The film also stars Rod Taylor, Mary Peach, Barry Sullivan, Kevin McCarthy, Henry Silva, Robert Lansing, Leif Erickson and Richard Anderson.

Caldwell immediately sees many reasons for the low standards of training and readiness and institutes a number of harsh policies that bring him into conflict with Farr.

While Caldwell is absent on a hospital visit, he is suddenly told of an emergency on the base, as an unidentified aircraft is on final approach with no signal, a likely surprise ORI.

Caldwell is unable to return in time to handle the critical opening stages and Farr assumes command, successfully launching all bombers, but only by breaking a key regulation that could cause them to fail their inspection.

Once Caldwell and Victoria are both home, he apologizes for putting SAC first, and she explains that the airman made her realize how the entire base is focused on their critical work, and they lovingly embrace.

Mann, a former World War II bomber pilot who had won an Academy Award for his first film (Marty), was eager to demonstrate that he could direct serious material and not merely light-hearted comedies.

LeMay insisted on rigorous training and very high standards of performance for all SAC personnel and reportedly commented, "I have neither the time nor the inclination to differentiate between the incompetent and the merely unfortunate."

In a contemporary review for The New York Times, critic A. H. Weiler praised the film's realism but lamented its lack of dramatic impact:These eagles of the Strategic Air Command are rough, tough, alert birds but their feathers are constantly ruffled and their tempers fray to the point of hysteria.

The sporadic drama they project does not seem to relate realistically entirely to the scientifically exact world of the highly specialized warriors of SAC despite the obvious striving for authenticity in this production.