Friday Forgotten Book/Film: FAIL-SAFE

I'm of a generation that grew up during the height of the Cold War, and thankfully weathered time to witness the ushering of that era's end. From that conflict, there has been a mountain of fictional material (books and films) produced from the period. Many, drawing upon the fear and dread from that confrontation. A generation's expectation that it could only end when each of the superpowers finally launched their nuclear payloads at one another is at its full bleak glory in many of those works -- and may seem bizarre (or perhaps, even quaint) to the younger age groups. I'll submit that Eugene Harvey and Burdick Wheeler's 1962 novel, FAIL-SAFE, epitomized a good portion of this anxiety, and did it well. The old bestseller should lay on top of that particular old-world-view book stack. The synopsis of the novel, that of the accidental triggering of a strategic bomber air-wing strike against the Soviet Union caused by computer glitch (and its horrifying and terrible solution in the tale), was close enough story-wise to a another book. Peter George's (aka Peter Bryant) earlier 1958 novel, Red Alert. So much so, that it caused its author to sue the tandem of Harvey and Burdick.

Despite that, and though Red Alert came out first (and was later the source material for Stanley Kubrick's brilliant black comedy, Dr. Strangelove), I daresay FAIL-SAFE's story has held up better in the decades since either book's initial release. In spite of the fact it is locked into that specific post-WWII political-military tension, it is more relatable to latter times because of its nightmare scenario. Its basis of a technical glitch I believe rings more true (and certainly more understandable with folks) today regardless of the passage of time. The explosion of technology in the daily lives of people since the 60's has had the effect of turning many human beings into a technical amalgam, of sorts. Some of us manage, but we all inter-relate, with computer systems. We are all just users. Which, like the engineering term fail safe, has a terrible irony to it (in the novel's story and in people's normal lives when dealing with technology). Name someone you know who hasn't suffered through (directly or indirectly) at least one technical glitch in their lives? It's hard to do without a person living some sort of secluded hermit existence nowadays. Our daily being today (whether you care to know it or not) revolves around computers. And they are center stage (in early form), along with the people, in this work. I think that aspect, so astutely done and written about in the FAIL-SAFE novel, makes the book worth remembering and one not to be left on the heap of forgotten history.

Since I didn't read this novel when it first came out (hey, I was only 8 at the time), I picked it up only years later because of Sidney Lumet's highly underrated 1964 film adaptation of it. In fact, I still have an old copy of the novel in my library. Fail-Safe, the film, came out the same year as Dr. Stangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. The latter picture by Kubrick was more successful at the box office (and remains a great film), but the former by Lumet was easily the more nail-biting of the two (and certainly a more dramatically haunting film, IMO). If I remember correctly, I first watched it on local television on one of those late-night Saturday movie shows my generation lived on. Director Joe Dante covered the film best last week in his Trailers From Hell video clip dedicated to the film:



The film is dotted with actors considered either great or without doubt underrated. Who wouldn't want Henry Fonda as the President trying prevent a global nuclear war? Outside of his stint in the great film Charade, I don't think Walter Matthau was ever more casually villainous than he is here as the hawkish civilian advisor to the Pentagon, Professor Groeteschele. And if you only know Dan O'Herlihy from some of his work in the 80's (Halloween III: Season of the Witch, The Last Starfighter, Robocop), first-time viewers will be more than surprised and touched by this actor's performance as the thoughtful General Black in the piece. It is unforgettable. Because of its small independent budget, tight sets and close-quarter lensing, all of the performer's faces became doubly important (including that of Frank Overton, Fritz Weaver, Larry Hagman, and Ed Binns) in the telling of the film's story. The framing of whole cast with close-up photography throughout the movie was remarkable. Lumet used it marvelously to show the tumult and emotions tearing at the insides of the predominately male characters. I highlighted the contribution of the late Dom DeLuise's small role in the film last year in a tribute post, in fact.

Fail-Safe is at its utmost a cold-war suspense thriller (in either book or film form). However, the real artistry in the film is that it never loses its humanity in its plotting. Shot in stark black & white, it remains something to behold (all the while your nerves are jangling watching it). What shouldn't be forgotten is that the characters in Fail-Safe (like in the novel) stand out amidst all of that safe-failed technology, and assume its terrible toll.

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