History Film / FailSafe

* AntiVillain: Colonel Grady. They have been led to assume that war has been declared and do everything they have been trained to do, despite knowing that doing so means possible nuclear annihilation.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:In order to prevent all-out nuclear war, the president orders American bombers to dump a nuclear payload on New York City -- effectively signing the death warrant of five million people, including the visiting First Lady -- as a gesture of appeasement to the Russians.]]

* DrivenToSuicide: General Black, after [[spoiler:being forced to drop nuclear weapons on New York City]].

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:In order to prevent all-out nuclear war, the president orders American bombers to dump a nuclear payload on New York City -- effectively signing the death warrant of millions of people, including the visiting First Lady -- as a gesture of appeasement to the Russians.]]

* DuellingMovies: With Stanley Kubrick's ''[[Film/DrStrangelove Dr. Strangelove]]'', which followed the same premise from a more satirical perspective. ''Dr. Strangelove'' achieved iconic status while ''Fail Safe'', despite being good, performed poorly at the box office.

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* ANuclearError: Group Six is launched with nuclear weapons and receives the 'go-ahead' signal because of a technical failure. Because they are literally following their instructions, which tell them to ignore stand-down orders, the U.S. has to give the Soviets whatever information they can to tell them ''how to shoot down their own planes'' but one bomber escapes the defences and heads for Moscow. When the inevitable becomes clear, the President offers a solution to his Soviet counterpart to avoid a nuclear holocaust. Since their largest city is doomed, he will offer up America's largest city in return as an HeroicSacrifice to save the world. When the bomb goes off over New York City, the pilot who had to drop it commits suicide [[spoiler:because his wife and children were in New York]].

* ANuclearError: A bomber group is launched with nuclear weapons and receives the 'go-ahead' signal because of a technical failure. Because they are literally following their instructions, which tell them to ignore stand-down orders, the U.S. has to give the Soviets whatever information they can to tell them ''how to shoot down their own planes'' but one bomber escapes the defences and heads for Moscow. When the inevitable becomes clear, the President offers a solution to his Soviet counterpart to avoid a nuclear holocaust. Since their largest city is doomed, he will offer up America's largest city in return as an HeroicSacrifice to save the world. When the bomb goes off over New York City, the pilot who had to drop it commits suicide [[spoiler:because his wife and children were in New York]].

* FailsafeFailure: Given the title, a TropeCodifier. SAC's computer system is installed to remove the possibility of human error causing catastrophe, but ends up causing the crisis.

'''''Fail Safe''''' is a 1962 ColdWar novel by Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler, and adapted for the screen by SidneyLumet in 1964 starring HenryFonda. It was also adapted for a live broadcast in 2000 on Creator/{{CBS}} starring GeorgeClooney and HarveyKeitel.

'''Groeteschele:''' Yes, to keep from being murdered!
'''Black:''' You learned too well, professor. Now, there's no difference between you, and what you want to kill.

-->'''Black:''' You're justifying murder.\\
\\'''Groeteschele:''' Yes, to keep from being murdered!
\\'''Black:''' You learned too well, professor. Now, there's no difference between you, and what you want to kill.

* AllStarCast: The 2000 television version, with GeorgeClooney, HarveyKeitel, HankAzaria, Brian Dennehy, DonCheadle, Richard Dreyfuss, Noah Wyle, and Sam Elliott. WalterCronkite is the host.

* AllStarCast: The 2000 television version, with GeorgeClooney, HarveyKeitel, RichardDreyfuss, HankAzaria, Brian Dennehy, DonCheadle, Noah Wyle, and Sam Elliott. WalterCronkite is the host.

* AllStarCast: The 2000 television version, with GeorgeClooney, HarveyKeitel, Richard Dreyfuss, HankAzaria, Brian Dennehy, DonCheadle, Noah Wyle, and Sam Elliott. WalterCronkite is the host.

* AllStarCast: The 2000 television version, with GeorgeClooney, HarveyKeitel, Richard Dreyffus, HankAzaria, Brian Dennehy, DonCheadle, Noah Wyle, and Sam Elliott. WalterCronkite is the host.

''''Fail Safe'''' is a 1962 ColdWar novel by Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler, and adapted for the screen by SidneyLumet in 1964 starring HenryFonda. It was also adapted for a live broadcast in 2000 on Creator/{{CBS}} starring GeorgeClooney and HarveyKeitel.

In the early 1960s, the Strategic Air Command (SAC) sees a bogie on its radar screen and scrambles its bombers to "fail-safe points" to investigate whether its a Russian incursion. The bogie turns out to be harmless, and most of the bomber groups are ordered to return home. However, SAC's computer mistakenly transmits a "go code" to one of the bomber groups, commanded by Colonel Jack Grady, ordering them to enter Russian airspace and drop their nukes on Moscow. The remainder of the book deals with the lengths the Americans are willing to go to keep the situation from escalating and keep Grady from reaching his target.

In the early 1960s, the Strategic Air Command (SAC) sees a bogie on its radar screen and scrambles its bombers to "fail-safe points" to investigate whether its a Russian incursion. The bogie turns out to be harmless, and most of the bomber groups are ordered to return home. However, SAC's computer mistakenly transmits a "go code" to one of the bomber groups, commanded by Colonel Jack Grady, ordering them to enter Russian airspace and drop their nukes on Moscow.

''''Fail Safe'''' is a 1962 ColdWar novel by Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler, and adapted for the screen by SidneyLumet in 1964 starring HenryFonda and WalterMatthau. It was also adapted for a live broadcast in 2000 on Creator/{{CBS}} starring GeorgeClooney and HarveyKeitel.

''''Fail Safe'''' is a 1962 ColdWar novel by Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler, and adapted for the screen by SidneyLumet in 1964.

* AllStarCast: The 2000 television version, with GeorgeClooney, HarveyKeitel, RichardDreyffus, HankAzaria, BrianDennehy, DonCheadle, NoahWyle, and SamElliott. WalterCronkite is the host.