penfrasha-1

I'm 52, Black and female. I first saw Fail Safe at age 12. I just watched it again. How any intelligent person can laugh while watching this movie is beyond my comprehension. Even Henry Fonda said that he would not have done the movie and would have laughed watching it, if he had seen Dr. Strangelove first. I just don't get it. From the opening scene of the bullfight, that dying bull, and General Black's reaction in the dream, I was riveted to the screen and had deep visceral reactions to everything that happened. I found/find the film completely believable. People have stated that the President would have never made the decision to bomb New York when in my opinion, it was the only decision he COULD make to avert nuclear war with Russia. I'm not a film maker, so the quibbles viewers had with the way the film looked is neither here nor there to me. I cried during various scenes, and cried like a baby when that high-pitched sound erupted, when General Black dropped the bombs on New York and killed himself, and especially during the final scene showing that little Black boy. I don't believe there was one Black, Hispanic, or other minority in the film. I am not trying to be racist, but I can remember thinking then and now, 'It's like we don't exist and have nothing to do with the war machine, but we pay with our lives anyway'. I think Fail Safe is an excellent movie. Sure, I laughed my a$$ off at Dr. Strangelove too, and feel there is a lot of truth in that film also. IMO, the premise might be the same, but the 2 films are entirely different.