Rating of
3/4
"Fail-Safe" by Yojimbo
Yojimbo - wrote on 05/25/12
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 that even now, when the threat of nuclear armageddon has never seemed more remote, it still packs a potent punch.
