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Showing posts with the label Walter Matthau

Movie Review: Examining 'Fail-Safe'

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Pros:  Gripping story, excellent performances from cast, great directing from Lumet Cons:  Too stark and depressing for some viewers, dated, claustrophobic at times Imagine, if you will, that you are Col. Jack Grady, USAF, the commanding officer of a squadron of "Vindicator" bombers on routine patrol somewhere over Alaska. It's the mid-1960s, the Soviet Union still exists, and the Cold War is still being waged. Your plane, along with several others from your squadron, is nearing its Fail-Safe point -- a spot on the map where you will "orbit" for a specific amount of time before either returning to base or, if worse comes to worst, a coded attack signal orders you to head to your target inside Russia. This is part of your routine as an Air Force pilot, and thus far every time you've gone up on patrol you've reached the Fail-Safe point and returned home without incident. That is....until today. Today, your "routine patrol" will be