Fail-Safe
Tags: dramatic, horror

Plot synopsis:
The time is the early-to-mid-1960s, the height of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. An unknown aircraft approaches North America from Europe. American bombers of the Strategic Air Command (SAC) are scrambled to their fail safe points near Russia. The bombers have orders not to proceed past their fail safe points without receiving a special attack code. The original "threat" is proven to be innocuous and recall orders are issued. However, due to a technical failure, the attack code is transmitted to Group Six, which consists of six Vindicator supersonic bombers and four escort fighters. Colonel Grady, the commanding pilot of Group Six, tries to contact SAC headquarters in Omaha to verify the fail-safe order (called Positive Check), but due to Soviet radio jamming, Grady cannot hear Omaha. Concluding that the attack order and the radio jamming could only mean nuclear war, Grady commands Group Six towards Moscow, their intended destination.
At meetings in Omaha, the Pentagon, and in the fallout shelter of the White House, American politicians and scholars debate the implications of the attack. Professor Groteschele suggests the United States follow this accidental attack with a full-scale attack to force the Soviets to surrender.
The President orders the Air Force to send the four escort fighters after the bombers to shoot down the Vindicators. The attempt is to show that the Vindicator attack is an accident, not a full-scale nuclear assault. After using their afterburners in an attempt to catch the bombers the fighters run out of fuel and crash, dooming the pilots to die of exposure in the Arctic Sea. The fighters fail to destroy any bombers.
The President of the United States contacts the Soviet Premier and offers assistance in attacking the group. The Soviets decline at first; then they decide to accept help.
Meanwhile, the Soviet PVO Strany air defense corps has managed to shoot down two of the six planes. After accepting American help they shoot down two more planes. Two bombers remain on course to Moscow. One is a decoy and carries no bombs. The other carries two 20 megaton devices. General Bogan tells Marshal Nevsky, the Soviet commander, to ignore the decoy plane because it is harmless. Nevsky, who mistrusts Bogan, instead orders his Soviet aircraft to pursue the decoy aircraft. The Russian fighters are then out of position to intercept the final American bomber. The decoy's feint guarantees that the remaining bomber can successfully attack. Following the failure, Nevsky collapses.
As the bomber approaches Moscow, Colonel Grady opens up the radio to contact SAC to inform them that they are about to make the strike. As a last-minute measure, the Soviets fire a barrage of nuclear-tipped missiles to form a fireball in an attempt to knock the low-flying Vindicator out of the sky. The bomber shoots up two decoy missiles, which successfully leads the Soviet missiles high in the air and Colonel Grady's plane survives.
With the radio open, the President attempts to persuade Grady that there is no war. Grady's son also attempts to convince him. Under standing orders that such a late recall attempt must be a Soviet trick, Grady ignores them. Grady tells his crew that "We're not just walking wounded, we're walking dead men," due to radiation from the Soviet missiles. He intends to fly the aircraft over Moscow and detonate the bombs in the plane. His co-pilot notes, "There's nothing to go home to." Meanwhile, the American president has ordered another American bomber to circle over New York City with 40-megaton payload, which should be dropped in case of the bombing of Moscow. The American ambassador in Moscow reports about the final moments of the Russian capital before being vaporized from the blast.
The American bomber receives an order to drop its bombs over New York City in order for the destruction of Moscow to be reciprocated and a Third World War avoided. It was earlier revealed that the American President's wife was in New York while the events of the film transpired, meaning she would be killed in the blast. The pilot of the American bomber, General Black, commits suicide with a lethal injection just after releasing the bombs.

Review: When the order to proceed beyond Fail-Safe flashes up in the cockpit, the pilots look at it in motionless silence, their very stillness conveying the tragedy in all its emotional power.In "Twelve Angry Men" Lumet cast Henry Fonda as the voice of America's liberal conscience beset by the darker forces of the human psyche.
I mentioned in another comment about a series of movies made during the mid-1960's, that I call 'political noir'.These films are easy to spot, in that there were made in B&W, dealt with a American institutional crisis and seemed to always feature Henry Fonda somewhere in the cast.On all three counts, this film fits that criteria.Because this film came out around the time of "Dr Strangelove", it was somewhat overshadowed, and because of the nearly identical plots, there was even talk of plagiarism, even though this film was based on a novel by two Washington-based journalists with a remarkable insight of the workings of government and was directed by Sidney Lument, one of the cinema's great directors.Also, unlike "Dr Strangelove", which seemed to receive major studio backing, money and the freedom offered by being produced in Great Britain where this satire was more appreciated, "Fail-Safe" was independently produced in New York on a limited budget, without official backing by the Defense Department, which explains all of the flaws complained of by many viewers and posters on this site.Yet in spite of these limitations, Lument pulls off a major coup by presenting us with an authentic piece of Armeggeddon.In a real-time view, we watch as a million-to-one technical fault 'orders' a wing of American bombers to attack Soviet Russia, and the Defense Department and the President are helpless in trying to stop it.We are also witness to how our military operates, trying to plan military policy, and debating theory and possible results.Such things are sensible and harmless as far as these things go, until 'the day comes' when reality displaces theory.Walter Matthau, who is more well-known for his comic talents ("The Odd Couple", "Grumpy Old Men"), than being an accomplished dramatic actor, is shown at the height of his powers as Prof.
