The Bedford Incident

SPOILER ALERT! The plot of the movie will be discussed.

In this 1965 Cold War thriller, the devil is definitely in the strategic military details, especially when it comes to understanding the commander of the USS Bedford, a destroyer patrolling the North Atlantic Ocean. By observing Captain Eric Finlander (Richard Widmark), one can see by his actions and words what makes a successful military man, and also a dangerous one. The movie is shot in black and white, but this ship’s leader lives in a strategic gray zone where difficult decisions can lead to destructive consequences.

The Captain’s name implies a primal Scandinavian (Leif Erickson, Erik the Red) sailor who now appropriately navigates the frigid waters of his ancestors. Even though Finlander is an example of a primal military warrior, the tools that this 20^th century soldier uses are very modern. He employs state-of-the-art technology to track movements of ships and weather balloons to determine origins and destinations of craft activities. He uses scientific analysis (one of the scientists is played in an early role by Donald Sutherland) to even analyze the garbage found in the water to determine if the food waste derives from a Russian diet.  The vessel he hunts is appropriately named “Big Red,” (no relation to Erik the Red, but sort of ironic) a communist Russian submarine. The underwater vessel is a good symbol for a psychological theme, since it implies what motivations and drives lie beneath the surface of a character’s facade. In this case, the submarine symbolizes Finlander’s baser desires to hunt and destroy (thus it is appropriate that the skipper commands a destroyer, which is Finlander’s occupation). The Captain is intently focused in his pursuit of the Russian submarine, bringing to mind Captain Ahab and his obsession with the white whale, where the killing of the beast is really a self-destructive act of killing that dark aspect of oneself.

By using someone who is an outsider to the ship’s activities, the story can provide exposition for the audience and insight into the characters. Ben Munceford (Sidney Poitier) is a journalist who chose to report on Finlander because the captain gets results, such as forcing a previous Russian submarine to the surface when it was getting too close to U.S. waters. But, Munceford wants to know why this seaman was passed over for promotion to Admiral. Munceford starts to see why. Finlander is happy that the vessel violates Greenland’s territorial waters because it gives him the reason to pursue confrontation, instead of wanting to avoid conflict. Finlander smolders as he waits for his superiors to decide whether to engage Big Red, and is visibly upset as he crumples the printed orders to only observe. He is further frustrated when the orders to force it to the surface come late, after the sub reaches international waters. He then logically justifies his subsequent aggressive pursuit of the Russian sub by saying “if I catch a man robbing my house and he makes a break for the street, do I let him go just because he made it to the sidewalk?”

Finlander’s demonstrates his arrogance and impatience in the way he treats Munceford. The journalist persuades one of the crew to let him see some tactical maneuvers. The Captain puts the seaman on report. When Munceford tries to help the young man, Finlander shuts him down, emphasizing his power by saying that Munceford will not interfere with how he handles his crew members. The Captain also cuts Munceford off, and shows his control over freedom of the press on his ship, when he stops the reporter from taking pictures with a curt, “not now.”  At a briefing, he tells the journalist that he can take notes, and when he doesn’t, the captain gives a double-take look as if to suggest that Munceford’s refusal was an act of insubordination, refusing to obey the order of a superior officer. Finlander dodges the reporter’s question about the possibility of attacking the sub, and shows how little he cares for the press when he says that the world is at peace, “your magazine says so.” But, for the Captain, who in his mind has the paramount responsibility of defending his country from an enemy he encounters every day in a ship made for battle, no such peace exists even if the current war is called “cold.” Finlander appears agitated and defensive when Munceford pushes him about the possibility of not getting promoted being due to the Captain’s wanting to use more force during the Cuban Missile Crisis. He says he is prepared to “go all the way” to protect his country from its enemies. When Munceford asks if that means he would use nuclear weapons, he does not admit to that scenario, but he makes it known that he sees political diplomacy as a vulnerability.

Finlander has as his chief advisor Commodore Wolfgang Schrepke. The irony here is that this man was a German U-boat commander for the Nazis who sank tons of Allied ships. The Captain uses a man who worked for the most lethal and hated military organization in history to help him on his quest. The Commodore knows all too well the look and actions of a man who escalates patriotic fervor into animalistic predatory behavior. Indeed, there are numerous references to animal behavior in the film. In response to Munceford’s question as to why nobody ever asks to leave his ship, the captain says he offers them the thrill of “the hunt.” The Commodore then suggests that maybe he also tantalizes them with the desire for “the kill.” At one point Finlander calls Big Red a “rat” which implies the need for extermination. The Captain fosters an onboard bestial tingle of anticipation by talking about “animals ready to attack.” 

