Fail Safe (1964) | FIRST TIME WATCHING!! | MOVIE REACTION & COMMENTARY!!

[@kevinburton3948]

37:27 The shriek of the "phone melting" is unforgettable.

[@latenightswithsammy]

Absolutely! Terrifying! ...

[@jamesharper3933]

Thank you, thank you, thank you for reacting to this highly overlooked classic that was released about the same time as Dr Stranglove, which over shadowed Fail Safe. Another great movie to do which came out the same year and nobody has reacted to is Seven Days in May. It has an all star cast and directed by John Frankenheimer. Thanks again.

[@airman9820]

Seven Days in May is awesome!!

[@latenightswithsammy]

Thank you guys for tuning in + the recommendation!

[@gaffo7836]

YES - I posted above not reading your post, so repeated it sadly.

[@alonenjersey]

@@airman9820 Much better than the version done by HBO way back when.

[@rosemary702001]

Executive Action is another interesting fictional story about the plot to assassinate President Kennedy. Intense political dramas were prevalent then because they matched the mood of the world. We’re back!!

[@user-sy5vv4ze3h]

I saw this on TV a few years after it came out. I have never watched it again. I was 8 during the Cuban missile crisis and lived about 5 miles from the Pentagon, where my father worked. My father explained to me what was going on, without sugar-coating it. We did bomb drills in my elementary school, where each class went down to the boiler room (the only room with no windows) and curled up against the concrete-block wall. All through the 1960s, we had air-raid warning tests in northern Virginia on the first Saturday of each month. They terrified me, and I used to run home from the woods where we played, even after I noticed the test schedule. The worst was the time, in 1967, when we had an air-raid warning at 2 a.m. We started filling containers and the bathtub with water. My father soon realized that it was a mistake because the radio had no alerts. It's worth mentioning that, in addition to this being a black-and-white movie, the lighting is exceptionally harsh, intensifying the edgy atmosphere. BTW, we have had two more close calls with nuclear war. IIRC, one was in 1973 during the Yom Kippur War when our planes were on their way to bomb Russia and were called back at the last minute (I think I read about that in Bamford’s history of the NSA). And the time, more than 20 years ago, I think, when a false signal indicated an incoming American ICBM, but the Russian officer in charge of the watch decided to wait instead of sounding an alert. The world has been walking a thin edge for a long time.

[@latenightswithsammy]

Thank you very much for sharing your personal experience within that time period. I'll never fully understand the terror, or thick floating air of anxiety at that time, but recounts like yours helps me get a better grasp of it, so thank you :)

[@RealBLAlley]

An often overlooked classic. Tense, terrifying and heartbreaking. Heck of a cast, too.

[@latenightswithsammy]

Agreed! Might I add, very well directed, shot and edited. Just reflecting on the shots of the president with his interpreter and a phone ... very impressive filmmaking :)

[@ericpeck3069]

Great reaction, but just to be clear, New York was destroyed at the end of the movie.

[@latenightswithsammy]

Ohh ... Yikes! That's utterly tragic ...

[@jamesalexander5623]

I would have traded Chicago for Moscow .... Never NYC!

[@NoLegalPlunder]

I sometimes think this is the all-time horror movie because it's not out of the realm of possibility.

[@latenightswithsammy]

So true!

[@chickmcgee1000]

We were bused from our tiny elementary school to our high school gymnasium to watch this film. After watching Oppenheimer a couple of weeks ago, I just finished the book Oppenheimer, American Prometheus. It really brought back the underlying essence of how we felt, and thought about the world we lived in then. Glad to see someone follow up with this one after watching Dr Strangelove.

[@latenightswithsammy]

Could only imagine what LIVING during that climate must've been like ... nerve-racking! Thank you for writing in and sharing your experiences :)

[@anrun]

The connection between the beginning and the end is that he is the matador in his dream. It is a little hard to hear and harder when doing a reaction, but after saying the word "matador" several times, he says "it's me."

