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Summary: Great Movie! A Lot Beter Than Dr. Strangelove
Review: The movie Fail Safe (1964) was made in a perfect time period, at the height of the cold war. It depicted a B-52 being instructed to hit its primary & secondary targets deep within the Soviet Union (Russia). They try to recall the plane. No luck. It shows more of the comand and controll aspect than Dr. Strangelove. If you like it I also recomend: The Day After (1983), Damnation Alley (1977), On the Beach (1959), Testament (1983), The Atomic Cafe (1982, Threads (1980's)
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Summary: A stunning Cold War era suspense thriller sure to shock.
Review: "Duck and cover" was the phrase most baby boomers came to know as the signal that nuclear disaster was near. After the Cuban missle crisis, America and her enemy--the Soviets--came to be on pins and needles. In Fail Safe, those fears are played on to great effect. An American SAC bomber is erroneously given instructions to carry out its well practiced mission: proceed to target (Moscow) and drop its payload of hydrogen weapons. The desperate moves by the American president to turn back the bomber, his subsequent decision to place American populations at equal risk to avoid all-out war, and the gut wrenching final moments which leave this viewer literally in tears, all conspire to make this film experience one you'll not soon forget.
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Summary: Good, but not impressive
Review: It pops typical Hollywood morals real well, and is even an ok drama. But its also predictable and heavy handed. A far more convincing nuclear war drama was Dr. Strangelove.
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Summary: Greatest movie of all time.
Review: Well, the first thing is this movie is rare to find. The movie depicts B-58 Hustlers post war on the brink of world war III. Basic manuevers went wrong with a machine clamed "Fail Safe" wich sends a B-58 Hustler armed with 4 nuclear warheads to ground zero: Moscow. I won't give the rest away. Great movie! I love this movie and always will, that is why i give it 5 stars, i recommend anybody to see this movie, even children since i am only 14 myself. Watch it!
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Summary: Drama and Suspense in a Terrifying Cold-War "Goof"
Review: Prepare yourself for a slow start, a long simmer, and a stomach-tightening conclusion. For those that demand excellence in acting, plot, writing, and direction, it's hard to top Fail Safe. From the moment a US bomber receive an erroneous "go" code and takes off to bomb Moscow, Fail Safe takes you on a roller coaster of emotion and suspense that ends very differently than many of today's light-hearted, happy-ending fluff. Once the bomber sets off on its mission, the gloves come off between the United States and the USSR, and it's up to the president and his adversarial (with each other) advisers to formulate a plan to literally save the world. Note the scene of pleading between the president, the pilot of the bomber, and the pilot's wife for the plane to return. It's terrifying to see a man so conditioned by training that he can't be reprogrammed to disobey his original orders, even as his orders disobeyed their own design to come to him in error in the first place. While it seems a bit stiff at times, Fail Safe delivers gripping suspense via understated acting, realistic yet sparse sets, and a plausible story-line that remains logical all the way through its terrifying conclusion. If this is the possible result of an electrical malfunction, then I vote we return to caves and spears!
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Summary: A must-see classic
Review: Fail Safe was directed by Sidney Lumet - a year before he directed 'The Hill' - another gritty, raw, black and white film focussing on human relationships in military situations. The film is set in the days before America's 24-hour nuclear deterrent was placed on submarines, and they had to resort to continuous airplane patrols. When the primitive electronics of the 'Fail Safe' system go wrong, it orders one plane onto Moscow. The film cleverly illustrates military procedure and how this only serves to compund the problem of recalling the rogue plane. The film takes logic and common sense to the extreme when The President (Henry Fonda) realises that the only way he can convince the Soviet Premier that the attack is a mistake is to offer New York up for destruction by dropping 2 20-megaton bombs on it. Watch out for the chilling moment when the conference phone lines melt and a piercing high-pitch tone fills the room. And then you really find out who the Matador is. Very, very clever and a highly emotional ending. Larry Hagman stars in his first major role. A REALLY fantastic film.
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Summary: "Fail Safe," one of the greatest nuclear accident scenarios.
Review: Fail Safe is probably one of the first movies to dipict what would happen in an accidental nuclear strike. It's not one of those movies where there are winners and losers. In global thermo nuclear war there are really no winners come to think of it. Fail Safe shows that, and truly represents the possible accidents that could occur at anytime. If there's a mathematical possibility of something happening, it will happen. How would the leaders of the 2 most powerful nations on Earth react. To find out you should really take a look at this movie. It may look old just because it's black and white and made in the 60's, but the scenario depicted in this movie could happen tommorow. END
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Summary: This surprised me! It's one of the greatest movies ever!
Review: I didn't expect much from this movie, because it's B/W and there were no special effects back then. But this movie was *really* dramatic. It gets off to a slow start, but it's really superb overall. END
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Summary: "Fail Safe" is a legend in its own right
Review: Columbia Pictures released "Fail Safe" around the same time it released "Dr. Strangelove." Unfortunately, "Fail Safe" has lingered in "Strangelove's" shadow. The Peter Sellers' classic has already been inducted into the National Film Registry and was recently named one of the AFI's top 100 films of the century. "Fail Safe" also deserves such recognition, due to its fine acting and deep subject matter. Like "Strangelove", this movie deals with accidental nuclear war. And that's where the similarities end, because "Fail Safe" is a gut-wrenching drama. Faced with nuclear annihilation once an American bomber strikes Moscow, Henry Fonda, as the President, makes the most difficult decision of his personal and professional life. Look for Larry Hagman, Dom DeLuise, Walter Matthau, and Sorrell Booke in various supporting roles. END
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Summary: LIBERALISM IN HOLLYWOOD AND A TERRIBLE ENDING
Review: In 1965, a serious nuclear movie called "Fail Safe" was released. Henry Fonda is the President. A computer glitch launches The Bomb for the U.S.S.R. Fonda cannot recall it, and apologizes to the Soviet premier. His wife is visiting New York City, and in one of the worst political decisions in Hollywood history, Fonda tells the Soviets that in order to prove to them it was an accident, he will drop a 30-megaton nuclear bomb on the Big Apple! He carries through with his decision, despite his wife's presence there. The Soviets are portrayed as suffering their fate with dignified resolve. STEVEN TRAVERS
AUTHOR OF "BARRY BONDS: BASEBALL'S SUPERMAN"
STWRITES@AOL.COM
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