Rating: C-
Dir: Lester Wm. Berke.
Star: Robert Loggia, Ellen Parker, Philip Pine, Larry Kerr.
This certainly doesn’t hang around. We begin with a missile of unknown origin already orbiting the globe at an altitude of five miles, leaving a trail of destruction – the finest stock footage money can buy – beneath it. Albeit not very much money. Meanwhile atomic scientist Dr. David Loring (Loggia) and his assistant Joan Woods (Parker) have other concerns. David’s work on the Jove rocket have previously taken priority over their marriage plans, forcing the wedding to be pushed back repeatedly. But today is the day, lost missile or no lost missile. Well, until it isn’t, and Joan stalks off in a huff, telling David, “Marry your hydrogen warhead… You’ll have to find somebody else for both marriages.”
With the missile’s course taking it over New York, a solution needs to be found. But, first, we discover it’s not just Dr. Loring who is having to make sacrifices. His colleague, Dr. Freed (Pine) is unable to be with his wife, who is about to go into labour. In this film, I note, women are basically good for pouting about weddings and having babies. That’s it. Meanwhile, all the men are Very Serious and wear suits. There may be pipe-smoking involved, with the message very much being that the American military and scientists have got this. There is certainly no shortage of stock footage, with almost all of the military clips clearly having nothing to do with the actors.
While the basic premise here is a little like A House of Dynamite, there are few moments here where the government response is credible. It’s somewhat more interesting, at least, when depicting how everyday citizens react to the alerts: some concern, but they follow instruction, without question or real panic. A bit of shoving and yelling is largely the extent of it. “You will obey all police and civil defense officers,” goes the unidentified voice over the public loudspeakers. And people do. It may be this which dates it most, to a time where you did not question your government, because they knew best. “New Yorkers have been conditioned by practiced alerts,” goes the voice-over, which is only slightly less omnipresent than the stock footage. “They know what to do.”
Arguably, they know better than those in charge, because there are certainly some questionable decisions here. In particular, Dr. Loring’s decision to drive around in a jeep with Joan and a nuclear core, seems a poor one in hindsight. Still, it provides an opportunity for heroic sacrifice, in a way familiar to anyone who watched Chernobyl. Poor Joan is left sobbing, literally at the side of the road, as the inhabitants of the Big Apple await their fate. The film does finally acquire the necessary energy towards the end, as they race to get the Jove rocket ready for a last-ditch interception, hoping to save New York. If you’ve seen the way Fail-Safe ends, you’ll understand there is good reason to be concerned.