When two films are this similar in subject matter, it’s curious that they were both released by the same company during the same year (Columbia Pictures, 1964). But therein lies a story, as Sean will tell you during this episode.
Both Dr. Strangelove and Fail-Safe deal with an American airplane that’s “gone rogue” for different reasons. Both planes are on their way to deliver a nuclear bomb to the Soviet Union. However, one is going because the commander who sent it is insane, while the other one is going because of a technical malfunction. However, the end result is going to be the same, even if the approach that each film takes is vastly different.
Dr Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (if you’re a completist about titles) is a black comedy directed by Stanley Kubrick and starring Peter Sellers (thrice), George C. Scott and Sterling Hayden, with a strong supporting cast of character actors. Meanwhile, Fail-Safe was directed by Sidney Lumet and stars Henry Fonda, Walter Matthau and several actors who are at the start of long careers. It’s a tense drama—so tense, in fact, that it has no musical score. And it’s got one of the most compelling endings you’ll ever see.
COMING ATTRACTIONS:
Part 4 of this five-part series continues with The Return of the Secaucus 7, written and directed by John Sayles, and The Big Chill, directed and co-written by Lawrence Kasdan. See you soon!