The Absurdity of War

Rating: Null/10 (1 August 2002)

Looking back on all the films I've seen, I can't think of any movie that's as genuinely fun to watch as this Stanley Kubrick masterwork. Through its goofy, over-the-top characters, the film examines the absurdity of war while letting its viewer laugh at its utter pointlessness.
"Dr. Strangelove" focuses on the possibility of nuclear Armageddon. A psychotic air commander, General Ripper, sends all bombers of his wing to attack Russia. He believes that the Soviets are attempting to fluoridate U.S. water in order to degrade bodily fluids, thereby, not allowing Americans to reproduce. The film cuts between three different settings: (1) One of Ripper's B-52 bombers, (2) Ripper's locked office, in which his second-in-command officer Captain Mandrake desperately tries to figure out the recall code for the planes, and (3) the Pentagon's underground war room, in which the President and his staff try to keep the conflict from getting out of hand.
Kubrick directs flawlessly, as usual, but the greatest asset of the film is its cast. George C. Scott is unforgettable in the role of Buck Turgidson, an excitable, anti-Communist, gung-ho general. It probably helps that he is given so many of the movie's most memorable lines, but his dialogue delivery and facial expressions are simply hilarious. Think of the scene in which the idea of the Doomsday Device is presented by the Russian ambassador. Turgidson declares it to be "an obvious Commie trick" while walking backwards. Then he suddenly falls down, somersaults, and lands on his feet. Scott didn't fall intentionally, but he continued to recite his lines as he was rolling on the floor. It's a hysterically funny moment, but it's even more amazing to think that it wasn't even planned.
Peter Sellers takes on three completely different roles with unique accents and mannerisms. His performances as President Muffley and Captain Mandrake are brilliant in how restrained they are, and in how well he plays off of the nutcases (including himself as the title character) around him. His scenes with Turgidson in the war room are ingenious, as are his telephone conversations with the Russian leader, but he does his most memorable work when the character Mandrake is being ordered around by the idiotic Colonel "Bat Guano". Keenan Wynn, as Guano, displays perfect comic timing, and the combination of these two actors is impeccable. Sterling Hayden, Peter Bull, and Slim Pickens are also mesmerizing in their roles.
"Dr. Strangelove" is an undeniably funny and entertaining film, but it also has moments of beauty. For example, the opening credits with the planes drifting through the air with the tune of "Try a Little Tenderness". Or the famous image of Major Kong riding a nuclear missile towards its target. The final montage of H-bomb mushroom clouds set to "We'll Meet Again" (an idea suggested by Peter Sellers) is among the most sublimely magnificent moments I've seen in a movie.
Kubrick does a good job of summing up the spirit of "Dr. Strangelove": "After all, what could be more absurd than the very idea of two mega-powers willing to wipe out all human life because of an accident, spiced up by political differences that will seem as meaningless to people a hundred years from now as the theological conflicts of the Middle Ages appear to us today?"