"It was the best of times,it was the worst of times....."

Rating: 10/10 (11 October 2008)

Unless you grew up in and had your young mind molded by the late 1950's and early 1960's, you will not understand the full satirical value of this film, although there is eneough stand-alone comedy to make you laugh.
We were drunk on the wonderful visions of Disney and his "Tomorrowland" gadgets but every day the news was full of the paranoia of Russians out to take us over and HELL, they were putting nukes 100mi. away in Cuba!! First Sputnik then Gagarin showed they had the "right stuff" while our rockets just exploded. But the fears ran deeper. In college I took a course called "Sociology of the Horror Film" and during this period we had films like "The Thing"(invasion), "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" and "Invaders from Mars"(hey, they look just like us but they're NOT!!), and all those "big bug" movies caused by atomic testing.
Amid all the paranoia comes "Dr. Strangelove" with all the people we saw on the nightly news showing their true colors and stripped naked to what they really COULD do if given half a chance. Gen. Turgidson? Just a better looking Gen. Curtis LeMay. Gen. Jack D. Ripper? An amalgam of the dreams of anyone in the John Birch Society and lots of people in the position to BE him, and this includes Col. "Bat" Guano (any non male-female, non missionary position sex made you a "deviated pervert", excuse me "prevert"). Ambassador DeSadeski was a stereotype of how we saw the "typical" occupant of the Kremlin and Kruschev's performance at the UN just reinforced it.
Sellers' three roles sum up LOTS. Mandrake was the prissy, mannered Brit who turned up on Monty Python as Graham Chapman. Pres. Muffley was the whimpy guy generals said had no backbone. Strangelove himself was a cross between Verner Von Braun and an unknown professor named Henry Kissenger.
While Slim Pickens riding the bomb down is the most famous scene, I can't help feel, with mixed emotions, the final scene. Over a sweet lullaby views of dozens of open-air thermonuclear blasts are seen that the fear and terror of them melts away and I was filled with a sense of beauty and awe....even in black and white! Wrong, I know, but Kubrick has that ability.