[@latenightswithsammy]

Ahh, I see! Thank you for clarifying this :)

[@stevetheduck1425]

@@latenightswithsammy Yes. General Black dreams of a bull being killed, strips being torn off, and not seeing the matador. He is the one tearing off his decorations ( he paused to look at his medals when he picked up his uniform ).

[@geraldmcboingboing7401]

Wow!! Someone is reacting to Fail Safe. Thank you very much, Sammy. I have always preferred this one over Dr. Strangelove.

[@latenightswithsammy]

They're both such good pictures! Very glad to have been recommended this picture :)

[@georgeralph8031]

Everyone walked slowly out the theater speechless. To this day 60 years laster, I am unable to talk about it....

[@sdrew2lboroacuk]

This is my all time favourite movie

[@latenightswithsammy]

It is fantastic! You've great taste :)

[@BigGator5]

"The Matador, the Matador... me... me..." Fun Fact: Theatrical movie debut of Dom DeLuise, Fritz Weaver, and Dana Elcar. Practical Over CGI Fact: The "computer-generated" image on the control-room screen (including the map of the world, the planes and the explosions) was entirely drawn and animated by hand. Mathematical Fact: Some might think that a bomber strike on Moscow from a fail-safe point just north of Alaska would not be possible. This is not true. The B-58 Hustler had a maximum range of 4,400 miles, with the distance from the point indicated to Moscow being 3,800 miles. Considering the maximum range of potential targets, it would have been necessary to refuel the bombers at their fail-safe points or shortly before reaching those points. Historical Fact: During the encounter with the UFO over Hudson Bay, General Bogen (Frank Overton) states that the US had never been to condition red (DEFCON 2). This was not true - the US was at DEFCON 2 during the Cuban Missile Crisis in October of 1962. At the time the film was made, that was the only such example. The US also declared DEFCON 2 at the start of the Gulf War in 1991. The stated sequence of colors is correct - blue, green, yellow, red. Omitted is white, DEFCON 1 - imminent and all but unavoidable nuclear war.

[@zvimur]

4:23, one of Walther Matthau's most uncomical (and underrated?) roles. 2 years later Billy Wilder's " The Fortune Cookie" started the Matthau/Lemmon partnership, and the rest is movie history.

[@RealBLAlley]

Charley Varrick

[@zvimur]

@@RealBLAlley ...... valid. On a sidenote... everybody and his grandpa was in Oliver Stone's "JFK". Icluding Lemmon and Matthau in one movie they didn't share screen time.

[@charlessperling7031]

@@zvimur Matthau's career is full of roles that should be better known. My two favorites: Mel Miller in "A Face in the Crowd" and Hamilton Bartholomew in "Charade."

[@charlessperling7031]

Hear, hear!

[@richelliott9320]

Been long time since I watched this. A large number of great character actors in this

[@latenightswithsammy]

Stellar cast!

[@stevetheduck1425]

The film of the actual jets are simple stock footage, carefully chosen.. The bombers taking off at night were normal film, the fighters sent after group 6 were F-102 or F-106 Delta Darts or Delta Daggers. The 'negative' looking shots are normal film of B-58 Hustler bombers, just shown in negative.

[@arrow1414]

The shots of the Vindicator Bombers are stock Air Force footage of real life B-58 Hustler supersonic bombers. By they saying it could not happen they don't mean an accidental launching of nuclear weapons can't happen but it can't happen in the way shown.

[@alonenjersey]

You need to know this Sammy. There were quite a few high ranking big shots in the Pentagon in 1964 who truly believed we COULD win a "limited" nuclear war with "acceptable loses."

[@alonenjersey]

Seriously Sammy, there were. Thankfully none of them were L.B.J.

[@thunderstruck5484]

When it comes to govt responsibility no one is responsible, ever , especially here in the US , just my opinion, thanks Sammy!

[@waterbeauty85]

I'm very grateful that you're reacting to this thought provoking movie, but I have doubts about how many views it will attract. People today tend not to know about or be interested in movies that weren't heavily promoted when they started looking for movies to attend/rent/stream/download on their own, and they often don't want movies they have to think about.

