Video & Multimedia
Related: About this forumFAIL SAFE: Cold War Era Thriller, The US Heads to Nuclear War with The Soviet Union
Film Promo, 3 mins. 'Fail Safe,' (1964), directed by Sidney Lumet, featuring Henry Fonda as the US president. One of 3 films about possible nuclear annihilation made after the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962- Fail Safe, Dr. Strangelove and Seven Days In May. - This unnerving procedural thriller painstakingly details an all-too-plausible nightmare scenario in which a mechanical failure jams the US militarys chain of command and sends the country hurtling toward nuclear war with the Soviet Union.
Working from a contemporary best seller, screenwriter Walter Bernstein and director Sidney Lumet wrench harrowing suspense from the doomsday fears of the Cold War era, making the most of a modest budget and limited sets to create an atmosphere of clammy claustrophobia and astronomically high stakes. Starring Henry Fonda as a coolheaded U.S. president and Walter Matthau as a trigger-happy political theorist, Fail Safe is a long-underappreciated alarm bell of a film, sounding an urgent warning about the deadly logic of mutually assured destruction. https://www.criterion.com/films/28825-fail-safe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fail_Safe_(1964_film)
htuttle
(23,738 posts)If it had come out just before Dr Strangelove, instead of just after, it would have gotten a lot more attention.
Superior acting and direction, and some incredibly tense scenes with Fonda and Hagman in 'the bunker'. The ending is jaw dropping, too.
appalachiablue
(41,256 posts)'Fail Safe' scene. Walter Matthau, Henry Fonda.
htuttle
(23,738 posts)...so that they could release Strangelove first.
appalachiablue
(41,256 posts)emmaverybo
(8,144 posts)eppur_se_muova
(36,319 posts)(that's from I Dream of Jeannie and Dallas, respectively)
Sherman A1
(38,958 posts)WhoIsNumberNone
(7,875 posts)Like a non-satire version of Dr Strangelove
Kick in to the DU tip jar?
This week we're running a special pop-up mini fund drive. From Monday through Friday we're going ad-free for all registered members, and we're asking you to kick in to the DU tip jar to support the site and keep us financially healthy.
As a bonus, making a contribution will allow you to leave kudos for another DU member, and at the end of the week we'll recognize the DUers who you think make this community great.