''Fail Safe'' is a 2000
televised broadcast play, based on ''
Fail-Safe
In engineering, a fail-safe is a design feature or practice that in the event of a specific type of failure, inherently responds in a way that will cause minimal or no harm to other equipment, to the environment or to people. Unlike inherent safe ...
'', the Cold War novel by
Eugene Burdick
Eugene Leonard Burdick (December 12, 1918 – July 26, 1965) was an American political scientist, novelist, and non-fiction writer, co-author of '' The Ugly American'' (1958), ''Fail-Safe'' (1962), and author of '' The 480'' (1965).
Early life
H ...
and
Harvey Wheeler
John Harvey Wheeler (October 17, 1918 – September 6, 2004) was an American author, political scientist, and scholar. He was best known as co-author with Eugene Burdick of ''Fail-Safe'' (1962), an early Cold War novel that depicted what could ...
. The play, broadcast
live in
black and white on
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
, starred
George Clooney,
Richard Dreyfuss,
Harvey Keitel
Harvey Keitel ( ; born May 13, 1939) is an American actor. He is known for his portrayal of morally ambiguous and "tough guy" characters. He first rose to prominence during the New Hollywood movement, and has held a long-running association with ...
, and
Noah Wyle
Noah Strausser Speer Wyle (; born June 4, 1971) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as John Carter in the television series '' ER'' (1994–2009), which earned him nominations for three Golden Globe Awards and five Primetime Emm ...
, and was one of the few live dramas on
American television since its Golden Age in the 1950s and 1960s. The broadcast was introduced by
Walter Cronkite
Walter Leland Cronkite Jr. (November 4, 1916 – July 17, 2009) was an American broadcast journalist who served as anchorman for the ''CBS Evening News'' for 19 years (1962–1981). During the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the mo ...
(his introduction, also broadcast in black and white, is included in the DVD releases of the film): it was directed by veteran British filmmaker
Stephen Frears
Stephen Arthur Frears (born 20 June 1941) is an English director and producer of film and television often depicting real life stories as well as projects that explore social class through sharply drawn characters. He's received numerous accola ...
.
The novel was first adapted into a 1964
film of the same name directed by
Sidney Lumet; the TV version is shorter than the 1964 film due to commercial airtime and omits a number of subplots.
Plot
In the early-to-mid-1960s, the height of the
Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. An unknown aircraft approaches North America from Europe. U.S.
Vindicator bombers of the
Strategic Air Command (SAC) are scrambled to their
fail safe
In engineering, a fail-safe is a design feature or practice that in the event of a specific type of failure, inherently responds in a way that will cause minimal or no harm to other equipment, to the environment or to people. Unlike inherent safe ...
points near the
Russian Far East
The Russian Far East (russian: Дальний Восток России, r=Dal'niy Vostok Rossii, p=ˈdalʲnʲɪj vɐˈstok rɐˈsʲiɪ) is a region in Northeast Asia. It is the easternmost part of Russia and the Asian continent; and is admin ...
. The bombers have orders not to proceed past their fail safe points without receiving a special attack code. The original "threat" is proven to be innocuous and recall orders are issued. However, due to a technical failure, the attack code, CAP811, is transmitted to Group Six, which consists of six Vindicator supersonic bombers and four escort fighters. Colonel Grady, the commanding pilot of Group Six, tries to contact SAC headquarters in
Omaha to verify the fail-safe order (called "Positive Check"), but due to Soviet
radio jamming, Grady cannot hear Omaha. Concluding that the attack order and the radio jamming could only mean war, Grady commands Group Six towards
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...
, their intended destination.
At meetings in Omaha, the
Pentagon, and in the fallout shelter of the
White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...
, U.S. politicians and scholars debate the implications of the attack. Professor Groteschele suggests the United States follow this accidental attack with a
full-scale attack to force the Soviets to surrender.
The U.S. President orders the Air Force to send the four escort fighters after the bombers to shoot down the Vindicators. The attempt is to show that the Vindicator attack is an accident, not a full-scale nuclear assault. After using their
afterburner
An afterburner (or reheat in British English) is an additional combustion component used on some jet engines, mostly those on military supersonic aircraft. Its purpose is to increase thrust, usually for supersonic flight, takeoff, and co ...
s in an attempt to catch the bombers, the fighters run out of fuel and crash, dooming the pilots to die of
exposure in the
Arctic Sea. The fighters fail to destroy any bombers.
