Dated, but excellent

Rating: Null/10 (17 May 2001)

While I would rank this film as one of my all-time favorites for reasons I will later tell, I have to admit that a recent viewing made me realize how dated it is. For those of use who grew up in an age where the entire Soviet population were depicted in American media as more evil than Saddam Hussein or Bin-Laden have ever been, when the average elementary student could tell you that the acronym MAD stood for Mutually Assured Destruction, this movie really brings that time back. But it's premise now is diluted by the fact that despite the situation still being very possible, our national and cultural attentions have been diverted elsewhere.
That being said, this is an excellent black comedy. It is not for every one. The humor is subtle. But the story and characters are excellent and Peter Sellers is at his best, as are George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden and Slim Pickens. But if you don't know who Leonid Brezhnev is, you probably won't like this film because you won't understand the hype and propaganda your elders were subjected to in their formative years.
The narrative at the beginning is a bit corny and I consider this a fault.