By mechanical error, a group of U.S. Bombers mistakenly receive instructions to bomb Moscow. The President, played by Henry Fonda, personally attempts to get the pilots out of the air, supported by his staff led by professor Groeteschele, played by Walter Matthau. Tensions rise as the American government attempts everything to stop this attack from happening; an American-Soviet clash would have a catastrophic outcome. 

Although this 1964 Cold War thriller was released in the same year as Dr Strangelove, it is a wholly different experience. Thematically there is plenty of overlap, but where Kubrick opted for a satiric approach, Sidney Lumet masterfully turned Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler’s eponymous novel Fail Safe into a razor sharp, high stakes political thriller. A tense and gripping watch; come by on this cold December night and experience the Cold War tensions with us. -Ruben

 

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