"Fail-Safe" has always been overshadowed by its famous contemporary, "Dr. Strangelove," and most would agree that the latter is a much superior piece of work. Though the plot mechanism that sets the film in motion is really rather implausible "Fail-Safe" has its virtues, including a literate script and some excellent performances.
When the failure of an electronic component results in the transmission of a false attack order to a group of US Air Force nuclear bombers on airborne alert, Soviet jamming prevents the group commander from confirming the order verbally. But the fail-safe system has transmitted what appears to be a valid attack order. So Group Six, with its load of ten 20-megaton hydrogen bombs, heads toward the Soviet Union. Target: Moscow.
The balance of "Fail-Safe" recounts the increasingly desperate efforts by US officials to prevent Group Six from reaching its target. The action takes place in four locations: Strategic Air Command Headquarters (Omaha, Nebraska), the War Room of the Pentagon, the presidential bunker under the White House, and the cockpit of the lead bomber of Group Six itself.
Why does it prove so difficult to recall Group Six? Well, that Soviet jamming prevents SAC from issuing a recall order by voice radioan order that must be sent within ten minutes. After that, in accordance with standard operating procedures, Group Six will disregard any order transmitted by voice, even if it purports to come from the President himself. The nuclear war planners reasoned that the voices of senior officials and officers could be imitated; therefore, Group Six can only be recalled via the fail-safe systemwhich has now malfunctioned.
You see the problem. When I watched "Fail-Safe" recently, I found myself asking why there was no provision for a coded verbal recall order. In the real world, this would surely have counted as an extraordinary oversight. Indeed, from what we know of US nuclear war plans, redundancy is hardwired into the system at every point. "Accidental war" of the kind envisioned by "Fail-Safe" was always an extremely remote possibility. (Far more plausible is the premise of "Dr. Strangelove": that a rogue officer in control of nuclear weapons might touch off a war.)
Despite this gaping hole in its plot, "Fail-Safe" succeeds on a number of levels. For the first-time viewer, there is genuine suspense: Can Group Six be stopped? And without doubt, the film's Cold War atmospherics hold the mirror up to nature. In the early Sixties, when "Fail-Safe" was conceived, written and turned into a movie, the bipolar world order seemed immutable and eternal. Neither the United States nor the Soviet Union was going anywhere, and both were armed with thousands of nuclear weapons. Constantly intensifying superpower rivalry, punctuated by repeated crises, made global thermonuclear nuclear war seem inevitable. "Fail-Safe" is a fitting memorial to that bygone era.
Of the performances, my favorite is Larry Hagman as Buck, the President's Russian translator, who, on the hot line to Moscow, becomes the voice, and assumes the persona, of the Soviet premier. Walter Matthau is also outstanding as Professor Groeteschele, a political scientist and expert on nuclear war who happens to be present in the War Room on the day of the crisis. The familiar character actor Ed Binns turns in a solid performance as Colonel Grady, the commander of Group Six. Frank Overton as General Bogan, the SAC commander, is also a treat to watch. Henry Fonda's portrayal of the President is typically stoicworkmanlike if not particularly inspired.
The weakest performances are by Fritz Weaver as General Bogan's aide, Colonel Cascio, and Dan O'Herlihy as the tragic General Black. Mostly the trouble is that their parts are over-written. Cascio is the obligatory weak link, the man who cracks up under the stress of the crisis; Black is the martyr who must commit the film's final, terrible act. The implausible melodrama of Cascio's crack-up sounds a jarring note that reminds you of the fact that you are, after all, watching a movie. A quieter species of madness was called for here. And General Black? He's a tortured soul from the startthe uniformed apostate who questions the fundamental assumptions of nuclear war strategy. The astute viewer soon realizes that whatever happens, Black is going to be sacrificed. Perhaps if he'd been portrayed as a carefree flyboy, in love with all that technology and less conscious of its ultimate purposes, that sacrifice would seem more heroic. But we rather expect a Christ-like character to be crucified, don't we?
The look and sound of "Fail-Safe" are appropriately grittyeverything black and white, with a soundtrack full of spooky electronic noise. It's interesting to see what counted as cutting-edge technology in 1964: toggle switches the size of your thumb, huge consoles, ticker-tape readouts, stick-drawing Big Board graphics, etc. Owing to the non-cooperation of the Defense Department, the aerial footage is pretty lame. But this is a minor flaw.
Some assessments of "Fail-Safe" are colored by politicsand it's true that the film's scenario and message bear more than a tinge of old-time Ban-the-Bombism. On the other hand, the grotesque anti-military prejudices of contemporary progressivism are absent. The world of "Fail-Safe" is a world in which good men find themselves trapped in an impossible situation. No one can really be called a villain, not even the sinister Groeteschele. Like everyone else, he is a prisoner of history, a bit player in a cosmic tragedy.
