You Can't Fight Here, This Is The War Room

Rating: 7/10 (12 February 2014)

Unfortunately I know that many people will not really enjoy what I have to say about Dr. Strangelove. I found it particularly enjoyable the first time around, but unfortunately the only reason to come back to it is for the Bomb Squad scenes and George C. Scott. I can't imagine how controversial it must have been for the time, but like a political cartoon it has its time and relevance. A lot of my family do not like Peter Sellers, or this movie at all and when showing this to a couple friends not too long ago they were not really impressed either (I was born in 1992, the Cold War was way beyond my time).
Kubrick is my favourite director, but that doesn't mean I am also inclined to enjoy all his movies as well. Reasons I adore Kubrick are the many diverse genre movies he made, and his meticulous attention to detail. I think of all that wonderful hard work was not needed for a comedy of this calibre, but again the stories on set are quite charming. Kubrick wanted the War room table to be green like a poker table (Seeing as how these men were essentially gambling with the future in a black and white movie), Peter Sellers was originally set to play much more roles than the three he did, and he also had Kubrick rolling on the floor laughing in-between takes. Finally the original pie fight ending scene was scrapped for various reasons, ranging from being too farcical or unfortunately timed with President Kennedy's death by assassination.
And honestly, I think I am right. I love that Kubrick attempted a comedy, and I think the movie is a wonderful classic and successful most of the running time. However as time goes by, this is the one Kubrick picture to me that will age the most. Of course this film would have been very risqué and controversial at the time of release, as it was a black comic adaptation of a very serious 1958 novel "Red Alert" by Peter George. But aside from a few scenes, nothing really makes me laugh aloud and the acting really falls apart no matter how wonderful I think George C. Scott is.
Still I guess the positive things to say is I could watch it again for things like the "War room" set, which was great after so many iterations were developed off screen. Again, I did not hate this movie and the whole thing is a wonderful farce which I guess what was Kubrick's intention to show us in the first place (Believe me if the Cold War could be remembered as just a farce, Oh what a dream it would all be). Maybe as I get older some of it will grow on me, but I don't think I will change my opinion of it lightly. If the movie has anything going for it, I would say it possibly has the greatest end credit sequences of all time.
Final Verdict: Obscurely enough, I found an old review I wrote at 18 writing how much I loved this movie. As I get older it just doesn't hit as high a note for me anymore. It's a political cartoon realised, and I would advise everyone to at least watch it once. 7/10.