In 1990 there was a quiet little film called "The Incident." It starred Walter Mathau as small town lawyer Harmon Cobb. The big point in Cobb's year was when he related his World War I experiences in the Fourth of July Picnic speech. It was even more important to him now that his son was off fighting this new World War and the boy's wife and daughter were living with him. Totally against his will an out of town Federal Judge (Played by Harry Morgan) enlists him to be the defense counsil for a German POW who is charged with murdering the beloved town doctor. During the trial Harmon must deal with the telegram from the Army that tells him his son has been killed by Germans too. But the small town lawyer is devoted to one thing, and that is the truth. Cobb finds that there is a lot more going on here than anyone suspected and unravels a web of lies and murder. It is a cracker jack little film. Two years later Cobb and the Judge are now law partners and Cobb is bored because the Judge doesn't let him do anything. This begins the second film in the series
This time Harmon sues the state over the mistreatment of patients in state mental institutions, and, once again, there is more than meets the eye. And it is worse than any of them had imagined. When that has been taken care of it looks like all is safe in the firm. But just two years after that Cobb finds himself defending the Judge himself against a charge of murder. The case covers many things, but the most important one is abuse. And again no one could handle the courtroom like Harmon Cobb does in
You will be drawn in, if by nothing else but Mathau's performance. It is such that you wish there had more in the series, or even a television series. But just be grateful for what we got.
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