The Incident

 The Incident is a 1967 thriller film whose ensemble cast included Tony Musante, Martin Sheen, Beau Bridges, Ruby Dee, Brock Peters, Jack Gilford, Thelma Ritter, Ed McMahon, Gary Merrill and Jan Sterling.  For his performance in The Incident, Musante won the Best Actor award at the 1968 Argentine Film Festival.

The Incident begins late one night when two hoodlums, Joe (Musante) and Artie (Sheen), enter a south bound number 4 subway train at the 170th Street station in the Bronx, New York City.  They "proceed to psychologically terrorize, humiliate and degrade every single adult passenger (in their car), as the train passes 15 stations."  

Joe and Artie, but mostly Joe, do this one passenger at a time.  Nobody does anything to help their fellow passengers, fearing they will only draw the attention of the hoodlums to them.

Finally, Joe attempts to touch a child sleeping in her father's (McMahon) arms.  The father feebly slaps Joe's hand away.  Only then does a soldier (Bridges) in the subway car challenge Joe, who then pulls out a switchblade knife.

The soldier, wounded by the knife, is able to overpower Joe, knocking him unconscious.  Artie, losing his accomplice, attempts to flee, but is kneed in the groin by the soldier, leaving him on the floor in agony.  

The subway train finally arrives at Grand Central Station.  One of the passengers calls the police, two of whom quickly enter their car.  

Without asking any questions, the police grab the only Black male passenger visible to them (Peters).  Luckily, they are quickly informed of their mistake and proceed to arrest Joe and Artie.         

Many years ago, but after The Incident was made, I got a chance to meet Jack Gilford.  I was invited to a bar mitzvah of a neighbor.  Turns out Jack was a relative of the neighbor.

Jack Gilford was a stage actor who also appeared frequently in film and on television.  I especially remember him (as Bernie Lefkowitz) in the 1985 film, Cocoon.  Jack won a Daytime Emmy Award (Big Blue Marble), a Tony Award (Cabaret), a Golden Globe Award (Save the Tiger) and was nominated for an Academy Award (also Save the Tiger).