Elvis's favourite movie...

Rating: 10/10 (27 September 2002)

A mad American general (Sterling Haydon) orders an nuclear attack on Russia that the rest of the US military machine finds hard to overturn.
A film that has three major "The's": The best regarded cold war film, the film that crowned director Kubrick as a genius, and the role(s) that made Peter Sellers the comic actor of the 60's. Today the cold war is dead - as is Kubrick, Sellers and Haydon - but this film's skill and brilliance lives on.
Only Kubrick could have chosen to make a comedy film that used such a harsh backdrop as the very future of the world. This makes the film even better - counterbalancing the ultra dark nature of the film. Thankfully he did not end the film with a food fight as he originally planned.
(That explains the long table in the war room. In reality no food or drink is allowed in war room locations in case it is spilled in to the sensitive equipment.)
Strangely a more straight version of the "ultimate nightmare" Fail-safe (1964) is generally forgotten, although it is, perhaps, better plotted and more true-to-life.
Kubrick's admiration for Sellers allowed him to be cast in four roles (he only played three in the end): An RAF officer, the US President, the mad German scientist (Strangelove) and one of the bomber pilots. He dropped out of the last role, mostly because he feared one of the stunts - that could not have been doubled - that features at the end of the picture.
(A picture - with Sellers dressed in pilots uniform - is still in circulation suggesting that filming of him in the role had even started. Replacement Slim Pickins was, allegedly, not told that it was a comedy, although it is hard to say this effected an actor not noted for his variety of delivery.)
Seller's position in these three roles saved quite a bit of money on a film that required elaborate sets (that suffered from constant overheating). The film was only a modestly budgeted affair and therefore didn't feature Kubrick's over-the-top perfectionism that often grinds the actors to dust. At one stage George C. Scott falls over (clearly from losing grip on a shinny floor rather than a stunt) and the accident was left in. On the Shining (1980) Kubrick wanted 50 takes to get a door slam right!
Despite having three shots at the prize Sellers doesn't come out of the film with the best comedy performance award. That goes to the constantly under-rated Sterling Haydon as the mad general who believes that fluoride in the water is responsible the world's plight!
Dr Strangelove is in every way a classic and has another small footnote in history: It was Elvis Presley's favourite film. According to friends he watched the film 40 to 50 times and would repeat the dialogue in time with the actors...