[@latenightswithsammy]

Well, I'm very grateful for whomever tuned in, whether it be lots, or few, still very grateful to have people to chat with, and commenters to recommend these pictures :)

[@macroman52]

I am a bit surprised that the first guy ordered to shoot down the bombers didn't ask for a written order, but I know nothing about what might happen in the USAF.

[@kevinburton3948]

36:56 "We let our machines get out of hand." Read as- We let our paranoia and mutual distrust for one another get out of hand.

[@latenightswithsammy]

Exactly!

[@rosemary702001]

This was the best and at the time, the hardest one to watch of the brilliant Cold War movies that came out in the 60s. This film was post Cuban Missile Crisis and watching it when it first came out was hard because it was too realistic. Dr. Strangelove’s lighthearted approach was more acceptable in the aftermath of the near reality of Fail Safe. For a great film on the Cuban Missile Crisis, watch Kevin Kostner’s Thirteen Days. Then watch Executive Action. It’s a 60s political drama with a fictional plot for the assassination of President Kennedy.

[@bauertime]

Blast From the Past is a very funny movie with Christifer Waken and Brendan Fraser about a family in an early 60's bomb shelter.

[@latenightswithsammy]

Interesting! Thanks for this :)

[@AARONANKRUM]

For a long time, we kept a squadron of B-52s circling just outside the Soviet borders. It was called a "Operation Chromedome." So, something like this scenario wasn't out of the realm of possibility.

[@williamcurry4868]

I'm glad you watched this and is interesting to compare and contrast this with Dr Strangelove, as this plays it completely straight and the drama ratchets up throughout the whole film with very little levity. Hoping you might watch more films from this time period.

[@latenightswithsammy]

Indeed! Excited to get to more 60s films, any recommendations :)

[@williamcurry4868]

@@latenightswithsammy the Manchurian Candidate for sure

[@detroitpolak9904]

Read the book at 12(1986) and saw it at 23. Still in my top 5.

[@juandesalgado]

The 2000 version is unusual, in that it was a live broadcast - with actors acting as if it was a theater play in front of live black-and-white cameras, directly broadcasted (something not usually done in television since the 1950's, when recording was not technically up to the task). While it is really good and worth watching in your free time, I'm not sure if a remake of very closely the same story would be interesting for a reaction - but maybe that's just me, please consider other opinions. Another nuclear threat classic: the 1970 "Colossus: the Forbin project". Nice reaction, and great choice of movie!

[@latenightswithsammy]

Huh, never heard of such a production, I thought it was in a normal feature film presentation format, but glad you've cleared that :)

[@charlessperling7031]

The Burdick Wheeler book came out in 1962, and the authors saw it as taking place in 1967, with John F. Kennedy in the midst of his second term. Man proposes, God disposes.

[@MrGadfly772]

Fail Safe is its own thing. It's not a direct copy of Dr. Strangelove. Only the theme is similar. It is impossible to "win" a nuclear war. This was debated and proved during the 1980s. You can only have a limited number of nuclear explosions before you trigger a nuclear winter. Even a one sided "win," even if possible, will result in the destruction of the biome of the planet. I am so sad that this informatio0n is no longer understood by the public. Also, our current geopolitical situation is more dire than when this film or Dr. Strangelove was made. The current Washington advisors are seriously contemplating the idea of winning such a war. The Bulletin of Nuclear Scientists has maintained a "doomsday clock" which is a metaphor for how close we are to a nuclear exchange (midnight being the war). Right now, it is 90 seconds to midnight, and it has never been closer in its entire existence. There is no patriotism under such circumstance, only humanity and its extinction. The correlation is that he is the killer, just like the matador, in his dreams and the crowd is cheering it on. Just like we get our patriotic justifications for building these horrible weapons. Cheering death.

[@Kunsoo1024]

A repertoire theater in San Francisco played this film in a double feature with On the Beach when I was a kid. Giggle a minute!

