Fail Safe
The dark twin of Dr Strangelove, Fail Safe came out the same year as Kubrick’s film and was sued by him over copyright infringement. There wasn’t any, but for a quiet life Kubrick’s studio, Columbia, played along and released his film first in January, then Sidney Lumet’s film later in the year. Both films are reactions to the Cuban Missile Crisis two years before, a point in history when events seemed to gain a traction all of their own and humans seemed powerless to prevent what looked like a slide towards nuclear war between the USA and USSR. Both Strangelove and Fail Safe ask the question: what if humans really hadn’t been able … Read more