Fail Safe - 1964
Fail-Safe is a 1964 Cold war thriller film directed by Sidney Lumet, based on the 1962 novel of the same name by Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler. It portrays a fictional account of a Cold War nuclear crisis. The film features performances by veteran actors Henry Fonda, Dan O'Herlihy, Walter Matthau and Frank Overton. Early film appearances include Fritz Weaver, Dom DeLuise, and Larry Hagman as the President's interpreter.
The story chronicles the vents surrounding an accidental nuclear attack by the U.S. on the Soviet Union and the efforts to stop it and the aftermath. Its as chilling a movie as I have ever seen. I wish everyone would take the time to watch it. it makes you think about a lot of things, especially nuclear war and weapons, in a way you won't ever again.
Matthau is amazing and chilling in his performance, a role most would never dream of him in. He was superb.
The story chronicles the vents surrounding an accidental nuclear attack by the U.S. on the Soviet Union and the efforts to stop it and the aftermath. Its as chilling a movie as I have ever seen. I wish everyone would take the time to watch it. it makes you think about a lot of things, especially nuclear war and weapons, in a way you won't ever again.
In the story, during the early 1960s, Cold War tensions existing between the Soviet Union and the United States are heightened. An accidental thermonuclear first-strike attack by a group of United States Vindicator bombers (Convair B-58 Hustler aircraft) is launched in a mission against Moscow, the capital of what was then the Soviet Union. Then the real nightmare begins......
In 2000, the novel was adapted again as a televised play, starring George Clooney, Richard Dreyfuss, and Noah Wyle and broadcast live in black-and-white on CBS.
The film was shot in black and white, in a dramatic, theater-stage-play format with claustrophobic close-ups and ponderous silence occasionally between several characters. There were no musical underscoring nor were there any music played in any scenes. With few exceptions, the action takes place largely in the White House underground bunker, the Pentagon war conference room, the SAC war room, and a single bomber cockpit (a B-58 "Hustler"). "Real" world life is seen only after the title opening credits and in the final scene depicting an ordinary New York City day, its residents entirely unsuspecting of their imminent destruction, each scene freezing at the moment of impact. No mushroom clouds appear in the film.