The U.S. President then contacts the
Premier of the Soviet Union
The Premier of the Soviet Union (russian: Глава Правительства СССР) was the head of government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). The office had four different names throughout its existence: Chairman of the ...
and offers assistance in attacking the group. The Soviets decline at first; later, they decide to accept the Americans' help.
Meanwhile, the Soviet
PVO Strany air defense corps has managed to shoot down two of the six planes. After accepting American help they shoot down two more planes. Two bombers remain on course to Moscow. One is a decoy and carries no bombs. The other carries two 20 megaton devices. General Bogan tells Marshal Nevsky, the Soviet air defense commander, to ignore the decoy plane because it is harmless. Nevsky, who mistrusts Bogan, instead orders his Soviet aircraft to pursue the decoy aircraft. The Soviet fighters are then out of position to intercept the final U.S. bomber. The decoy's feint guarantees that the remaining bomber can successfully attack. Following the failure, Nevsky collapses.
As the bomber approaches
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...
, Colonel Grady opens up the radio to contact SAC to inform them that they are about to make the strike. As a last-minute measure, the Soviets fire a barrage of nuclear-tipped missiles to form a fireball in an attempt to knock the low-flying Vindicator out of the sky. The bomber shoots up two decoy missiles, which successfully leads the Soviet missiles high in the air and Colonel Grady's plane survives.
With the radio open, the President attempts to persuade Grady that there is no war. Grady's son also attempts to convince him. Under standing orders that such a late recall attempt must be a Soviet trick, Grady ignores them. Grady tells his crew that "We're not just walking wounded, we're
walking dead men," due to radiation from the Soviet missiles. He intends to fly the aircraft over Moscow and detonate the bombs in the plane. His co-pilot notes, "There's nothing to go home to." Meanwhile, the American president has ordered another American bomber to circle over
New York with a 40-megaton payload, which should be dropped in case of the bombing of Moscow. The American ambassador in Moscow reports about the final moments of the Soviet capital before being vaporized from the blast.
The American bomber receives an order to drop its bombs over
New York in order for the destruction of Moscow to be reciprocated and a Third World War avoided. It was earlier revealed that the U.S. President's wife was in New York while the events of the film transpired, meaning she would be killed in the blast. The pilot of the American bomber, General Black, commits suicide with a lethal injection just after releasing the bombs.
New Yorkers are shown going about their lives, unaware of their imminent doom. The screen fades to white, and text appears listing the
9 countries with nuclear capability as of 2000.
Cast
*
Walter Cronkite
Walter Leland Cronkite Jr. (November 4, 1916 – July 17, 2009) was an American broadcast journalist who served as anchorman for the ''CBS Evening News'' for 19 years (1962–1981). During the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the mo ...
as Host
*
Richard Dreyfuss as The President
*
Noah Wyle
Noah Strausser Speer Wyle (; born June 4, 1971) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as John Carter in the television series '' ER'' (1994–2009), which earned him nominations for three Golden Globe Awards and five Primetime Emm ...
as Buck
*
Brian Dennehy
Brian Manion Dennehy (; July 9, 1938 – April 15, 2020) was an American actor of stage, television, and film. He won two Tony Awards, an Olivier Award, and a Golden Globe, and received six Primetime Emmy Award nominations. Dennehy had roles in ...
as General Bogan
*
Sam Elliott
Samuel Pack Elliott (born August 9, 1944) is an American actor. He is the recipient of several accolades, including a National Board of Review Award, and has been nominated for an Academy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, two Primetime Emmy Aw ...
as Congressman Raskob
*
James Cromwell as Gordon Knapp
*
John Diehl
John Henry Diehl (born May 1, 1950) is an American character actor. Noted for his work in avant-garde theater, Diehl has performed in more than 140 films and television shows, including '' Land of Plenty'', ''Stripes'', '' City Limits'', ''Nix ...
as Colonel Cascio
*
Hank Azaria
Henry Albert Azaria ( ; born April 25, 1964) is an American actor, comedian, and writer. He is known for voicing many characters in the animated sitcom ''The Simpsons'' (1989–present), most notably Moe Szyslak, Chief Wiggum, Comic Book Guy, ...
as Professor Groeteschele (loosely based on
John von Neumann
John von Neumann (; hu, Neumann János Lajos, ; December 28, 1903 – February 8, 1957) was a Hungarian-American mathematician, physicist, computer scientist, engineer and polymath. He was regarded as having perhaps the widest cove ...
and
Herman Kahn
Herman Kahn (February 15, 1922 – July 7, 1983) was a founder of the Hudson Institute and one of the preeminent futurists of the latter part of the twentieth century. He originally came to prominence as a military strategist and systems theo ...
