Fail Safe (Criterion Collection) (Blu ray) [USA]

C.C. 95

The Snarky Assassin
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Sep 10, 2014
17,906
The Land, OHIO - U.S.A.
Release Date: January 28, 2020
Prices and Links:
Criterion: $31.96
Amazon: $27.99
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Director
: Sidney Lumet
Writer: Walter Bernstein
Starring: Dan O'Herlihy, Walter Matthau, Frank Overton, Edward Binns, Fritz Weaver
  • United States
  • 1964
  • 112 minutes
  • Black & White
  • 1.85:1
  • English
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This unnerving procedural thriller painstakingly details an all-too-plausible nightmare scenario in which a mechanical failure jams the United States military’s chain of command and sends the country hurtling toward nuclear war with the Soviet Union. Working from a contemporary best seller, screenwriter Walter Bernstein and director Sidney Lumet wrench harrowing suspense from the doomsday fears of the Cold War era, making the most of a modest budget and limited sets to create an atmosphere of clammy claustrophobia and astronomically high stakes. Starring Henry Fonda as a coolheaded U.S. president and Walter Matthau as a trigger-happy political theorist, Fail Safe is a long-underappreciated alarm bell of a film, sounding an urgent warning about the deadly logic of mutually assured destruction.

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SPECIAL FEATURES
  • New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
  • Audio commentary from 2000 featuring director Sidney Lumet
  • New interview with film critic J. Hoberman on 1960s nuclear paranoia and Cold War films
  • “Fail-Safe” Revisited, a short documentary from 2000 including interviews with Lumet, screenwriter Walter Bernstein, and actor Dan O’Herlihy
  • PLUS: An essay by critic Bilge Ebiri

Original Theatrical Trailer:
 
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