IMDb > Fail-Safe (1964)
Fail-Safe
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Fail-Safe (1964) More at IMDbPro »

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Overview

User Rating:
8.0/10   7,697 votes
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Director:
Writers:
Walter Bernstein (screenplay)
Eugene Burdick (novel) ...
(more)
Contact:
View company contact information for Fail-Safe on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
7 October 1964 (USA) more
Genre:
Tagline:
The screen zeros in on the most suspenseful adventure drama of our age! more
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? full summary | full synopsis
Awards:
3 nominations more
User Reviews:
The Ultimate Moral Dilemma In Superior Cold War Drama more (106 total)

Cast

  (in credits order) (verified as complete)
Dan O'Herlihy ... General Black

Walter Matthau ... Groeteschele

Frank Overton ... General Bogan
Edward Binns ... Colonel Grady
Fritz Weaver ... Colonel Cascio

Henry Fonda ... The President

Larry Hagman ... Buck
William Hansen ... Secretary Swenson
Russell Hardie ... General Stark
Russell Collins ... Knapp
Sorrell Booke ... Congressman Raskob
Nancy Berg ... Ilsa Wolfe

John Connell ... Thomas
Frank Simpson ... Sullivan
Hildy Parks ... Betty Black
Janet Ward ... Mrs. Grady

Dom DeLuise ... Sgt. Collins
Dana Elcar ... Foster
Stewart Germain ... Mr. Cascio
Louise Larabee ... Mrs. Cascio
Frieda Altman ... Jennie
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Geri Miller ... Go-go Dancer (uncredited)
Charles Tyner ... Jet fighter pilot (voice) (uncredited)
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Directed by
Sidney Lumet 
 
Writing credits
Walter Bernstein (screenplay)

Eugene Burdick (novel) &
Harvey Wheeler (novel)

Peter George  uncredited

Produced by
Charles H. Maguire .... associate producer
Max E. Youngstein .... producer
 
Cinematography by
Gerald Hirschfeld 
 
Film Editing by
Ralph Rosenblum 
 
Art Direction by
Albert Brenner 
 
Set Decoration by
J.C. Delaney  (as J.C. DeLaney)
 
Costume Design by
Anna Hill Johnstone 
 
Makeup Department
Harry Buchman .... makeup artist
 
Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Harry Falk .... assistant director (as Harry Falk Jr.)
 
Sound Department
Jack Fitzstephens .... sound editor
William Swift .... sound mixer
 
Camera and Electrical Department
Howard Fortune .... chief electrician
Edward Knott .... chief grip
Albert Taffet .... camera operator (as Al Taffett)
 
Other crew
Marguerite James .... continuity
Eugene Burdick .... script consultant (uncredited)
 
Crew believed to be complete


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Additional Details

Runtime:
112 min
Country:
Language:
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
The view of the satellite zooming into a closer shot is actually film taken from a camera mounted on a captured German V2 rocket launched from White Sands, New Mexico. The film is run backwards to show the illusion of zooming closer to the ground. more
Goofs:
Errors in geography: In scenes intended to be simultaneous, the time is 5:30 AM in New York, Washington, Omaha, and Anchorage. Consideration of sunrise times shows that 5:30 AM Eastern Time must have been what was meant. more
Quotes:
Defense Secretary Swenson: General Stark, are there any papers or documents in New York which are absolutely essential to the running of the United States? General Stark?
Gen. Stark: No sir. There are important documents, but none of them absolutely essential.
Admiral Wilcox: Will there be any warning given? A lot of lives could be saved if people had a few minutes.
Defense Secretary Swenson: On this short notice, an alert to a big city would do more harm than good. It only produces 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.
[...]
more
Movie Connections:

FAQ

What is this movie's connection to Dr. Strangelove?
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26 out of 31 people found the following review useful.
The Ultimate Moral Dilemma In Superior Cold War Drama, 28 May 2003
Author: Michael Daly (fanstp43@aol.com) from United States

The ultimate moral dilemma confronts the President of the United States when everything goes wrong with the strategic offensive power of a US Air Force bomber squadron, leaving viewers shaken at the end of a superior Cold war drama highlighted by its extraordinary claustrophobia.

