If you've already seen this movie, the title will make sense to you. If you haven't, it will when you do finally see it. If you haven't yet seen it, my strong personal recommendation is not to see it when you're feeling depressed.

This, in case you hadn't already figured it out, is one of the nuclear disaster films of the Sixties. It joins such powerful films as On The Beach and its nearest competitor released in the same year Dr. Strangelove. The perspective in each is different even though the approach is starkly similar.

All three were filmed in black and white and featured either no music or a minimal amount of music. From that point on, Dr. Strangelove shows the start of the nuclear holocaust, On the Beach shows the aftermath of the holocaust, and Fail-Safe shows one President's decision on how to prevent a total holocaust.

Where Dr. Strangelove promulgated a disaster caused by human influence (the paranoid mad General), in Fail-Safe the cause was mechanical malfunction, only secondarily arising from the political cupidity of the two major powers. No matter, the effect is the same.

Both Kubrick and Lumet were filming at the same time, and for the same Studio - Columbia Studios. When it looked like Lumet might hit the theaters first, Kubrick threatened both the studio and the distribution company (a subsidiary) with a lawsuit if they didn't distribute his production first. It didn't take much to convince the studio heads, particularly since the Pentagon, Department of Defense, US Air Force, and even the President had refused to provide any cooperation or support for Lumet's project. Fail-Safe was held up for seven months after Kubrick's film made a hit of itself.

By the time Lumet's work arrived in the theaters, the public wasn't in any mood for more doom and gloom, and the film bombed (pardon the pun) miserably at the box office. I, however, having seen both films, and being in the Air Force Disaster Control career field, knew that Kubrick's film was a total impossibility, while Lumet's -- despite the disclaimer by the Department of Defense at the end of the movie -- was an uncomfortably real possibility.

One thing I noticed in other reviews, both here and other sources, was the manner in which Fail-Safe was misunderstood. They kept referring to the bombers reaching their "fail-safe distance..." It was obvious they were thinking of PONR - Point Of No Return - that point at which continuing would render return to point of origin impossible.

Fail Safe is the term used to describe any piece of equipment or equipment system for which failure was an impossibility, either by design or redundancy. Example, a lead-brick (the kind used in building radiation shielding barriers in the nuclear industry) makes a genuine and fully guaranteed "fail-safe" paper-weight. There is nothing that, once it is in place, can cause it to fail in holding a piece of paper in whatever place it is put. That, after an hour's serious thought, is the only truly fail-safe piece of equipment I can think of. Tools have handles to break, edges to dull, and so on, but the lead brick goes on!

Now, when it comes to equipment systems, "fail-safe" is at best an oxymoron. At worst, it's a sure indication of mental illness, for there is no such thing as an equipment system sufficiently redundant to render it truly fail-safe. It might raise the odds against failure to exponential levels, but the possibility will always remain. In judging equipment systems, the only true fail-safe item is Murphy's Law. "If something can fail, it will." Corollary: If something is going to fail, it will fail at the most inopportune time. Ultimate conclusion, without my revealing any AF information that might still be classified, Fail-Safe was a terrifyingly real possibility of the time.

Lumet is one of those directors who was unable to maintain a consistent level of quality is his films. He turned out such flopperoos (in my humble opinion) as Family Business, The Wiz, and Last of the Mobile Hot Shots. On the other hand, he turned out such superb winners as The Verdict, Serpico, Network, The Pawnbroker, and 12 Angry Men. This film has to join the list of his better movies, right up with Serpico and Network.

Henry Fonda had worked with Lumet on 12 Angry Men, and turned in a performance here that equalled or exceeded the power of his performance as the pressured jurist. Cast as the President of the United States, he is put in the position of having to call the Premier of the Soviet Union on the hotline (a byproduct of the Cuban blockade, during which I was on a straight 72-hour Alert without leaving my duty station) and inform him that there were a flight of unstoppable bombers on their way to turn Moscow into molten history.

Lumet wisely took the President out of a war room or command post setting and, to enhance the tension, put him in a closed room with only a single interpreter (played by Larry Hagman) to translate the exchange. From there on, it becomes a tense and emotional exchange between the unseen Russian speaking through Hagman, and the President.

While this is going on, in a room supposedly like the NORAD Command Center, an assembly of General officers (which includes at the lower end "full-bird" Colonels) and powerful civilians and legislators discuss and debate the emerging problem.

Walter Matthau plays Professor Groetechele, who is convinced that Russia will capitulate and urges letting the bombers proceed. Some wiser minds, both military and civilian prevail and efforts are begun to terminate the flight of the errant bombers. Called "Vindicators," the only clips are of B-58 Hustlers and assorted other misidentified planes because the Air Force wouldn't cooperate in providing supporting film clips of bombers in flight. Many viewers hold this against the film while, in reality, it is testimony to the reality of the film and the desire of both the Department of Defense and Air Force to either discourage it from the get-go or minimize its credibility.

Rather than tell more of who-said-what-to-who, let me just recognize a truly great cast, all of whom turned in uncomfortably believable performances -- including Matthau's. Dan O'Herlihy, as Bridagier General Warren "Blackie" Black, and Edward Binns, as Colonel Jack Grady, played the most tragic roles in the film -- and you'll have to see the film to find out just what that is.

Matthau is a composite of Kissinger, Hunt, and a couple of other conservative hangers-on to the Republican coat-tails, but without any accent. Fritz Weaver, whose voice you hear narrating 75% of the programs on the History Channel, plays the patriotically militaristic Colonel Cascio, who trys to take over the war room and help the bombers succeed in their mission.

Some reviews suggest that this was the first Hollywood movie for Larry Hagman and Dom DeLuise. Actually, Hagman played in Ensign Pulver and The Cavern before this. It was, however, the first movie role for DeLuise, and for Dana Elcar. Elcar was best known for his roles in The Black Sheep and McGyver TV series. He also fell victim to Glaucoma in 1991, at the height of his acting career, and had to have a special electronic computer-reader to be able to learn his scripts for his final appearances.

For full appreciation of this movie, it must be understood that the premise shown was not only real but, without violating any of my clearances, nearly happened on more than one occasion. One of the things that made this movie particulary scary to me was receiving daily forecasts of fallout patterns for primary targets across the Unites States, and seeing what would happen if New York were hit as proposed in the film.

Still curious about the title of this review? It represents the sound, according to what the President was told, that would be heard when the phone you were listening to at the other end of the line was melted by a nuclear blast. I now dare you to find out how that applies to this movie and still not hear that sound in your nightmares. Of course, the conditions which might enable such a thing as this no longer exist. Our enemies are different and more subtly diversified, and our methods of delivery for our primary weapons has also changed. Just watch this film and, as the story unfolds, remember that it was such a real possibility that it was just a heartbeat away.

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older