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Henry Fonda, Walter Matthau, Dan O'Herlihy

A transmission blunder sets a convoy of bombers off to drop nuclear bombs on Moscow, and it's too late to get them to turn back. The President and the military brass are forced to confront the apocaly...( read more  read more... )ptic demise that looms before them and resort to drastic measures to save the world.

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86% liked it

5,332 ratings

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92% liked it

13 critics

Unrated, 1 hr. 52 min.

Directed by: Sidney Lumet

Release Date: October 7, 1964

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DVD Release Date: October 31, 2000

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Flixster Reviews (279)

  • Sleaze
    July 22, 2009
    Sleaze
    A taunt and well acted, if not quite believable, thriller. I'm a big fan of Lumet's work and once again he doesn't disappoint. The claustrophobic settings and tense dialogue carries across Lumet's socio-political message. Highly recommended.
  • hypathio7
    February 9, 2009
    hypathio7
    I'm puzzled by the matador/bull-fighting dream scene in the opening that the audience is reminded of at the end.

    Dr. Strangelove has the US president meeting in person with his advisers in the war room, when talking to the Russian president no translator is needed, and the tec...( read more)hnology behind the mistake and satellite surveillance is practically ignored. Then of course you've got Sellers in three roles and the same plot is dealt with in a very humorous manner.

    This movie looks at the same issue dramatically and plays it for thrills. First, you have O'Herlihy playing General Black, an adviser to the US Secretary of Defense (Hansen), then Matthau playing Professor Groeteschele, a civilian political scientist adviser to the same. They take on a reversal of the traditional positions. General Black is a dove when it comes to war matters and the Professor is a hawk. Then we have Overton playing General Bogan and Weaver playing Colonel Cascio. They both work in the control room monitoring the maps and sending orders to the fliers. Binns as Colonel Grady is one of those fliers who is heading off on a routine patrol in a bomber plane. A computer malfunction sends Grady's bomber toward Russia by mistake and the President must be contacted. Henry Fonda plays the President in the same trustworthy, intelligent, kind-hearted, and decisive manner that many of his characters have been. And Hagman is Buck, a young translator brought in to help the President if Russia must be contacted. Well they're all in different locations talking back and forth over conference calls and radio. The Defense Secretary and all his advisers keep arguing politics and war theory, the control room keeps an eye on the progress in the sky, the fliers follow orders to the exclusion of attempts to recall them home because anything could be a Russian trick, and the President tries to be diplomatic and has to make the final decision. It's mentioned again and again that WWIII is on the verge of happening because we let our machines get out of hand. It's also about how we defend ourselves with the destructive forces that are in existence being as they are. There is also a theme of watching that we do not become what we are trying to fight against.

    It was good with some really surprising moments, but it just wasn't as stylish as Dr. Strangelove. And I love the satiric tone of the other movie. I think the tone of Dr. Strangelove has definitely led to it being more popular. For people who don't get the humor, this may be a thriller they'd appreciate, but on the other hand this movie, Fail-Safe, includes some tough pills to swallow. People who look at war like a football game, like some of the soldiers in the control room do, cheering to see a loser lose need to look at the bigger picture. People who think that any cooperation with a political rival, even when for the mutual safety of many lives, is a bad thing would probably not enjoy the message here. So actually, people who like Dr. Strangelove probably like this too, and people who do not like one probably don't like the other.
  • jplong39
    November 9, 2008
    jplong39
    Somewhat dry and very dated docudrama over the big "what if?" question of the cold war
  • kenstachnik
    February 13, 2008
    kenstachnik
    How do more people not know about this movie? It's amazingly good.

    I actually screamed holy shit 4 separate times.
  • DrZeek
    December 15, 2007
    DrZeek
    Gen. Stark: They're good men, we've seen to that. If their orders are to attack, the only way you'll stop them is to shoot them down.
    Brigadier General Warren A. Black: We've got no alternative! This minute the Russians are watching their boards, trying to figure out what we're u...( read more)p to. If we can't convince them this is an accident we're trying to correct by any means, we're going to have something on our hands that nobody bargained for, something only a lunatic wants!

    At the same time Dr. Strangelove was made, so was this movie. It was also released months after Strangelove, which probably diminished the impact. It deals with the same plot elements, but this movie plays everything very straight. The result is a well acted, well directed, well written film on how the Cold War, nuclear arms, and the machines people worked with could turn into a drastic situation.

    A number of actors including Henry Fonda as the president and Walter Matthau as a political scientist must deal with an impossible situation to deal with.

    A technical malfunction has caused a plane to leave its fail safe position, and now it is headed towards Moscow with the intention of dropping to 20 megaton nuclear bombs on the city. Now it is up to all the various military and congressional leaders to find a way to deal with this event.

    Director Sidney Lumet makes great use of the limited settings he provides, which take place in a bunker, a control room, a board room, and few other areas. This is all done in a semi-documentary style with intense close-ups and natural silences between characters when dealing with options they are left with.

    There is no soundtrack or musical score at all in this movie, making the claustrophobic tenseness of the situation all the more thrilling, especially when dealing with later developments as the story unfolds.

    Following the first 25 minutes where all the characters are introduced in a sort of jumbled manner, the plot goes underway, and maintains its pace in a very effective manner from then on.

    This is a very good film dealing with realistic consequences of the time and is still frightening in a sense.

    Prof. Groeteschele: And the Lord said, gentlemen, "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone."
  • Yelverton
    November 20, 2009
    Yelverton
    This 1960's classic will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end.
  • jam233
    July 6, 2009
    jam233
    One of the best anti-war films of all time, and also one of both Henry Fonda and Director Sidney Lumet's best films. Amazingly tense, extremely well written and acted. The frightening scenario is very believably done. The pace is non-stop exciting. A great classic.
  • tc1vc
    June 15, 2009
    tc1vc
    Overshadowed by the film "Dr. Strangelove," "Failsafe" provides a serious version of a nuclear weapons crisis between the United States and the Soviet Union. The plot in "Failsafe" is remarkably similar to it's satrical cold-war counterpart with the National Command Authority hav...( read more)ing to prevent full scale nuclear war after one its bomber squadrons accidentally receives the "Go" code to strike Moscow. A computer communication malfunction at the US Air Force's Strategic Air Command is the culprit, and within minutes, the President dispatches fighters to shoot down the bombers after his service chiefs recommend the course of action. The fighters are unsuccessful and the President begins working with the Soviet Premier to prevent the bombers from reaching their target. Under the President's orders, SAC is on line with the Soviet High Command to help intercept the bombers. After one of his Air Force generals predicts the likelihood of a bomber getting through, the President seeks a solution to prevent nuclear retaliation, which provides a shocking ending to the story.
  • ahhh1989
    May 25, 2009
    ahhh1989
    Not the best Lumet film, but I really did love it.
  • tjennings24
    January 11, 2009
    tjennings24
    Dr Strangelove played serious. This is film is one of the most underated of all time and is scary now so god knows what it was like at the time.

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Fail-Safe Trivia

  • On the Midway, at The Cheyenne Social Club, Mister Roberts used The Tin Star as a Fail-Safe to protect Yours, Mine, and Ours. Who am I?  Answer »
  • The Americans accidentally launch a nuclear attack against which major Soviet city in the 1963 movie Fail-Safe?  Answer »
  • Henry fonda played the president of the United States in which movie?  Answer »
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