Please no fighting in the war room

Rating: 9/10 (7 August 2017)

Stanley Kubrick's wickedly hilarious end-of-the-world black comedy gem about an impending nuclear war caused by human error straddles a fine line between being fiercely funny and genuinely chilling throughout: As evident by the gross behavior and arrogant attitudes of various high-ranking officials in positions of power that they are neither smart nor mature enough to properly handle, the greatest threat to mankind's safety isn't the existence of nuclear weapons; instead it's such all too real and unavoidable human foibles as pride, stupidity, and incompetence that we should all be more worried about.
The savagely mocking script by Kubrick, Peter George, and Terry Southern pulls zero punches in its no-holds-barred satirizing of said foibles and offers numerous uproarious moments of inspired dark humor: The meek and ineffectual President Merkin Muffley (Peter Sellers in one of three bravura performances) informing the drunken Soviet premier over the phone about the nuclear strike, the hysterically loony speech made by unhinged paranoid General Jack D. Ripper (robustly played with snarly aplomb by Sterling Hayden) about preserving his precious bodily fluids, gung-ho redneck bomber pilot Major 'King' Kong (a marvelously spirited portrayal by Slim Pickens) riding a nuclear missile like a bucking bronco on its final drop while whooping it up, and the gloriously insane plan for survival that batty ex-Nazi adviser Dr. Strangelove (Sellers again at his most sublimely deranged) proposes to President Muffley.
Moreover, the zestful acting from the first-rate cast keeps this movie humming: Sellers pulls off a terrific troika of impressive and highly distinctive turns as Muffley, Strangelove, and uptight RAF group captain Lionel Mandrake, George C. Scott has a field day as bellicose commie-bashing hawk General 'Buck' Turgidson, Keenan Wynn does his usual sturdy work as the gruff Colonel 'Bat' Guano, Peter Bull likewise excels as the shifty Russian ambassador Alexi de Sadesky, Tracy Reed briefly steams things up as sexy secretary Miss Scott, and James Earl Jones handles himself well in his film debut as the thorough Lieutenant Lothar Zogg. Kudos are also in order for Gilbert Taylor's sharp black and white cinematography and Laurie Johnson's rousing military marching band score. Worthy of its classic status.