George C. Scott is hilarious!

Rating: 10/10 (29 April 2005)

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that "Dr. Strangelove" owes a great portion of its success to George C. Scott. His performance in this film is hilarious and his constant facial contortions are funnier than what most comedians can accomplish in an entire career. (Hello, Jimmy Fallon.) Everyone's always raving about Peter Sellers; yes, he's very funny also, but in my opinion Scott is the best of the entire cast and manages to evoke more laughs than anyone else. He's also the one whose actions are responsible for the film's best line, and most famous. (I'm not even going to mention it again!) Stanley Kubrick's war classic still holds up to this day thanks to its hugely clever script and absurdly prescient aspects of warfare and politics. This movie still holds up over 40 years later and that's saying quite a lot, especially in a day and age when most people look back on films from the 1960s and frown because they were largely known for being optimistic, colorized and starring clean-cut wholesome leading stars who don't recognize a world outside their own sickeningly sweet borders.
Kubrick was always way ahead of his times and if "Dr. Strangelove" were made today it would still be considered edgy in some ways. It touches on certain areas of politics that, particularly right now, are fragile and easily upset.
On top of that the not-so-subtle sexual allegories must have slipped by the censors. The opening credits begin with phallus-shaped missiles that are a clear metaphor; they are also linked to the subject of battle which creates a sexual fetish regarding warfare. On top of that there is the General with his cigar and the "precious bodily fluids." The sexual symbolism has been written about before, in greater depth, but even I found it very clear and I rarely agree with the critics who find sexual innuendo in the most basic of films.
"Dr. Strangelove" is really funny and memorable, even still after all these years. Not many films can carry that honor. This is a classic whose reputation speaks for itself and doesn't outweigh its lasting effect; in essence, a must-see.