Groteschelle; a defense policy wonk, whose obsession with defense preparedness and Marxist theory reaches the point of detachment from human emotion, as he blindly recommends that no action be taken and the bombers be allowed to complete their mission, resulting in 'final victory' over Communism.This is in direct contradiction to General Black, a compassionate Air Force officer who is also an intellectual, who desperately urges that every means be made to stop the bombers before it is too late.However, it turns out to be too late, at least on the American side.We watch how technology becomes a hindrance, as much as the distrust between the two superpowers seems to be, as the President and the Soviet Premier desperately try to seek a solution to this disaster.The tragedy about this is that someone thought they should remake this in 2000, which in a way is flattering but certainly could not come close to the original work.But, this only proves that the subject of 'accidental war' is still a concern.However, how can one do better than Henry Fonda ???.
This agenda manifests itself most effectively in the vivid dream sequence that opens the film, but also in the terse intertitles indicating time and place, in the very contrasty (yes, I made that word up) black-and-white cinematography, in the absence of any musical scoring, and in the solid, unfussy performances by the actors (Henry Fonda and Larry Hagman deserve special mention).
Overton does a great job as the general in charge of the Strategic Air Command in Omaha who is very reluctantly trying to help the Russians shoot down SAC bombers who've had one squad of them accidentally given the go ahead for nuclear war.Henry Fonda is the beleaguered president of the United States who is issuing commands from a deep underground bunker beneath the White House with only Russian interpreter Larry Hagman there.
The ultimate moral dilemma confronts the President of the United States when everything goes wrong with the strategic offensive power of a US Air Force bomber squadron, leaving viewers shaken at the end of a superior Cold war drama highlighted by its extraordinary claustrophobia.Filming of Fail-Safe coincided with filming of Dr. Strangelove, and Stanley Kubrick succeeded in getting his film done first.
The earlier publicity for Strangelove hurt Fail-Safe's exposure, and this is doubly disappointing because Fail-Safe is in most ways a superior film, telling its story straight and highlighting superior performances by the entirety of the cast, from Henry Fonda, Frank Overton, Fritz Weaver, and Dan O'Herlihy to a stunningly strong performance by comedian Dom Deluise in a rare dramatic role.What begins as a routine albiet annoying tour for a visiting Congressman of Strategic Air Command's headquarters in Omaha turns into the ulitmate nightmare.
Dan O'Herlihy is a Brigadier General harboring endless doubt about the sagacity of the US strategic arsenal - "We've got to stop war, not limit it," he says, against the better judgement of his peers - who plays a pivotal role in the crisis' outcome.But even with the excellence of these and others, it is Henry Fonda as the President and Larry Hagman who drive the drama in their hotline conversations with the Soviet chairman; the pivotal angle of these conversations is Peter Buck's whispered comments about the intangibles of the Russian leader's words and expression of them - when the Soviet claims no knowledge of jamming equipment, Buck expresses belief that the Russian is lying - and also his analysis of arguments among the Russian leader's own staff; as the conversations continue on Buck takes on more and more of the role of outright surrogate for the Soviet chairman.The running battle to stop the bombers leaves the President with a decision that is the only hope, should the bombers succeed, to prevent Russia from a full-scale retaliatory attack that will incinerate the world; the President's decision is of course outrageously implausible in real life but nonetheless works in the context of the film, and leads to a delicious bit of irony at the very end that ties in a bizarre fixation with a matador.Among the liberties the film takes to tell the story, aside from the hotline telephone (the actual hotline was a teletype transmitter, continuously updgraded over the years), are the types of bombers used and the speed and weapon capability of these craft.
Will the Soviet accept?"Fail-Safe" is a tense and frightening 1964 film made in the climax of the Cold War. Fifty and something years later, the realistic story is dated and fortunately only fictional.
The cast is exceptional and features actors that went on to be type cast as either comic or hack, Dom De-louis, Walter Matthau, Larry Hagman, in some unbelievably well done dramatic parts.Along with Henry Fonda as the most realistic president ever put to film, The entire cast is magnificent.Just as an aside try getting both this film and Kubricks Dr. Strangelove and watch the both.