The Captain has the crew wound up to the point that even Munceford admits he is as ratcheted up in anticipation of what will happen next in the quest for the enemy. When speaking to the Commodore, Munceford likens the heightened zealousness to what Hitler created in Nazi Germany. Finlander constantly sounds “General Quarters” which means the crew seems to be perpetually on alert. He is loudly critical of any man who does not meet his high standards. In fact, he humiliates the new ship physician, Dr. Chester Potter (Martin Balsam) for being a failure in his private practice and his marriages, seeking escape in active duty. When the doctor says he will ask for a transfer since he did not specifically request duty on the Bedford, the captain says condescendingly that Potter, “didn’t aim too high” because he knew he couldn’t meet the ship’s level of achievement. Nobody shows up for sick call on the Bedford for fear of appearing substandard. Finlander didn’t even want a replacement for the doctor that left, which shows how his crew’s commitment to the military cause transcends personal ills. Potter says to Munceford that it’s unnatural for a crew to never relax and joke around. At one point Finlander shows his concern for a crew member, Seaman Merlin Queffle (Wally Cox), the nerdy sonar expert (the name suggesting Merlin the Magician?). The Captain tells him to rest up and take a break. But, Queffle refuses, because Finlander’s fervor has taken on a life of its own, and even he can’t reign it in. The skipper reverses this compassion in the heat of the chase when Queffle suffers a breakdown under pressure. Finlander refuses to accept Potter’s diagnosis, and says he wants the sonar expert back on duty soon, and not doped up on medication.

 The Captain is particularly harsh towards Ensign Ralston (James MacArthur) who was a star quarterback and worshiped as a hero. Finlander feels he must deflate his ego so he will be just interested in the mission. He berates Ralston for the way he engaged the helicopter which brought the journalist and the doctor onboard. He chastises him for looking away from his sonar screen. He also criticizes his suggesting an easily decipherable tracking pattern of the sub. The Executive Officer, Commander Allison (Michael Kane), warns Finlander that he is pushing Ralston too hard. The Captain jokingly says, “Yeah, it’s a lot of work being a mean bastard.” Allison, his second in command, admonishes his superior’s tactics when he responds by saying, “Sometimes I can’t help admiring how effortlessly you do it, Captain. Almost as if it came naturally.”

Playing at a cat-and-mouse game in the nuclear age is scary activity because there is so much at stake. The Commodore warns Finlander about the perilousness of his hunt. He advises him that he will only encounter trouble with his obsession, and that he should “let it go.” By persistently pursuing the Russian sub, he forces it to not be able to surface to replenish its supply of oxygen and recharge its batteries. He turns Big Red into an animal that is pushed to defending itself. Finlander doesn’t understand the monstrous situation he has created. He tells the Commodore they have made an accomplishment by making the submarine’s crew desperate. The Commodore warns him that that makes the submarine dangerous. The Captain says in contrast that “we are a determined force.” The Commodore says there is no impersonal force – it is Finlander’s desire for power over his prey that is at work. When the Captain asks if the Commodore finds him desperate, too, the ex-Nazi, who knows what horror looks like, says, “No Captain. To be frank, I find you frightening.”

The Commodore’s fears soon become justified. When Big Red surfaces enough to use its snorkel to acquire air, Finlander orders his ship to cross over the submarine to intimidate it. But he has pushed things too far, too close to the edge of hostility. The Bedford runs over the snorkel. Finlander now readies for retaliation and orders Ralston to arm the rocket-propelled torpedo weapons. The Commodore pleads with the Captain to stand down. Finlander says, “The Bedford’ll never fire first. But, if he fires one, I’ll fire one.” Ralston, wound up like the mainspring of a deadly explosive device, hears the skipper’s words as a command and launches the rocket while saying, “Fire one!” The Captain tries to disarm the weapons, but fails. The Russian submarine is destroyed. But, as a last defensive act, the sub fired nuclear torpedoes at the Bedford. Munceford yells at the devastated Finlander, demanding that there must be some contingency plan for what has happened. But, the Captain has none. It appears he never considered not winning, and now seems reconciled to the eye-for-an eye resolution of the situation. The Bedford is engulfed in a mushroom cloud.

Since the beginning of the modern age where technology facilitates the very real threat of mass destruction, it becomes extremely difficult not to overcompensate by using dangerous tactics to prevent devastating attacks. This film is a cautionary tale about the danger of becoming too much like the enemy one fears.

The next film is Suspicion.

The Manchurian Candidate

SPOILER ALERT! The plot of the movie will be discussed.

Last week’s film, The Ides of March, dealt with the theme of political betrayal. This movie, released in 1962, and directed by John Frankenheimer, covers similar territory. Here, we have a story full of disguises, and if one cannot see through the deceptive exteriors, then betrayal is more easily carried out.

The movie begins during the Korean War. Raymond Shaw (Laurence Harvey) is a sergeant in a company commanded by Captain Marco (Frank Sinatra). Raymond shows his contempt for his almost-out-of-uniform fellow soldiers when he breaks up their party with half-dressed women as they play cards (an omen?) and drink. There is a sign on the wall that says “Home Sweet Home,” a lie, since they are far away from their homes, in danger, in a war zone. Is Raymond just a condescending prude, or, as we later see, has his domineering mother destroyed all of his ability to enjoy life? Perhaps, the soldiers are shown to be disarmed, literally and figuratively, and not prepared for the subterfuge of the enemy. Along with the soldiers on their next mission is a Korean, Chunjin (Henry Silva) who is supposed to be an interpreter and guide for the men. At least that is what he appears to be, but he steers the Americans to a place where they are ambushed, knocked out, and airlifted to the Pavlov Institute in Mongolia. However, we next see Raymond arriving in the states to receive the Medal of Honor for his heroism in rescuing his company of men. His mother, Eleanor Iselin (Angela Lansbury, who was almost the same age as Harvey at the time) and her husband, Senator John Iselin (James Gregory), grandstand his homecoming for political gain. The sign over Raymond’s head says that he is Iselin’s “boy,” which is a deception, as Raymond is adamant to point out, since he is Iselin’s stepson. As opposed to the Iselins, Raymond is brutally honest when alone with them when he says he has taken a job with a left-wing journalist because he loathes his mother and Iselin.