Filming of Fail-Safe coincided with filming of Dr. Strangelove, and Stanley Kubrick succeeded in getting his film done first. The earlier publicity for Strangelove hurt Fail-Safe's exposure, and this is doubly disappointing because Fail-Safe is in most ways a superior film, telling its story straight and highlighting superior performances by the entirety of the cast, from Henry Fonda, Frank Overton, Fritz Weaver, and Dan O'Herlihy to a stunningly strong performance by comedian Dom Deluise in a rare dramatic role.

What begins as a routine albiet annoying tour for a visiting Congressman of Strategic Air Command's headquarters in Omaha turns into the ulitmate nightmare. An unidentified aircraft is spotted on a course toward Detroit and airborne bombers are scrambled to fixed points orbiting Soviet Russia until the UFO can be identified. The scramble is routine but this particular one becomes more dramatic as identifying the UFO proves more troublesome than usual, but eventually all is cleared up.

But replacement of a faulty componant in SAC's mainframe briefly flashes the base's plotting board, and activates an attack signal in Bomber Group Six under the command of old-school Colonel Jack Grady (Edward Binns). Attempt to contact Omaha runs into unexpected and mysterious jamming, and the attack signal is verified - Moscow.

It is here that the real nightmare begins, and the President himself must summon Peter Buck (Larry Hagman) down to the underground command shelter in which lies the direct "hotline" oral communication hookup to Soviet Russia's ruling chairman himself. From here the President must coordinate with the Pentagon and SAC HQ to try and stop the bombers, despite endless jamming and the crew's own orders not to answer further contacts.

The actions to stop the bombers drive the drama and bring out the excellence of the cast. Frank Overton is the SAC commanding general whose faith in his systems is shaken by the accident. Fritz Weaver is his XO, driven by shame over his upbringing (shown when he gets into a fight with his alcoholic father before being summoned to SAC HQ) and more likely to crack under the strain. Dan O'Herlihy is a Brigadier General harboring endless doubt about the sagacity of the US strategic arsenal - "We've got to stop war, not limit it," he says, against the better judgement of his peers - who plays a pivotal role in the crisis' outcome.

But even with the excellence of these and others, it is Henry Fonda as the President and Larry Hagman who drive the drama in their hotline conversations with the Soviet chairman; the pivotal angle of these conversations is Peter Buck's whispered comments about the intangibles of the Russian leader's words and expression of them - when the Soviet claims no knowledge of jamming equipment, Buck expresses belief that the Russian is lying - and also his analysis of arguments among the Russian leader's own staff; as the conversations continue on Buck takes on more and more of the role of outright surrogate for the Soviet chairman.

The running battle to stop the bombers leaves the President with a decision that is the only hope, should the bombers succeed, to prevent Russia from a full-scale retaliatory attack that will incinerate the world; the President's decision is of course outrageously implausible in real life but nonetheless works in the context of the film, and leads to a delicious bit of irony at the very end that ties in a bizarre fixation with a matador.

Among the liberties the film takes to tell the story, aside from the hotline telephone (the actual hotline was a teletype transmitter, continuously updgraded over the years), are the types of bombers used and the speed and weapon capability of these craft. Such focus on hardware often hurts dramatic pull, but here it is kept to a minimum and only serves to help move the story along, a nice balance that exemplifies the strength of the story and the performances within.

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Could America Recover Economically? u1000393
Prof. Groeteschele vs. Dr. Strangelove's Gen. Turgidson bhoover247
what would have happened johnrp61
was a much bigger impact on me than dr strangelove cexanatos
would any military man follow such an order? sceptikul
Was 1964's Fail-Safe a TV Movie? jimmmgen
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