Customer Reviews

Fail Safe

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Note that this edition of FAIL-SAFE (with the green radar screen cover) is issued by GOODTIMES and is recorded in LP mode.

For any VHS collectors, the one to buy is the SONY PICTURES release which as of 10/09 was posted at under a buck, used. This tape, which has a photo of Henry Fonda on the slipcover, is a high-quality SP dub. (Click on "Sony Pictures" to access that page.)

We are at the height of the cold war. We use assured mutual destruction to keep the commies at bay. The main defense is the use of strategic bombers to deliver nuclear weapons. In the event of a perceived thereat we send the bombers to points called Fail-Safe. From there if the thereat is determined to be real the president gives the go signal in a coded message. At a further point there is no recall.

What if the recall signal was jammed?

We are now faced with many questions that move from the theoretical.

Is it a trick?

Will the Ruskies believe it is an accident?

Should we take the first strike initiative?

Is mutual destruction assured?

In today's world it is easy and common place to imagine some artificial intelligence that we have ceded authority to taking over for malevolent or even levolent purposes. We have every type of movie from "2001" (1968) with the HAL 9000 to "The Forbin project" (1970) with Colossus.

This film however is a lot spookier because it is played out with what looks like could be a real scenario. It also looks like it could have been a play as the action is mostly dialog that takes place in two rooms and the interior of a strategic bomber. It has a claustrophobic feel with the black and white with odd placed lighting.

There are many fine actors in this film. One surprisingly strong performance was by Larry Hagman as Buck the interpreter for the President. The survival of the world hinged on his facial expressions as he had to interpret not just the words but the attitude of the Soviet Premier.