{"id":35863,"date":"2016-05-09T23:14:05","date_gmt":"2016-05-10T06:14:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/?p=35863"},"modified":"2016-05-09T23:14:05","modified_gmt":"2016-05-10T06:14:05","slug":"challenge-week-18-fail-safe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2016\/05\/challenge-week-18-fail-safe\/","title":{"rendered":"Challenge Week 18: Fail-Safe"},"content":{"rendered":"

If Ken’s other film Mortal Kombat<\/em> had me a bit apprehensive going into it, I was pretty excited about this one – a political thriller based on the same book as Dr. Strangelove<\/em> (and released the same year), but with a totally straight rather than satirical take on it. It’s been years since I’ve seen Strangelove<\/em>, and that’s probably good, as it gave this one a chance to stand on its own with little comparison.<\/p>\n

At the height of the Cold War, a bomber squadron in Alaska mistakenly gets the message to drop nuclear bombs on Moscow, and thanks to all the fail-safe systems built into their protocols, there’s basically nothing the government, even the president, can do to stop them. It’s a nightmare of automated military orders gone wrong, of paranoia-driven conspiracy theories run amok, and the dangers of an overly efficient war machine.<\/p>\n

\"tf-map\"<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

A number of perspectives play in – the academic consultant (Walter Matthau) who has a “get them before they get us” mentality, valuing winning over whatever casualties might ensue; the general who thinks Russia has planned all of this to fool them so Russia has cause to attack in “retaliation”; the general who’s willing to give up everything to keep WWIII from coming to pass; and the President (Henry Fonda), who pleads with the Russian president that it’s only a horrible mistake. Everyone has a lot of stakes in this – frankly it’d be interesting to see the commotion on the Russian side of this instead of just hearing them on the phone, but that’s probably another movie.<\/p>\n

The film is made even more effective through its stark and cold shooting style – I don’t have a unified theory on this yet, but I’m starting to notice a trend among hyper-realist B&W dramas of the 1960s embracing a flat, high-contrast\/low-grey lighting style – this, The Trial<\/em>, Seconds<\/em>, and a few other seem to fall into this category for me. This is nowhere near as strikingly shot as The Trial<\/em>, but they have a similar abstracted quality in the lighting that makes them seem simultaneously realistic and heightened. In addition, there’s no score at all in this film, something I didn’t notice until near the end when all of a sudden it became very apparent in a scene you’d expect to have some tense and swelling music. The lack of any music actually makes it MORE intense, though.<\/p>\n

\"tf-war-room\"<\/p>\n

The final shots are very effective, as the camera captures the last few brief moments in a city before the bomb falls – children laughing and playing, women chatting with each other, etc. – soon white light freezes them, and those freeze frames are simply devastating.<\/p>\n

I’ve mentioned that it’s been a long time for me with Dr. Strangelove<\/em>, so I can’t do a direct comparison very well. I mentioned to Jonathan (who’s a huge fan of Strangelove<\/em> that I couldn’t be sure this wouldn’t beat it, even if I rewatched Strangelove<\/em>, simply because the straight-forward tone worked wonderfully for me, whereas Strangelove<\/em>‘s several tones – satire, broad comedy, black comedy, etc. – didn’t always gel perfectly for me. When I just checked my 1964 chart, I noted that the two films landed back to back for 1964, with Fail-Safe<\/em> hitting just 20 spots higher on my chart than Strangelove<\/em>, both of them at 82% on my chart. I didn’t know where Strangelove<\/em> was ranked, so it seems pretty bizarre and kind of cool that they ended up so close together.<\/p>\n

\"tf-president-profile\"<\/p>\n

Stats and stuff…<\/h3>\n

1964, USA<\/em>
\ndirected by Sidney Lumet, screenplay by Walter Bernstein<\/em>
\nstarring Henry Fonda, Walter Matthau, Dan O’Herlihy, Frank Overton, Edward Binns, Larry Hagman<\/em><\/p>\n

I’m ranking all my Challenge films on Flickchart (as I do all the films I see), a movie-ranking website that asks you to choose your favorite between two movies until it builds a ranked list of your favorites. Just for fun, I will average out the rankings and keep a running tally of whose recommendations rank the highest. When you add a film to Flickchart, it pits it against films already on your chart to see where it should fall. Here’s how Fail-Safe<\/em> entered my chart:<\/p>\n

Fail-Safe<\/b> beats Three Times
\nFail-Safe<\/b> beats Los tallos amargos
\nFail-Safe loses to Team America: World Police<\/b>
\nFail-Safe<\/b> beats Pitch Black
\nFail-Safe<\/b> beats Into the Woods
\nFail-Safe loses to Koyaanisqatsi<\/b>
\nFail-Safe loses to Johnny Guitar<\/b>
\nFail-Safe loses to The Martian<\/b>
\nFail-Safe loses to 42 Up<\/b>
\nFail-Safe loses to The Thing (1982)<\/b>
\nFail-Safe loses to Close Encounters of the Third Kind<\/b>
\nFail-Safe loses to Broken Blossoms<\/b><\/p>\n

Final #568 out of 3637 films on my chart (84%)<\/p>\n

It is now my #3 Sidney Lumet film, my #7 Henry Fonda film, my #2 Walter Matthau film, my #3 Disaster Film, my #7 Political Thriller, and my #7 film of 1964.<\/p>\n

