"Dr. Strangelove" (Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love The Bomb) is my personal favourite film by the unbeatable legendary filmmaker, Stanley Kubrick. Ironically, it is also one of his films that was noticeably easier to make. Most of his big films such as "Spartacus" and "A Clockwork Orange" had enormous production designs. His 1964 black comedy and satire does not rely heavily on visuals, but mostly on the spoken word. Not saying that making this was simplistic, just that this is a dialogue-driven film.
The year is 1964-the height of the Cold War. Stanley Kubrick goes to adapt a novel called "Red Alert" about a nuclear apocalypse. The more Kubrick and his writing partners were working on the script, the more they couldn't help but laugh. This led to them purposely adding more comedic elements while still keeping the promise of the word ending. That's right, this movie is a comedy about the end of the world at a time were people thought it was entirely possible.
Peter Sellers is at the centre of the film playing three vastly different characters. How he did not win the Oscar but Rex Harrison did for an ordinary performance is beyond me. Sellers shows his widest range as the president of the United States, a nervous captain, and as the mechanical titular character. Barely recognizable, Sellers is a real winner here.
Commander Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden) has grown paranoid during this time of the Cold War. Afraid of communists and Russia, he orders an attack on the US planes circling over the Arctic to bomb the Soviet at their respective targets. He notifies fellow commander Buck Turgidson (played marvellously by George C. Scott, who should have won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor) about the plans and codes before severing all communications. Buck goes to the War Room in the Pentagon where all important US political figures have gathered to talk about what has happened. Buck is just as crazy as Ripper and thinks what Ripper has done is a good idea. The president will have nothing of it and tries to warn the Russian prime minister of impending attacks.
Meanwhile, one of the men right under Ripper is captain Lionel Mandrake (Sellers in his second role) also gets notified and is locked in Ripper's office. He tries to get the code to reverse the orders, but only Ripper knows it and refuses to say anything. Ripper is a pretty big guy and very ruthless, and when violence reaches Ripper's office, Mandrake must man-up and get the codes and tell the president before it is too late.
It turns out that the Russians have built a doomsday machine the once activated, cannot be inactivated. Former Nazi-turned White House scientific adviser, Dr. Stranglelove (Sellers, yet again) tells about the machine and what it is capable of. He even mentions a massive bunker that can withhold the attack.
It is really tough to say who the best character is. It seems as through Sellers tried to outdo himself with the three men he plays. But it may well be the wheelchair-bound Dr. Strangelove that I find the most interesting. A crippled man he suffers from "alien hand syndrome" which means he sometimes can't control what his hand does. But what makes him probably the most compelling is that the movie is named after him but he isn't a major character. Numerous sources say it is because of his knowledge and that he personifies the technological upgrades, so I'm not totally lost with why the movie is named after him. Those are decent explanations.
Is this movie as relevant now as it was upon its release in 1964? No. The beauty of it upon its release was people were laughing one minute and in shock the next because of its realism at the time. Nowadays, we know there is no doomsday machine that can end the world. Also, social media picks up on the littlest things. However, the very idea of a surprise attack on a foreign country is always a possibility. That keeps its relevance alive. If you don't buy that it could happen today, then let the movie take you into its own world. You will definitely feel for it then.
In one of the best comedies ever made, see Stanley Kubrick's black comedy and have a ball.
4/4.
The year is 1964-the height of the Cold War. Stanley Kubrick goes to adapt a novel called "Red Alert" about a nuclear apocalypse. The more Kubrick and his writing partners were working on the script, the more they couldn't help but laugh. This led to them purposely adding more comedic elements while still keeping the promise of the word ending. That's right, this movie is a comedy about the end of the world at a time were people thought it was entirely possible.
Peter Sellers is at the centre of the film playing three vastly different characters. How he did not win the Oscar but Rex Harrison did for an ordinary performance is beyond me. Sellers shows his widest range as the president of the United States, a nervous captain, and as the mechanical titular character. Barely recognizable, Sellers is a real winner here.
Commander Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden) has grown paranoid during this time of the Cold War. Afraid of communists and Russia, he orders an attack on the US planes circling over the Arctic to bomb the Soviet at their respective targets. He notifies fellow commander Buck Turgidson (played marvellously by George C. Scott, who should have won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor) about the plans and codes before severing all communications. Buck goes to the War Room in the Pentagon where all important US political figures have gathered to talk about what has happened. Buck is just as crazy as Ripper and thinks what Ripper has done is a good idea. The president will have nothing of it and tries to warn the Russian prime minister of impending attacks.
Meanwhile, one of the men right under Ripper is captain Lionel Mandrake (Sellers in his second role) also gets notified and is locked in Ripper's office. He tries to get the code to reverse the orders, but only Ripper knows it and refuses to say anything. Ripper is a pretty big guy and very ruthless, and when violence reaches Ripper's office, Mandrake must man-up and get the codes and tell the president before it is too late.
It turns out that the Russians have built a doomsday machine the once activated, cannot be inactivated. Former Nazi-turned White House scientific adviser, Dr. Stranglelove (Sellers, yet again) tells about the machine and what it is capable of. He even mentions a massive bunker that can withhold the attack.
It is really tough to say who the best character is. It seems as through Sellers tried to outdo himself with the three men he plays. But it may well be the wheelchair-bound Dr. Strangelove that I find the most interesting. A crippled man he suffers from "alien hand syndrome" which means he sometimes can't control what his hand does. But what makes him probably the most compelling is that the movie is named after him but he isn't a major character. Numerous sources say it is because of his knowledge and that he personifies the technological upgrades, so I'm not totally lost with why the movie is named after him. Those are decent explanations.
Is this movie as relevant now as it was upon its release in 1964? No. The beauty of it upon its release was people were laughing one minute and in shock the next because of its realism at the time. Nowadays, we know there is no doomsday machine that can end the world. Also, social media picks up on the littlest things. However, the very idea of a surprise attack on a foreign country is always a possibility. That keeps its relevance alive. If you don't buy that it could happen today, then let the movie take you into its own world. You will definitely feel for it then.
In one of the best comedies ever made, see Stanley Kubrick's black comedy and have a ball.
4/4.