[@davidmarquardt9034]

I read the book that this is based on and it follows it very closely. Very rare that the film matches the book but they did a very good job here.

[@technofilejr3401]

37:36 No the Chairman of the Soviet Union isn’t dead he was moved to a secure location

[@stevetheduck1425]

Beneath Moscow there are a lot of metro tunnels, which include train and car tunnels expressly for getting the leadership out of Moscow when danger threatens. The US equivalent are a few helicopters that take some few members of the White house staff to a hotel under which there was a large nuclear bunker.

[@technofilejr3401]

38:08 I went to an HBCU that was founded by a church. I had just seen this movie and described this scenario to a couple of ministers on staff. I had assumed that these learned men would understand the need of sacrifice. After hearing me out one of them said “I wouldn’t bomb my own people I would dare the other side to actually go to war”. I looked at him and asked “Knowing the world would literally come to an end you wouldn’t sacrifice a few millions to save billions.” He looked at me and said no. I shook my head and walked out of the room.

[@DakrWingDuck]

I saw the movie for the first time at school in 1980. The Cold War was real and our teacher wanted to make us aware of what the nuclear tightrope act on which the world was walking could mean if the nuclear powers made the slightest mistake.

[@walterharris4960]

Sorry, the pilot did drop the bomb, then killed himself I watched this film in New York and at the time the New York bomb run was going playing, a jet had flown over the area so you can imagine what happened.

[@latenightswithsammy]

Oh dear! That's just horrible, totally missed that by the end of it!

[@arrow1414]

This actually has a happier ending than "Dr. Strangelove". In "Fail Safe" only two cities are destroyed.😊 Here is someone comparing the two movies: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fHTGmYlqgaqEkLcsi=S5WepqgruOrHSnxp

[@latenightswithsammy]

Thanks for sharing this :)

[@shallendor]

The remake isn't bad, but not as good as this one! You might want to see "The Bedford Incident"!

[@latenightswithsammy]

I hear that! Thank you for the movie recommendation :)

[@62rowley]

There’s a documentary about this movie that explains why you don’t see anything in the credits about thanking the department of defense in the making of the movie. It was revealed they didn’t want anything to do with it because it’s a situation that they’ve actually considered could happen.

[@gaffo7836]

I think you missed the last minute of the film, Blacky did not save New Yorkers (but in killing them - saved the world). He said to his crew shortly before that only he would drop the bomb, which he did, then had a heart attack over the act. Its good to see - finally - YT reactors giving this film its due (you are the first reactor - and I've been checking for a couple of years - not a peep from anyone about it) - its a top 10 of all time for sure. Good reaction by you BTW. another lesser known movie made at the same time - as Dr Stranglove and Failsafe - is the equally good (almost - Failsafe is tops of all time Cold War film (but another one is the newer 80's era "Threads" - no reactors to that one either - its the most realistic WW3 movies, as in "the society we end up with after world war three"................ok got side tracked over "Threads" (great movie! check it out).............the other move that came out at the same time as Dr Stranglove and Failsafe is "Seven Days in May" an excellent film that seem forgotten today, its about the same theme is this one - Cold War, patriotism, politics, and an attempted coup (has some of the best acting of all time and has an all star cast). Seven Days in May - made in 1964. we also have the Manchurian Chandidate made the same time - a 9 out of 10, but not as good as the other three of the same time: Failsafe (the best one), Dr Stranglove (second), Seven Days in May (third).........those three are 10's in my book. oh ya check out "Threads" also, if you have a strong heart ;-/. .................oh almost forgot, don't bother with the Failsake 2000 remake, its not very good, its a full on replay of events as the original, but the acting is not all that. On one can match Fonda or Hagman in the original.

[@tbessie]

He doesn't have a heart attack, he injects himself in his finger with a poison to kill himself.

[@GoldenShellback]

gaffo7836 - General Black killed himself.

