Talk:Fail-Safe (1964 film)

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The 1964 film version had the misfortune to be released shortly after Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, which shares many obvious plot similarities with Fail-Safe, but adds black humour and satire to the mix. It proved not as successful in the theatres as it might have been.

Ummm ... it refers to which movie -- Strangelove or Fail-Safe? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 69.37.19.100 (talk • contribs) 11:51, 27 September 2004.

The above comments some months ago by this anon. Andrewa 17:23, 11 May 2005 (UTC)

Professor Groteschele (played by Walter Matthau in the 1964 movie), who is loosely based on Henry Kissinger, suggests the United States follow this accidental attack with a full-scale attack to force the Soviets to surrender.

According to [Herman_Kahn] the character is based on Herman Kahn, not Kissenger. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Nmueller (talk • contribs) 12:42, 28 April 2005.

• That's what I was wondering too. Kissinger was relatively unknown in 1962 (when the book was written) whereas Kahn published On Thermonuclear War in 1960. The character in the book has many similarities with Kissinger, though (German immigrant at about the same time, worked in de-Nazification activities after the war, studied in a notable history professor who was an advisor to presidents, etc.), many more than Kahn. I know that Burdick and Wheeler claim to have based their work on real people, so maybe they did consider Kissinger, even if he wasn't well known? (Kahn is mentioned in the book directly as someone Grotheschele knew). I don't know, but it's interesting to ponder... I haven't seen the movie, mind you, but I have read the book. --Fastfission 19:51, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

The 2000 TV version used B-1 Lancer bombers.

I don't remember the details, but the TV movie was set in the 60's -- long before the Lancer.

All in all this article is highly suspect. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Nmueller (talk • contribs) 12:46, 28 April 2005.

Please sign your posts on talk pages, User:Nmueller, use four tildes ~~~~.

Agree this article needs a lot of work, but there's a lot of good content there too. The disambiguation section at the top should be split off to failsafe (disambiguation) for a start. Andrewa 17:23, 11 May 2005 (UTC)

I agree too, the page had this bogus claim on it that Nuclear Launch Subs got their instructions from some kind of LongWave Morse Code!! HUH? This sounded so crazy... i checked my memory banks for the movie Crimson Tide with Hackman and Denzel and remembered that at the end ... there was a Producer's note that the President had changed the keys on all the subs and instead they would use blue lasers from Satellites, which can penetrate Water to a great depth, and are more secure than radio signals. There have been articles on fool-proof laser-encryption networks .. getting out of the lab and into the real world... [recently]. This promises to help Computing become Truly Secure in the Future. Maxon1311 13:37 30-JUN-2005 (EDT).

this bogus claim on it that Nuclear Launch Subs got their instructions from some kind of LongWave Morse Code Are you alluding to very low frequency or extremely low frequency communications? David.Monniaux 14:54, 5 June 2006 (UTC)

Nuclear submarines first receive their instructions by long-wave radio, which can penetrate seawater. However, they can't receive detailed instructions. They do receive an warning message by VLF, and then proceed to a depth where they can receive the messages by laser. I've been following Naval communications for years on this. GABaker 5 June 2006 (UTC).

[edit] A question about the 2000 TV movie

At the very end of the movie, shortly before dropping the bomb, the pilot appears to inject himself with something. What? Why? Or did I misinterpret what I saw? Barnabypage 21:03, 1 November 2005 (UTC)

- Don't know what exactly he injected himself with, but my guess is cyanide because he kills himself. My guess is that he did it so that he would not have to live with what he did. Remember, he told his men that dropping the bomb on NY was his responsibility so that no one else could be blamed.

--This also happened in the 1960s movie. GABaker 17:25 9 April 2006 [UTC]

[edit] "Fail-safe" used as a term

This claim was once the article's last sentence: "The term "fail-safe" has entered common speech based on the plot of the movie; it means to allow some sort of modest retaliation, or even perform it yourself, to avoid a greater escalation of hostilities."

I have removed it, because it is unsourced, and contradicts my own understanding of the word (confirmed by a peek at Dictionary.com). Fail-safe, in everyday speech, seems to mean exactly what it's original "engineering use" would suggest: A measure intended to mitigate total failure in the event of an unexpected malfunction or unintended circumstance. This meaning has little to do with "retaliation". Xoloz 02:47, 2 December 2005 (UTC)#

i.e. a piece of equipment should fail into a safe condition. Which means that the film's title is probably a wry joke; the system fails deadly. -Ashley Pomeroy 01:24, 27 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Fair use rationale for Image:Fail safe moviep.jpg

Image:Fail safe moviep.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

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BetacommandBot (talk) 05:38, 2 January 2008 (UTC)