The Incident
Written by	Michael Norell James Norell
Directed by	Joseph Sargent
Starring	Walter Matthau Susan Blakely Robert Carradine Peter Firth Harry Morgan Barnard Hughes
Music by	Laurence Rosenthal
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
Production
Producers	Bill Brademan Edwin Self
Cinematography	Kees Van Oostrum
Editor	Debra Karen
Running time	100 minutes
Original release
Network	CBS
Release	March 4, 1990 (1990-03-04)
Related
Against Her Will: An Incident in Baltimore

The Incident is a 1990 American made-for-television drama film directed by Joseph Sargent and starring Walter Matthau and Harry Morgan which was originally broadcast on CBS on March 4, 1990. The film marked Matthau's return to television after over 20 years.^[1]

The film was followed by two sequels: Against Her Will: An Incident in Baltimore (1992) and Incident in a Small Town (1994).

Plot

The story takes place in the year 1944 in Lincoln Bluff, a fictional, small Colorado town.^[2] The Second World War is still raging when the town's only doctor, George Hansen, is murdered at a local US Army camp, Camp Bremen, holding German prisoners of war.

Harmon J. Cobb, a local lawyer, is railroaded by Judge Bell into being the defense attorney for Geiger, the German prisoner accused of killing the doctor, who also happened to have been Cobb's friend.^[3] Cobb has no desire for Geiger to be acquitted; in addition to sharing in the wartime anti-German sentiment, Cobb's son is an American soldier fighting the Germans. However, to preserve his hard-earned standing as a top-notch attorney, he begins to build a nominal defense by asking several of Geiger's subordinates who are also prisoners at Camp Bremen to act as character witnesses. However, they all refuse to testify, and when Cobb asks Geiger to pull rank on them to get them on the stand, he refuses. Moreover, he angrily accuses Cobb of being disinterested in the real goings-on in the camp.

Cobb does not press Geiger for more explanation of his comments. However, when a local acquaintance comes forward with more information, Cobb begins to suspect not only that Geiger is in fact innocent, but that Hansen's death is only the tip of the iceberg in illicit operations at Camp Bremen.

Cast

• Walter Matthau as Harmon Cobb
• Susan Blakely as Billie
• Robert Carradine as Domsczek
• Peter Firth as Geiger
• Barnard Hughes as Doc Hansen
• Harry Morgan as Judge Bell
• William Schallert as Wallace
• Ariana Richards as Nancy
• Norbert Weisser as Riefenstahl
• Douglas Rowe as Clarence
• Joe Horváth as Major Lilly (as Joe Horvath)
• Helen Stenborg as Edna Mae Hansen
• Henry Crowell Jr. as Corporal Sweazy
• David Underwood as Lieutenant Morton
• Robert MacKenzie as Sergeant Osias (as Robert Mckenzie)

Reception

John J. O'Connor gave the film a highly positive review in The New York Times, deeming it "a first-rate production". While he found a number of details in the script didn't make sense, he praised the historical authenticity of both the story and the production, as well as Matthau's immense presence in the lead role.^[1]

Awards