Fail Safe is a 1964 Cold War thriller film directed by Sidney Lumet, based on the 1962 novel of the same name by Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler. Fail Safe so closely resembled Peter George's novel Red Alert, on which Strangelove was based, that Strangelove screenwriter/director Stanley Kubrick and George filed a copyright infringement lawsuit. A technical malfunction in the Pentagon's strategic control system causes an erroneous order to be sent to a B-52 squadron on a routine training mission instructing the bombers to fly beyond their fail safe distance. In an era of fantastic aircraft, the B-58 Hustler was one of the most visually striking warplanes ever to fly. Shots of normal daily life are seen only after the title opening credits and in the final scene depicting an ordinary New York City day, its residents entirely unsuspecting of their imminent destruction, each scene ending with a freeze-frame shot at the moment of impact. Walter Groeteschele is a professor with some audacious theories about nuclear warfare.
The B-58 was one among several tributes to the Air Force’s post-war commitment to the strategic bomber. A nightmare quality is imparted to many of the flying sequences by depicting the planes in photographic negative. Jack Grady is an old-school Air Force Colonel who leads a squadron of Vindicator nuclear bombers. General Curtis Lemay effectively turned around the deficiencies of the B-58 in order to argue for the B-70 Valkyrie, an even faster, higher flying bomber that would replace the B-52. Its mission shifted back to the B-52, which could conduct low-altitude penetrations into Soviet airspace much more effectively than the Hustler. Except for radio background during a scene at an Air Force base in Alaska, there is no original music score (only the electronic sound effects act as the film’s main and end title music). The advent of aerial refueling, combined with Air Force concerns about the security of forward airbases and the concerns of U.S. allies over the deployment of strategic nuclear weapons on their territory, meant that the B-58 would operate strictly from U.S. bases. In 2000, the novel was adapted again as a televised play starring George Clooney, Richard Dreyfuss and Noah Wyle, and broadcast live in black and white on CBS. Hubert Raskob is a visiting Congressman. ", "Review:Fail-Safe: Special Edition (1964).
But ICBMs could fly even higher and faster than bombers, making Soviet air defenses redundant. [3] The scene depicting bombers taking off was stock footage of a single B-58 takeoff edited to look like several bombers taking off in succession. The Hustler was a direct successor to the B-47 Stratojet in the medium bomber role. He serves as a senior lecturer at the Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce at the University of Kentucky. Although many aircraft in the early years of jet aviation suffered high accident rates, the Hustler stood out as one of the worst offenders, especially given the high unit cost. No one is quite sure why it happened but it's left to the President of the United States to try and find a solution with his Soviet counterpart. Its failure rested with the similarity between it and the nuclear war satire Dr. Strangelove, which had appeared in theaters first, in January 1964. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara gave the order to retire the fleet in 1965, which the Air Force completed by 1970. Launched from U.S. bases and supported by a ring of KC-135 tankers, the B-58 would penetrate Soviet airspace at high speed and high altitude, evading Soviet interceptor and delivering its nuclear load to a variety of different targets. Yes No | Share this. He offers to sacrifice an American target to appease the skeptical Soviets and prove that the attack was indeed an error, and he orders an American bomber towards New York City. An unknown aircraft approaches North America from Europe.
Gordon Knapp is head of a defense electronics contractor. The Hustler never contributed to the Vietnam War, although it continued in its nuclear role while older B-52 dropped conventional ordnance on North Vietnam. The President sees it differently and works with the Soviets to stop the American bombers before they reach their target. By the time the Hustler entered service, however, the distinction between the medium and the heavy bomber had narrowed, however. The President, in order to convince the Soviets that this is a mistake, orders the Strategic Air Command to help the Soviets stop them. The senior leadership that came out of that war remained committed to the idea of the war-winning strategic bombing offensive for a very long time. Shortly after, the "intruder" is identified as an off-course civilian airliner and the alert is cancelled, but a computer error causes one American bomber group to receive apparently valid orders for a nuclear attack on Moscow. A single American bomber reaches Moscow and destroys it. Mistakenly ordered to attack Moscow, the bombers evaded Soviet air defenses and dropped their nuclear payloads, forcing the President of the United States to order the destruction of New York. The maintenance demands of the aircraft, which had many specialized systems, were also extremely high.
In several of the negative sequences the "Soviet interceptors" were actually French Mirage fighters with Israeli markings. In all, the Air Force acquired 116 B-58s at a unit cost similar to the B-52 Stratofortress.
