FAIL-SAFE: The First Strike Argument

This is one of my favorite moments in Sidney Lumet's 1964 Cold War thriller, FAIL-SAFE. It is the confrontation between the hawkish civilian Pentagon advisor, Prof. Groeteschele, and the thoughtful General Black. In the aftermath of the accidental dispatch of a strategic bomber squadron on a run at Moscow, the civilian argues that the U.S. must launch a first strike and attempts to justify it. Black's answer cuts to the matter at hand.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• FAIL-SAFE
• morality
• Walter Matthau
• Dan O'Herlihy

[utar88utar]

@kiddo417 wel, studies shows that even the smalles nuclear exchange, like between india and pakistan who have minimal nuclar capabilities would produce ice age within a year. such a strike Mathow proposes is a suicide for all life on earth.

you see, you CAN NOT win nuclear war...

nor survive it...

[kiddo417]

Mathow was right, i like this scene.

[docgabriel]

We are not meant to know what some of these men had to do during this time in our history. How close we came....how close we are or how close we will be...

[mickeymousebiker1]

America's nuclear defense systems are too big to fail (like our banks).

[duckwrangler]

Brilliant movie. Anyone with enough time should watch FAIL SAFE first and then DR STRANGELOVE. Both movies are masterworks - once of suspence and tension the other of black comedy.

[taffydavenport1965]

/great movie..............