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Posted: |
Oct 21, 2019 - 8:34 AM
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By: |
Last Child
(Member)
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I've seen this many times, possibly first on TV in the 1970s. While it has the same kind of pseudo-realistic, almost documentary feel as its cold war nuke predecessors the previous year (Fail-Safe, Dr. Strangelove), I much prefer it to them. It's a more conventional military exercise, taking place not long after the Cuban missile crisis, so the weapons happened to be nukes. The climactic message points to their folly, but it would have been a good movie even with conventional weapons. The characters are all human and believable, even Widmark as the warmongering captain who can still take a joke at his expense (from his Number One). My favorite scene is when he finally has his little chat with Poitier, where he manages to be both maniacally controlling and casually polite. Plus his crazy laugh that recalls his character from "Kiss of Death."
Great actors (Widmark, Poitier) and character actors (Martin Balsam, Wally Cox, Eric Portman, James Macarthur). I always thought the Captain's Number One played by Michael Kane was actually British actor Guy Doleman. He seems to have a British accent and wears a hat so you only see his face. Turns out he was the maguffin friend in jail in "Lonely are the brave" and the bad guy in "Three days of the Condor."
What little music there is by Gerard Schurmann is appropriate.
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Thanks so much for commenting, guys! That's very much appreciated.
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