In the film The Bedford Incident, based on the novel with the same name written by Mark Rascovitch and directed by James B. Harris, there are several characters that are important, but over all of them, there is one that is very significant because the whole film somewhat takes its course according to his decisions, that is Capt. Eric Finlander.
Eric Finlander is a strong, old school, egocentric, distrustful, conservative captain; he is a stereotypical leader, a tragic hero, a good, but flawed person with a one track mind that stick to a position and would bend only slightly. Military, Finlander is very knowledgeable, effective, confident, logical, devoted, obsessive, intense person that won’t back up until the very end, and that thinks of people in terms of their usefulness. Throughout the whole film we see that Eric is very strong both mentally and physically, he goes trough 24 hours of an intense situation in which any little mistake could cost the whole mission and he surpasses it without any trouble, also we can see that his ways are old school because how he treats the younger kid and the all the crew so that they become strong, in other words, “no pain, no good.” We see his conservative way of thinking every time we receives a note from the government telling him to hold back, some times he says it some times one can see it on his eyes, that is that they should blow them up, like the old times. There is a scene in which one can clearly see how egocentric he is, when Poitier is making him an interview, every time Poitier makes a compliment he smiles with a cocky look on his face and is more willing to answer any question about himself. Finally, his distrustfullness we can see every single time that he expulses Poitier or someone external to his crew out of a room when something critical is happening. We recognize Eric Finlander as a stereotypical leader and hero, because he is a sentimentalist who has obscure secrets that make him strong and mysterious, he is this rough guy that wont blink at the verge of an edge, he is a hunter.
On the other hand, his military strengths become a problem because they help to increase his obsession. First, since he is so knowledgeable he might be overconfident which is the first step to get defeated, because the one who thinks that he can’t loose, drops his guard. Then, because he is so effective, he can’t deal with the idea of loosing, which increases his obsession, leading to probable wrong choices, because of the affection of the clear logical thought. Then, because of the fact that he is so intense and devoted, Finlander never backs up, and, in an unstable situation like the missile crisis, not backing up a little might signify pushing to hard and ending up in war. And finally, his other liability is that, by thinking in people in accordance to their usefulness, instead of bending his crew he breaks it, ultimately affecting the whole mission. Finally, because he is obsessive with winning and being the best, he wears out his whole crew, making them physically and mentally exhausted, this fact leads them to make mistakes that lead to their end. Because of all the reasons priory exposed, but mainly because his obsession and egocentrism, he in unable to measure the consequences of his actions, affecting not only him, but his whole crew community which is destructed, and the world as it was know in that time, because at that point there was more than enough nuclear power to wipe out the world’s population, and a single mistake or uncalculated movement would lead to doom. Nevertheless and after all, if we expunged ambition and vanity, where would the heroes and patriots be?
Eric Finlander is a strong, old school, egocentric, distrustful, conservative captain; he is a stereotypical leader, a tragic hero, a good, but flawed person with a one track mind that stick to a position and would bend only slightly. Military, Finlander is very knowledgeable, effective, confident, logical, devoted, obsessive, intense person that won’t back up until the very end, and that thinks of people in terms of their usefulness. Throughout the whole film we see that Eric is very strong both mentally and physically, he goes trough 24 hours of an intense situation in which any little mistake could cost the whole mission and he surpasses it without any trouble, also we can see that his ways are old school because how he treats the younger kid and the all the crew so that they become strong, in other words, “no pain, no good.” We see his conservative way of thinking every time we receives a note from the government telling him to hold back, some times he says it some times one can see it on his eyes, that is that they should blow them up, like the old times. There is a scene in which one can clearly see how egocentric he is, when Poitier is making him an interview, every time Poitier makes a compliment he smiles with a cocky look on his face and is more willing to answer any question about himself. Finally, his distrustfullness we can see every single time that he expulses Poitier or someone external to his crew out of a room when something critical is happening. We recognize Eric Finlander as a stereotypical leader and hero, because he is a sentimentalist who has obscure secrets that make him strong and mysterious, he is this rough guy that wont blink at the verge of an edge, he is a hunter.
On the other hand, his military strengths become a problem because they help to increase his obsession. First, since he is so knowledgeable he might be overconfident which is the first step to get defeated, because the one who thinks that he can’t loose, drops his guard. Then, because he is so effective, he can’t deal with the idea of loosing, which increases his obsession, leading to probable wrong choices, because of the affection of the clear logical thought. Then, because of the fact that he is so intense and devoted, Finlander never backs up, and, in an unstable situation like the missile crisis, not backing up a little might signify pushing to hard and ending up in war. And finally, his other liability is that, by thinking in people in accordance to their usefulness, instead of bending his crew he breaks it, ultimately affecting the whole mission. Finally, because he is obsessive with winning and being the best, he wears out his whole crew, making them physically and mentally exhausted, this fact leads them to make mistakes that lead to their end. Because of all the reasons priory exposed, but mainly because his obsession and egocentrism, he in unable to measure the consequences of his actions, affecting not only him, but his whole crew community which is destructed, and the world as it was know in that time, because at that point there was more than enough nuclear power to wipe out the world’s population, and a single mistake or uncalculated movement would lead to doom. Nevertheless and after all, if we expunged ambition and vanity, where would the heroes and patriots be?
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