This page was last edited on 3 September 2020, at 10:09. Medium bombers were expected to attack the Soviet Union from overseas bases. The bombers have orders not to proceed past their fail safe points without receiving a special attack code. However, due to a technical failure, the attack code is … Because of counter-measures designed to protect orders, the bombers cannot be recalled. The President struggles to find a solution that will stop the Soviet Union from counter-attacking; if he fails, a nuclear holocaust will be unavoidable. The Hustler also had an ambitious set of controls that did not always accord with the experience and capabilities of its pilots. Showing all 29 items. Colonel Grady, the head of the group, tries to contact Omaha to verify the fail-safe order (called Positive Check), but Soviet radio jamming prevents Grady from hearing them. Warren Black lives in New York City and suffers a recurring nightmare about attending a bullfight that ends in a piercing shrieking noise. For some, like political scientist Professor Groetschele, the situation presents opportunities. But those in mission control in Omaha, who are removed from the discussion process but are charged with carrying out the orders, may have some issue with the President's orders since they are based on discussions with the "enemy". Taglines Will the Soviet accept? The President's advisers in the Pentagon discover that in doing so, the President is sacrificing the First Lady, who is visiting New York City. The bomber spent just short of a decade in service. Those in the Pentagon War Room are discussing the tactics, and the pros and cons of nuclear war with the Soviets. It would remain in service for only a decade, a dead-end in strategic bomber development. Synopsis | A brief scheme to turn the B-58 airframe into a civilian jetliner predictably went nowhere. [6] The result of the settlement was that Columbia Pictures, which had financed and was distributing Strangelove, also bought Fail Safe, which had been an independently financed production. 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 bombers commander Colonel Jack Grady heads with five other airplanes to accomplish the suicide mission in Moscow. All of this led to a startling accident rate. American bombers of the Strategic Air Command (SAC) are scrambled to their fail safe points near Russia. He blogs at Lawyers, Guns and Money, Information Dissemination and the Diplomat. It portrays a fictional account of a nuclear crisis. The general has been having a recurrent dream - that of a matador killing a bull - which he believes is some sort of omen relating to his job. The base commander and the President of the United States unsuccessfully try to call off the instruction, but the Soviet defense jams the airplane radio. Fail Safe (1964) Goofs. She was a work of art—but was nearly obsolete from the start.
Stock footage was used because the United States Air Force declined to cooperate in the production, disliking the premise of a lack of control over nuclear strike forces. Peter George, who was not a writer on the film but whose novel "Red Alert" was later credited to "Fail Safe", was an officer and navigator flying night fighter missions over Malta and Italy in the Royal Air Force (RAF); George wrote his novel during his service as an RAF officer, drawing from personal experience. The plane had eccentric landing, take-off, stall and spin characteristics, which pilots often struggled to master. "A Viewer's Guide to Aviation Movies". Only planes like the B-52, with enough flexibility to handle a variety of different kinds of mission, would survive.
Suspense builds through dialog between the President and other officials, including an advisor to the Department of Defense, Professor Groeteschele (Walter Matthau), an old college friend of the President, General Black (Dan O'Herlihy) and SAC commander General Bogan (Frank Overton). The conventional bombing role of the traditional medium bomber would shift to the fighter-bomber, first the FB-111 Aardvark (an aircraft with its own long set of struggles), and then multi-mission fighters such as the F-15, F-16, and (eventually) the F-35.
Warren Black is a brigader general in the US Air Force who is troubled by a nightmare about a matador. The advent of precision-guided munitions meant that weapons load no longer dictated the effectiveness of a bomber. [7] Kubrick insisted that the studio release his movie first. Fail Safe describes how Cold War tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States lead to an accidental thermonuclear first strike after an error sends a group of US bombers to bomb Moscow. Communications are opened with the Soviet chairman in which mistakes on both sides (the orders to the American bombers and the Soviet jamming) are acknowledged. It portrays a fictional account of a nuclear crisis. The B-58s most lasting contribution came in popular culture, where its futuristic, dangerous appearance made it attractive to artists and directors. Robert Farley, a frequent contributor to the National Interest, is author of The Battleship Book. The last moments of the film show images of people in New York going about their daily lives, unaware of the coming disaster.
The Soviets are not depicted in the film. But the bombers press on, and through negotiations with the Soviet premier, the President is left with but one hope of averting Armageddon, an order so audacious it even shocks the Soviet premier and leaves the President's subalters speechless.
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