[@gaffo7836]

@@GoldenShellback No he had a weak heart and was taking nitorglisren for his heart - so no he was not killing himself, he was dying for what he had done (carrying out orders from the president) reached for the pills for his heats sake, but it was too little and too late for blackie. '

[@GoldenShellback]

gaffo7836 - "Black obeys, taking full responsibility by dropping the bomb himself, then commits suicide with a vial of poison hidden in his flight suit. As he dies, he calls out to his doomed wife telling her that he has at last learned the meaning of his recurring dream: "The Matador, the Matador, the Matador ... me ... me."

[@iKvetch558]

I know I was not the only one who suggested this one, but I am grateful to to see you post a reaction to it so soon. I am glad that you really enjoyed the film, and found it to be so impactful. Interesting point...like other movies about nuclear war and weapons, Fail Safe makes the mistake of placing all the functions of ordering and managing a nuclear war together with all of the functions of air defense of North America into one single command post with responsibility for all of those things. That was never really the case, and the command of nuclear weapons and the air defense of North America have never been together in the same place. So the scenario of a computer glitch during an air incursion somehow causing nukes to be launched was not really a possibility, many other scenarios involving computer issues are more possible, but something like this was not very possible at all. There is a real hotline between Washington DC and Moscow, but it has never been a phone. It started in August of 1963 with a teletype system, then shifted to a secure fax machine, and now it is an encrypted e-mail system. The Vindicator bombers in the film have far more capabilities than the B-58 Hustler bombers that the US really used. The ones in the film are able to maintain supersonic speeds for far more time than the real bombers, and the real bombers have no other weapons than their nukes and had no air to air weapons to shoot down other planes or missiles that were fired at them. All the aerial footage was stock footage...some of it was reversed so light was dark and dark was light. Dan O'Herlihy played Brigadier General Black...the man the President sent to bomb New York...and he has appeared in a lot of films. He played Grig in The Last Starfighter, and he played the CEO of OCP in Robocop and Robocop 2...among many other roles.

[@latenightswithsammy]

"Fail Safe makes the mistake of placing all the functions of ordering and managing a nuclear war together with all of the functions of air defense of North America into one single command post with responsibility for all of those things" ... VERY GOOD POINT!

[@ILJtheFirst]

People always say this film copied Dr Strangelove, but it's not true. The 2 movies are on each side of the same coin. They even came out the same year.

[@latenightswithsammy]

Agree with you, both present a very interesting portrayal of said events. And it goes without saying too, both masterfully made :)

[@stevetheduck1425]

- and both are versions of a book called 'Red Alert', which is worth finding.

[@ILJtheFirst]

@@stevetheduck1425 Cool Thanks

[@waterbeauty85]

The B&W TV remake that was broadcast in 2000 was very good, but although Richard Dreyfuss gave a capable performance as the President, he was no Henry Fonda.

[@TheyCallMeMr.Fahrenheit]

Even Richard Dreyfuss would agree with you about Henry Fonda.

[@latenightswithsammy]

😂 TRUE!

[@technofilejr3401]

36:06 This wouldn’t be necessary today. Major corporations use the cloud and offsite locations for their documentation.

[@stevetheduck1425]

Those huge server farms out in the desert in the US are extremely vulnerable to attack from the air. Only the distributed nature of data processing today keeps the chance of continued knowledge alive. Back in the 1960s, it was libraries that needed bomb shelters under them, and lots of books.

[@soultraveller5027]

wow

[@bastymanguy]

So you omitted out a crucial part of the movie when the president was announcing what he was going to do if the bomber was successful over Moscow. I was expecting to hear “drop two 5-megaton bombs over New York” but we just heard the part after that, but otherwise, it was a good reaction and analysis.

[@bauertime]

Ladybug ladybug is a 1963 movie about elementary school the has a atomic warning system that starts alarming and they aren't sure if it's a real alarm. It also shows the fear of the bomb in the 1960's.

[@latenightswithsammy]

Just read the synopsis of the film - fascinating, and terrifying! Thanks for the recommendation :)

[@thequietrevolution3404]

Think I remember renting this movie from Blockbuster. Wasn't there a scene depicting one of the children so frightened and paranoid that he hid in an abandoned refrigerator?