We realize that there is something not true about Raymond’s heroics when we are privy to now Major Marco’s recurring nightmares, and later the dreams of Corporal Allen Melvin (James Edwards). At a time before digital special effects had been invented, Frankenheimer presents us with a dazzling display of scene cutting and imagery in the dream sequences. In them, it appears that the soldiers are at a women’s garden club meeting. A rotating set was used to let the scene change seamlessly from this benign image to the real one, which is a gathering of Chinese and Russian communist military and scientific operatives at a demonstration led by Dr. Yen Lo (Khigh Dhiegh). At certain points the two worlds bleed into each other, as happens in dreams: the Russians and Chinese show up at the garden club, and a bayonet turns up in the hands of one of the women. The scientist’s words are spoken by one of the women. The soldiers appear bored as Lo orders Raymond to strangle one of the men and shoot another, the latter followed by blood splattering, appropriately, on a large picture of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. Raymond’s politeness, and the accommodating demeanors of the smiling soldiers, are manipulated, sham behaviors elicited because the men have been fooled into thinking nothing threatening is happening; the benign mental constructs built by Dr. Lo are window dressings that do not allow them to see the killings occurring right in front of their eyes. The contrast between what is happening and the calm of the participants is chilling. This film uses the stereotypical impression at the time that women are weak and defenseless, and turns it on its head. The soldiers are lulled into thinking their surroundings are safe in their brainwashed state. (Melvin, an African American, pictures all black women present, making him feel more secure). But these women are a disguise meant to disarm them, camouflaging the present danger around them. We learn that Raymond’s heroic actions are a ruse to cover-up the real reason that the company was missing, which is to turn Raymond into an assassin. Also, by making Raymond appear like a patriotic hero, he will not be suspected of being just the opposite, a threat to American security.

Marco tells his superiors of his nightmares. But, when asked what he thinks of Raymond, he says he is “the kindest, bravest, warmest most wonderful human being I’ve ever known in my life.” (Melvin repeats the same statement, word for word, like an automaton, when his wife asks him about Raymond following one of his nightmares.) Now Raymond doesn’t even like Christmas, saying one day of the holiday is bad enough, let alone twelve. He later admits that he simply is not a lovable person. Marco knows something is wrong because two opposing beliefs are in his head – one that Raymond is a wonderful person, and the other, illustrated by him saying, “It isn't as if Raymond is hard to like. He's impossible to like!" His attempt to distinguish the lie from the truth pushes him to the brink of a breakdown, and he is put on disability leave. When he seeks out Raymond to see if the ex-sergeant, too, is having nightmares, he encounters Chunjin who has become Raymond’s valet. Here we have another disguise, with the Korean pretending to be someone taking care of Raymond, while actually spying on him. Marco, whose alertness to the enemy is more advanced than the others so that his subconscious surfaces into his conscious state, realizes that Chunjin is a threat. (Evidence as to Marco’s insight is the fact that he reads a great deal, and among the titles we see are The Trial and Enemies of the State, showing his research into conspiracies). He yells at the Korean as they fight (the first karate battle in a Hollywood film), asking him what was he doing there at the meeting in his nightmare, and what was Raymond doing with his hands (Marco remembers seeing Raymond moving his fingers, as if holding something, another form of pretending).

The police arrest Marco after he helps wreck Raymond’s apartment in the fight, and he calls Rosie, (Janet Leigh – more about her later), to bail him out. We see something curious at the police station. There is a man in the background who appears to be putting on his trousers. This image echoes back to the soldiers at the club in Korea, who are in a state of undress. Is this policeman being “caught with his pants down,” symbolizing a country not really knowing who the enemy is? After his release, Marco shows up at Raymond’s place, and the occupant is outraged by Marco’s actions. The latter does discover that Melvin, still unaware of any threat, sent a letter to Raymond, thinking absurdly that Raymond was his best friend in the Army, asking him if he, too, is having similar disturbing dreams. Marco is relieved because he now knows he is not going crazy. He brings this information to his superiors in Army Intelligence, and he recognizes the pictures of two Russian and Chinese intelligence agents who were in his nightmare. Melvin identified the same two. The Army assigns Marco to stay close to Raymond to discover what is going on.

Raymond receives a phone call. The voice tells him to pass the time by playing solitaire. After the Queen of Diamonds is exposed, this supposedly harmless game becomes a sinister tool, turning out to be the mechanism to trigger Raymond’s subconscious conditioning. The game of solitaire is efficient because Raymond does not have to interact with anyone else; it also is significant because it mirrors Raymond’s alienated, lonely nature. When he is awake, even though he is unlikable, Raymond does not pretend to be anything but himself. But, when he plays the card game, he turns into a programmed robot-like being, with no emotions. In many ways he looks like one of the “pod” people in Invasion of the Body Snatchers, who, after being taken over, present a disarming, normal appearance, but are really dangerous. Just like that 1950’s movie, there is here the theme of self-betrayal.

