I found it fitting to begin my movie review blog with one of the best Cold War movies ever made. Fail-Safe was directed by Sidney Lumet. The movie came out in 1964, two years after the Cuban Missile Crisis. During this time, the USA and Russia were still on pretty rocky ground regarding the Crisis as well as the tension of a possible nuclear war at any point. The movie was based on a book by the same name, and stared Henry Fonda, Dan O'Herlihy, Walter Matthau, Frank Overton, Fritz Weaver, Dom DeLuise and Larry Hagman.
(This movie is really good, and it is a must watch. So unlike other reviews, I am going to not reveal the end of this movie. You should watch this movie if you have any interest in the Cold War. I am not joking. You will thank me.)
This movie is a fictionalized account of a nuclear crisis during the Cold War. American radars erroneously detect an incursion into American airspace. Several bombers are directed to their "fail-safe" points where they await the "go code" to attack. They wait there while the SAC scrambles to find out what the unidentified object on the radar is. When they identify the object as a lost airliner, the alert is cancelled. However, there is an error somewhere along the line that actually transmits the "go code" to one group of bombers. At the same time, the Russians are using radio jamming which cuts the bombers off from any communication, including those communications from SAC.
The President of the United States and SAC then try every possible method they can to bring the bombers down, including attempting to shoot them down. When this doesn't work, they enlist the help of the Russians in order to stop the bombers. At first, both sides are reluctant, but then they realize the severity of the situation. When the bomber succeeds in its mission, the President has a choice to make; either face an all out nuclear war, or order the unthinkable.
I am not going to give away the end to this one. I feel the shock of the movie lies in its end. The first time I watched this, it shocked me so greatly that I ended up having to watch two really mindless, funny comedies in order just to get sleep that night. The movie is very well done, and the acting is impeccable. If I were to relate it to other movies in this regard, it would be right up there with 12 Angry Men and Hunt For Red October. Fail-Safe is one of those movies that will stick with you after you watch it, and you will find yourself thinking about it well after you have seen it. This is one of those "what-if" movies that really hit hard during the Cold War. It showed the people who watched it that it only takes a few little things to go wrong to annihilate the world. This movie is shocking, and don't expect it to get any less shocking the more you watch it; I probably saw it for the 8th time while working on this review and I still got goosebumps at the very end.
I feel it only natural to rate these movies with a Cold War style rating system, so I am going to adapt the DEFCON system to movie reviews. With 1 being the most severe (and for my intentions best) and with 5 being the least severe (therefore the worst) I will rate each movie.
Fail-Safe: DEFCON 1
-great acting
-suspenseful story
-great relay value
-scary as heck!
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