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Fail-Safe
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Genre | Drama, War, Suspense |
Format | Black & White, Multiple Formats, Closed-captioned, NTSC, Widescreen |
Contributor | Sidney Lumet, Max E. Youngstein, Dan O'Herlihy, Larry Hagman, Columbia Pictures; Max E. Youngstein Ent. Inc, Walter Matthau, Fritz Weaver, Edward Binns, Henry Fonda See more |
Language | English |
Runtime | 1 hour and 52 minutes |
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Product Description
One of the greatest anti-war thrillers ever, FAIL-SAFE stars Henry Fonda, Walter Mathau, Dan O'Herlihy, Larry Hagman and Fritz Weaver (in his film debut) as a group of military men on the verge of World War III. When a military computer error deploys a squadron of SAC bombers to destroy Moscow, theAmerican President (Fonda) tries to call them back. But their sophisticated fail-safe system prevents him from aborting the attack, so he must convince the Soviets not to retaliate. In desperation, the President offers to sacrifice an American city if his pilots succeed in their deadly mission overMoscow. A four-star techno-thriller that builds tension and suspense with every tick of the nuclearclock.
Product details
- Aspect Ratio : 1.85:1
- Is Discontinued By Manufacturer : No
- MPAA rating : NR (Not Rated)
- Product Dimensions : 0.6 x 5.3 x 7.5 inches; 2.72 ounces
- Item model number : 5424
- Director : Sidney Lumet
- Media Format : Black & White, Multiple Formats, Closed-captioned, NTSC, Widescreen
- Run time : 1 hour and 52 minutes
- Release date : October 31, 2000
- Actors : Henry Fonda, Dan O'Herlihy, Walter Matthau, Edward Binns, Fritz Weaver
- Dubbed: : Spanish, French
- Subtitles: : English, Spanish, Portuguese, Georgian, Thai, French
- Producers : Max E. Youngstein
- Language : English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono), French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono), Portuguese (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono), Unqualified, Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono)
- Studio : Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
- ASIN : B00004XPPE
- Country of Origin : USA
- Number of discs : 1
- Best Sellers Rank: #3,914 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
- #35 in Military & War (Movies & TV)
- #97 in Mystery & Thrillers (Movies & TV)
- #367 in Action & Adventure DVDs
- Customer Reviews:
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As in 1957, Lumet's use of relatively spartan sets and modest effects work to this film's advantage (as does the total absence of music); combined with Gerald Hirschfeld's stark B & W cinematography and dramatic camera work - and Ralph Rosenblum's adroit editing - the often claustrophobic tension is synergistically heightened. Minor technical flaws (as in the brief stock footage) can be overlooked, as they do not compromise the storyline.
Lumet employed two fine actors from his 1957 film, Henry Fonda & Edward Binns, in a superb ensemble cast.
Fonda's portrayal is the very model for what many expect an American president to be; his distinctive voice, mannerisms and cool decisive nature define the character.
Dan O'Herlihey imbues Gen. Black with the knowing resignation of one trapped in a dilemma with no solution, who must play out his part to the inevitable conclusion.
Successful on stage & television, this was Fritz Weaver's big-screen debut. He lends great pathos to his portrayal of Col. Cascio; inner demons are kept bottled-up until the breaking point - when they erupt at a critical moment of the crisis.
Known best for comedy, Walter Matthau proves his dramatic abilities as Prof. Groeteschele, loosely based on Herman Kahn, a founder of the New York Hudson Institute (with a sprinkling of Edward Teller thrown in). (After obtaining a M. Sc. degree from Caltech, Kahn was recruited by the RAND Corporation. It was there that he published his seminal treatise, "On Thermonuclear War" (giving a nod to "On War," by Carl von Clausewitz). This was the genesis of the doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction ('MAD').)
Giving perhaps the finest performance of his too-short career, Frank Overton as Gen. Bogan instills in his character wisdom, humanity and quiet dignity (as in the role of Sheriff Heck Tate in "To Kill A Mockingbird," 1962). Rather than an autocratic or callous commanding officer, Bogan displays understanding and compassion.
In a late scene, realizing his mistake and that it means the No. 1 plane carrying the bombs will almost certainly reach its target of Moscow, Marshall Nevsky, with whom General Bogan has been speaking over their "hot line," collapses and is replaced by General Koniev.
After a brief exchange with Koniev about a last-chance possibility of stopping the plane, Bogan says, "You speak English very well, General."
Koniev: "I was liaison to your headquarters in London, during the war."
Bogan: "I was stationed right outside of London."
Koniev: "Yes, I know; at the Eighth Air Force."
Bogan: "Did you like London?"
Koniev: "Very much."
Bogan: "So did I."
Koniev: "The great cities are those where one can walk; I would walk all the time in London. Wherever you turn, there's history."
General Bogan is handed a SAC dossier on General Koniev and leafs through it; seeing Koniev's photograph he asks, "General, are you in Moscow now?"
Koniev: "No; I was ordered to leave."
Finding a photograph of the general with his wife and children, Bogan starts to ask whether his family is safe - but stops himself before any words are spoken, instead saying simply, "It's a hard day."
Koniev: "Yes, a hard day." (Pause) "Goodbye, my friend."
"Goodbye MY friend," replies Bogan with the resignation and sorrowfulness of one bidding farewell to a lifelong friend.
