Fail-Safe is a 1964 film directed by Sidney Lumet, based on the 1962 novel Fail-Safe written by Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler. It portrays a fictional account of a Cold War nuclear crisis. The film features an all-star cast, including impressive performances by veteran actors Henry Fonda , Dan O'Herlihy , Walter Matthau , and Frank Overton . Early film appearances include Fritz Weaver, Dom DeLuise, and Larry Hagman as the interpreter. 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. The genesis of the movie arises out of the Cold War tensions existing between the United States and the Soviet Union during the early 1960s. The film is a dramatic fictionalized account of a series of coincidental events leading up to an accidental thermonuclear first-strike attack by a group of United States “Vindicator” bombers against the capital of Russia, Moscow. Amidst an ordinary tour for VIPs at the U.S.
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| Release date: | October 7, 1964 |
| Directed by: | Sidney Lumet |
| Runtime: | 112 Minutes |
| Producer: | Sidney Lumet, Charles H. Maguire, Max E. Youngstein |
| Editor: | Ralph Rosenblum |
| Cinematography: | Gerald Hirschfeld, Ralph Rosenblum |
| Screenplay by: | Walter Bernstein |
| Adapted from: | Fail-Safe |
| Genre: | Thriller |