Fail-Safe
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. The film follows a crisis caused by a critical error that sends a group of U.S. bombers to destroy Moscow, and the ensuing attempts to stop the bomber group before it can deploy a nuclear first strike. The film features performances by actors Henry Fonda, Dan O'Herlihy, Walter Matthau, Frank Overton, Larry Hagman, Fritz Weaver, Dana Elcar, Dom DeLuise and Sorrell Booke.
Plot
United States Air Force General Black has been having recurring dreams in which a Spanish matador kills a bull before a cheering crowd. Black flies to Washington, D.C. to attend a conference led by Dr. Groeteschele, a political scientist renowned for his expertise on the politics of nuclear weapons.
More details
| author | Eugene Burdick Harvey Wheeler Walter Bernstein |
|---|---|
| contentLocation | Nebraska New York City Washington, D.C. |
| director | Sidney Lumet |
| editor | Ralph Rosenblum |
| events | aviation Cold War nuclear war World War III |
| genre | political thriller |
| keywords | afterburner air force build bullfighter cheering crowd dinner party distant early warning line doom early warning radar empire state building even first lady flotus fly follow ground zero how to jam matador moscow nuclear bomb nuclear holocaust nuclear weapons out of fuel premier of the soviet union president of the united states radio jamming recurring dream soviet premier trade train united states air force warn wash wife and child |
| nomination | United Nations Awards |
| producer | Max E. Youngstein |
| productionCompany | Columbia Pictures |
| publisher | Columbia Pictures |
| theme | political thriller |