#1011: LUMET, Sidney: Fail Safe (1964)

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LUMET, Sidney (United States)
Fail Safe [1964]
Spine #1011
Blu-ray


This unnerving procedural thriller painstakingly details an all-too-plausible nightmare scenario in which a mechanical failure jams the United States military's chain of command and sends the country hurtling toward nuclear war with the Soviet Union. Working from a contemporary best seller, screenwriter Walter Bernstein and director Sidney Lumet wrench harrowing suspense from the doomsday fears of the Cold War era, making the most of a modest budget and limited sets to create an atmosphere of clammy claustrophobia and astronomically high stakes. Starring Henry Fonda as a coolheaded U.S. president and Walter Matthau as a trigger-happy political theorist, Fail Safe is a long-underappreciated alarm bell of a film, sounding an urgent warning about the deadly logic of mutually assured destruction.

112 minutes
Black & White
Monaural
1:85:1 aspect ratio
Criterion Release 2020
Director/Writers


From the novel by Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler.
Screenplay by Walter Bernstein.
Sidney Lumet was 40 when he directed Fail Safe.

Other Lumet films in the Collection:

#591: 12 Angry Men (1957)
#515: The Fugitive Kind (1960)

The Film

A

Film Rating (0-60):

60

The Extras

 The Booklet

Eight-panel foldout poster featuring an essay by film critic Bilge Ebiri.

Commentary

From 2000 featuring director Lumet.

Interview

With film critic J. Hoberman on 1960s nuclear paranoia and Cold War films.

“Fail Safe” Revisited

A short documentary from 2000 including interviews with Lumet, screenwriter Bernstein, and actor O’Herlihy.

Extras Rating (0-40):

39

60 + 39 =

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