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Fail-Safe [1963]
![Fail-Safe [1963]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/519CkWYWe5L._SL160_.jpg)
RRP: £12.99
Our Price: £5.92 (subject to change)
Editorial
Amazon.com
It's Dr. Strangelove, but without the laughs. Fail-Safe, made within a year of Strangelove and at the height of cold war atomic anxiety, posits a similar nightmare scenario. A U.S. bomber is accidentally ordered toward Moscow, ready to drop its load. The U.S. president (Henry Fonda) and various military and congressional leaders must then scramble to deal with the disaster. The built-in suspense is well maintained by director Sidney Lumet, working from a script by former black-listed writer Walter Bernstein. The solemn, serious approach doesn't begin to touch the brilliance of Strangelove's inspired take on the nuclear nightmare, but Fail-Safe is absorbing and well acted (a memorable role for Walter Matthau, for instance). The movie enters unexpected territory in its final minutes; conditioned for feel-good endings, viewers are still genuinely shocked by the plot turns in the final reels. The climax comes as a sobering slap in the face, intriguingly staged by Lumet. Now that the Cold War has passed on into history, Fail-Safe stands as--thank goodness--an interesting period piece. --Robert Horton, Amazon.com
Fail Safe is a Classic
Review date: 2008-08-23 Rating: 10 out of 10
I saw this film many years ago when TV still played interesting movies on only 3 channels. Profoundly odd in its direction and dialogue, off beat camera and use of sound.. The opening bullfight scene is surreal and sets the whole strange nightmarish tone for the rest of the film. I think its a forgotten classic.. bleak in many ways..but humane and hopeful in others (out of the most terrible consequences there is some hope for humanity) but at what price?
I won't spoil it for you by revealing plotline etc but its definitely a worthy alter ego to Dr Strangelove.
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Reviews
"Things ride in the saddle on the horse of mankind"
Review date: 2008-07-19 Rating: 8 out of 10
"Fail-Safe" was adapted by screenwriter Walter Bernstein from the novel of the same name by two political scientists Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler. The title is ironic in that the proliferation of nuclear weapons, the machines we use to control them and the rapid pace of these developments may be our eventual downfall in that when they fail we do not have the time or ability to stop them. When this film was released in 1964 the threat of nuclear war was very real, just two years before the world came its closest it's ever been to mutually assured destruction with the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Kennedy-Khrushchev Pact to withdraw missiles from Cuba and Turkey prevented this. Just see Lyndon B Johnson's presidential campaign ad in 1964 (Daisy Girl) to see just how real this threat was. "Fail-Safe" is an excellent political thriller which is said to be modelled on the Kennedy / Khruschchev relationship. "Fail-Safe" features similar cinematography to another film by Sidney Lumet (The Pawnbroker, 1964) with high contrast black-and-white and an almost documentary type graininess which has plenty to recommend.
"Fail-Safe" bears plenty of similarities to Stanley Kubrick's "Dr Strangelove" released the same year. "Fail-Safe" was released after "Dr Strangelove" and as a result suffered because of this but unlike Kubrick's satire Lumet plays it straight which is inevitably more difficult, yet is done with success and is ultimately more chilling. Stong performances from a great cast makes this a film worthy of your consideration. I couldn't think of a better person than Henry Fonda to play a US president.
Director:
Sidney Lumet (12 Angry Men, 1957; The Pawnbroker, 1964; Dog Day Afternoon,1975; Network, 1976)
Cinematographer:
Gerald Herschfeld (Young Frankenstein, 1974)
Screenwriter:
Walter Bernstein (The Magnificent Seven, 1960; The Train, 1965)
Cast:
Henry Fonda, Walter Matthau, Larry Hagman, Frank Overton, Edward Binns, Dan O'Herlihy, Fritz Weaver
Product Details/Specifications
Actor(s):
Walter Matthau
Edward Binns
Frank Overton
Dan O'Herlihy
Larry Hagman
Creators:
Dan O'Herlihy (Primary Contributor)
Walter Matthau (Primary Contributor)
Director(s):
Recording label: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
EAN: 5035822025233
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: PAL,
Release date: 2007-06-04
Audience rating: Parental Guidance
Region code: 2
Running time: 107 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1963