Two actors who became better known years later were great in this film.Larry Hagman as the young interpreter plays off wonderfully with Henry Fonda.
The threat it explores -- an accidental launching of a nuclear attack due to a technical error -- seemed all to real.By placing characters in key positions on the chain of command, from the White House to the Pentagon, Strategic Air Command and, by voice, the Soviet leadership, the filmmakers do an excellent job of following events, and the effect those events have on completely believable characters.Everything in this movie is fallible: the technology, the systems, and the human beings.
As the leaders of the two countries grapple for some kind of solution as time runs out .Classic dark anti-war drama with magnificent acting by all-star-cast , acceptable production design and masterfully realized by the always original and great Sidney Lumet .
Cast and support actors are very good , giving sensational acting such as Henry Fonda as The President , Dan O'Herlihy , Walter Matthau , Frank Overton , Larry Hagman , Edward Binns , Russell Collins , feature film debut of Fritz Weaver and Dana Elcar's first film role .
This is a film which, through a very serious topic and a melodramatic tone, emphasizes the absurdity of a conflict and a political dirt.Fail-Safe is set for the most part at Strategic Air Command headquarters, where a misguided transmission sends a squadron of bombers hurtling towards Russia, fully prepared to drop their atomic weaponry on Moscow.
Fail-Safe, Sidney Lumet's disturbing brink-of-doom thriller shows one possible scenario about how our leaders would have handled just such a catastrophe.After a few opening scenes that introduce the audience to the principal characters, the action starts when an off-course commercial airliner triggers an alert in the American nuclear command center.
In a desperate effort to prevent a retaliatory attack by the Soviets that would result in all-out nuclear war, the President must resort to a horrifying compromise.In Fail Safe, Sidney Lumet opts for a deadly serious mix of cold-war melodrama and rampant psychosis.
A young Larry Hagman holds his own against Fonda as the President's Russian translator.Highly underrated, it's long past time for Fail Safe to be viewed independently as a taut, claustrophobic thriller and to take its place as a Cold War classic..
It's merely the president and his translator being shown, but Lumet's great use of camera angles and the talents of Fonda make you feel as if you're a third party on the phone in the conversation."Fail-Safe" might be especially poignant in the Cold War era, but it still holds true in the present, merely by its use of tension, conflict and negotiation.
The "splice-of-life" imagery mixed with the sound of General Black's count-down made the possible deaths of millions even more real than the bombing sequence in "The Day After." In effect, it is the most emotionally gripping cautionary tale of a possible nuclear war and is even better than "Warday" by Whitley Strieber and James Kunetka or "The Postman" by David Brin (the book, not the Kevin Costner abomination).To sum it up, it is beautifully artistic and one of Henry Fonda's shining moments.
The film follows what happens when a technical error results in American bombers being sent past the 'fail-safe- line towards Russia and, due to US military procedure, are unable to be recalled and are now set on a course to bomb Moscow, and probably start World War 3.
Henry Fonda, Walter Matthau, Larry Hagman, Dan O'Herlihy, Frank Overton, all have great performances.Fail Safe.
The president (Henry Fonda) works desperately to try and negotiate with his Soviet counterpart, while the hawks in his administration keep telling him to nuke them.It's certainly a good look at Cold War tension, but "Dr. Strangelove" was better in that it showed how the two sides were basically the same.
Walter Matthau as a college prof of all things convincingly speaks cold truths while military officers played by Dan O'Herlilhy, Edward Binns, Fritz Weaver and Frank Overton struggle with duty and loyalty.Released a year after Kubrick's satirical masterpiece Dr. Strangelove Fail Safe failed at the box office but it stands alone a powerful close to home drama that will leave you drained..
Walter Matthau plays the cold and calculating war analyst, who towards the end starts to see the human toll of his previous convictions and recommendations.I watched the DVD version of Fail-Safe and it contains a documentary in which many parallels with Dr Strangelove are drawn.
In my book this movie and "On the Beach" are the best film dramas having a plot basis in the nuclear tension of the Cold War. Superbly directed by Sidney Lumet, and shot appropriately in b&w, this absolutely gripping drama moves forward with white-knuckled tension.
Fine performances and excellent direction make the difference in this 1964 film set during the Cold War. A U.S. bomber with nuclear weapons is mistakenly ordered to bomb Moscow, plunging both countries' militaries and political leaders into a frantic battle against time to avert an accidental nuclear attack.
