Effective...a classic for the ages

Rating: Null/10 (4 February 2002)

The teaming of Kubrick and Sellers brought something here that perhaps captured and epitomized best the prevailing alarmism of the times at the height of Cold War tensions among propogandist superpowers. Executed with Seller's delectable wit and humor in treating a topic as severe as this, the two nevertheless convey a sense of utmost urgency and imminent danger that is still palpable. I was mere months old during the Cuban Missile Crisis and the assassination of JFK the following year. The "dialogue" between the President (Sellers) and "Dimitri" is priceless and is indeed one of the film's highlights as well as the phone booth scene. I was in stitches! There was no explanation needed for the ending segment of the film and Kubrick knew instictively that these final scenes say far more than dialogue ever could.