FAIL SAFE (1964) A-warning

With thermo-nuclear war on the hoirzon, whose Presidential finger would you rather have hovering over the red button: the man in office now or the one portrayed by Henry Fonda in FAIL SAFE? Me, I’d vote for Fonda. He’s cool, calm, and convincingly collected in this talky, preachy but still compelling story about a nuclear confrontation between the U.S. and Russia – and the hard, fortunately fictional decision he makes to prevent total nuclear destruction is far more reasoned and wise than the real ones we’re hearing about today. The excellent cast includes a non-comedic Walter Matthew as a hawkish professor and a young, pre-“Dallas” Larry Hagman as the President's translator -- the "eyes" through which we view this unnerving story.