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Post by _ on Aug 10, 2018 3:39:44 GMT
Hardly surprising. They were both based on the same novel, "Red Alert" by Welsh author Peter George, though with adapters and screen-writers, modifying his story before it reached the screen in both cases. He only received a pittance in royalties. Whether that was a factor in his suicide two years later I do not know. I think you should look into the reasons for his suicide. |
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Post by mattgarth on Aug 10, 2018 4:24:33 GMT
You were only five years old in 1959, Linda? Geez, I was already receiving Social Security checks for six years then! So you started receiving Social Security in 1953? At age 65? That would make you 130 years old now. You surprise me. I thought you were somewhat older than that. ============================ And I intend to be around in 20 years when Tele will post a thread in celebration of my 150th birthday, London ...
... unless of course I get shot by a jealous husband before then. |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 10, 2018 5:38:56 GMT
Never heard of it. I was born in 1983.
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Post by teleadm on Aug 10, 2018 17:09:45 GMT
Have anyone pointed out the strange fact that the parody ( Dr Strangelove) come out before the serious version about the same subject? I wish we all could watch Fail-Safe as the great movie it is, and as a time capsule of a era now thankfully gone, but sadly we can't, since it has actuality again. Interesting use of sound, and no soundtrack music, except what can be heard on radio.  I agree with everything said about Frank Overton. A great movie indeed, that also proves that less is more. |
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Post by snsurone on Aug 10, 2018 18:02:31 GMT
I, too, remember the "duck & cover" and "air-raid drills" from elementary school.
I also remember that frightening film we kids were made to watch instructing us as to what to do in case of a nuclear attack.
As if that would have done any good!
If the blast itself didn't kill us, the effects of radioactive fallout would.
I can remember my friends and I being really scared at this time.
Of course, this was during the peak of the McCarthy era, where there was a "Commie" behind every bush.
Thank God those days are over!
Although there is still danger here in the US from terrorist attacks, especially from Muslim extremists, such as ISIS.
Never forget 9/11/01!
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Post by petrolino on Aug 10, 2018 19:19:52 GMT
Very cold, dry film, yet strangely assertive. I like to watch it with John Frankenheimer's 'Seven Days In May' (1964).
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Post by snsurone on Aug 11, 2018 19:51:16 GMT
Just curious:
Which film did you find scarier: FAIL-SAFE or THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE?
Both movies were nerve-rattling, but IMHO, FAIL-SAFE was the better of the two.
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Post by Eλευθερί on Aug 11, 2018 20:01:41 GMT
Just curious: Which film did you find scarier: FAIL-SAFE or THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE? Both movies were nerve-rattling, but IMHO, FAIL-SAFE was the better of the two. I much prefer Fail-Safe over the original The Manchurian Candidate and Doctor Strangelove. The novel was even better than the film. |
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Post by Eλευθερί on Aug 11, 2018 20:16:07 GMT
I think you should look into the reasons for his suicide. Each was based on a different novel. The authors of “Fail-Safe” – Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler – had to make an out-of-court settlement to British author Peter George whose novel “Red Alert” had come out 4 years earlier and had basically the same plot: accidental American nuclear attack on Russia (a mad General in “Alert”, mechanical failure in “Fail-Safe”), communications between the President and Premier, U.S. helping Russia shoot down their own planes, and the offer to “trade cities” to prevent all-out nuclear war. The lawsuit effected the production of the movies. The suit was filed when Stanley Kubrick was filming “Strangelove” with Peter George as co-writer of the screenplay. They panicked when they heard that “Fail-Safe” was also in production and at the same studio (F-S was a Columbia production, DS was an independent production, dist. by Columbia, to be precise), so made the move to sue to prevent the release of F-S. Part of the settlement was that “Strangelove” would be released first. “Fail-Safe” reached theaters about 10 months later. I’m not sure if the source novel by Burdick and Wheeler is being read much any more. I read it in H.S. and thought it had too much filler material like the long chapters relating the biographies of Buck the translator (played by Larry Hagman in the film), Groeteschele (Walter Matthau) and General Black (Dan O'Herlihy). Director Sidney Lumet and his writers wisely jettisoned all that and filmed in a tight noir style. Lumet discusses this in his director's commentary on the DVD. If I remember right--he sounded, understandably, kind of bitter, since he felt that with the delayed release Fail-Safe largely ended up being just an afterthought in the public's consciousness after Strangelove had gotten so much attention just a few months before. He felt that the lawsuit's claims were unjustified and a bit of a dirty trick by Kubrick et al. (or at least that was my take on what he said).