Raymond is ordered to check into a hospital to determine if his conditioning is completely intact. The conspirators concoct a fake story about Raymond being involved in a car accident – more deception. The place where Dr. Lo examines him is, too, a phony, a clinic run by the communist agents, appearing to be so authentic, it passes for a capitalist institution, and makes a profit. Lo says he has constructed a perfect weapon because there is no memory of the murderous act which eliminates the emotion of guilt. And, since the killer does not know that he committed the act, he has no fear of being caught. Lo drives home the idea of the danger of this deceptive disguise by saying Raymond will “appear” to be a productive, normal member of society. Before he is turned over to his American operative (mystery added here as we now know that there is an unknown American mole), as a test to see if Raymond will still carry out a kill order, Lo tells him to murder his boss, Holborn Gaines (Lloyd Corrigan). In another chilling scene, because of Raymond’s calm, polite manner, he shoots his employer who was kind enough to give him employment, adding to the list of betrayals. Where is Gaines murdered? He is in his sleep-inducing bed, comforted by wearing his dead wife’s sleep wrap, ready to be lulled into a state of non-alertness, where he, like the rest of us, think he is safe. The film is saying, “Think again.” What appears to be a sanctuary can easily be compromised by someone you think is a friend.

In trying to get close to Raymond and discover what plan he is involved in, Marco gets his ex-Army comrade drunk. We learn that Raymond has a “lovable” side, because he fell in love in the past with Jocelyn Jordan (Leslie Parrish), daughter of left-leaning Senator Thomas Jordan (John McGiver). The Senator had reason to sue Raymond’s mother in the past for slander. She and Iselin are crusading anti-communists, and she named Jordan as a member of the party. There are noteworthy aspects in Raymond’s meeting up with Jocelyn and her father. A poisonous snake bit Raymond, and Jocelyn happened by on her bicycle. Since her father has a heightened awareness of deadly snakes, his daughter carries medicine with her. She only has her blouse top to tie off the circulation at the wound near the ankle. She takes it off, revealing only her bra underneath. Yet, there is no shame or negativity about this partial disrobing, which contrasts to the undressings in previous scenes, because she uses the discarded garment as a tool to fight something threatening. It seems we have here a reversal of the Garden of Eden story, and another subversion of the weakness of women; Jocelyn is innocent, before the fall, unashamed of her body. She is not an instrument of the devil, aka the Serpent, here, as she thwarts its poison. Senator Jordan, like Marco, is on alert against true enemies, which his awareness of poisonous snakes hiding in the grass, ready to spread poison throughout a healthy body – the nation’s democratic freedom – symbolizes. However, Raymond’s mother exerted her control over her son, and had him send a “vile” letter, cutting off the relationship with Jocelyn.

It is now right after Christmas, usually a happy time of the year in most stories, but which contrasts with the current goings on in this tale. Raymond, arrives at a bar to meet Marco, and accidentally overhears a bartender talking to customers about playing solitaire. He uses the establishment’s deck of cards, sees the Queen of Diamonds, and the bartender says he told someone to drive to Central Park and jump in the lake. Marco arrives just as Raymond leaves. He follows him and then helps him out of the lake. Marco now realizes that in his nightmare Raymond could have been pretending to play cards with his hands. He also noticed that he went off after the Queen of Diamonds appeared. After talking with the military’s psychiatrist, Marco remembers from his dream that the scientist said, “The Queen of Diamonds is reminiscent in many ways of Raymond’s dearly loved and hated mother … and is the second key to clear the mechanism for any other assignment.” So, Marco now thinks he knows how to reverse the plot involving Raymond, whatever it may be.

Mrs. Iselin, too, subverts the notion of women being weak and non-threatening. She is the power behind her dim-witted husband, who, unlike Raymond, is an awake, conscious puppet. He is an obvious reference to Senator Joe McCarthy, calling everyone a communist, in this case per his wife’s orders. All he wants is for her to stop changing the number of fictitious communists in the Defense Department, and give him one easy figure he can remember. She sees him using a bottle of Heinz Ketchup, and settles on “57,” the number of varieties of products the company offered. This incident is a funny, but cutting comment which shows how a simple everyday product can be used as a tool to tell a dangerous political lie. She learns that Jocelyn is returning from living abroad, and decides that reuniting Raymond with her will cause her father not to block her husband from becoming the vice-presidential nominee. She decides to throw a homecoming party for her. But, significantly, she makes it a costume party, which emphasizes the disguise motif of the film.

 At this party, Raymond’s mother (deceptively dressed as Little Bo Beep, although she manhandles her husband with her staff, revealing her true nature) brings him to the study to be alone with him. She then tells him to play a game of solitaire. This horrifying revelation is the ultimate betrayal, both in a family and national sense. What can be worse than turning your own son into an assassin? He turns over the Queen of Diamonds (who not only represents, as Marco remembers, but actually is Raymond’s mother), but Mrs. Iselin must meet with Senator Jordan who has attended at his daughter’s request before she can give her son his assignment. She removes the card to avoid “mischief.” But, in a bit of contrived, but symbolically appropriate storytelling, Jocelyn comes into the study wearing a costume with a large Queen of Diamonds on the front. Again, Jocelyn plays the role of trying to save Raymond. She is the anti-Queen of Diamonds to his sinister mother’s version. They kiss and go off together. They are married, and Jocelyn gets Marco to allow them forty-eight hours to have a mini-honeymoon. (In a sense, Rosie, too, is also a powerful woman, who could under malignant influences, been as manipulative as Raymond’s mother. In the train scene, where the two eventual lovers first meet, and which contains some illogical, funny dialogue which fits the movie’s non-linear plot, she looks like she is brainwashing the broken down Marco, repeating her phone number and address. Lucky for him, she is there to help, not destroy, him.)

