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Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

8.1

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

PG·1964·95m

Summary

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.

Crew

Director, Screenplay

Stanley Kubrick

Novel, Screenplay

Peter George

Screenplay

Terry Southern

Reviews

C

CRCulver

September 8, 2018

9

Stanley Kubrick's 1964 film <i>Dr.&nbsp;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&nbsp;C. Scott) about how this could have happened, until the mysterious German scientist Dr.&nbsp;Strangelove (Peter Sellers yet again) offers a solution.

Originally meant to be a straightforward adaptation of a political thriller novel, <i>Dr.&nbsp;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&nbsp;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.

Media

Status:

Released

Original Language:

English

Budget:

$1,800,000.00

Revenue:

$9,500,000.00

Keywords

usa president
general
cold war
strategic air command
dark comedy
nuclear missile
satire
black and white
cynical
war room
bomber pilot
nuclear weapons
ex-nazi
anti war
doomsday device
meditative
absurdism
satirical
playful
critical
hilarious
audacious
farcical
sardonic