Fail-Safe

A hypothetical representation of the beginning of a nuclear conflict and the attempts to avert it. Although the whole film takes place alternately in two rooms, it is a thrilling piece of entertainment thanks to the great actors and the interesting script. The American president is a bit lionised here, and his final decision defies human reason, but I guess that's part of the point. (02/01/2003)

Quite a success on this one by the Americans! It’s the 60’s, Cold War is climaxing and they sort of poke fun at the political situation with a story about how their computers went crazy and launched a series of nuclear missiles onto Moscow. Quite a rough topic for that time and it may not be for everybody. On the other hand, there are precise dialogues, great acting performances and moments about which you can be sure that things may have happened something like that. This is no satire like Dr. Strangelove, but a film that stirred quite the sensation at the time. (01/29/2019)

It isn’t so long ago that I saw Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove and I said to myself that it’s a shame it’s primarily a comedy. It would have made it possible to get more out of the issue, and hey presto, Sidney Lumet did it that very same year. The pragmatic motherfucker played by Walter Matthau is definitely the best character in the picture. Henry Fonda makes a good president (his only and worthy co-star is the young, recently passed Larry Hagman), but after this decision, he wouldn’t escape being lynched. The last quarter of an hour is a chilling nail-biter that made me give it full marks. They’re politicians, they don’t care what happens to us. Politics is all about making mistakes... Save the earth before they destroy it with their noxious politics. (01/09/2013)

A formally solid conversational drama that gradually tightens the screws and portrays the possible ignition of a nuclear conflict without sentimental gimmicks, redundant lines or manipulative music. Fantastic actors led by President Fonda and the cold analyst Matthau support a motivationally strong and unpredictable scenario of catastrophe, whose only weaknesses are the insufficient acquaintance with key characters and the questionable portrayal of the American President, who during the film is presented as a perfect and superbly intelligent strategist. But Lumet directs with a firm hand and, in the three rooms where the fate of humanity is being decided, he builds a precisely balanced and at times ostentatious climactic dynamic that keeps the viewer glued to their seat, even though, in terms of the overall backdrop and the formal aspect, the film is weaker than Kubrick’s thematically similar Dr. Strangelove. 85% (02/04/2020)