Movie Information
Overall Rank: 1833
Average Rating: 2.9/4
# of Ratings: 41
Theatrical Release Date: 10/07/1964
Language: English
Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi
MPAA Rating: NR
Director: Sidney Lumet
Actors: Dan O'Herlihy, Walter Matthau, Frank Overton, Henry Fonda, Larry Hagman, Ed Binns
Plot: When a series of errors send a squadron of Vindicator bombers on a course to nuke Russia. The president contacts Russia and works with the Pentagon and the Strategic Air Command in Omaha in order to stop WWIII. -- Chris Kavan
Quick Movie Reviews
Rating of
2/4
Indyfreak - wrote on 07/27/2019
A Cold War drama about politicians and military brass scrambling to avoid a nuclear holocaust does sound suspenseful. Except it was already done as a parody in Doctor Strangelove and was far more suspensful than Fail-Safe. Its final closing moments are undeniably haunting scenery.
Full Movie Reviews
Rating of
3/4
"Fail-Safe" by Yojimbo
Yojimbo - wrote on 05/25/2012
A technical fault causes an American bomber group to initiate an attack on the Soviet Union, causing a desperate race against time to avert the outbreak of full scale nuclear war. Made just two years after the Cuban Missile crisis, Fail-Safe is essentially Dr. Strangelove with a straight face. It's a very stagey and dialogue-heavy drama of the kind Sidney Lumet had a proven track record and he creates a tangible tension in the claustrophobic underground bunker-set scenes as The President, played by the ever superb Henry Fonda, tries to diffuse the situation by juggling the Russian Premier and his own equally suspicious military to prevent global disaster. Walter Matthau is also brilliantly cast against type as a cold, calculating advisor and the story has a grim plausibility that means …
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