The Iselins originally appeared to be insincere and opportunists, but we now have learned that they are a much greater threat to the country. When Senator Jordan vows to stop Iselin at all costs, he says, “There are people who think of Johnnie as a clown and a buffoon, (an impression held by some now of a particular presidential candidate?), but I do not. I despise John Iselin and everything Iselinism has come to stand for (substitute McCarthyism). I think, if John Iselin were a paid Soviet agent, he could not do more to harm this country than he’s doing now.” There is a rich irony here, since Iselin is a Soviet agent. Here is also the argument of the movie: by going on witch hunts, saying everyone is the enemy, it makes it very difficult to know who the true enemy is. And, when one always points to all members of a movement or of a belief system for causing problems, one can throw off suspicion from oneself for any wrongdoing.

There are several times during the film where Abraham Lincoln’s noble, revered image is undermined by the Iselins. Iselin looks into the glass-covered portrait of the former president, significantly one who was assassinated, seeing his own reflected image, which symbolizes the threat to the country for whom the great president sacrificed himself to preserve. The bust of Lincoln sits in the Iselin study, desecrated by the occupants who participate in the worse type of betrayal – treason. At the costume party, Iselin dresses up like Lincoln, turning the great man into a caricature as Iselin dances the limbo (how low can we go to have this man in a high office?). A particularly satiric, and scary image is the one of this faux Lincoln digging into a caviar representation of the American flag, desecrating the symbol of the country’s unity and history, and literally devouring it. At the same time, he hides his true allegiance by saying of the caviar that it’s not Russian.

When Raymond returns to his mother’s home to stop Iselin from trying to get Senator Jordan impeached and tried for treason, Mrs. Iselin, in an ironic act of retribution, uses Jocelyn’s Queen of Diamonds costume to turn Raymond away from his wife by exerting her power over Raymond. Because Jordan is a threat to her husband, she orders Raymond to kill the senator. Again, the killing takes place in a place of presumed security, Jordan’s home, and even he, in the relaxed clothing consisting of pajamas and a robe, is not aware of the imminent threat. The bullet goes through a carton of milk he is holding, its pristine, white liquid ironically mixing with the betrayed blood of his wound. But, the ultimate horror occurs when Jocelyn appears, and according to Lo’s orders, Raymond shoots her as a witness. Here, love does not conquer all. When Marco brings a newspaper into his home with the headlines informing the reader of the deaths, the camera angles are askew, showing how the world has been knocked off-balance. Despite no evidence, Marco knows Raymond is the killer, and feels guilty for giving Jocelyn the time before acting to bring Raymond in.

Raymond, his subconscious guilt attacking his programming after reading about the deaths of Jordan and Jocelyn, calls Marco. The Major visits him in a small rented room just across from the convention center. Marco shows up with a deck filled with the Queen of Diamonds face cards. He finds out the whole scheme from Raymond, but does not yet know his true mission. Marco basically tells him that his brainwashing is over, that he is not to play any more solitaire, and that he should call Marco when he knows what the end game is. Raymond gets a call, tells Marco it’s from his “American operative,” and then says, “Yes, Mother,” and leaves to meet her. Marco’s eyes widen in surprise at the depth of the manipulation. We also learn that Iselin has won the vice-presidential nomination with Senator Jordan eliminated as an impediment.

Mrs. Iselin reveals Raymond’s purpose in the plan. He is to kill the party’s presidential nominee during his acceptance speech, so that Iselin can give a speech, worked on for years in Russia, and they will sweep into office with powers granted to them to protect the country “that will make martial law seem like anarchy.” The question then arises, who should we most be on alert against, the obvious foreign enemy, or the domestic one who only pretends to know what’s best for the country? But, Raymond’s mother is planning a betrayal of her own. She asked for “a killer from a world full of killers,” but they chose her son because according to her, “they thought it would bind me closer to them.” But, she says when she takes power, “they will be pulled down and ground into the dirt for what they did to you. And what they did in so contemptuously underestimating me.” Her depraved influence on Raymond comes to the surface as she seals her promise with an incestuous kiss on his lips. Be afraid, be very afraid.

In another bit of disguise to falsely reassure others of the absence of a threat, Raymond dresses up as a priest. He heads to a small booth near the ceiling of the hall, and assembles a rifle that Chunjin provided him. Marco, sweating profusely, as he does throughout the film emphasizing the tension he is under, waits for the call from Raymond that does not come. On the television, we see a couple of convention delegates wearing the Lincoln beard, implying that Iselin’s political poison is going viral, and who appear as harbingers of an assassination. Marco decides to go to the convention to stop Raymond. He sees the booth lit up and rushes to it. Raymond, instead of killing the nominee, shoots Iselin and his mother. He puts on the medal of honor, and as Ben breaks into the booth, says that only he could have stopped them. He turns the rifle on himself, and commits suicide.

