1964 Directed by Sidney Lumet
Because of a technical defect an American bomber team mistakenly orders the destruction of Moscow. The President of the United States has but little time to prevent an atomic catastrophe from occurring.
Henry Fonda Walter Matthau Fritz Weaver Larry Hagman Frank Overton Edward Binns Dan O'Herlihy William Hansen Russell Hardie Janet Ward Dom DeLuise Russell Collins Sorrell Booke Nancy Berg John Connell Frank Simpson Hildy Parks Dana Elcar Louise Larabee Stewart Germain Geri Miller Charles Tyner Frieda Altman Will Wright
Fejl-sikker, Limite de Segurança, Pommin varjossa, Michi he no hikou, Контролна зала, Bombabiztos, Sistem de siguranta infailibil, Punto límite, Czerwona linia, Synagermos thanatou, A prova di errore, Selhání vyloučeno, Missão-Suicida, Point Limite, Защитна система, Punt límit, Angriffsziel Moskau, Límite de seguridad, Point limite, אסון בלתי נמנע, 未知への飛行/フェイル・セイフ, 핵전략 사령부, Система безопасности, Bombsäkert, Mutlak Savaş, 奇幻核子战
War and historical adventure Politics and human rights Monsters, aliens, sci-fi and the apocalypse Politics, propaganda, and political documentaries The apocalypse and dangerous technology Bravery in World War II Air pilot heroism and survival Imaginative space odysseys and alien encounters Show All…
USA
New York Film Festival
USANR
Italy
Germany16
France
France
France
Netherlands
France
France
Germany
Italy
Netherlands
USA
89
Posits that no matter the competency of the people in charge - the system in place can and will falter, and humans will succumb to their own creation. A tense, tightly-knotted procedural.
I hadn't seen this film since watching it with my father as a kid. It was one of his favorites, along with films like Paths of Glory and The Pawnbroker, and he always liked to talk about the frightening plausibility of such a scenario. I loved it at the time, but I would grow up to assume that Fail Safe was cursed to be the square sibling to the sharper, more audacious Dr. Strangelove, which came out the same year from the same studio. So imagine my surprise, revisiting the film for the first time, and discovering that it's absolutely chilling and as audacious in its own way as Strangelove. Watching this worst-case-scenario unfold is so shocking and upsetting, as…
I hadn’t seen Fail Safe in decades, and didn’t remember much of it other than Henry Fonda and the brilliant final scene. It was only in the last year that I came to realize it was Sidney Lumet. Over the years I’ve loved many Lumet films, including Network, Dog Day Afternoon, 12 Angry Men, The Verdict, and Death Trap without realizing they were his. I think this may be because his trademark is subtle. It isn’t stylistic, it’s all about the characters. All of his characters are fully drawn, and completely believable. Even those as out there as Howard Beale. Beyond the script, Lumet seems to have that magic that can draw the best performances out of his actors.
I…
Action! - Lumet/Pollack: The Fight of the Century
When I initially watched this movie, I didn't feel very moved by it, which was a shame given how well it's been received. And, as you can see, I was finally able to appreciate this film more. Feeling the strain as these people, propelled by an evil spirit of revenge, placed everyone's life in peril and are threatening to start the third world war. Those last moments with Grady had me on the edge of my seat. Lumet takes extensive use of his expertise as a director of numerous theatrical works, adding simple but effective cinematic elements through the blocking in the president and translator's chamber or the fast zoom in at crucial points that heighten the sense of horror and anguish.
All in all, stunningly shot and superbly acted, this is a terrifying satire that everyone should see.
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Fail Safe
The Hill
Jeremiah Johnson
Downton Abbey: A New Era
"We're setting up a war machine that acts faster than the ability of men to control it."
Adapted by blacklisted screenwriter Walter Bernstein from the 1962 best-selling novel by political scientists Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler, Sidney Lumet's Fail Safe recounts an intense period of agonized troubleshooting as members of top U.S. brass attempt to a) recall or destroy a group of bombers led by Colonel Grady (Edward Binns) that has been inadvertently instructed to attack Moscow with nuclear weapons or b) limit the catastrophic aftermath if this is not possible.
