Classic Cold War Comedy

Rating: 9/10 (29 May 2002)

While this movie isn't quite in the same league for all-out hilarity as such comedy icons as "Airplane!" or "Clerks", it nonetheless is a classic in its own right. Quite simply, this film asks the question - what could possibly be funny about nuclear war? Well, as it turns out, quite a lot. We have an Air Force general who flips out and, on his own authority, sends his bombers to attack the USSR. At his side is an RAF officer who doesn't seem to know quite how to deal with the whole situation. On a larger scale, the president and his men are assembled in the War Room as they attempt to placate the Soviet Premier (who just happens to be drunk) in an effort to avoid Armageddon. Not that it matters, as it turns out, one lone American bomber gets through, thus triggering the Doomsday Device, and ending all life on Earth. Well, not entirely, for it seems that a mysterious Dr. Strangelove has concocted a plan in which all virile males can hide out in the nation's deepest mineshafts and reproduce (at a ratio of ten women to each man) so as to assure the continuation of the human race despite all the radiation on the planet's surface.
On the surface, this sounds like a recipe for a mess, yet director Stanley Kubrick makes it work. To be honest, this is really Peter Sellars' movie; it is he who deserves the lion's share of the credit for this film's enduring success. For example, when I first saw this movie some 15 years ago, I had no idea that Sellars played the three leads in this film, I had him pegged only as the veddy proper British officer Lionel Mandrake, not having the slightest clue that he also played the geekish American president as well as the nutcase German scientist Dr. Strangelove. It is to Sellars' credit that he managed to play such different characters while making each utterly convincing. In addition, much credit is due to George Scott as the bombastic General Turgison. The scenes where he stares down the president while stuffing gum in his face are definitely priceless. And, last but not least, is the Soviet ambassador DeSadeski, who alternates from being menacing to being ludicrous. There are rumors that Slim Pickens (the B-52 pilot) was never told this was a satire, and was requested to play the role straight. This I find hard to buy; anyone who recalls the part where he reads off the contents of the survival kits, which include such items as lipstick, condoms, and nylon stockings, will find it hard to believe he could do that scene with a straight face without being in on the joke. Also, there are a number of acts of sheer farce, such as when Mandrake is forced to order Col. `Bat' Guano to shoot open a Coke machine in order to get change to phone the president to put an end to the nuclear crisis. There are some "Airplane!" style sight gags, most notably when the B-52 is flying low over Russia but its shadow is that of a World War 2 B-17. And the pacing is also dead on. At first, there is little evidence this is actually a satire, one could easily watch the first half hour or so and fully believe they were seeing a serious (albeit, rather corny and low budget) war film. But, in time, the humor builds, such that, by the end, the president and his men are contemplating the advantages of being holed up in a mineshaft with hordes of women chosen primarily for their sexually stimulating attributes when all the while Strangelove is trying (and failing) to suppress his rabid love for his `Fuehrer'.
In the final analysis, this movie has a lot going for it, but it also has its flaws. Most notably, it is politically dated. Apparently the impetus behind Gen. Ripper's plan to attack the USSR is that he thinks the `Rooskies' have plotted to contaminate our water supply with fluoride. I guess, back when this movie was released, people could relate since the notion of flouridization as a `Commie plot' was popular among conspiracy theory nuts at the time, but to a modern audience, the reference just seems out of date. Also, it seems to suggest that opponents of communism were nothing more than paranoid knuckle dragging Neanderthals, a notion that has hardly withstood the test of time. Finally, there are the silly names and sexual innuendo. I guess having names like General Jack Ripper and Premier Kissoff has a certain entertainment value, but at the same time they seem childish, like something I'd have called my teachers behind their back in 5th grade. Quite honestly, Beavis and Butt-head came up with funnier names when they tried to join the army as Major Woody and Private Parts. And having Ripper ramble on about the loss of his precious bodily fluids was no doubt sexually risqué in the 1960's, but by today's standards it just seems, well, icky. But these are nitpicks. On the whole, this movie has stood the test of time and remains a classic from its era.
9/10