More even than an object lesson in how adults handle a crisis of cataclysmic proportion, "Fail-Safe" is a still-relevant cautionary tale about misplaced faith in sophisticated technology and the possible ramifications therefrom (as in "Colossus - The Forbin Project," 1970), perfectly enunciated in this exchange:
KNAPP: "The more complex an electronic system gets, the more accident-prone it is. Sooner or later, it breaks down... A transistor blows, a condenser burns out. Sometimes they just get tired, like people..."
GROETESCHELE: "But Mr. Knapp overlooks one thing. The machines are supervised by humans. Even if the machine fails, the human being can always correct the mistake."
KNAPP: "I wish you were right. The fact is the machines work so fast, they are so intricate, the mistakes they make are so subtle that very often a human being can't know if a machine is lying or telling the truth."
Of course, the obvious comparison will be made to Stanley Kubrick's "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb" (1964), based on the novel "Red Alert," by Peter George (originally published in the UK as "Two Hours to Doom" under the pseudonym of Peter Bryant). It was not a comedy (nor was it nearly as well-written as the Burdick-Wheeler novel); Kubrick and George turned it into the black comedy classic it became.
With Kubrick having substantially more clout than Lumet at that time, George suing Burdick and Wheeler for plagiarism and Columbia Pictures releasing both films, though "Fail-Safe" was 'in the can' first, it was held back - and the movie-going public got to yuck-it-up over the prospect of thermonuclear annihilation. After all, Stanley Kramer's stunning film "On the Beach" (1959) had not yet faded from the public's mind, the Cold War had recently heated to a boil with the Cuban Missile Crisis - and President Kennedy had just been assassinated. People needed to laugh, if even at a black comedy. In large part as a result, "Fail-Safe" was not a box-office success; posterity has treated it quite differently.
Niels Bohr's famous quip, "There are things that are so serious that you can only joke about them," notwithstanding, an earnest discussion on trying to avert the total annihilation of the planet is deadly serious - and on every level, "Fail-Safe" remains an outstanding, riveting and truly harrowing film, all too relevant even today - for there is no highly-complex technology that is truly "Fail-Safe."
I did not give it 5 stars because there were some technical issues and minor character issues that kept me from giving it a whole hearted 5 star result.
I had read in another review that it would have been helpful to have had some actual footage of the Vindicator bomber to make the movie more realistic. That is quite true, and in addition it would have been helpful to have had some soviet aircraft also. The only thing in defense of the director of this movie for not including actual footage of aircraft from each side is the fact that we forget this movie was made during the height of the cold war and there was a lot of paranoia over security on both sides. Therefore, it would have probably been impossible to show actual Soviet Backfire Bombers, fighters, or even actual Vindicator maneuver footage. This would have made the movie more interesting.
I believe this movie will be considered extremely intense by anyone who lived during this time period. The fear of nuclear war was a very real fear, a very real frightening possibility. Just remember the Cuban Missile Crisis. We were very close to warfare at that time. Very close. I do not know how many people realize this, but nuclear war was certainly a possibility if we had sunk any of the Russian cargo ships. They surely had submarines with nuclear warheads prepared to defend these ships and we had the same prepared to defend our ships. One punch would have led to two then a flurry of punches. How do you stop this from escalating?
I thought the acting was mostly superb. Even Walter Mathau's slap of the woman he drove home, which struck me as not necessary and idiotic, was ok if you consider he was probably being type-casted as a "moral" oriented person. Yet later in the story he favored us attacking the soviets, going all out now that we were mistakenly committed with those 6 bombers approaching Russia. This is not an indication of some one who is being type-casted as a "moral" person. When is war for war's sake moral? Therefore, I viewed this as a character flaw. Instead, if he had tried to make advances with her, but was then slapped by the woman, I believe that this would have been more consistent with his character. This might be considered a minor point, but the whole point of this story was the intensity of each person's response to the incredible pressures of a potential nuclear war breaking out. Consistency would have added power to this movie.
One other point on technical matters. It was not clear whether or not the soviets used nuclear tip missiles against the bombers. It was shown as such - nuclear fireballs blooming a portion of the situation board. This was not discussed in the film. I think if the characters monitoring the situation boards had pointed this out or made issues of this, the use of nuclear tipped missiles against the bombers, this would have been a telling point that would have increased the overall suspense and approaching terror of what was about to occur - the bombing of Moscow.
One last point, the Soviets had caused the bombers to enter Soviet airspace by scrambling the radio reception when they were at the fail-safe point, this prevented the bombers from getting an all clear signal. Thus, the bombers continued with their mission and it was the inflexiblity of their training that resulted in the situation getting out of hand. So the Soviets should have shoulder some of the blame for the situation occuring at all. Finally, when radio contact is restored, the wife of one of the pilots tired to tell her husband it was all a mistake. He would not listen because he was trained, indoctrinated to not listen to anyone in case the Soviets used this sort of thing as a ploy to fool the pilots in not dropping their bombs. Yet. if I was that pilot, I would have asked my 'wife' a simple question only she and I knew the answer to. If she answered correctly, I would know it was her calling me and not a Soviet ploy. Once the pilot realized it was all a mistake he then has one choice, return home, no one gets killed. That is how intense this story was, you just wanted this 'idiot' of a pilot to ask some key question, to use some smarts to avoid an obviously horrendous situation from occuring to begin with. So was he being a 'patriot' by blindingly following orders, or should he first be a member of humanity and try to avoid making a terrible mistake? Think of all the potential answers to this question.
Joe Patane
Top reviews from other countries
Audio original en inglés y doblaje al español
Subtitulada en español
Comentario del director
Corte cinematográfico original
Notas de producción
muy recomendable para la colección, el envío como siempre excelente.