Fail Safe (1964)

Frank Overton: Gen. Bogan

Photos 

Quotes 

• Gen. Bogan : Sergeant Collins! On the double!

  [Collins races to General Bogan at the main communication board of SAC headquarters] 

  Gen. Bogan : You're backup man on fire control, aren't you?

  TSgt. Collins : Yes sir.

  Gen. Bogan : Do our Vindicator missiles have both infrared and radar-seeking capacity?

  TSgt. Collins : [tentatively]  Yes sir.

  Gen. Bogan : [grabbing Collins forcefully toward the radio mike]  Loud and clear! They've got to know we're on the level!

  TSgt. Collins : [fearfully]  It has both capacities, sir!

  Marshall Nevsky : [Over the radio]  Can the radar-seeking mechanism be overloaded by increasing the strength of the signal?

  Gen. Bogan : Tell him!

  TSgt. Collins : [fearfully]  Yes, sir. It can be overloaded, by increasing the power output and sliding through radar frequencies as fast as possible, what happens is the firing mechanism reads the higher amperage as proximity to the target, and detonates the warhead.

  Marshall Nevsky : [Over the radio]  Thank you General Bogan, we will get back to you.

  Gen. Bogan : [quietly]  That's all, Sergeant.

  [Collins slowly returns to his station within the mammoth bunker, head bowed down in shame] 

  Congressman Raskob : What does it mean?

  Gordon Knapp : We've told them how to blow up our air-to-air missiles, and with them our planes.

• Prof. Groeteschele : In my opinion they will take no action at all.

  Gen. Stark : They're not going to just sit there, Professor

  Prof. Groeteschele : I think if our bombers get through the Russians will surrender.

  Gen. Bogan : Who's this professor, Mr. Secretary? What's he doing there?

  Defense Secretary Swenson : Professor Groeteschele is a civilian advisor to the Pentagon, General. Will you explain your statement, Professor?

  Prof. Groeteschele : The Russian aim is to dominate the world. They think that Communism must succeed eventually if the Soviet Union is left reasonably intact. They know that a war would leave the Soviet Union utterly destroyed. Therefore, they would surrender.

  Gen. Stark : But suppose they feel they can knock us off first?

  Prof. Groeteschele : They know we might have a doomsday system, missiles that would go into action days, even weeks after a war is over and destroy an enemy even after that enemy has already destroyed us.

  Brigadier General Warren A. Black : Maybe they'll think that even capitalists aren't that insane, to want to kill after they themselves have been killed.

  Prof. Groeteschele : These are Marxist fanatics, not normal people. They do not reason they way you reason, General Black. They're not motivated by human emotions such as rage and pity. They are calculating machines. They will look at the balance sheet, and they will see they cannot win.

  Defense Secretary Swenson : Then you suggest doing what?

  Prof. Groeteschele : [leans forward]  Nothing.

  Defense Secretary Swenson : Nothing?

  Prof. Groeteschele : The Russians will surrender, and the threat of Communism will be over, forever.

  Gen. Bogan : That's a lot of hogwash. Don't kid yourself, there'll be Russian generals who will react just as I would - the best defense is a good offense. They see trouble coming up, take my word for it, they'll attack, and they won't give a damn what Marx said.

  Prof. Groeteschele : Mr. Secretary, I am convinced that the moment the Russians know bombs will fall on Moscow, they will surrender. They know that whatever they do then, they cannot escape destruction. Don't you see, sir, this our chance. We never would have made the first move deliberately, but Group 6 has made it for us, by accident. We must take advantage of it - history demands it. We must advise the President not to recall those planes.

• Marshall Nevsky : [over the hotline]  General Bogan, can you explain this maneuver? One of your planes has just appeared again.

  Gen. Bogan : It's standard procedure, Marshal Nevsky. That's our number six plane, the decoy plane. It's trying to draw your fighters away from our other plane carrying the bombs. It carries only defensive equipment. You don't have to worry about it.

  Marshall Nevsky : Thank you. We shall try for a kill in any case.

  Gen. Bogan : You'll scatter your forces. You don't have time for that.

  [watches helplessly as Russian planes focus on the decoy Vindicator] 

  Gen. Bogan : I tell you, it doesn't carry any bombs. You don't have to worry about it!

  [shouting] 

  Gen. Bogan : You're letting our other plane get through!

  [the Russians destroy the decoy Vindicator, allowing the armed plane to elude them] 

  Gen. Bogan : I told you!

  voice on the other end of the Russian hotline : [a new voice comes on the Russian side of the hotline]  There has been a... Marshal Nevsky has collapsed. It appears... Well, I don't know.General Koniev is now in command

  The President : Bogan, what's happened?

  Gen. Bogan : Marshal Nevsky sent his fighters after a plane that carried no bombs.That means our number one plane will almost certainly get through. The marshal realized that. It was too much for him.

• Gen. Bogan : KNOCK IT OFF! This isn't a damn football game, remember that!