DVD
Fail safe
Call Number
- DVD DRAMA (CEN, OSH)
Edition
DVD special edition.
Languages
English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing.
Performers
Dan O'Herlihy, Walter Matthau, Frank Overton, Edward Binns, Larry Hagman, Fritz Weaver, Henry Fonda.
Publication Information
[Irvington, NY] : Criterion Collection, [2020]
Physical Description
1 videodisc (112 minutes) : sound, black and white ; 4 3/4 in. + 1 folded sheet (illustrations ; 19 cm.)
Audience
Not rated.
Uniform Title
Summary
This unnerving procedural thriller painstakingly details an all-too-plausible nightmare scenario in which a mechanical failure jams the United States military's chain of command and sends the country hurtling toward nuclear war with the Soviet Union. Working from a contemporary novel by Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler, screenwriter Walter Bernstein and director Sidney Lumet wrench harrowing suspense from the doomsday fears of the Cold War era, making the most of a modest budget and limited sets to create an atmosphere of clammy claustrophobia and astronomically high stakes. Starring Henry Fonda as a coolheaded U.S. president and Walter Matthau as a trigger-happy political theorist, Fail Safe is a long-underappreciated alarm bell of a film, sounding an urgent warning about the deadly logic of mutually assured destruction.
Notes
Title from container.
From the novel by Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler.
Originally released as a motion picture in 1964.
Special features: New 4K digital restoration ; audio commentary from 2000 featuring director Sidney Lumet ; new interview with film critic J. Hoberman on 1960s nucklear paranoia and Cold War films ; "Fail-safe" revisited, a short documentary from 2000 including interviews with Lumet, screenwriter Walter Bernstein, and actor Dan O'Herlihy.