Dr. Strangelove
Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb
40th Anniversary Edition!
Stanley Kubrick's black comedy classic about an "accidental" nuclear attack received four Oscar nominations (including Best Picture, 1964). Convinced the Commies want to pollute America's "precious bodily fluids," a crazed general (Sterling Hayden) orders a nuclear air strike on the U.S.S.R. As his aide, Captain Mandrake (Peter Sellers), scrambles to unlock a recall code to prevent the bombing, the U.S. President (Sellers again) calls a drunken Soviet Premier on the hotline claiming the proposed attack is all a silly mistake, while the President's advisor (an ex-Nazi scientist) Dr. Strangelove (Sellers once more) verifies the existence of a dreaded Doomsday Machine - a retaliatory device designed by the Soviets to end the human race once and for all!
Member Reviews
One of my Favourites - evester85
Hysterical! Satire at its best.
Fun fact: Peter Sellers won an Oscar for playing more than one role in this film and is still one of only two to do so. (Lee Marvin being the other for his performances in Cat Ballou)
My favourite line:
"Gentlemen! You can't fight in here! This is the war room!"Dr. Strangelove and Fail Safe - Two Sides Of The Same Coin - revsdd
The obvious movie to compare this to is "Fail Safe" - made at about the same time and dealing with essentially the same scenario – an accidental nuclear bombing mission by American jets over the Soviet Union - that no one seems able to stop. The difference between the two, of course, is that while "Fail Safe" was deadly serious, "Dr. Strangelove" is a black comedy – and a wonderful one, beautifully developed all the way through by director Stanley Kubrick. In fact, the thing that made this so funny was how realistic everything seemed. As you watch the events transpire, you find yourself asking the question "why couldn't this happen" - and it's not easy to come up with an answer.
Gen. Jack Ripper is the commanding officer of a U.S. Air Force Base who goes insane, becomes convinced of a Communist conspiracy and takes it upon himself to issue orders to his pilots to nuke Russia. Meanwhile, his second-in-command Group Captain Lionel Mandrake, a British officer on an exchange (played by Peter Sellers, who also plays the title character, as well as the U.S. President) realizes that Ripper is insane and tries to find a way out of the mess. Back in Washington, Gen. Turgidson, who commands the Air Force, sort of sums up the whole mood of the movie when he reflects on why current policy won't allow any way to recall the bombers: "don't let one little slip up ruin the whole program!" There's a lot of good comedy here, as well as a good build-up of suspense.
The title of the movie is interesting, because Strangelove actually only appears in 2 or 3 scenes, but Sellers manages an over the top performance with him when given the opportunity and I would rate this as one of Sellers' best performances. In fact there isn't much of anything to dislike here (although to be honest I found Slim Pickens a bit irritating as Major Kong, the pilot of the plane sent to bomb Russia.) Otherwise, this was great.Funny and Poignant - Plastic_Penguin
This is a hillarious dark comedy about the absurdity of men in military and men in government, and how one particularly nutty screwball amongst them could start a nuclear war. The movie is full of memorable lines that will have you laughing out loud. The suspense level and the humour level both escalate throughout the movie.
There might have been an element of tension too for the audience of the time which we no longer feel as we watch the movie today, but the movie still packs a potent punch.
If you're a person who doesn't appreciate the Catch 22-esque mockery of politics and warfare then avoid this movie even if you are a comedy fan, cause the movie's message is unmistakable.
Member Reviews
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One of my Favourites - evester85
Hysterical! Satire at its best.
Fun fact: Peter Sellers won an Oscar for playing more than one role in this film and is still one of only two to do so. (Lee Marvin being the other for his performances in Cat Ballou)
My favourite line:
"Gentlemen! ...Dr. Strangelove and Fail Safe - Two Sides Of The Same Coin - revsdd
The obvious movie to compare this to is "Fail Safe" - made at about the same time and dealing with essentially the same scenario – an accidental nuclear bombing mission by American jets over the Soviet Union - that no one seems able to stop. The difference ...Funny and Poignant - Plastic_Penguin
This is a hillarious dark comedy about the absurdity of men in military and men in government, and how one particularly nutty screwball amongst them could start a nuclear war. The movie is full of memorable lines that will have you laughing out loud. The ...