After the insane General Jack D. Ripper initiates a nuclear strike on the Soviet Union, a war room full of politicians, generals and a Russian diplomat all frantically try to stop the nuclear strike.
Peter Sellers
Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake / President Merkin Muffley / Dr. Strangelove
George C. Scott
General "Buck" Turgidson
Sterling Hayden
Brigadier General Jack D. Ripper
Keenan Wynn
Colonel Bat Guano
Slim Pickens
Major "King" Kong
Peter Bull
Botschafter De Sadesky
James Earl Jones
Lt. Lothar Zogg
Tracy Reed
Miss Scott
Jack Creley
Mr. Staines
Frank Berry
Lt. Dietrich
Robert O'Neil
Adm. Randolph
Glenn Beck
Lt. Kivel
Roy Stephens
Frank
Shane Rimmer
Capt. 'Ace' Owens
Hal Galili
Burpelson AFB Defense Team Member
Paul Tamarin
Lt. Goldberg
Laurence Herder
Burpelson AFB Defense Team Member
John McCarthy
Burpelson AFB Defense Team Member
Gordon Tanner
Gen. Faceman
Burnell Tucker
Mandrake' aide (uncredited)
Victor Harrington
War Room Aide (uncredited)
Director, Screenplay
Stanley Kubrick
Novel, Screenplay
Peter George
Screenplay
Terry Southern
September 8, 2018
9
Stanley Kubrick's 1964 film <i>Dr. Strangelove</i> is a hilarious film about the nuclear annihilation of the human race. Its plot combines three strands that lead inevitably to this doomsday. In the first, an Air Force base commander (Sterling Hayden) goes insane and launches the go-code for his B52s to drop the bomb on their targets in Russia, while a British captain on an officer exchange program (Peter Sellers) tries to reason with him. In the second strand, we see the crew of a B52 commanded by the cowboyish Major Kong (Slim Pickens) as they prepare to drop the bomb. Finally, there are the scenes from the Pentagon war room, where the American president (again Peter Sellers) harangues a general (George C. Scott) about how this could have happened, until the mysterious German scientist Dr. Strangelove (Peter Sellers yet again) offers a solution.
Originally meant to be a straightforward adaptation of a political thriller novel, <i>Dr. Strangelove</i> became a madcap comedy. The characters' sexual quirks, anti-Communist hysteria and nonchalance about the coming apocalypse and are exaggerated to the point of farce. No other Peter Sellers film shows off his range of talents so well: he segues effortlessly between Captain Mandrake, a nervous fellow with a British accident already antiquated at the time the film was made, the staid American politician President Merkin Muffley, and Dr. Strangelove, one of the Nazi scientists that the USA brought over after World War II.
Filmgoers must have perceived this film somewhat differently, when the threat of nuclear annihilation felt very real. Contemporary audiences won't fully get how black this black comedy is. Nonetheless, this film remains perennially funny, and even after numerous viewings over the last 15 years or so I still laugh every time.
Status:
Released
Original Language:
English
Budget:
$1,800,000.00
Revenue:
$9,500,000.00