History YMMV / FailSafe

** Dana Elcar, Peter Thornton from ''Series/{{MacGyver}}'', appears as a Senator hosting a dinner party Groteschele is attending in the beginning of the film.

** An especially bizarre one, as Creator/DomDeLuise shows up to deliver a message in his film debut.
** Dana Elcar also appears as a Senator hosting a dinner party Groteschele is attending in the beginning of the film.

* LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt: The ending would be shocking by today’s standards. In 1964 it was during some of the most tense times of the ColdWar and just two years after the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Missile_Crisis Cuban Missile Crisis.]]

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: The film is the serious version of ''Film/DrStrangelove'', and actually depicts the horror of a nuclear attack, as it has both Moscow and New York City getting blown-up.

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: The film is the serious version of ''Dr. Strangelove'', and actually depicts the horror of a nuclear attack, as it has both Moscow and New York City getting blown-up.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Professor Groeteschele—on the face of it, he appears to be a Jerkass academic who's more interested in being proven right about his analysis of nuclear strategy and diplomacy than avoiding the nuking of Moscow. At the same time, based on his interaction with Evelyn in the car, he considers the topic of nuclear holocaust to be SeriousBusiness and does not seem to have a death fetish in the least. The book fleshes out his character more, that while he's decidedly more pessimistic than his colleagues (being a German Jew who narrowly avoided getting trapped with the Nazis will do that to you), he doesn't particularly relish the idea of a real-life nuclear exchange. He's just doing his job of thinking the unthinkable in order to make sure the US survives nuclear war.

* FailedASpotCheck: Group 6 proceeded on their Go code because they couldn't call back to base and get confirmation of the order, thanks to untimely Soviet radio jamming. Under real-life SAC policies (as far as we know), there should be a second form of authentication separate from the main one to verify the order, to lessen the probability of the Soviets (or someone else) reverse-engineering the codes. (The pilots are shown switching to a secondary recieving channel on the fail-safe box, but that might not have helped much). Film/DrStrangelove was a little bit better on this, showing their bomber crews getting a confirmation from base amidst skepticism the attack order is for real.

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: The film is the serious version of Dr. Strangelove, and actually depicts the horror of a nuclear attack, as it has both Moscow and New York City getting blown-up.

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeStopped: The film is the serious version of Dr. Strangelove, and actually depicts the horror of a nuclear attack, as it has both Moscow and New York City getting blown-up.

* RetroactiveRecognition: An especially bizarre one, as Creator/DomDeLuise shows up to deliver a message in his film debut.
** Creator/DanaElcar also appears as a Senator hosting a dinner party Groteschele is attending in the beginning of the film.
* StockFootageFailure: Very little screentime is devoted to shots of aircraft in flight and the like (this is not necessarily a bad thing), and they're all accomplished with stock footage, which leaves some room for issues.

** The Vindicator bombers are portrayed by footage of B-58 Hustler supersonic bombers. While the B-58 was a contemporary aircraft and fits with the mission profile of the Vindicators in the film, the stock footage used to portray them does not match the quality of the film stock, and can be seen either overexposed or color-inverted. During one scene in the climax, the footage shown is of an aircraft that decidedly does NOT look like a B-58.

* NightmareFuel: The entire ending sequence. The incredibly resigned, almost robotic monotone in which General Black counts down over [[spoiler:images of everyday New Yorkers going about their business]], followed by Black [[spoiler:[[DrivenToSuicide killing himself]] out of the sheer guilt and anguish of what he's just done]]. It's absolutely haunting. To say nothing of the freeze-frame montage just before the credits roll...

** Creator/Dana Elcar also appears as a Senator hosting a dinner party Groteschele is attending in the beginning of the film.

* FailedASpotCheck: Group 6 proceeded on their Go code because they couldn't call back to base and get confirmation of the order, thanks to untimely Soviet radio jamming. Under real-life SAC policies (as far as we know), there should be a second form of authentication separate from the main one to verify the order, to lessen the probability of the Soviets (or someone else) reverse-engineering the codes. (The pilots are shown switching to a secondary recieving channel on the fail-safe box, but that might not have helped much). DrStrangelove was a little bit better on this, showing their bomber crews getting a confirmation from base amidst skepticism the attack order is for real.

* NightmareFuel: The entire ending sequence. The incredibly resigned, almost robotic monotone in which General Black counts down over [[spoiler:images of everyday New Yorkers going about their business]], followed by Black [[spoiler:[[DrivenToSuicide killing himself]] out of the sheer guilt and anguish of what he's just done]]. It's absolutely haunting. To say nothing of the freeze-frame montage just before the credits roll...

* ArtisticLicenseMilitary
** Group 6's target is a direct attack on Moscow—not any military targets in or around the city. Nuclear strategy in general focused on counterforce tactics, where the primary targets were the enemy's own military/nuclear assets (silos, airbases, command and control, etc.). Decapitation strikes like the one portrayed in the film were generally frowned upon, as it would give the enemy less of a chance to surrender, and might force them to fight to utter destruction, which is detrimental to both combatants.
** During the alert response caused by the airliner, General Bogan very rapidly brings the alert force to the equivalent of DEFCON 2, putting them one step below full war readiness. Usually, DEFCON changes occur more gradually in response to international tensions, and in this scenario, it's more likely to go straight to DEFCON 1 upon confirmation of an enemy attack.

* ArtisticLicenseMilitary: Group 6's target is a direct attack on Moscow—not any military targets in or around the city. Nuclear strategy in general focused on counterforce tactics, where the primary targets were the enemy's own military/nuclear assets (silos, airbases, command and control, etc.). Decapitation strikes like the one portrayed in the film were generally frowned upon, as it would give the enemy less of a chance to surrender, and might force them to fight to utter destruction, which is detrimental to both combatants.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Professor Groteschele—on the face of it, he appears to be a Jerkass academic who's more interested in being proven right about his analysis of nuclear strategy and diplomacy than avoiding the nuking of Moscow. At the same time, based on his interaction with Evelyn in the car, he considers the topic of nuclear holocaust to be SeriousBusiness and does not seem to have a death fetish in the least. The book fleshes out his character more, that while he's decidedly more pessimistic than his colleagues (being a German Jew who narrowly avoiding getting trapped with the Nazis will do that to you), he doesn't particularly relish the idea of a real-life nuclear exchange. He's just doing his job of thinking the unthinkable in order to make sure the US survives nuclear war.

* RetroactiveRecognition: An especially bizarre one, as [[Creator/DomDeLuise]] shows up to deliver a message in his film debut.

* RetroactiveRecognition: An especially bizarre one, as Dom De Luise shows up to deliver a message in his film debut.
* NightmareFuel: The entire ending sequence. The incredibly resigned, almost robotic monotone in which General Black counts down over [[spoiler:images of everyday New Yorkers going about their business]], followed by Black [[spoiler:[[DrivenToSuicide killing himself]] out of the sheer guilt and anguish of what he's just done]]. It's absolutely haunting.

* NightmareFuel: The entire ending sequence. The incredibly resigned, almost robotic monotone in which General Black counts down over [[spoilers:images of everyday New Yorkers going about their business]], followed by Black [[spoiler:[[DrivenToSuicide killing himself]] out of the sheer guilt and anguish of what he's just done]]. It's absolutely haunting.

* RetroactiveRecognition: An especially bizarre one, as Dom De Luise shows up to deliver a message in his film debut.

* RetroactiveRecognition: An especially bizarre one, as Dom De Luis shows up to deliver a message in his film debut.