Fail Safe (1964)

There were a lot of things going on while we baby boomers were growing up. The fifties and sixties saw changes in virtually every aspect of our lives and popular culture from the emergence of rock and roll to the dreaded related to the hunt for covert communists initiated by the infamous McCarthy senate hearings. Much of our childhood was spent with government reinforced fear as grade school kids were taught to hid in the school basement or duck for cover und an thin veneer of plywood desks in case the ‘commies’ drop an H-Bomb on us. Of course even at an age barely into double digits we knew such measures were more to appease the grownups with the illusion of control than a realistic survival method. All we knew as we hid waiting for that bright flash and large boom was this set of circumstances even frightened the adults. These fears that pervaded the cold war era filtered down affecting every aspect of life including films. While some film makers decided to go in an allegorical route with movies like ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’ or ‘The Day The Earth Stood Still’ other preceded on a more direct path. One of the definitive films that capture the prevailing attitudes of this time was the classic Cold War thriller, ‘Fail Safe’. This film formed half of a strangely bonded pair of movies with ‘Fail Safe’ on the serious side counterbalanced by the dark humor of ‘Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb’. For younger audience members watching either if these movies now some fifty years after the fact it is vital to keep in mind just how all encompassing the fear of communism and the threat of all out nuclear war was. ‘Fail Safe’ not only perfectly recalls that foreboding attitude that held a nation hostage but it remains one of the best thrillers ever made redefining the genre for the films that would follow.

Originally ‘Fail Safe was a bestselling novel by Harvey Wheeler and Eugene Burdick. When that novel was released the nation was still reeling from the brinksmanship of the Cuban Missile Crisis. The world was never so close to nuclear annihilation as it was that dark November. This film will propel baby boomers back to that time in a heartbeat. The script for the film was provided by Walter Bernstein who had a firmly established career including scripts for ‘‘The Molly Maguires" and early draft of ‘The Magnificent Seven’. While changes were necessary in order to migrate a story like this from the printed page to the screen but all of the drama and intensity were perfectly retained. Even if you were born after this time period this film offers not only historical perspective but it is one of the great films of all time. A large part of this is due to the choice of directors, one of the undisputed geniuses of the craft, Sidney Lumet. This man achieved a long list of awards including five Academy Award nominations culminating in winning a special honorarium in 2005 and a Directors Guild of America lifetime achievement award in 1993. Films like ’12 Angry Men’ and ‘The Pawnbroker’ literary changed the art form of cinema. The trademark of a Lumet film is the unique way he inserts the camera into the story pulling away from using it as a voyeuristic eye to a vitally active participant in the story. Lumet is famous for his creative mastery of camera lens and pacing a story. You can tell that much of his early career was in television. Most of his films use extreme close-ups and the standard academic aspect ratio of 4:3.

"Blackie" Black (Dan O'Herlihy) is a general in the United States Air Force who just experienced a disturbing dream. In it there was a bull about to face a matador; an image that left him visibly shaken. He awakens; little realizing that the coming day would become far more frightening. The scene shifts to the Strategic Air Command (SAC) near Omaha where a tour for some Washington big shots was underway. Giving the tour were a pair of Air Force Officers Colonel Cascio (Fritz Weaver) and General Bogan (Frank Overton). Among the people taking the tour is Congressman Raskob (Sorrell Booke) who is curious about the inner workings of this high tech, top secret installation. Unexpectedly the routine tour is disrupted when the network detects an unidentified aircraft heading towards the States. As per established protocols American strategic bombers are dispatched to their predetermined destinations; places within striking distance of enemy targets. These points are referred to as fail safe points and usually the planes are recalled before continuing their missions. A series of technical mishaps result in the fighter group not getting recalled from their fail safe points and then receiving the properly authenticated attack code to group six. To the horror of those in SAC the bombers begin to proceed to their objective; Moscow. On the lead plane Colonel Grady (Edward Binns) confirms the code believing there is a possibility all out war has broken out.

The training of the men in the bombers works against the peaceful resolution of this situation. Even if the planes could be reached they are under strict orders not to be deterred from the mission parameters after leaving their fail safe points. The President (Henry Fonda) is whisked to the bomb shelter deep under the White House where aided by the interpreter Buck (Larry Hagman) he will try to work something out with the Russian Premiere. Part of the arrangement made is the American Air Force to help the Russians shoot down our planes. In one of the most emotionally intense scenes every filmed an American Airman is in tears while relating top secret methods to defeat our planes defensive measures. When one of the jets is destroyed a cheer breaks out in the situation room until they quickly realize they were cheering the death of fellow American officers. Some members of the audience may feel this is too verbal a film. At times this may be true but it has to be kept in mind that the core of the story was a heated debate between the peace loving ‘Doves’ and war-ready ‘Hawks. The turnabout here is the dove faction is represented by the academic, Dr. Groeteschele (Walter Matthau) who wants to take advantage of the opportunity to launch the full might of our nuclear arsenal to eradicate the Soviet Union. The side pushing for peace is a military man, Colonel Cascio, who truly fears a nuclear exchange. This intensity is maintained beautifully in the tautly filmed scenes with Fonda, he can produce more in the way of tension just talking on the phone than most actors can in a tightly woven dialogue exchange.

The technical excellence of this film outweighs any thoughts that the topics are out dated, art like this never go out of style and the writing, performances and direction in this film are an example of a perfectly crafted high tension thriller.

Posted 07/25/2010