The film ends with Marco reading about men who earned the Medal of Honor. He delivers a testimony to Raymond, whose only audience consists of Rosie and himself. The unlikable soldier who had his soul stolen, the phony hero, redeemed himself by earning his medal, saving his country from tyranny. Raymond was supposed to shoot the nominee right after he said that he would give up “my life before my liberty.” If Raymond would have killed him, he would have lost his life, and the country would have forfeited its freedom. But, in the end, Raymond sacrificed his life to preserve his country’s liberty. But, this is a sad, frightening tale. Marco’s last words are “Hell. Hell,” which is where he, and perhaps, us, feel, in horrible times, we reside.

The next film is Unforgiven.

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold

SPOILER ALERT! The plot of the movie will be discussed.

This film, released in 1965, directed by Martin Ritt, and based on John le Carré’s novel, starts with a shot of the barbed wire atop the Berlin Wall. Ritt gives us an image which emphasizes the divide between not only East and West Berlin, but the separation between eastern and western cultures, and their respective economic systems, communism and capitalism. The barbed wire symbolizes how dangerous and ragged the divide was during the Cold War. As the story progresses, the notion that those on one side of the fence hold a moral advantage over the other comes into question.

Alec Leamas (Richard Burton), a British spy who is head of intelligence in Berlin, waits at Checkpoint Charlie on the western side of the wall. He is expecting an East German agent, Karl Riemick, to escape to the west. However, the agent is killed, as have other agents, by the East German counter-espionage head, Mundt (Peter van Eyck). Back in London, Leamas’ boss, Control (Cyril Cusack), tells him that spies have to live without “sympathy.” But, one can’t stay outdoors all the time. Everyone has to “come in from the cold.” Leamas protests, not wanting a desk job. But, Control wants to assign him one more job to get Mundt, and asks him to stay “out in the cold a little longer.” Control says that even though one’s country is peaceful, their work requires them to do disagreeable things. In order to succeed, they must be as ruthless as their enemies. He asks Leamas if he still drinks alcohol. In this scene, even though we do not yet know Control’s plan, we realize that the West is equated with the East in an ethically downward spiral. And, Leamas will be an exploited tool in the process.

We next witness a disheveled Leamas at the Labor Exchange (unemployment office). It appears that he has been fired as a secret agent and has left several subsequent jobs. He is drinking heavily and needs money. He begins work at a reference library where he meets Nan Perry (Claire Bloom) who he discovers is a member of the British communist party. She says that one must believe in something, and even though she is an atheist, she believes in an ideology. Leamas voices the despair in following one political movement or the other when he says that in the clash between capitalism and communism, “it’s the innocents who suffer.” The two, however, become lovers.

Leamas spends time in jail after assaulting a grocer named Patmore (Bernard Lee) because the man won’t continue to extend Leamas credit on his purchases. (There is an ironic bit of casting here, since Lee played “M” in the early James Bond movies, where good and evil are very distinct forces). Leamas appears ready to be recruited by the other side. He meets with Control at the house of agent George Smiley (Rupert Davies). Leamas’ assignment is to provide enough information that will make Mundt’s deputy, Fiedler (Oskar Werner), who is Jewish and hates the ex-Nazi, accuse his superior of being a spy. A man named Ashe (Michael Hordern) approaches Leamas and there is another meeting with his superior, Dick Carlton (Robert Hardy). Leamas makes it clear that he despises his old bosses and is ready to give up information for money. The meeting with Ashe is at a restaurant that has drawings on the walls which depict people having sex in various positions. And, the meeting with Carlton is at a strip club. Also, Ashe is a homosexual, and at the time the movie was made, his sexual preference was seen as depraved. The settings for these dealings are made to emphasize the sleaziness of the activities of these men as they try to buy traitors.

But the business of these men on both sides gets even more despicable. Leamas thought he was only supposed to go to Holland to be interrogated and divulge information about the payment of funds to an unknown agent in an operation called Rolling Stone. Leamas was told that the plan was to implicate Mundt as a double agent working for British intelligence. But, Leamas was left out in the “cold” concerning aspects of the plan because, as we later learn, London went public with Leamas’ disappearance, making him look like a defector, and thus sought after by the authorities. He cannot return home from Holland, and must now go to East Germany and be interrogated by Fiedler. (It is interesting that the plane on which Leamas is a passenger is called “The Flying Dutchman,” a bad omen, since it suggests those who are condemned for their sins). During their meetings, Fiedler asks Leamas questions similar to those posed by Nan about his beliefs. Leamas’ sarcastic reply about adhering to an ideology is “I reserve the right to be ignorant. That’s the Western way of life.” He may be playing the part of a collaborator, but his statements echo the cynicism about the tactics employed in the Cold War. Fiedler echoes Leamas’ early statement about the fate of “innocents” caught in the middle of this war, but adds his own twist. He says, “Innocent people die every day. They might as well do it for a reason.” This statement is chilling in that it reverberates with the activities carried on in the present, where guiltless people are killed by terrorists because of their self-righteous knowledge that their way is the only right way. Perhaps Fiedler should reflect on how his Jewish kin were murdered for an evil “reason.” In contrast, Leamas’ statement about being ignorant of a so-called right way is more benevolent, if the only choices offered are both destructive.

