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Columbia Pictures studios was on a roll during 1964 releasing two of the most important films ever made about the Cold War period dealing with the unthinkable specter of nuclear warfare — which would lead to the annihilation of all civilization and the natural world as the only possible outcome. In the first of these groundbreaking films, Dr. Strangelove handled the grim subject matter as satire with its main skewer of MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) which was supposed to deter both the U.S. and Soviet Russia and their respective allies from launching the first strike with the inevitable retaliations that would completely destroy everyone.
Dr. Strangelove was released first in January, 1964 to critical acclaim and substantial box office success. Fail-Safe was also released by Columbia in October of 1964 and was probably one of the leading nail-biters of the decade. With its stark black & white cinematography, uncomfortable close-ups and crackling tension, and periods of almost unbearable silence the narrative drives to capture the magnitude of those who must make staggering life or death choices for the entire planet. However, while an insane, out-of-control U.S. general orders the nuclear strike in Dr. Strangelove, the dire situation in Fail-Safe is more horrifying as nuclear war begins unintentionally as the result of a “system” failure.
As if autocratic bullies and mad scientists weren’t enough to worry about as happened with Dr. Strangelove, the threat of nuclear catastrophe occurring as the result of something prosaic like a computer glitch or or human error is precisely the case where Fail-Safe reaches the point of no return. Despite some misgivings, it’s initially determined that aircraft appearing on US Air Force radar is merely a commercial airliner that strayed off course and which was hardly an unknown occurrence. However, this quickly blows up into an international crisis because some computer failure causes one US bomber group to believe they’re ordered to launch a nuclear attack on Moscow.
Every attempt to cancel this order ends in failure due to strict safeguards against someone making a fraudulent recall. Also, until this crisis reared it’s ugly head the US military and intelligence operations apparently didn’t know that the Russians had superior abilities to jam US radio communications than was previously thought. The president (played by Henry Fonda) has to personally intervene and speak with the Russians through interpreters to stop the unthinkable — but to no avail. To make matters worse, he has to order our own bombers to be shot down over the bitter, deathly cold waters of the Arctic Sea to avert the looming catastrophe.
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Just when it seems the situation couldn’t be more dire, a fiercely anti-communist political advisor Professor Groeteschele (played by Walter Matthau) agitates things further by urging a full-scale attack on the Russians. He believes that the accidental attack is the perfect excuse to wipe out the communists once and for all. This war-monger harkens back to Dr.Strangelove where Brigadier General Jack D. Ripper who is also chomping at the bit to launch the first attack against the Russians. Fail-Safe also ties in with Seven Days In May where Air Force General James Scott Mattoon is planning a coup d’tat against President Lyman.
Mattoon believes the president didn’t take the toughest stance against the Russians in nuclear arms negotiations. In fact, in Mattoon’s estimation Lyman is showing great weakness by signing a disarmament treaty. All three films sharply illustrate how loose cannon personalities in sensitive positions of power (the military) or those having too much influence (academia) over what should be the saner voices dramatically jeopardize the continued existence of civilization. With Fail-Safe in particular agitators like Professor Groeteschele set in motion a terrible chain of events which cannot be undone. I will not be a spoiler and reveal this here, but the ultimate horrific decision made by the president may be one of the most shocking in movie history up to that time.
Unfortunately, though, it remains that human created systems or plans setup to be the “fail-safe” and prevent a mechanism from going haywire – – do exactly that, fail on an epic scale. These systems don’t occur in a vacuum. As they are created by other humans these supposed “fail-safes” cannot consistently take into account for and thwart human flaws, frailty, or evil intent.