)
*
Norman Lloyd as
Defense Secretary
The United States secretary of defense (SecDef) is the head of the United States Department of Defense, the executive department of the U.S. Armed Forces, and is a high ranking member of the federal cabinet. DoDD 5100.1: Enclosure 2: a The ...
Swenson
*
Bill Smitrovich
William Stanley Zmitrowicz Jr. (born May 16, 1947), known professionally as Bill Smitrovich ( ), is an American actor.
Personal life
Smitrovich was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the son of Anna ( née Wojna) and Stanley William Zmitrowicz, a ...
as General Stark
*
Don Cheadle
Donald Frank Cheadle Jr. (; born November 29, 1964) is an American actor. He is the recipient of multiple accolades, including two Grammy Awards, a Tony Award, two Golden Globe Awards and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. He has also earned nom ...
as 1st Lieutenant Jimmy Pierce
*
George Clooney as Colonel Jack Grady
*
Harvey Keitel
Harvey Keitel ( ; born May 13, 1939) is an American actor. He is known for his portrayal of morally ambiguous and "tough guy" characters. He first rose to prominence during the New Hollywood movement, and has held a long-running association with ...
as Brigadier General Warren A. Black
*
Doris Belack
Doris Belack (February 26, 1926 – October 4, 2011) was an American character actress of stage, film and television.
Life and career
Belack was born in 1926 in New York City, the younger daughter of Isaac and Bertha Belack, Jewish immigrants ...
as Mrs. Jennie Johnson
*
Tommy Hinkley
Hiram Thomas Hinkley (born May 31, 1960) is an American actor. He made his feature film debut in the comedy '' Back to the Beach'' (1987), and subsequently appeared in the Academy Award-winning short film '' Ray's Male Heterosexual Dance Hall'' ( ...
as Sergeant Collins
*
Thom Mathews
Thomas Mathews (born November 28, 1958) is an American actor best known for his roles as Tommy Jarvis in the ''Friday the 13th'' franchise—in particular '' Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives'' (1986)—and Freddy in ''The Return of the Li ...
as Billy Flynn
*
Cynthia Ettinger
Cynthia Ettinger is an American actress, known for her stage and television work, most notably her appearances on the TV series ''Carnivàle'' and in the unaired pilot of the TV series ''Smallville''.
Career
Ettinger was originally cast as Marth ...
as Betty Black
*
Will Rothhaar
William Edward Lamar "Will" Rothhaar (born January 12, 1987) is an American actor.
Early life
Rothlaar was born in New York City, the son of Michael Rothhaar and Nancy Linehan Charles, both of whom are playwrights, actors and directors.
He br ...
as Tom Grady (Colonel Grady's son, serving the same role in the plot as Grady's wife in the 1964 film.)
Production
The April 9, 2000 presentation was the first
live broadcast A live broadcast, also called a live transmission, generally refers to various types of media that are broadcast without a significant delay.
The most common seen media example of the live transmission is a news program or a news broadcasting.
Ot ...
of a dramatic movie (a televised play) on CBS since May 1960.
The production was shot and aired in
black and white (the same format as the
1964 theatrical film), using 22 cameras on multiple sets.
See also
* List of nuclear holocaust fiction
This list of nuclear holocaust fiction lists the many works of speculative fiction that attempt to describe a world during or after a massive nuclear war
Nuclear warfare, also known as atomic warfare, is a theoretical military conflict or ...
* Nuclear weapons and the United States
The United States was the first country to manufacture nuclear weapons and is the only country to have used them in combat, with the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II. Before and during the Cold War, it conducted 1,054 nucle ...
* Nuclear weapons in popular culture
Since their public debut in August 1945, nuclear weapons and their potential effects have been a recurring motif in popular culture, to the extent that the decades of the Cold War are often referred to as the "atomic age".
Images of nuclear w ...
References
External links
*
*
*
{{Saturn Award for Best Television Presentation
2000 films
2000 television films
2000s thriller films
American black-and-white films
American live television shows
American political thriller films
Apocalyptic films
Black-and-white American television shows
CBS network films
Cold War aviation films
Films about fictional presidents of the United States
Films about nuclear war and weapons
Films about World War III
Films based on American novels
Films based on military novels
Films based on thriller novels
Films directed by Stephen Frears
Films set in Nebraska
Films set in New York City
Films set in Washington, D.C.
Films with screenplays by Walter Bernstein
Television remakes of films
American thriller television films
Warner Bros. films
2000s English-language films
2000s American films