Fail safe

A tense and suspenseful peice of filmmaking dealing with the frightening implications of accidental nuclear warfare. It faithfully translates to the screen the power and seething drama of the Eugene Burdick-Harvey Wheeler book of the same name. What if a computer malfunction was to set off events possibly resulting in a nuclear war? This is the basic premise of the gripping narrative that is realistically and almost frighteningly told as the US attempts to halt the plane carrying the bombs which has been sent to deploy its deadly cargo on the Russians when America’s complex defence system mistakes an off-course airliner for a hostile enemy plane and the sophisticated fail-safe device malfunctions. As time runs out and a global holocaust seems imminent, the President (Henry Fonda) is faced with implementing an appalling peace offering. It would be an interesting exercise to compare this film with “Dr. Strangelove” as both films deal with the same premise, which led to claims of plagiarism when “Failsafe” was originally released.