"Dr. Strangelove" is a work for the ages; "Fail-Safe" is merely an earnest period piece. Still, for those of us who can remember the coldest season of the Cold War, this film still has the power to send a shiver up the spine.
When the failure of an electronic component results in the transmission of a false attack order to a group of US Air Force nuclear bombers on airborne alert, Soviet jamming prevents the group commander from confirming the order verbally. But the fail-safe system has transmitted what appears to be a valid attack order. So Group Six, with its load of ten 20-megaton hydrogen bombs, heads toward the Soviet Union. Target: Moscow.
The balance of "Fail-Safe" recounts the increasingly desperate efforts by US officials to prevent Group Six from reaching its target. The action takes place in four locations: Strategic Air Command Headquarters (Omaha, Nebraska), the War Room of the Pentagon, the presidential bunker under the White House, and the cockpit of the lead bomber of Group Six itself.
Why does it prove so difficult to recall Group Six? Well, that Soviet jamming prevents SAC from issuing a recall order by voice radioan order that must be sent within ten minutes. After that, in accordance with standard operating procedures, Group Six will disregard any order transmitted by voice, even if it purports to come from the President himself. The nuclear war planners reasoned that the voices of senior officials and officers could be imitated; therefore, Group Six can only be recalled via the fail-safe systemwhich has now malfunctioned.
You see the problem. When I watched "Fail-Safe" recently, I found myself asking why there was no provision for a coded verbal recall order. In the real world, this would surely have counted as an extraordinary oversight. Indeed, from what we know of US nuclear war plans, redundancy is hardwired into the system at every point. "Accidental war" of the kind envisioned by "Fail-Safe" was always an extremely remote possibility. (Far more plausible is the premise of "Dr. Strangelove": that a rogue officer in control of nuclear weapons might touch off a war.)
Despite this gaping hole in its plot, "Fail-Safe" succeeds on a number of levels. For the first-time viewer, there is genuine suspense: Can Group Six be stopped? And without doubt, the film's Cold War atmospherics hold the mirror up to nature. In the early Sixties, when "Fail-Safe" was conceived, written and turned into a movie, the bipolar world order seemed immutable and eternal. Neither the United States nor the Soviet Union was going anywhere, and both were armed with thousands of nuclear weapons. Constantly intensifying superpower rivalry, punctuated by repeated crises, made global thermonuclear nuclear war seem inevitable. "Fail-Safe" is a fitting memorial to that bygone era.
Of the performances, my favorite is Larry Hagman as Buck, the President's Russian translator, who, on the hot line to Moscow, becomes the voice, and assumes the persona, of the Soviet premier. Walter Matthau is also outstanding as Professor Groeteschele, a political scientist and expert on nuclear war who happens to be present in the War Room on the day of the crisis. The familiar character actor Ed Binns turns in a solid performance as Colonel Grady, the commander of Group Six. Frank Overton as General Bogan, the SAC commander, is also a treat to watch. Henry Fonda's portrayal of the President is typically stoicworkmanlike if not particularly inspired.
The weakest performances are by Fritz Weaver as General Bogan's aide, Colonel Cascio, and Dan O'Herlihy as the tragic General Black. Mostly the trouble is that their parts are over-written. Cascio is the obligatory weak link, the man who cracks up under the stress of the crisis; Black is the martyr who must commit the film's final, terrible act. The implausible melodrama of Cascio's crack-up sounds a jarring note that reminds you of the fact that you are, after all, watching a movie. A quieter species of madness was called for here. And General Black? He's a tortured soul from the startthe uniformed apostate who questions the fundamental assumptions of nuclear war strategy. The astute viewer soon realizes that whatever happens, Black is going to be sacrificed. Perhaps if he'd been portrayed as a carefree flyboy, in love with all that technology and less conscious of its ultimate purposes, that sacrifice would seem more heroic. But we rather expect a Christ-like character to be crucified, don't we?
The look and sound of "Fail-Safe" are appropriately grittyeverything black and white, with a soundtrack full of spooky electronic noise. It's interesting to see what counted as cutting-edge technology in 1964: toggle switches the size of your thumb, huge consoles, ticker-tape readouts, stick-drawing Big Board graphics, etc. Owing to the non-cooperation of the Defense Department, the aerial footage is pretty lame. But this is a minor flaw.
Some assessments of "Fail-Safe" are colored by politicsand it's true that the film's scenario and message bear more than a tinge of old-time Ban-the-Bombism. On the other hand, the grotesque anti-military prejudices of contemporary progressivism are absent. The world of "Fail-Safe" is a world in which good men find themselves trapped in an impossible situation. No one can really be called a villain, not even the sinister Groeteschele. Like everyone else, he is a prisoner of history, a bit player in a cosmic tragedy.
"Dr. Strangelove" is a work for the ages; "Fail-Safe" is merely an earnest period piece. Still, for those of us who can remember the coldest season of the Cold War, this film still has the power to send a shiver up the spine.