Excellent acting by everyone, and a story that won't quit.
Stark sets lend to the mood well.
Dr. Strangelove is a parody of this. Walter Mathau is devastating as a Herman Kahn-like man in love with the atomic strategy of megadeath. The usual knock about this movie is that it has a lot of good ideas, but doesn't hold together. Well, that's kind of true, but the ideas are great ideas. The music was an interesting mix, which is always a plus for me.