Directed by:
Sidney LumetCinematography:
Gerald HirschfeldCast:
Dan O'Herlihy, Walter Matthau, Henry Fonda, Larry Hagman, Frank Overton, Edward Binns, William Hansen, Russell Hardie, Russell Collins, Sorrell Booke (more)VOD (1)
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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. (Criterion)
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Photo © Columbia Pictures
Photo © Columbia Pictures