Not Kubrick's best, but well done

Rating: 7/10 (4 May 2001)

Personally, when I think of Kubrick's masterful talents, I think "A Clockwork Orange." I don't know why this movie is way ahead of "CO" in the Top 250, but I'm not going to complain.
Watching this movie for the first time, I was bored out of my mind, and couldn't digest the whole point of it. But in a second viewing, I was able to better understand the humor and get some laughs. I still admit, this isn't a comedy classic--and on IMDB a comment like that happens to be grounds for tons of hate mail--but it has some memorable moments. Slim Pickens ejected from the plane attached to a missile is definitely a visual to be remembered. However, I couldn't really indulge the humor of Dr. Strangelove himself. I haven't checked out any of Peter Sellers' previous work, but watching this movie it's hard to laugh at all his jokes, because quite frankly he has this rambling voice attached to a moderately heavy English accent. As Colonel Mandrake, I had a hard-enough time understanding him, and it was almost impossible as Strangelove--with his ultra-heavy, though noticeably fake, Russian accent. The actor I actually commend the most is George C. Scott, who brings out enough humor with a simple facial expression. I have never seen him do comedy before, and he's quite good. You can say that he overacted in some scenes, but for the right purposes.

This movie was released in 1963, so I'm pretty sure people who were around back then were able to fully indulge the whole satire. Yes, it's a bit of a dated comedy. So excuse me if I didn't think this movie was entirely hilarious; I wasn't born until 1982. I definitely can't say this is the most visually stunning Kubrick piece. Most of the scenes are either indoors or cheesy-looking exterior shots of planes flying above mountains. Of course, I can basically excuse the low quality--filmmakers didn't exactly have massive budgets back in those days--but living in modern times I'm acquainted with more realistic imagery. But I do have to say the scenes are well-lit.
Please keep in mind that I DID think this movie was funny! My mailbox always gets full of protesters' comments whenever I give a "comedy classic" a less-than-brilliant review. I'm sure a 60-year-old man won't grasp the humor of "American Pie" and you have to think of it in the same terms as an 18-year-old watching "Dr. Strangelove."
I'm a huge Kubrick fan, but I appreciate his more recent work better. I guess it's because I love his sense of color and using it as symbolism--and obviously you won't be spotting things of that nature in this movie...LOL. In my opinion, this is one of his slighter works.
My score: 7 (out of 10)