I hadn’t seen Fail Safe in decades, and didn’t remember much of it other than Henry Fonda and the brilliant final scene. It was only in the last year that I came to realize it was Sidney Lumet. Over the years I’ve loved many Lumet films, including Network, Dog Day Afternoon, 12 Angry Men, The Verdict, and Death Trap without realizing they were his. I think this may be because his trademark is subtle. It isn’t stylistic, it’s all about the characters. All of his characters are fully drawn, and completely believable. Even those as out there as Howard Beale. Beyond the script, Lumet seems to have that magic that can draw the best performances out of his actors.

I remember liking Fail Safe, but for me it was overshadowed by my love for Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove. This time I went in with the full knowledge that this was going to be a Lumet.

I loved the ‘5:20am – location’ device. It immediately telegraphed that something important was going to happen, and was the perfect setup to introduce the characters.

Right from the beginning I was pulled in by those who we met. Dan O’Herlihy’s nightmare set the tone of unrest and introduced ‘Blackie’ as a human, a human living his domestic life. Walter Matthau pontificating at a party into the early morning hours about the nature of war, and its modern inevitable outcomes perfectly framed Groeteschele. You could see the Omaha crew being ‘business as usual’, but knowing that it wasn’t the case. This device, and these introductions, set the plot in motion and started to raise the bar of anticipated tension.

I have to mention Gerald Hirschfeld’s cinematography. Absolutely stark and stunning. I did kind of remember this, but the rewatch really brought it home. The pains they went through for their tactical displays, that were meant to look like early video projection, but in fact were front projection film, was absolutely outstanding. I think their visuals pre-dated the current art, and anticipated what was to come though. The only real flaw was the intercuts between the studio scenes and the Vindicator footage, which was so obviously scratched and raw stock footage. I later read that the Air Force after initial cooperation decided to rescind, and Lumet didn’t have any alternatives.

Everything is set in motion by a electronic failure. This is an interesting counterpoise to Strangelove’s ‘human failure’. It sets up some interesting questions in the third act about responsibility.

As I watched the third act unfold, and was captivated by the sudden, intimate, relationship between Ford and Hagman, I couldn’t help but think ‘this is too good to be true’. There is no leader that could be this virtuous, responsible, and altruistic. While it served the plot point of his final decision being better than the alternatives, it suddenly turned into something else. At first I thought it was Americans being self congratulatory on their moral high ground, but then, after discussing it with my wife, I realized that it was a sermon. It was what ought to be.

This started me on a reflection of the Lumet films I had seen. It suddenly came into focus that Fail Safe was not that different than 12 Angry Men. In both films Lumet looks at a moral mistake, and guides the audience to the ‘right’ decision. I then thought of later Lumet films I had seen. In Dog Day afternoon, an immoral act with a moral cause is punished. In Network, morality fights the good fight, but is ultimately defeated by the amoral. It seems like Mr. Lumet is losing his soul. However, in The Verdict, amoral behavior is turned.

I think Sidney Lumet was on a journey of discovery, and I really, really have to see the rest of his films.