warning : this review contains some spoilers for the 1964 film " fail - safe .
" if you have n't seen the film yet , proceed with caution .
nutshell : a relevant , intelligent , suspenseful drama .
still powerful today , even after the end of the cold war .
-------------------- " fail - safe
" ( usa , 1964 ) drama , 111 minutes screenplay by walter bernstein based on the novel by eugene burdick and harvey wheeler produced by max e . youngstein directed by sidney lumet review by jamahl epsicokhan -------------------- the most ironic aspect of nuclear war is that it does n't have a winning side and a losing side .
in a nuclear confrontation , everybody loses , and the aftereffects have devastating effects that impact the entire world -- assuming the world survives .
the idea -- and perhaps the only real option -- is to avoid war at all costs .
this is the theme of sidney lumet 's " fail - safe , " a fictional drama based on the novel by eugene burdick and harvey wheeler .
" fail - safe " takes place during the heart of the cold war ( the actual film was released two years after the cuban missile crisis ) , when the united states and the soviet union were in static discord over an issue that can be summarized in a single word : communism .
the premise centers around a combination of accidents and operation flaws .
five u . s .
bombers carrying nuclear warheads are ordered to set a routine course for moscow after an unidentified aircraft is spotted heading toward america .
the unidentified aircraft turns out to be a commercial airliner , but a mechanical failure strikes the military base that commands the bombers .
suddenly out of contact , and with standing orders to remain on course until receiving new directives , the bomber pilots can not be recalled , and they proceed to moscow with the intention of destroying it with a nuclear strike .
a great deal of " fail - safe " 's plot follows various characters as they attempt to devise ways of stopping the u . s .
bombers from reaching russia 's borders -- at any cost .
the plot is compelling , and the story creates urgency and dread by painting the grimmest of worst case scenarios .
the reality sets in quickly as one attempt to turn the bombers after another fails .
general bogan ( frank overton ) , taking orders directly from the president of the united states himself ( henry fonda ) , is powerless -- the fate of the world lies in the hands of an automated , pre - programmed system that may not be stoppable , simply because the creators of the war machines were too efficient in their task to make a no - win situation winnable .
the events in " fail - safe " are fascinating because they 're anything but predictable , but the real reason " fail - safe " works is because it understands more about nuclear war than what exists within the confines of its plot .
a key ingredient to the film is its ability to create an ongoing polemic about nuclear war , communism , the cold war , and the united states ' role in all of it .
most of this is through the film 's use of the character groeteschele ( walter matthau ) , an arrogant civilian theorist of nuclear weapons use who , incidentally , is on the president 's advising staff for analyzing the statistical plausibility of waging a nuclear war .
many of the film 's most pointed messages arise from discussions where groeteschele is one of the key voices .
early in the film , he hosts a dinner party where he explains the importance of " strategy " in a nuclear assault to " minimize " casualties .
"
what 's the difference between 60 million and 100 million dead ? " a guest asks impatiently .
" forty million , " groeteschele responds wryly .
the problem with groeteschele 's mindset is that he * believes * nuclear combat to be a viable method of war .
the only difference to him between nuclear armageddon and conventional warfare is the raw data and the casualty totals .
groeteschele realizes that these weapons can destroy the world several times over .
yet his answer to the arms race is not to slow down and try to cool the situation off , as general black ( dan o'herlihy ) has often recommended .
on the contrary -- according to groeteschele , that would lead to russia having * more * nuclear weapons than the u . s . , which would clearly put america at a disadvantage .
such a stance was perhaps the central paradox and misguided practice of the arms race .
"
fail - safe " clearly sees it as one of the central issues of the cold war , and , likewise , it becomes a central theme in the film .
why continue to build such machines of mass destruction while already possessing enough of them to destroy the world several times over ?
is it wise ?
is it even logical ?
no , not really .
although " fail - safe " is more about the issue of nuclear weapons than it is about the political ramifications of communism , there is a scene in the film that deals with communism in an intentionally superficial , one - sided sort of way .
again , this is achieved through groeteschele , who is easily the film 's most important character in terms of the larger - theme significance .
in addition to providing the central " pro - nuclear war " voice that the film warns against , he also makes key remarks about communists that show just how much fear and resentment people of the period were prone to when it came to communism .
the context the film uses suggests that this hatred was often glib .
one of groeteschele 's " logical " trains of thought ventures so far into fantasy theoretical prediction that it 's merely absurd .
he labels the average marxist an " unfeeling , calculating machine " that will do whatever it takes to preserve itself .
groeteschele takes it so far as to say that if the u . s . drops the warhead on moscow , the soviets will * instantly * surrender , for to retaliate would invite counter - measures that would further destroy russia 's home soil -- which must be preserved at all costs .
groeteschele seems to forget these people are human beings with emotions ; general black quickly reminds him that the soviets would attack out of revenge -- as any normal person would .
the irony here is groeteschele 's own mechanical theorizing .
he is so quick to judge the enemy that he does n't even realize his own seemingly programmed thought patterns .
once the film makes it evident that turning the u . s .
bombers will be impossible , the question becomes what the * consequences * of destroying moscow will be .
just how will the soviet union 's leader react , and what can the president do to convey his best intentions ?
( just * how * does one pass off the deaths of millions of people as an * mishap * ? ) with the help of his translator buck ( larry hagman ) , the president negotiates at length with the soviet leader , in scenes that prove amazingly taut and powerful in their simplicity , with lumet 's long takes of fonda and hagman in the same frame , exchanging the dialog between the president and the soviet leader . without getting into too much detail , i will say that the compromise they ultimately reach is very costly , yet necessary and as sensible as possible under the circumstances .
( that is , as sensible as a nuclear " incident " can probably be . )
it does accomplish what it must : it avoids an all - out war , something that simply is n't possible because of its all - too - real consequences .
dramatically , the ending is quite powerful , and the use of o'herlihy 's character as the symbolic " matador " ( providing a bookend to the film by ending the story while tying into his dream sequence from the film 's opening ) , is particularly appropriate .
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fail - safe " is a production of a major hollywood studio ( released by columbia pictures ) , and it has the structure of a high - tension suspense thriller that one might expect from a hollywood film .
nevertheless , under lumet 's direction and walter bernstein 's intelligent adaptation of burdick 's and wheeler 's novel , the film continues to have a lasting effect even after the events on screen have unfolded .
the film often warns that the automation of war is something that may make nuclear holocaust an unintentional consequence of such mass arming .
but it was the conscious , human choice to * initialize * this automatic arming that " fail - safe " also finds dangerous .
in retrospect , the arms race seems to be one of the most puzzling exercises in futility of the century .
it 's just fortunate that both sides were finally able to come to their senses and slow down , rather than continuing groeteschele 's dangerous approach of speeding up and causing a possible meltdown .
still powerful today continues to have a lasting effect the ending is quite powerful particularly appropriate a relevant , intelligent , suspenseful drama the plot is compelling