Fail-Safe<\/em> was recommended by Ken Gagne, a friend from Twitter. Averaging together this #568 ranking with my #1810 ranking of his other film, Mortal Kombat<\/em>, gives Ken an average ranking of 1189.<\/p>\n

A few quotes…<\/h3>\n

[Note: I didn’t write down the attributions of these like I should’ve; I’m trying to remember who said what, I may be incorrect – please correct me if I am.]<\/p>\n

Brigadier General Black<\/b>: In a nuclear war, everyone loses. War isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t what it used to be.<\/p>\n

General Brogan:<\/b> No one can interfere with the fail-safe box. No one.<\/p>\n

Brigadier General Black:<\/b> There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no such thing as a limited war. Once those hydrogen bombs begin to drop, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no limit to anything.<\/p>\n

General Brogan:<\/b> The more complex a machine or system gets, the more likely accidents will happen.
\nProf. Groeteschele:<\/b> These machine are being supervised by humans. When the machine fails, a human steps in to fix the mistake.<\/p>\n

US Ambassador:<\/b> [over the phone] I can hear the sound of explosions from the north east. The sky is very bright. All lit up.<\/p>\n

Ending title:<\/b> The producers of this film wish to stress that it is the stated position of the Department of Defense and the United States Air Force that a rigidly enforced system of safeguards and controls insure that occurrences such as those depicted in this story cannot happen.<\/p>\n

A few more screenshots…<\/h3>\n

\"tf-map2\"<\/p>\n

\"tf-matthau\"<\/p>\n

\"tf-telephone\"<\/p>\n

\"tf-reach\"<\/p>\n

\"tf-standing\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If Ken’s other film Mortal Kombat had me a bit apprehensive going into it, I was pretty excited about this one – a political thriller based on the same book as Dr. Strangelove (and released the same year), but with a totally straight rather than satirical take on it. It’s been years since I’ve seen […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35892,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3027],"tags":[3123,2234,3026,3044],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/tf-feat1.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":36601,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2016\/12\/challenge-week-48-son-of-frankenstein\/","url_meta":{"origin":35863,"position":0},"title":"Challenge Week 48: Son of Frankenstein","author":"Jandy","date":"December 13, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"True confession time. I have apparently seen this. I don't know why I didn't log it (either on Flickchart OR Letterboxd), and I was looking forward to it as a new-to-me Frankenstein film. But once it got going, things started to be familiar, and yeah, I've definitely seen it. But\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2016 Movie Challenge"","block_context":{"text":"2016 Movie Challenge","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/film\/2016-movie-challenge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/tf-lab.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":35387,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2016\/01\/the-2016-movie-challenge-a-preview\/","url_meta":{"origin":35863,"position":1},"title":"The 2016 Movie Challenge: A Preview","author":"Jandy","date":"January 3, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Because I can't leave well enough alone, here's a brief rundown of (some of) what I'll be watching in 2016 for this crazy challenge. I currently have 50 people signed up to recommend me movies, and all but a handful have already chosen their picks, so this thing is scheduled\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2016 Movie Challenge"","block_context":{"text":"2016 Movie Challenge","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/film\/2016-movie-challenge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/fc-keaton.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":36112,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2016\/07\/challenge-week-27-after-the-dark\/","url_meta":{"origin":35863,"position":2},"title":"Challenge Week 27: After the Dark","author":"Jandy","date":"July 10, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Alongside the so-bad-it's-good ridiculous pleasures of Birdemic, Ricky decided to give me something a little more cerebral, with this movie detailing a high school philosophy class's thought experiment about how they would survive the apocalypse. I generally love cerebral movies about philosophy, so this was a good pick for me.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2016 Movie Challenge"","block_context":{"text":"2016 Movie Challenge","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/film\/2016-movie-challenge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/tf-feat2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":23443,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2011\/07\/50dmc-6-least-favorite-film-from-favorite-director\/","url_meta":{"origin":35863,"position":3},"title":"50DMC #6: Least Favorite Film from Favorite Director","author":"Jandy","date":"July 4, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The 50 Day Movie Challenge asks one question every day, to be answered by a few paragraphs and a clip, if possible. Click here for the full list of questions. Today's prompt: What is your least favorite film from your favorite director? My overall favorite director is Alfred Hitchcock, perhaps\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Film"","block_context":{"text":"Film","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/film\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/50-Day-Challenge-06.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1122,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2008\/04\/oral-exam\/","url_meta":{"origin":35863,"position":4},"title":"Oral Exam","author":"Jandy","date":"April 17, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Update: I passed! I have my oral examination tomorrow, which decides whether or not I, you know, graduate. It's really hard to study two and a half years of coursework, especially those parts you didn't really care for and weren't planning to need to know again. *fingers crossed* the old\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "School"","block_context":{"text":"School","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/school\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":35505,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2017\/03\/2016-challenge-debrief\/","url_meta":{"origin":35863,"position":5},"title":"2016 Challenge Debrief","author":"Jandy","date":"March 15, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Well, it's been almost three months since my year-long movie challenge officially completed, and it's taken me that long to decompress, rerank everything, and generally get ready to post a recap of the year. The short version: it was awesome! I watched a ton of movies I really liked, very\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2016 Movie Challenge"","block_context":{"text":"2016 Movie Challenge","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/film\/2016-movie-challenge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/crop-400-Blows-watching.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35863"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35863"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35863\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}