Obligatory paean

Rating: 10/10 (28 April 2003)

I'm not writing to say something about Strangelove as much as to chime in with my praise for the values, artistic and human, to which it stands as a monument.
Of course, that's a weird thing to say about a script that seems to walk a tightwire, using a balance pole with a gorilla sitting on one end and the archangel Gabriel sitting on the other, ten miles high with absolutely no safety net below.
An unknown mystery factor: Along with the TV Rocky & Bullwinkle show, this movie just may have saved the world from nuclear annihilation. But perhaps we'll never know, at least not until thoroughgoing research has been done in the Akashic Records.
A personal story. I first saw this movie when I was about 6. I was too young and innocent to understand any of the dialog or action; I certainly did not pick up on the plot. But a minor miracle happened there in that dark theatre. Col. "Bat" Guano, preparing to shoot the Coke(tm) machine, tells Mandrake that if they don't reach the President, he'll have to answer to the Coca Cola(tm) company. People in the audience laughed. I leaned over to my Dad and said, "Dad, what's funny?" He leaned over, said a mere handful of explanatory words, I got the joke and laughed. I can't tell you what my Dad said, I don't remember. I can only assure you that it worked for me, and I truly *did* get the joke. That moment is forever locked in my memory.
Thanks, Stan, Terry, Peter George, all parties.
P.S.: Oh yeah. I have seen the movie a couple of times since I was 6. B^)