On F List of Movie Reviews
(For optimum viewing, adjust the zoom level of your browser to 125%.)
Fail Safe (1964)
Rate:
7
Viewed:
7/25
7/25:
Forget
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, and
go with Fail Safe.
I don't care if the latter is a seemingly rip-off of the former because it's so much better. Instead of
a stupid comedy that isn't funny on any level, the coverage of the subject matter is serious from start to finish.
However, Fail Safe has a serious flaw.
From the get-go, I couldn't connect to the characters because of the way they talked. But as soon as Henry Fonda
showed up for the first time, the movie instantly got better, and it stayed focused all the way to the end with
a lot of "game theory" stuff. That being said, I'll have to rewatch it later and see if the screenwriter made
the mistake of giving turgid lines to several players, most especially Walter Matthau.
How can the situation be prevented? That's easy: don't have it in the first place. In other words, there's no
reason why the United States should be getting into a thing like that; just leave all countries alone in peace
and only react when any of them makes threats. Meanwhile, why not have a button from Omaha that will destruct
all planes right away before they make the fatal mistake after new orders have been thoroughly ignored?
The ending is shocking when the President ordered New York City to be nuked in the form of mea culpa, but
is it the right decision? Well, how about dropping a nuclear bomb on Washington, D.C., while they're at it?
It's only fair because the United States took out the national capital of Russia: Moscow. Besides, who needs
any of these crooked politicians?
Anyway, the acting is first-rate while the cinematography is heavy in black and white. Henry Fonda should've
gotten an Oscar nomination. He made the movie. Larry Hagman and Frank Overton are excellent as well. I was
surprised to see Dom DeLuise's name in the opening credits because I didn't know he went that far, far back.
It's the first movie of his career.
All in all, although excellent in every aspect, the dense writing in spots is what holds me back from totally
loving Fail Safe.