1. Prof. Groeteschele slaps his date.
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Fail-Safe
kevin-bergin — 10 years ago(January 21, 2016 11:36 PM)
- Prof. Groeteschele slaps his date.
- No is really paying attention to Mrs Grady when she begs her husband to turn the plane around.
- The First Lady was in NYC when her husband decided to bomb for the good of humanity I will grant you.
I am interesting in what female viewers thing about the role of women in this film?
"It's the system, Lara. People will be different after the Revolution."
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rebrus29 — 9 years ago(September 24, 2016 12:48 PM)
I have watched Fail Safe many times. I am female. The scene with the hysterical wife is completely unrealistic. That scene and the opening animal torture scene are the only drawbacks to this movie. They are unnecessary.
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practicepiano — 9 years ago(September 24, 2016 12:54 PM)
This woman thinks it was 1964, so some of that was to be expected.
To be more specific:- Slapping a woman would have been just as distasteful then as now. I think this shocking moment (with the over-loud sound effect)is to drive home to us that, while he is a cold man who has his own logic about how much death is "OK," he isn't getting off on it, thrilled by death, like she is.
If it was the real world, I'd rather see him use his words, as we say to little kids, to let her know how creepy he finds her. But I guess it was more cinematic to show physical attack followed by a curt "I'm not your kind." - That is such a painful moment. I can see it as a sign of the times she's The Little Woman, and not supposed to get involved in her hubby's work (military) life. So their bringing her in makes it clear how desperate they are.
But I can see how a similar moment might work in a modern film. Since the point is that these pilots are supposed to assume any verbal contact is an enemy trick, any loved one could be the one begging a pilot, male or female, to turn around husband, child, parent, etc.
I think the idea is that they are resorting to the appeal to deep personal feelings machines and systems and the military have all failed. - Again, the 1964 viewpoint is that the Man in Charge has made the ultimate personal sacrifice. Viewers were meant to be horrified and sympathetic to him, not think his wife was expendable because she was female.
And, again, in a modern setting, what sex everybody was might not be so predictable, and the relationships might have been different ones. The point is to have the person in charge make a huge sacrifice.
- Slapping a woman would have been just as distasteful then as now. I think this shocking moment (with the over-loud sound effect)is to drive home to us that, while he is a cold man who has his own logic about how much death is "OK," he isn't getting off on it, thrilled by death, like she is.