Fail-Safe is the story of military technology gone wrong. The story focuses on a double-failure of a supposedly advanced warfare system meant to make things more automated. The goal is to provide a quicker response to enemy threats. When a failure in the system causes a bomber to head toward Russia, the need to fix and stop things becomes paramount to prevent World War III.
Throughout this film I kept thinking of other movies in this vein. Dr. Strangelove, Deterrence, Wargames, etc. all fit into this category. Maybe the black and white of this film reminded me most of Dr. Strangelove and, as a friend said, this film was sued by the creators of Dr. Strangelove as the story is practically a carbon copy. Throw in a little humor and you could have had the same film.
That being said, it was entertaining. Walter Matthau as the professor consultant was easy to dislike (not as an actor but as the character). Henry Fonda as the President was done well but didn't really seem presidential, in my opinion.
Overall, the big question comes down to a problem we suffer from to this day, the speed at which technology is growing. We continue to grow by leaps and bounds but don't tend to keep ourselves in check. This is often summarized by the line from Jurassic Park about stopping to ask ourselves if we SHOULD do something because we CAN do something.
Yes, I'll recommend this film but I do recommend Dr. Strangelove over this one as I'm a big fan of that film. This one does hold some solid tension, however, so it's still worth viewing.
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