Rating: 
Summary: a must see for videofiles.
Review: In short a very well done film from beginning to end. It's not a feel good film. The tension masterfully created in this movie stands as a tribute to the real tensions the world suffered through in the cold war era. And it's honesty with the subject is surprising considering it was produced in the middle of the "duck and cover" days. An excellent complement to Kubrick's DR. Strangelove. It treats the same plot line in a very serious and realistic fashion.
Rating:
Summary: So intense it brought tears to my eyes!
Review: A brilliantly acted and directed look at the realities and complexities of Cold War / nationalist / nuclear politics and motivations. It reminds you how personal the arms race is to ALL peoples.Quality viewing.
Rating:
Summary: Fabulous Piece of Work
Review: "Fail Safe," the story of how mechanical failures lead the world to the brink of nuclear war, has to be one of the scariest movies ever made. It's scary because something like that could really happen. The film asks: Is our own cleverness, and urge to be the most powerful in the world, leading to the downfall of our planet? Of coarse, the film doesn't quite answer. We have to decide. We're helped in our decision by a seasoned group of great actors, who play different kinds of military officials and government advisors. Most notable are Walter Matthau as a bloodthirsty Pentagon advisor, and Henry Fonda as a very human president dealing with the fate of humanity on his shoulders. Sidney Lumet gives us a trgic and moving story, and must be commended for not going out of his way for a happy ending.
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Summary: machines improve, but people don't
Review: In spite of so many years this movie still attains to impress me. Perhaps with the time, "Fail Safe" looks as made for tv withouth much money. Sets seems poor because one expect installations of USAF must be, as is said in the film - "the best"- . It's said that the big computers from 1960 hadn't the fraction power of a PC of today. Sure the USA Army possess now the best machines, but as in this film, all these doesn't calm very much, because this "Fail Safe" is mainly human. Yes there's a fail in the communications, but these safety system has been previously conceived by men which knew such possibilities of error, for that this movie is very credible and frightful, and beyond all these, one can see that if electronics and computers rigth now are much more powerful and reliable, curiously it would be difficult to find so superb actors rigth now as in this film. Not only Henry Fonda and Walter Mattau, but all secondary characters are really extraordinary so, one can ask himself if politics and military people of today also are as good and are improved as war technology has done. I'm afraid the answer is negative and of course, knowing one of the world leaders starts the day with plenty of vodka when not awakening at the hospital is all but comforting.
Rating:
Summary: An old film now, but its effect hasn't abated at all
Review: Although this film is dated, it still gives a grim, frightening effect of what could have happened during the cold war. The entire cast gives realistic and convincing performances of the persons controlling the world's fate when they are all under severe stress.
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Summary: World War III is on the Brink
Review: An interesting plot of an American bomber squad who receives their bombing mission for Moscow due to a computer glitch. Henry Fonda as the president must try and pursuade the Soviet Premiere that the accident is not a sneek attack on the U.S.S.R. With a shattering climax of Moscow and New York City being destroyed, this movie keeps you on the edge of your seat. A very fast-paced war adventure that shows how dangerously close we are to letting our machines take over our actions. Although somewhat outdated, our computers are none the less having to same role as back then.
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Summary: Still Remember
Review: I saw this movie when it was first released and I still remember it clearly! Like Saving Private Ryan, the impact is there so you only need to see this movie once. However, I'm going to order the vhs version so that I can show this movie to my younger friends...
Rating: 
Summary: Superior Performances And Presentation Overcome Plot Holes
Review: Fail Safe has often been unfairly compared to Dr. Strangelove, and as a result has not gotten the attention is deserves as a film. And it deserves attention as a film with superior performances, outstanding twists, and chillingly claustrophobic presentation. The plot, from Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler's 1962 novel, is straightforward; an unidentified aircraft is picked up on NORAD radar and causes the Strategic Air Command to send bombers to fixed orbiting points near Russia, called Fail Safe points. When the UFO is identified as an off-course airliner, the bombers are recalled. But a blown fault indicator at SAC HQ in Omaha necessitates replacement; this causes a power surge that activates one bomber group's automatic attack signal. Making matters worse, the Russians jam the group's radios, leaving the crew convinced that war has broken out, and forced to carry out their operational order; incinerate Moscow. The sheer excellence of the cast - Dan O'Herlihy, Walter Matthau, Edward Binns, Frank Overton, Fritz Weaver in his film debut, Sorrell Booke, Henry Fonda, Larry Hagman, and so forth; Dom DeLuise gives a magnificent performance in his brief role as an Air Force Sergeant forced to reveal secret information to the Russians to help them stop the attacking bombers - the chilling B&W photography, and Sidney Lumet's direction help the film overcome several weaknesses in the script. The biggest weakness comes in the film's ending; the President agrees to incinerate New York City in the event that Moscow is destroyed, which works as drama but contains zero plausibility. Also hurting the film is its portrayal of Pentagon advisor Professor Groteschele (Matthau), who comes off as an utterly bloodthirsty case of insanity. Then there are the subtle hints of a moral equivalency written into the story, an equivalency that never existed between the US and USSR. "You have the same equipment we do!""They (Russian SAMs) are no different from ours, sir.""We have computers, like yours." Basically the film treats both superpowers as equally guilty and equally innocent of the disaster that befalls them. It would be a much better film had it been more honest in pointing out that the US and USSR never were moral equals. But such quibbles should not detract from the sheer power of the film's presentation. The nuclear threat has not quite evaporated with the collapse of Soviet Russia, so the film still retains a relevancy that adds to its brilliance as drama.
Rating:
Summary: A TENSE MAN vs. MACHINE DRAMA
Review: An automated US nuclear attack on the Soviet Union cannot be rescinded - even by the President. Failed circuitry seems to ensure the vaporization of millions of people. As the President struggles for words in an attempt to persuade the Russian Premeir not to counter-attack, he slowly realizes that the Russians have no choice. The consequent brokering of humanity is terrifying. Remade twenty years hence as War Games.
Rating:
Summary: Great Movie!!!
Review: A powerful film that shows how close we came to all-out death!! A must-see!!
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