While Strangelove is a brilliant film in its own right, I do wonder whether if in the long term the impact this studio maneuvering had on how the films were released ultimately did the world a disservice. Yes, Fail-Safe was based on a widely-read novel, back at a time when large numbers of people still actually read novels. But even more people were touched in those days by influential films. I wonder if more people had seen and talked about Fail-Safe first, before Strangelove was released, might it have led to earlier efforts at the highest levels of government to slow down the nuclear arms race, the way that the 1980s nuclear apocalypse films did.
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Post by Eλευθερί on Aug 11, 2018 20:24:59 GMT
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Post by snsurone on Aug 12, 2018 16:35:22 GMT
Y'know, it just occurred to me that if the bomber plane had been shot down by Soviet defense missiles, this whole tragedy might have been averted.
Of course, Congress might have called such action an act of war, leading to a real nuclear holocaust, unless the President is prepared to explain to Congress that the US attack was due to a mechanical blunder.
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Post by snsurone on Aug 12, 2018 16:38:27 GMT
Just curious: Which film did you find scarier: FAIL-SAFE or THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE? Both movies were nerve-rattling, but IMHO, FAIL-SAFE was the better of the two. I much prefer Fail-Safe over the original The Manchurian Candidate and Doctor Strangelove. The novel was even better than the film. So, is the remake of THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE was better than the original? I never saw the remake. |
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Post by london777 on Aug 12, 2018 16:58:16 GMT
So, is the remake of THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE better than the original? I never saw the remake. You had a lucky escape! |
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Post by mattgarth on Aug 12, 2018 18:49:16 GMT
So, is the remake of THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE better than the original? I never saw the remake. You had a lucky escape! Yep -- even Meryl could not save the remake |
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Post by Eλευθερί on Aug 12, 2018 19:20:21 GMT
I much prefer Fail-Safe over the original The Manchurian Candidate and Doctor Strangelove. The novel was even better than the film. So, is the remake of THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE was better than the original? I never saw the remake. Yes, the remake is better. I never said my opinion was the majority view. lol I did see the remake before I saw the original, though. While watching the original, I couldn't get past seeing THE Frank Sinatra trying to act--with Jessica Fletcher, no less. The remake seemed more believable rather than just a tv skit. |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 12, 2018 19:22:34 GMT
I actually like this a lot better than Dr. Strangelove. I read somewhere that when Stanley Kubrick heard that Fail-Safe was coming out, he hurried to finish his film. If he had not, Fail-Safe today would be the classic film and Dr. Strangelove would be considered a rip-off.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 12, 2018 19:25:04 GMT
So, is the remake of THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE was better than the original? I never saw the remake. Yes, the remake is better. I never said my opinion was the majority view. lol I did see the remake before I saw the original, though. While watching the original, I couldn't get past seeing THE Frank Sinatra trying to act--with Jessica Fletcher, no less. The remake seemed more believable rather than just a tv skit. I have the remake of The Manchurian Candidate and I have only watched it once. I am sure I have watched the original more than 100 times. |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 12, 2018 19:26:59 GMT
So, is the remake of THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE was better than the original? I never saw the remake. Yes, the remake is better. I never said my opinion was the majority view. lol I did see the remake before I saw the original, though. While watching the original, I couldn't get past seeing THE Frank Sinatra trying to act--with Jessica Fletcher, no less. The remake seemed more believable rather than just a tv skit. Sinatra and Lansbury don't even appear together onscreen. Maybe you should give the film another try. |
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Post by mikef6 on Aug 12, 2018 22:35:08 GMT
"Fail-Safe" may be the "scarier" but the original "The Manchurian Candidate" is a great film; it is one of the best of the 1960s and of the 20th century. Sinatra has my personal Best Actor Award (the Asta, for my black cat) for that year and Lansbury my all-time Best Supporting Actress.
Even though I will see Denzel Washington in almost anything (I even watched that stupid movie about the runaway train), the 2004 remake is a loser in almost every way. The death scene of two major characters in 1962 is one of the most memorable and shocking in movie history. The 2004 didn't even try with its matching scene.
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Post by vegalyra on Aug 13, 2018 15:07:57 GMT
I actually like this a lot better than Dr. Strangelove. I read somewhere that when Stanley Kubrick heard that Fail-Safe was coming out, he hurried to finish his film. If he had not, Fail-Safe today would be the classic film and Dr. Strangelove would be considered a rip-off. I've read this too. I believe I also heard that remark in a documentary about Kubrick. Fail Safe is a great film. I also remember watching the remake that was done live on CBS with Richard Dreyfus and George Clooney among others. It was actually well done. Walter Cronkite opened the film. |
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