A landmark and a masterpiece

Rating: 10/10 (7 September 2014)

Among the manifold injustices in the history of the Academy Awards are the facts that Dr. Strangelove did not win for Best Picture and that Peter Sellers did not win for Best Actor for any one of his three (and it could have been four) roles. Much as I enjoyed Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady, and even recognizing the narrow-minded conservatism of Hollywood in 1964, it is a gross indictment of the Academy. In fact, Sellers should have won for both Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor, such is the magnitude of his accomplishment here.
I first saw this film in 1968, when I'd just turned 14. I can't count the number of times I've seen it since and, now that my own kids have come to recognize that Dr. Stangelove is the greatest comedy ever filmed (City Lights not too far behind), my work here is done.