movie doesn't dwell on that, as a million other movies have done. There is no real threat to him or his daughter-in-law or granddaughter.

William Schallert, the town cop and a family friend, ends up helping Mr. Matthau look for evidence of what happened the night the doctor was killed. They find out something shocking. Just as it's revealed the judge has a shocking agenda. But is the prosecuting attorney in on it, too? A well-done film that balances the events of a murder trial with a family dealing with the war on a very personal level.

Great story, sensitive direction and superb acting from Peter Firth and Walter Mathau. Firth best known for Flipside of Dominic Hide, Rome and Spooks plays against character but is utterly convincing as a Nazi charged with the murder of a fellow POW.

Mathau as always turns in wonderful performance as the small town lawyer his style contrasting brilliantly with Firth's powerful but minimalist acting. Story raises many issues that are especially powerful in today's highly partisan political climate when we strangers living in our midst.

Watch this movie you will not be disappointed.

This is a fantastic movie about the home front during WWII. The performances by Walter Matthau and Peter Firth are outstanding. William Schallert, that wonderful character actor, is superb as well. Also, Robert Carradine does a good job in a small role. I was happy to see that this movie is available on DVD because it was originally a made for TV movie. Highly recommend. James Welch Henderson Arkansas 4/9/2021.

As always, I was impressed by Walter Matthau's performance in this movie. Matthau played Harmon Cobb, a small town lawyer during the Second World War who is assigned to defend a German prisoner of war (Peter Firth) accused of murdering the local town doctor (Barnard Hughes.) The case seems open and shut, and Cobb's basic role - as he is clearly told by the presiding judge (Harry Morgan) - isn't to mount a serious defense; it's merely to make the process look good. (In fact, the judge makes it clear that he assigned Cobb because he believed Cobb to be incompetent.)

Cobb has to deal with the antipathy of the townsfolk, who are convinced of Geiger's guilt, as well as his own anti-German feelings (as a World War I vet, and especially after he receives news that his son was killed in Europe.) But he ultimately settles into the role he's been given, and gradually uncovers an unsavoury cover-up taking place at the POW camp with the full knowledge of its commander (Joe Horvath.)

This is a surprisingly good story that does keep the viewer guessing most of the way through. Ultimately, I found it to be a little too far fetched to really be believable (which knocked it down a couple of notches in my estimation) but it was still a pretty good who-dun-it sort of mystery.

7/10