Fail Safe

Locations
Call Number: DVD Drama Fail
On Shelf At: Downtown Library

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown 1st Floor 1-week checkout	DVD Drama Fail	1-week checkout	On Shelf
Downtown 1st Floor 1-week checkout	DVD Drama Fail	1-week checkout	Due 05-01-2024

Wide screen (1.85:1)
Originally released as a motion picture in 1964.
Special features: audio commentary from 2000 featuring director Sidney Lumet; new interview with film critic J. Hoberman on 1960s nucklear paranoia and Cold War films; "Fail-safe revisited"; plus an essay by critic Bilge Ebiri.
Henry Fonda, Walter Matthau, Dan O'herlihy, Frank Overton.
The unnerving procedural thriller painstakingly details an all-too-plausible nightmare scenario in which a mechanical failure jams the United States military's chain of command and sends the country hurtling toward nuclear war with the Soviet Union.
DVD, wide screen (1.85:1).

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

1964 movie submitted by rickmktg on April 3, 2020, 9:29pm 1964 movie

Dated But Relevant submitted by Meginator on July 19, 2020, 1:02pm This classic film is very much a product of its time, but watching it today feels frighteningly relevant nonetheless. The plot centers around an accidental nuclear crisis, as the U.S. President, high-ranking officials and advisors, and military officers attempt to override a cascading series of failures in the (so-called) fail-safe missile launching system, debating the merits of various courses of action and responding to escalating tensions with the Soviet Union. The film relies heavily on dialogue rather than action, resting on the backs of excellent performances from Henry Fonda, Walter Matthau, and the rest of the cast. Though the characters routinely blame an overreliance on automated technology for the situation, the script makes it clear that no single satisfactory explanation (or solution) exists for this crisis and the story culminates in a shocking decision and a stunning series of images and shrieks that burn in the brain long after the credits roll. The final few moments are surely among the most iconic and effective in the history of cinema, providing an emotional shock to the system after what appears to be a largely theoretical chain of debates and decisions. The contradiction is a stunning reversal and a stark reminder of what really is at stake when the fail-safe systems betray their creators’ intentions.

Dark submitted by brooksza on August 15, 2022, 3:29pm Some bone-chilling sounds in this movie. Walter Matthau as a warhawk aggressor is against type. And Henry Fonda was perfect as The President.

I liked the war to sports metaphor. An interesting pairing with Dr Strangelove.