Target Moscow

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Movie
German title Target Moscow
Original title Fail Safe
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1964
length 112 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Sidney Lumet
script Eugene Burdick ,
Harvey Wheeler ,
Walter Bernstein
production Charles H. Maguire ,
Max E. Youngstein ,
Sidney Lumet
camera Gerald Hirschfeld
cut Ralph Rosenblum
occupation

Target Moscow (original title: Fail-Safe ) is an American thriller from 1964 , which takes place during the Cold War . The basis was the novel Fire will fall from the sky (original title: Fail-Safe ) by Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler .

action

The film is set in the 1960s. It reflects the mood after the Cuba crisis , when for the first time there was a real awareness of the unimaginable effects of a possible nuclear war .

At the beginning of the film, at a cocktail party, the American nuclear war theorist Prof. Groeteschele discusses the Russian-Communist threat and paints the gloomy scenario of a conceivable nuclear conflict between the superpowers on the wall. He takes the position that it would be better to wage a "limited" nuclear war with 60 million deaths than risk a total with 100 million victims; As in any other war, it just depends on who is the winner and who is the loser (→ first strike theory ). Some of the party guests in the villa listen intently to his thoughts.

The next morning, the horror visions begin to become reality.

Some US Air Force officers and their personal difficulties are introduced. A happily married general says goodbye to his wife to fly to Washington. The night before, the pensive officer had been plagued by an obscure nightmare. A Colonel, extremely energetic and ambitious, a social climber of Italian-American descent, serves in the air force headquarters NORAD . However, he has great personal difficulties with the family and especially with his impoverished father.

On this everyday morning, a congressman is given a guided tour to inform him about the workings and precautions in the air defense command of the US Air Force . Suddenly, phenomena appear on the radar screen that could be interpreted as a possible attacking Soviet aircraft. The first unrest is noticeable in the command center. The bomb squadrons set off routinely to go to the “fail-safe” points, those waiting points in the sky where they should wait for the order to be deployed.

Due to a technical error, one of these squadrons received the order to launch a nuclear attack on Moscow . Among the crew members are some long-serving veterans who had already participated in US bombing missions in Europe during World War II .

After the radar image is recognized as an error, one tries desperately to bring the bomber formation back. However, since the Russians are obstructing radio communications with jammers , the US President's telephone contact initially fails . When the Soviets put an end to the disruption a little later after negotiations, due to the sophisticated security system it was no longer possible to bring the US bombers back: the point in time at which a mission could no longer be canceled by the president himself has already come. According to the regulations, the commander has to disregard the radio messages of the president, as these could also come from a Russian voice impersonator.

The Americans' attempt to shoot down the squadron themselves also fails because the bombers have already flown too far towards Siberia. After running out of fuel, the American interceptors plunge into the Arctic Ocean.

The American leadership has no choice but to pass on all coordinates and defense details to the Soviets in order to give them the opportunity to defend themselves. Soviet anti-aircraft missiles destroy almost the entire US squadron.

Despite everything, an atomic bomber gets through - Moscow is destroyed. In order to prevent a Soviet counterattack, the American president decides to have the city of New York destroyed by an American atomic bomb as a sign of confidence.

World premieres

  • USA: September 15, 1964
  • Germany: March 19, 1965
  • Austria: May 1965

Remake

A remake was made in 2000 as a live television play. Directed by Stephen Frears, Fail Safe was created - an order with no way out , u. a. with George Clooney , Richard Dreyfuss and Noah Wyle . The piece was shot in black and white and broadcast live.

Reviews

"Reportage-like - precise in form, even if not without simplifications, the film creates the oppressive vision of security mechanisms that become independent."

- Lexicon of international film

“Exact description of the consequences of nuclear armament, consequences that will hopefully never materialize. Worth seeing and thinking about from 16. "

- Protestant film observer

literature

  • Eugene Burdick , Harvey Wheeler : Fire will fall from the sky. Roman (Original title: Fail-Safe ). German by Werner von Grünau . (Unabridged paperback edition.) Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1964, 219 pp.
  • Eva Horn : The obscene desire for the end: " Dr. Strangelove " and "Fail-Safe" , in: dies., Future as a catastrophe. Frankfurt a. M. 2014. pp. 101-109.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ World premieres according to IMDb
  2. ↑ Target Moscow. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  3. ↑ Evangelischer Presseverband München, Review No. 148/1965, p. 287