Oct. 7, 1964 - Opening today is “Fail-Safe,” a thriller film directed by Sidney Lumet, based on the 1962 novel of the same name by Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler. The film follows a crisis caused by a critical error that sends a group of U.S. bombers to destroy Moscow, and the ensuing attempts to stop the bomber group before it can deploy a nuclear first strike. The film features performances by Henry Fonda (left), Walter Matthau, Dan O’Herlihy, Frank Overton, Fritz Weaver, Edward Binns, Larry Hagman (right), Sorrell Booke, Dana Elcar, and Dom DeLuise.
Except for radio background during a scene at an Air Force base in Alaska, there is no original music score — only electronic sound effects act as the film’s main and end title music. With few exceptions, the action takes place largely in the White House underground bunker, the Pentagon war conference room, the SAC war room, and a single bomber cockpit (a “Vindicator bomber”).
The “Vindicator” bombers (an invention of the novelists) are sometimes represented in the film with stock footage of Convair B-58 Hustlers. Fighters sent to attack the bombers are illustrated by film clips of the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter, Convair F-102 Delta Dagger, Dassault Mirage III, and McDonnell F-101 Voodoo. Stock footage was used because the Air Force declined to cooperate in the production, disliking the premise of a lack of control over nuclear strike forces.
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