From the evidence Leamas supplies, Fiedler concludes that the German named agent drawing from bank funds must be German in fact to avoid suspicion. That because Control was the only one handling the agent, he must be of importance. Mundt was in the countries at the time there were withdrawals from the banks. Leamas says it is impossible for him, as the head of German counter-espionage, not to know that Mundt was a double agent. Of course, his adamant attitude only convinces Fiedler that Leamas is on the level. Mundt returns and arrests both Fielder and Leamas, but Fielder has enough proof to put Mundt in front of a tribunal.

At this hearing, Fielder presents evidence that shows how Mundt promoted Riemick, who could then supply the British with better and better intelligence. Also, Control met Riemick alone. He relates that when Mundt was in England as part of a diplomatic mission, he killed someone and yet escaped the country despite the authorities being on high alert. Fiedler hypothesizes that Mundt was turned into a western asset in exchange for his freedom. Fiedler had suspected Riemick, and Mundt killed him before he could be broken and implicated him. However, Mundt’s representative questions Leamas, who supposedly collaborated for money because he was broke. He was followed to Smiley’s house, and George Smiley later visited Nan (who Leamas made clear to Control was not be involved). Nan, who thought she was going to East Germany in an exchange program, is introduced as a surprise witness. Ignorant of the reason for the proceedings, she admits that Smiley, a known British agent, visited her and purchased the lease for her apartment for one thousand pounds, because she was involved with Leamas. At this point Leamas admits to the plan to implicate Mundt, and urges that Nan be let go as she was not part of any conspiracy. Fiedler is arrested and will be executed for his conspiring to get rid of Mundt. As he is taken away, he tells Leamas that he is protecting Mundt. Leamas now realizes that the real objective was to get rid of Fielder, and that Mundt was, indeed, Control’s Rolling Stone double agent.

In the night, Mundt frees Leamas and Nan, saying he will blame Fiedler’s sympathizers for their escape, rooting out those who suspected him of being a British agent. On the way to escape over the wall, Leamas explains how he was sent to discredit Mundt, and she was used to discredit Leamas. All this double-dealing “to kill the Jew.” By making Fiedler a Jew and Mundt an ex-Nazi, the story indicts western interests for having now joined themselves with their hated enemies to kill a member of race the former enemy tried to exterminate. Leamas explains the current way of things in his speech to Nan:

"What the hell do you think spies are? Moral philosophers measuring everything they do against the word of God or Karl Marx? They're not. They're just a bunch of seedy, squalid bastards like me. Little men, drunkards, queers, hen-pecked husbands, civil servants playing cowboys and Indians to brighten their rotten little lives. Do you think they sit like monks in a cell, balancing right against wrong? Yesterday I would've killed Mundt because I thought him evil and an enemy, but not today. Today he's evil and my friend. London needs him. They need him so that the great moronic masses you admire so much can sleep soundly in their flea-bitten beds again. They need him for the safety of ordinary crummy people like you and me."

When Nan questions Leamas how he can ally himself with people who would hatch such a plot, he tells her that history has shown communism has not provided anything better.  "There's a few million bodies on that path," he says. As they begin to scale the wall spotlights reveal their escape. Nan is shot and killed, because her knowledge of Mundt’s complicity with England makes her a liability. Leamas now understands the scope of the treachery surrounding him and goes back down on the east side to join the slain Nan. He is also killed.

It is fitting that these two should die at the wall that divides the two worlds shown in the film. For both of them at this time neither the east nor the west can be called home.

What is your favorite Richard Burton role?

The next film is Doubt.

Fail-Safe

SPOILER ALERT! The plot of the movie will be discussed.

This Sidney Lumet cold war movie suffered from incredibly bad timing. It was released in the same year as its comic counterpoint, Stanley Kubrick’s satiric masterpiece, Dr. Strangelove. The latter received all the praise and Oscar nominations, and Lumet’s film was virtually ignored. It shouldn’t be. Despite the fact that the two motion pictures share the same basic plot, Fail-Safe focuses on a different target.

Kubrick, no fan of overreaching technology himself, centers his picture on the connection between war and the male preoccupation with sexual conquest. His General Ripper, a person, starts World War III. In Lumet’s movie, it is the over-dependence on advanced machinery that is the cause of nuclear devastation. The film opens with General Black (Dan O'Herlihy) in the middle of a recurring nightmare. He is in a stadium watching a bullfight. The bull is being stabbed by the matador. He cannot see who is the matador. When he wakes up he tells his wife that if he retires from the Air Force, he believes the nightmares will end.

General Black goes to a Pentagon briefing where a consultant, Dr. Groeteschele (Walter Matthau) is giving a briefing. His character believes that losses are acceptable in a nuclear war if it is the American culture that survives instead of that of Russia, which is “our mortal enemy.” Black feels that there are no winners in a nuclear confrontation. He cautions against putting our defenses in the hands of lightning-fast machines that can make deadly errors which humans are powerless to correct in time. While this discussion is going on, General Bogan (Frank Overton) goes to pick up his second-in-command, Colonel Cascio (Fritz Weaver) on the way to The Strategic Air Command headquarters. Bogan finds Cascio at the basement apartment of the Colonel’s parents in a seedy location. The father is an alcoholic and Cascio is mortified that Bogan now knows of this humiliating secret.