[@brucefelger4015]

This is Dr. Strangelove without comody

[@thunderstruck5484]

Awesome thanks Sammy for another great reaction review!

[@latenightswithsammy]

Yay, thank you for tuning in :)

[@TairnKA]

Now that the interference has stopped and the "president" has tried to contact them, why doesn't the bomber pilot contact the base through their secured comm line (we see later)? The bombers I believe their portraying didn't have a Pilot, Co-Pilot sitting side by side, but in tandem.

[@latenightswithsammy]

Interesting!

[@stevetheduck1425]

The bombers had orders to call base only just before they attacked, and the Prez failed to give Grady something he could use. Such as a set of codewords that he has in the Top Secret envelope...

[@lightblueseaglass]

While this is an old movie, it very much has relevance today with artificial intelligence. Twenty years from now, the world will be very different, and it's hard to say how well controlled general artificial intelligence will be. Even with all the potential pitfalls that will come with general AI, the world continues to develop this technology as fast as possible without even pausing to deliberate if we should.

[@latenightswithsammy]

YES! Thank you for bringing this up, AI only came to my mind while editing. I totally agree with you on the film's current day relevance, very questionable when an invention gets too complicated for the inventor to fix. Very thought-provoking. Thanks for taking the time to write in :)

[@bauertime]

Great revue, the one made with George Clooney was a live T.V. production. It just feels forced and has a couple of mistakes since it was live. I was let down by the who production of it.

[@latenightswithsammy]

Gotcha! Thanks for writing in :)

[@markaguzmanartist630]

I have it on DVD the matordor he kept repeating it because he saw him self has the matordor the killer just to drop the bomb on new York it's a excellent film better then Dr strange love

[@latenightswithsammy]

Gotcha, thanks for sharing this!

[@gaffo7836]

oh another movie "lost to time" and reactors never watch (and it won an Oscar too!!!!!!!!!! - whats with "classics being forgotten to the dustbin if history?????????) - "Ordinary People" (a top 10 of all time for sure!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@macroman52]

Does anyone believe a US president would do this?

[@richelliott9320]

Dana Elcar is already bald and looks like he did 30 years later

[@Cbcw76]

I can recommend 1959's ON THE BEACH with Gregory Peck about the Cold War. Years before both DR STRANGELOVE and this film. BEACH is definitely a drama - a sad, sad one. It does have the most awful performance by Anthony Perkins the year before he took over (and owned!) the Norman Bates character in PSYCHO.

[@charlessperling7031]

With Fred Astaire as far removed from his song-and-dance roles as you can possibly imagine.

[@Cbcw76]

@@charlessperling7031 Absolutely. I kept waiting and waiting, for just a li'l spin move, some li'l sentence-ending tap-step, etc. What bothers me most - NO ONE MENTIONS his non-Aussie accent or Ava's - but somehow they forced poor Perkins into his. I'd love to find out if he was the one promoting this 'ability' and, if so, did no one (or COULD no one) approach him and say, "Uh, no... there are plenty of young people whose parents moved to Oz and stayed, plenty of chances to join that military with no questions about accents. No birther nonsense or liars promoting birther issues." I rewatch this film only every few years, often at film festivals, and while this film is quite The Downer, it's his awful accent that reminds everyone, "Oh yeah - this is TOTAL fiction." Whew... I think the coke bottle does a better job delivering its dialog.

[@jamestripp239]

Hey Jon Madden we don’t need play by play date by you

[@latenightswithsammy]

😅

[@OroborusFMA]

The effects are so poor (compared to, for example, Dr. Strangelove) because the US military refused to cooperate with the film.

[@barbaramattson817]

THE MOVIE THAT GOES WITH THIS IS DR. STRANGELOVE. A.K.A. HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRING AND LOVE THE BOMB.

[@latenightswithsammy]

Yup! Had so much fun watch that one :)