Dr. Strangelove by Stanley Kubrick and Fail-safe by Sidney Lumet

There are many humorous performances throughout the film. By arguing that it is difficult to say what a nuclear deterrent has deterred if it is damaging to life on earth, the film pulls the rug out from under the Cold War. The plot of the film centers on the implementation of an unauthorized nuclear attack plan against Russia. A misdirected communication causes a squadron of bombers to attack Russia in the movie Fail-safe, which centers on a nuclear attack on that country. It is clear that the two movies concentrate on nuclear threats against Russia. The two movies present two presidents of the US who are worried that the attacks would lead to World War. In the two films, after the launch of the nuclear attacks, the bombers become unreachable. The situation forces the presidents to contact the Russian president to inform him of the impending attack. One standard feature in the movies is that the missiles were mistakenly sent to attack Russia. While in Fail-safe, the US president contacts the Russian through his interpreter, while in Dr. Strangelove, he reaches out to the Russian president directly.

In the second movie, the bombers are instructed not to head to any instructions or attempts to abort the mission after passing the ’Fail-safe’ point

The two movies display the nature of Cold War among the superpower countries (Kattenburg). Nuclear deterrence is evident in the two movies, and the US uses its atomic power to instill fear within the Russian territory. The films are also used to show the danger posed by nuclear weapons as it can be seen the two US presidents trying to reach out to Russian president on the possible attacks.

Works Cited

Hahn, Sabine. “Stanley Kubricks” Dr. Strangelove”.” (1964).

Kattenburg, Paul. ”MAD is the Moral Position.” The Nuclear Reader. Strategy Weapons, War, New York, St Martin’s (1985).

Lumet, Sidney, Walter Bernstein, and Max E. Youngstein. ”Fail safe.” (2012).