3/5 George Clooney's live TV remake of an original Cold war masterpiece
  by Larry VanDeSande (Mason, Michigan United States)
George Clooney produced and directed this remake of the 1964 chiller "Fail-Safe" for live TV on CBS in 2000. The occasion was special insofar as there hadn't been a live dramatic production on any network in some years. Clooney played one of the leading characters and Richard Dreyfuss played the president, subbing for the monumental Henry Fonda who did so well in the 1964 version.

If you've never seen "Fail-Safe", it's a Cold war hydrogen bomb nightmare from a book of the same name. An electronic communications system goes awry and sends a nuclear-armed bomber crew at its "fail safe" point on the perimeter of the USSR into the nation with instructions to bomb Moscow. The drama revolves around efforts to recall the bomber and, when that cannot be done, the negotiations that go on with the Soviet Union on what retribution will be taken at home to avoid nuclear war if the bomber fulfills its mission.

The original film was 100 minutes of sheer tension and fright. It arrived on the big screen almost simultaneously with another Cold war nuclear nightmare, "Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb" -- Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (Special Edition) -- Stanley Kubrick's very similar black comedy. The two films have become blood brothers as the first Cold war era movies about nuclear destruction; both were dreamed up moments after the 1962 Cuban missile criis occurred, the moment in the 20th century when superpowers USA and USSR came the closest to nuclear war, and released months apart in 1964.

Unfortunately, Clooney's remake is a tame and limp retelling of both the book and its foil, the 1964 movie. None of the actors in the remake are as good or believeable as those in the 1964 cast that featured Fonda, Walter Matthau, Frank Overton, Fritz Weaver and Larry Hagman, who grew to fame as J.R. Ewing in television's "Dallas." The aura of tension, fear, foreboding and inevitability that permeates the 1964 original is missing in the remake. Also, true to the foibles of live television (I watched this when it aired in 2000), the production started 7 minutes late and ended 11 minutes early, forcing CBS and the film's producers to scramble to fill time on the little screen.

If you have no exposure to the movie, my recommendation is to skip this version of "Fail Safe" and watch the 1964 film instead Fail-safe (Special Edition). The older one is a classic while the newer one is a lukewarm piece of television milquetoast. I give George Clooney marks for trying to reinvent a masterpiece in modern garb. Unfortunately, it doesn't carry the weight or authenticity of the original, a common problem of remakes.

5/5 Can you appreciate live? That is the question
  by LV (FRANKLIN, MA USA)
Recreates the look and feel of live B&W television, back in the day, beautifully. As if there was a extra high quality episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents produced live in 1960. But in fact, it actually is live television. Which made it all the more impressive and interesting to me. I watched it live years ago and enjoyed it even more this time, without all the commercials. The atmosphere has a certain tension which I found to be fascinating. Bare in mind that this is nothing like a movie. It's like a stage play, but spread out over a large television studio with several separate sets. Nobody gets 19 takes to get it down perfectly. The overall effect will appeal to serious drama fans in particular I think. I can't stop myself from giving it one extra star for sheer originality. Fine performances, dialog, and pace. A unique and entertaining film. I don't know of anything else remotely like it.


3/5 a flash from the past
  by R. Bagula (Lakeside, Ca United States)
Machines fail: a computer system is at fault
for a cold war era near WWII incident.
The acting here is first rate: it is the script from the book that is dated.
My biggest fault of the movie is the rationality of the leaders
and generals.
The problems of nuclear over-kill and the possibility of not only massive radio active contamination, but a nuclear winter leaving the end result of such a war as a dead planet Earth has to be passed on to the next generation, but in the past rationality in the leadership has been the exception and not the rule. After 8 years of Bush we are glad he was never given this option?
Banning all nuclear weapons research in the USA certainly hasn't done any good: it has let smaller countries catch up and be less afraid of the bomb.
I liked the movie, but think a more modern approach
would have been more educational than a more than 20 year old plot.

5/5 Fail Safe (2000) B&W
  by Thomas Carr (Sault Ste Marie, Ontario, Canada)
Fail Safe (2000) B&W
A remake of the Fail Safe 1964 movie, the 2000 version is a great disappointment. No where near the intensity of the Fail Safe 1964 version.

5/5 Great Product
  by Henrique Pinheiro (Rio de Janeiro, RJ Brazil)
Couldn't find this movie anywhere in Brazil... So... Had to get it from abroad. Definitely a must-have. And got here in awesome condition. Great.