The action on the ground plays out remotely from three primary locations that contain their own micro-conflicts. The erroneous mission is first discovered at Strategic Air Command headquarters in…
Among Sidney Lumet's many fantastic films, which cover an array of genres, many refer back to his directorial debut 12 Angry Men. We get a film that utilizes its relatively small space and lets all these talented performers go to their full potential while their actions and dialogue help build up the suspense, anxiety, and tension, making the film a masterclass in acting.
Although this film isn't as brilliant as his first, you can see the director flexing many of his old muscles and bringing style, and actually using the set to add to the psychological aspect of his film. There is an excellent example of this in the very minimalistic set with two guys in a white room and…
* Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow to infinity.
* Mr. Lumet, you are a Movie God. (Hope you are having a great time in Movie Heaven)
* It is because of movies like this I fell in love with this art form. Everything about it is so divine that I felt for a short while that I myself am divine for simply watching it.
* The story has strong political commentary and messages, astounding drama, palpable tension and a gut-wrenching ending. Hence it felt divine.
* I have only seen such great dialogues very rarely. Soderbergh's Sex, Lies and Videotape was one example. Then there is Aaron Sorkin of course. It was at that level. There was philosophy, wit and…
One of the most terrifying movies I’ve ever seen. An honest to god horror movie. Pardon the language, but Jesus Fucking Christ.
Of course, I have zero authority to speak on this film’s level of accuracy or realism regarding military protocol, safe guards, or the chilling domino effect that unfolds. I don’t know if what happens here could’ve actually happened. What I do know is that there are around 12,000+ nuclear warheads in the world today, about 90% owned by either the United States or Russia.
This film is beyond unsettling. Our worst nightmare, brought to life in real time. That nuclear anxiety, which had so strongly permeated the collective consciousness in the 50s and 60s at the height of…
I love stripped-down, dialogue-driven and close-quarter dramas like this, where in the hands of a true master - such as Lumet - the uncinematic becomes cinematic. Telephone exchanges becomes the most tense scenes you'll see. The stark b&w cinematography, claustrophobic close-ups, the use of silence - all magnificent. It stars two of my favorite actors in Fonda and Matthau and my word do they act the shit out of this one. The suspense and emotions builds and builds and the scenario keeps getting more terrifying. Final minutes are haunting beyond words. True shame that the release of Dr. Strangelove completely overshadowed this, they're both magnificent.
Fail-Safe explored the nuclear arms doomsday possibilities in the same year as Stanley Kubrick’s “Dr. Strangelove,” but Sidney Lumet’s approach though is yammering straight drama. Walter Matthau’s first party speech is surprisingly gripping and applicable with today’s times in delineating collateral damage in a thermonuclear fallout (I have no idea what the subsequent scene of him driving blowsy worrywart Ms. Woolfe home is doing in this movie). Henry Fonda, the most placid and unassuming of all actors, is perfect to play a President with a prudent anti-communist stance. For the first hour, I was thinking, that while dated, the film works as a kaleidoscope into the 60’s socio-political times, as well as a persuasively accurate time capsule into our then…
A blisteringly tense and suspenseful look at a frighteningly plausible Cold War nuclear doomsday scenario - so frighteningly plausible, in fact, that the text disclaimer at the end disavowing the possibility of such an event (or series of events) almost comes off like a sick, Dr. Strangelovian joke.
Some of the movie's more self-consciously "artistic" touches would probably be mood-killers in a less skilled director's hands, but Sidney Lumet handles them with aplomb and restraint, and the result is as tense a movie you're likely to see. It's so grim that it makes the other 60s political thrillers like The Manchurian Candidate or 7 Days In May seem like warm-up acts, what with their stories that end with most of the world outside the movie continuing as normal.
One more thing: Henry Fonda in Fail-Safe may be the best screen president of all - anybody have any candidates that can match him?
I love WarGames. Watched it so many times, I wore out the VHS, and I’m fairly certain it was the first movie I bought on DVD. Ever. I was born in ‘86, so I didn’t see it when it came out, but I feel I’m its true audience. No one ever understands my passion for it, though, which is often baffling. What more could you want? Suspense, impossible romance, catharsis… global thermonuclear war? It has everything. Almost put it in my top 20 *of all time* for crying out loud. Still quote it regularly, and think of the ending when I’m in a panic. “Joshua, what are you doing?” God, it’s so. good.
My grandfather’s roommate in college—and this is…
