Critics reviews

The plot is provocative enough, but the manner of filming, evocative of cinéma-vérité, drives every moment home. Forbidden to film on the subway system, director Larry Peerce and ace cinematographer Gerald Hirschfeld (Cotton Comes to Harlem, Young Frankenstein) had to rely on sets, except for shots snatched with hidden cameras. But what a set they had for the subway car.

Astonishingly, The Incident was shot mostly in a constructed car on a soundstage at the old Biograph Studios, with rear-projection used to suggest the movement of the outside world. Even more crucial, though, is DP Gerald Hirschfeld's vicious, noir-like high-contrast lighting, which enhances the menace of Musante and Sheen's faces—as well as the desperate panic of their victims.