Fail-Safe
by Eugene Burdick, Harvey Wheelerliterary work· published 1962
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Fail-Safe is a bestselling American novel by Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler. Expanded from Wheeler's short story "Abraham '59" (originally published in the Winter 1959 issue of Dissent under the pen name F. B. Aiken), it was initially serialized in three installments in the Saturday Evening Post on October 13, 20, and 27, 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis. The novel was published in book form on October 22, 1962, and was then adapted into a 1964 film of the same name directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Henry Fonda, Dan O'Herlihy, and Walter Matthau. In 2000, the novel was adapted again for a televised play, broadcast live in black and white on CBS. All three works have the same theme, accidental nuclear war, with the same plot.
Adaptations (2)
Fail-Safe has been adapted 2 times, across film and television film, from 1964 to 2000. The most recent is Fail Safe (2000).
Fail-Safe1964 · film · 112 min · dir. Sidney Lumet · IMDb ↗Because of a technical defect an American bomber team mistakenly orders the destruction of Moscow. The President of the United States has but little time to prevent an atomic catastrophe from occurring.
