"Gentlemen, you can't fight in here, this is the War Room."

Rating: 10/10 (17 October 2006)

This film is quite literally a blast, with no pun intended. The Cold War paranoia of the Fifties and Sixties is personified in the character of General Buck Turgidson (George C. Scott), and will resonate with anyone who grew up during that time, especially if you had to go through those 'duck and cover' air raid drills as a kid. In my case, you had the frequent feeling that at any moment, we could be in 'nuclear combat toe to toe with the Rooskies'.
The brilliance of the movie has a lot to do with it's tongue in cheek observation of the five star military mind. Both Turgidson and General Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden) exemplify the 'get them before they get us' school of war strategy. I've never seen Scott play a role with such maniacal glee, his verbal sparring with President Muffley is hilarious, the more so because he's trying to tell it straight and he sounds absolutely absurd.
Peter Sellers is brilliant in each of his portrayals, I had the impression that his Dr. Strangelove characterization might have been the basis for the German police inspector in "Young Frankenstein". What's great about his performance is that none of his characters look at all like each other, and if you go in to the film without knowing it, you would think that Mandrake, Muffley and Strangelove were performed by different actors.
Without researching any of the background of the film, I would guess that the name of the Soviet Premiere was a parody of Nikita Kruschev, what loyal American during the time wouldn't have loved to tell him to 'kiss off'.
Though the movie is loaded with inspired comedic gems, one of my favorites has to be Mandrake attempting to make a call to the President. In totally illogical irony, he has to resort to using a phone booth at a high security strategic Air Force Base. And without the correct change - beautiful!
Even if you haven't seen the movie, the classic clip from the film everyone can relate to is Slim Pickens on that bucking bronco joyride to Armageddon in all of it's patriotic glory. It only reinforces the idea for me that somewhere out there, some crazed despot right now is strategizing emergency war plans and retaliatory safeguards, and is only too ready to drop the big one. Before that happens, let's hope that cooler heads prevail and work it all out ahead of time in the war room.