Just Wanted to Get My Two Cent's Worth

Rating: 10/10 (2 October 2001)

This, to me, ranks as the masterwork of black comedy. From the harmonies of "When Johnny Comes Marching Home," to Bat Guano defending the Coca Cola company as a nuclear weapon is about to bring about total annihilation, one cringes at the absurd potential realities. I had heard of the strange title with its equally understated subtitle, but saw it for the first time in 1969. I have watched it at least 20 times since. There is so much. The empty headed but patriotic Major Kong, played by Slim Pickens, is one of filmdom's most memorable characters. The deranged open eyed, gum chewing visage of Buck Turgidson, with his military zealousness, talking about "mine shaft gaps" (man I wish we had one of them doomsday machines!) Jack Ripper and his precious bodily fluids. Then, of course, there are the Peter Sellers roles--Mandrake, who has the fate of the world depending on finding enough change to make a phone call; the President who works to gain the trust of Kissoff, the Russian Premier, and, of course, the maniacal schizoid Strangelove. This film is, I believe, Kubrick's masterpiece. It is an integration of power and what can be done about it attitude. It ends with a song as it began--Try a Little Tenderness," with the sexually provocative refueling of the bomber, to "We'll Meet Again" as the bombs explode. This is a great film.