Fail-Safe (1964)

Director:

Sidney Lumet

Writers:

Eugene Burdick (novel) &
Harvey Wheeler (novel) ...

Release Date:

7 October 1964 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Sci-Fi | Thriller | War

Tagline:

It will have you sitting on the brink of eternity!

Plot:

American planes are sent to deliver a nuclear attack on Moscow, but it's a mistake due to an electrical malfunction. Can all-out war be averted?

Plot Keywords:

Conference | Aircrew | General | Empire State Building New York | 1960s

Awards:

3 nominations

Cast

Dan O'Herlihy	...	Brig. Gen. Warren A. Black
Walter Matthau	...	Prof. Groeteschele
Frank Overton	...	Gen. Bogan
Ed Binns	...	Col. Jack Grady
Fritz Weaver	...	Col. Cascio
Henry Fonda	...	The President
Larry Hagman	...	Buck
William Hansen	...	Defense Secretary Swenson
Russell Hardie	...	Gen. Stark
Russell Collins	...	Gordon Knapp
Sorrell Booke	...	Congressman Raskob
Nancy Berg	...	Ilsa Wolfe
John Connell	...	Radioman Thomas
Frank Simpson	...	Sullivan (crew)
Hildy Parks	...	Betty Black

Runtime:

112 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

West Germany:16 | Australia:PG | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Finland:K-8 | Sweden:15

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

With one exception (see goofs entry), all shots of US Air Force "Vindicator" bombers are views of the same Convair B-58 Hustler, taken from a stock piece of film after the Department of Defense declined to cooperate with the filmmakers.

Goofs:

Continuity: The end credits list General Black's wife as named Betty, but in the film he addresses her as Katie, and in a radio conversation, the President asks Black, "are Kathryn and the kids in New York?"

Quotes:

Defense Secretary Swenson: General Stark, are there any documents in New York that are absolutely essential to the running of the United States?
Gen. Stark: No sir. There are important documents but none absolutely essential.
Admiral Wilcox: Shouldn't some kind of warning be given? A lot of lives could be saved.
Defense Secretary Swenson: On this short notice a warning to a big city would do more harm than good. It only causes panic.
Admiral Wilcox: What about this?
[Wilcox tosses a newspaper onto the table, showing the First Lady in NYC, prominently featured on the main page. Swenson sees it, then gives the paper to General Stark]
Gen. Stark: Maybe... maybe he doesn't know his wife is there.
Defense Secretary Swenson: [shaking his head] He knows.
[Groeteschele finishes writing something onto some paper]
Prof. Groeteschele: Gentlemen, we are wasting time.
[...]

Movie Connections:

References Mondo cane (1962)

Serious As a Crutch

Interesting that both Failsafe and Dr. Strangelove both came out in 1964 the year that Barry Goldwater and his candidacy brought up the nuclear issue. After seeing both those films together with the flip comments Goldwater made about nuclear war, he was never to be anything other than a Senator from Arizona.

Everyone remembers Stanley Kubrick's black comedy Dr. Strangelove about a nuclear exchange. Failsafe which is as serious as a crutch is less remembered. Still viewed today it still has an important message, maybe more important now than when it was a bi-polar world. At least everyone then seemed to be on one side or the other.

My favorite performer in this film is Frank Overton who worked mostly in television. On the big screen he's probably best known as the small town sheriff in To Kill A Mockingbird. Though he did a lot of television work until he died in 1967, Failsafe turned out to be his last big screen performance. 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 whole claustrophobic atmosphere adds to the desperation of Fonda's performance. By the way note the large closeups of Fonda as he's trying to order the SAC bombers back from their mission.

You might also note in a tiny role at the SAC command center Dom DeLuise in a very serious role as a sergeant. This may be the only time DeLuise ever had a serious part.

At the Pentagon is Defense Department consultant Walter Matthau also in a serious role as a Herman Kahn type, looking to 'win' a nuclear exchange. He's one frightening fellow.

The world is no longer bi-polar, but the lessons of Failsafe have yet to be learned.