Henry Fonda as the U.S. president, Larry Hagman as Buck his translator, Ed Binns as the pilot of the attack plane, Walter Matthau as an ultra-hawkish professor, along with a great supporting cast will have you on the edge of your seat during the entire film.
Both do so as well as is possible, and both are stunning.Fail Safe stars Henry Fonda as the unnamed President of the United States, who takes control of the situation in a tremendous performance.
Which he achieved so spectacularly with Strangelove.On the other hand, Lumet's Fail-Safe plays to our core fears: that even with a superstar like Henry Fonda in command, there is no happy ending, no true hero riding into the sunset; only a compromised ending in order to keep the peace & preserve life on earth!Lumet considers the technical aspects of nuclear war: humans put their faith & trust in computers & machines, but who guards the guards, is the continuing thread throughout the film.There is absolutely no humour at all in this film; not even a soundtrack of any note.
He just remained totally cold & calculating, making you wonder what the world would be like with people like him in charge.Another good, but not brilliant, performance came from Fonda as the President left to decide all sorts of decisions, prophecies & personal sacrifices as his country looks down into the dark abyss.The film generally is very good but is cheapened somewhat by the small budget, the stock footage of aircraft and by the fact that the President would never ever sit in a drab little bunker with just one translator.
There are also scenes early in the movie which both confuse and seem pointless, such as O'Herlihy's dream of a bull-fight and Matthau being propositioned by an attractive society female, apparently turned on by his incendiary talk of warheads and Armageddon.However things improve greatly once the die is cast and the unimaginable becomes only too real, helped immeasurably by Henry Fonda, in his third role in two years as a senior Washington politician, this time as the actual president who has to think fast and rationally as he attempts to defuse the crisis.
Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove was wonderful, previously reviewed here (http://letterboxd.com/barracuda/film/dr-strangelove-or-how-i- learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-the-bomb/), Lumet's overlooked drama starring Henry Fonda and Walter Matthau is a perfect drama, done only the way the insanely talented Lumet could have done, that would live on as a legendary film had it not been released the same year as Dr. Strangelove.General Black (Dan O'Herlihy) has been troubled by nightmares of a matador and bull, which shakes him to his core and results in his waking in a cold sweat after each occurrence.
It is a story where a technical malfunction in the Pentagon's strategic control system causes an erroneous order to be sent to a B-52 squadron; therefore, the airmen were instructed to send planes to bomb Moscow.The Americans, most notable the President of the United States, try to stop the bombers from carrying out the attack because they do not want to instigate an all-out war with the Soviets.
Casting would have been better without the distraction of Hollywood "movie stars".Fifty years after "Fail-Safe" was made, we now have films that warn us of the danger of nuclear power, in the form of documentaries that describe real-life nuclear disasters, like Chernobyl and Fukushima.
The movie follows the efforts of the Soviet and American militaries to overcome their distrust for each other and to co-operate in either stopping or if necessary shooting down the bomber group before it can bomb Moscow, and we watch the American President and the Soviet Premier talk over a secure phone connection as they try to trust each other and to come to some decision about what to do in this nightmare situation.The performances in this are absolutely superb from everyone involved.
There are very strong supporting performances from Larry Hagman as the President's translator who advises the president and the viewers about not just what the Soviet leader is saying but also what he's thinking and feeling as he listens to his voice, from Fritz Weaver as Col. Cascio, the number two officer at SAC who falls apart as he's ordered to co-operate with the Soviets in trying to shoot down the American bombers and from Walter Matthau as Professor Groeteschele, a civilian adviser to the Pentagon who sees this accident as an opportunity to force the Soviet Union to surrender.As the movie goes on there's an increasing sense of hopelessness and desperation that the bombing of Moscow can be prevented, and some plan has to be hatched to stop the Soviets from retaliating with everything they have.
Most of the movie is filmed in the isolated sets of the SAC headquarters in Omaha or in the president's bunker in Washington where he speaks to the Soviet leader, with a few equally riveting scenes set in the cockpit of the lead bomber on its way to Moscow as its crew comes to grips with what they believe to be their mission.
Released in the same year as Dr Strangelove in the midt of the cold war, Fail Safe is a remarkably similar film that follows an unintentional nuclear attack by the US on Moscow, the attack apparently triggered by a computer malfunction.
I think the only bad thing about Fail-Safe is that it was released the same year as Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove, which was a black comedy that dealt with the exact same situation...US Bombers inadvertantly attack the USSR.Henry Fonda gives one of his best performances as the President who must make the ultimate sacrifice for world peace, and Dan O'Herlihy and Walter Matthau are excellent as the reversed Dove and Hawk of the movie.
The President (Henry Fonda) has to find a way to stop them.This is a cold hearted movie.