IMDb plot summary: Cold War tensions climb to a fever pitch when a U.S. bomber is accidentally ordered to drop a nuclear warhead on Moscow.
Directed by Stephen Frears. Starring Richard Dreyfuss, Noah Wyle, Brian Dennehy, and Sam Elliott.
(Spoilers.)
The original Fail-Safe lands at 91% on my chart, but as I watch this remade version (which to my memory lines up pretty carefully with the original), I have to wonder whether it would drop on a rewatch. I suspect the power of the original rested heavily on me being surprised by its ending. It is a bold, powerful way to end the story, and wasn't at all what I had suspected when I watched the original. Knowing it's coming is a different story.
The film itself is done well. There is a serious sense of claustrophobia about every set, which works very well for the story. I liked how the dramatic character actions don't seem at all contrived -- the responses make sense for each character, and that yields a level of realism that I very much appreciate.
It's a well-made film, it just didn't pack the emotional punch I was expecting, though, as I said, that may have been the fault of already knowing how the story was going to end. But different pieces of the story stand out to me here. While with the 1964, I strongly remember that whistle at the end -- the sound that turned the tide of the story -- here I hold onto the contrast between discipline and terror that runs through every character.
How it entered my Flickchart:
Fail Safe > Wallace & Gromit in A Close Shave
Fail Safe < The Lady Vanishes
Fail Safe > The Theory of Everything
Fail Safe > Safety Last!
Fail Safe > Chain Reaction
Fail Safe > The Thief of Bagdad (1924)
Fail Safe > Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
Fail Safe > Friday the 13th
Fail Safe < Red Eye
Fail Safe > A Nightmare on Elm Street
Fail Safe > Smiles of a Summer Night
Final spot: #754 out of 2990, or 75%.
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