Movie Mahal

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In Larry Peerce’s harrowing thriller, The Incident (1967), a cross-section of native New Yorkers finds themselves confined in a subway car, facing a veritable nightmare as two malevolent street hoodlums turn the mundane journey into a claustrophobic crucible. Tony Musante, and a young, sinister Martin Sheen, whom we first encounter menacingly prowling a scuzzy pool hall, epitomize unbridled, visceral menace. The film’s narrative hinges on a late-night ride where the two hoodlums unleash a torrent of intimidation and violence upon the unsuspecting passengers. As the train barrels through the New York night, we meet a gallery of colourful characters, each grappling with their own private anxieties—race, marriage, and identity among them.

The true horror unfolds in the final, relentless forty minutes, where the hoodlums’ invasive hooliganism lays bare the passengers’ vulnerabilities and the chilling apathy that permeates the collective consciousness. Peerce escalates the tension, forcing the audience to confront not just the overt violence, but the insidious erosion of communal solidarity. The film’s stark, unflinching portrayal of urban terror resonates as a tangible after-hours New York thriller, exposing the fragility of civility under duress and the haunting spectre of indifference.