Fail-Safe (1964 film)
| Fail-Safe | |
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| Directed by | Sidney Lumet |
| Produced by | Sidney Lumet Charles H. Maguire Max E. Youngstein |
| Screenplay by |
Walter Bernstein Peter George |
| Based on |
Fail-Safe 1962 novel by Eugene Burdick Harvey Wheeler |
| Starring |
Henry Fonda Dan O'Herlihy Walter Matthau Frank Overton Larry Hagman |
| Cinematography | Gerald Hirschfeld |
| Edited by | Ralph Rosenblum |
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Production
company |
Columbia Pictures
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| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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112 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $1,800,000 (rentals) |
Fail Safe is a 1964 Cold War thriller film directed by Sidney Lumet, based on the 1962 novel of the same name by Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler. It portrays a fictional account of a nuclear crisis. The film features performances by actors Henry Fonda, Dan O'Herlihy, Walter Matthau and Frank Overton. Larry Hagman, Fritz Weaver, Dom DeLuise and Sorrell Booke appeared in early film roles.
Fail Safe describes how Cold War tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States lead to an accidental thermonuclear first strike after an error sends a group of US bombers to bomb Moscow.
In 2000, the novel was adapted again as a televised play, starring George Clooney, Richard Dreyfuss and Noah Wyle, and broadcast live in black and white on CBS.
During a VIP visit to the headquarters of the Strategic Air Command (SAC), at Offutt AFB in Omaha, Nebraska, an alert is initiated by USAF's early warning radar that an unidentified flying object is making an unauthorized intrusion into American airspace. Defense protocols dictate that SAC must keep several bomber groups airborne 24 hours a day in the event of a nuclear attack on the United States. Following the alert, bombers are ordered to proceed to predetermined aerial "fail-safe points" to await the final go-ahead before proceeding towards Soviet targets.
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Wikipedia