Certainly in the 1960s, audiences would likely cheer at the thought of killing faceless Russians with nuclear weapons. When the tide potentially turns by the end of the film, it is not cut and dry. You could feel guilt or even consider yourself hypocritical now that the U.S. is in danger. Without divulging spoilers, the final frames give the movie its lasting impact, and certainly images you won’t forget. 
Fail Safe was an early hi-definition broadcast. The DVD benefits from the source. While some aliasing is a problem due to the resolution downgrade, this is a detailed transfer. Close-ups reveal pores on the actor’s faces, and stitching on clothing. Contrast is excellent, and the black levels create a decent level of depth. Artifacting is rarely a problem. There are no instances of noise or other digital video defect.
The live broadcast suffers from the source. Some ambient noise from the set that would never make it into a finished film is evident. It drowns out dialogue at times, however briefly. It’s not a fault of the audio encoding on the disc, but an issue worth mentioning. The Dolby 2.0 mix features no positional audio to speak of. It is straightforward and serviceable. 
The only extra on the disc is a trailer for Ocean’s Thirteen. It’s a shame there is nothing on the broadcast itself. 
Fail Safe was broadcast on CBS April 9th, 2000. It was the first feature length broadcast on the network in nearly 40 years.
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