Jack Grady (Edward Binns), is a Colonel in the Air Force, who leads a squadron of Vindicator nuclear bombers near Anchorage, Alaska. Grady and his wingman are seen playing pool before performing their flight rotation. They discuss the younger pilots, who Grady thinks are more like machines than the pilots that were in the Second World War. This is a revealing scene, since it suggests that people are becoming dehumanized in an age where technology dominates civilization. Is the story here a foreboding of our present?

Back at SAC, there is an impromptu civilian tour headed by a congressman. While he is being briefed, a UFO is sighted, and the defenses are placed on alert in the event of a Russian attack. It turns out that the UFO is a commercial aircraft off course. There is a statement by a civilian observer indicating that the more complex the machinery, the more it is prone to problems. What follows proves this point. A computer component malfunctions at the same time (as is later found out) the Russians initiated a new communications jamming device. While replacing the part, a signal is accidentally sent activating the fail-safe box in Grady’s plane. The crew can’t verify through verbal communication that the command is legitimate because of the Russian jamming. They must proceed as if a state of war exists, and they head toward their target, which is Moscow.

The President (Henry Fonda) now becomes involved. He is accompanied by his Russian translator, Buck (Larry Hagman), and they descend to an underground bunker far below the White House. The President asks for suggestions. Groeteschele’s suggestion is to do nothing. He says that Russia will not retaliate because to do so would put an end to its plan of Communist World denomination. Bogan says that belief is nonsense, and that the Russians will counterattack with everything they have. Black and Groeteschele debate the idea of the first strike, and the latter says that the Nazis and Japanese were right to attack first to destroy their mortal enemies. He says he has learned from them. Black says “you learned so well, that there is no difference between you and what you want to kill.” Again, a timeless question is raised: Is it necessary to become as ruthless as the enemy, who you condemn for that ruthlessness, in order to stop that opponent?

The decision is made to shoot down America’s own bombers to prevent a nuclear attack and subsequent armed exchange between the two countries. This action appears ironic, since the whole point of the military is to exact losses on an opponent. When the President gives the order, he says he expects the SAC personnel “to act as patriots.” At first this statement seems inappropriate. But, the President wants them to look at the big picture and understand that they must sacrifice their fellow servicemen to protect their country from the devastation of a nuclear holocaust. The American fighter pilots fall to their deaths in the ocean when they run out of fuel in the failed attempt to catch the bombers. It is then that the President contacts the Russian Premier. He offers American help to shoot down the bombers. It is at this point that trust becomes an issue.

Cascio is unable to tell the Russians how to detonate the Vindicator air-to-air missiles inside the planes to stop the bombers. He attacks Bogan and says he is under the orders of the President to take command. The Colonel is taken away, saying how he was better than Bogan, who looked down on him when he saw him with “those people” – his parents. Cascio’s inferiority issues turn into paranoia. He thinks the Russians are really flying under the radar, ready to launch a surprise attack. The person who doesn’t want to admit to his own shortcomings wants to blame and attack others before he is scrutinized and found lacking in ability.

The Russian military men are also suspicious. They attack decoys even though they have been told it is a waste of precious time. They are also prideful, and reject help to shoot down the bombers at first. People tend to fall back on old ways of thinking and behaving because they feel reassured with what is familiar, even when these ways are blind to the perils that exist outside their worlds. An example of this way of acting is when Groeteschele, during this crisis, analyzes Russian military hardware, and says the U.S can “compensate” to gain superiority in the future, ignoring the real possibility of no future. It appears that he, and those like him, do not learn from their mistakes.  But, the President believes that they should learn from this horrible error. He tells the Russian Premier “If we do not trust each other, there may not be another time” to fix the dangers in the nuclear age. He says to the Russian, “What we put between us, we can remove.” Humanity over machines is emphasized by camera close-ups of eyes, mouths and faces. During a break in communications, the President and Buck, the translator, hold onto their humanity by talking about the weather. Bogan and his Russian counterpoint share warm memories of the times they spent in London, finishing their conversation by saying, “Goodbye, my friend.”

In the end, Moscow is destroyed. The President realizes that a great sacrifice has to be made to avoid nuclear war. He orders his friend, General Black (his name indicates that he must take on this dark deed), to drop hydrogen bombs on New York City. The First Lady is there, and so is Black’s family. In the beginning of the film, Black tells his wife how much he needs his family, and now he must kill them. He tells the bomber’s crew that he alone will fly the plane and drop the bombs. He knows that he would not be able to endure living after doing this deed. He pulls out a poisoned needle and sticks himself, as we reenter his dream of the bullfight. He now realizes he is the matador, the killer, the military man, who must now take the place of the bull and be permanently “retired” to end the nightmare of death.

The term “fail-safe” indicates an automatic device that, in the event of a system failure, prevents harm from that failure. The argument of this film is that in the age of weapons of mass destruction, there is no automatic “safety” from such “failure.”

Next week’s movie is Body Heat.