Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

Plot synopsis:
At the Burpelson U.S. Air Force Base somewhere in the continental USA, the eccentric Brigadier General Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden) orders the 34 nuclear-armed B-52's of the 843rd Bomb Wing past their failsafe points where they normally hold awaiting possible orders to proceed and into Soviet airspace. He also tells the personnel on the base that the US and the USSR have entered into a "shooting war".In the "War Room" at The Pentagon, Air Force General Buck Turgidson (George C. Scott) briefs President Merkin Muffley (Peter Sellers) about the attack that General Ripper ordered. Although a nuclear attack should require Presidential authority to be initiated, Ripper used "Plan R", an emergency war plan enabling a senior officer to launch a retaliation strike against the Soviets if everyone in the normal chain of command, including the President, has been killed during a sneak attack. Plan R was intended to discourage the Soviets from launching a decapitation strike against the President in Washington to disrupt U.S. command and control and stop an American nuclear counterattack. Turgidson tries to convince Muffley to take advantage of the situation to eliminate the Soviets as a threat by launching a full-scale attack. Turgidson believes that the United States is in a superior strategic position, and a first strike against the Soviet Union would destroy 90% of their missiles before they could retaliate, resulting in a victory for the U.S. with "acceptable" American casualties of "no more than 10 to 20 million killed, tops... depending on the breaks". He is rebuked when Muffley instead admits the Soviet Ambassador (Peter Bull) to the War Room, contacts Soviet Premier Dmitri Kissoff on the hotline, and insists on giving the Soviets all the information necessary to shoot down the American planes before they can carry out their strikes.Group Captain Lionel Mandrake (also played by Peter Sellers), an RAF exchange officer serving as General Ripper's executive officer, realizes that there has been no attack on the U.S. when he turns on a radio and hears pop music instead of Civil Defense alerts. When Mandrake reveals this to Ripper, and Ripper refuses to recall the wing, Mandrake announces that he will issue the recall on his own authority, but only Ripper knows the three-letter code necessary for recalling the bombers and locks the two of them in his office. Mandrake tries to convince Ripper to give up the three letter code. The psychotic Ripper refuses and rambles on that the Communists have a plan to "sap and impurify" the "precious bodily fluids" of the American people with fluoridated water, a theory that occurred to him during sexual intercourse, and which he believed to be the cause of his post-coital fatigue.Over the phone, an unseen and drunken Kissoff reveals to the Soviet Ambassador that their country has installed an active "Doomsday Device" which will automatically destroy all human and animal life on Earth if a nuclear attack were to hit the Soviet Union. The Doomsday Device is operated by a network of computers and has been conceived as the ultimate deterrent: as a safeguard, it cannot be deactivated, or it will set itself off, because its hardware and programs have been configured in such a way that an attempt at its deactivation would be recognized as sabotage. The doomsday weapon is described as based on "cobalt-thorium-G" [this was inspired by the real idea of a cobalt bomb, conceived by nuclear pioneer Leo Szilard, founder of Council for a Livable World]. According to the Soviet ambassador, life on Earth's surface will be extinct in ten months and was made as a low cost alternative to the bomb-race.The President now calls upon Dr. Strangelove (a.k.a. Merkwürdigeliebe), a former Nazi and strategy expert (Sellers in his third role). The wheelchair-bound Strangelove is a type of "mad scientist", whose eccentricities include a severe case of alien hand syndrome, so that his right hand, clad in an ominous black leather glove, occasionally attempts to strangle Strangelove or make the Nazi salute (no one in the room acts if this is unsusual). Strangelove also slips in addressing the President, as either "Mein President" or even "Mein Führer".Strangelove explains the principles behind the Doomsday Device, which he says is "simple to understand... credible and convincing". He also points out that a Doomsday Device kept secret has no value as a deterrent; the Soviet Ambassador admits that his government had installed it a few days before they were going to announce it publicly to the world, because Kissoff "loves surprises".U.S. Army paratroopers sent by the President arrive at Burpelson to arrest General Ripper. Because Ripper has warned his men that the enemy might attack disguised as American soldiers, the base's security forces, and Ripper himself with a .50 caliber M1919 Browning machine gun kept in his golf bag, open fire on them. After a fierce firefight the Army forces win the battle and gain access to the base, and Ripper, fearing torture to extract the recall code commits suicide. Colonel "Bat" Guano (Keenan Wynn) shoots his way into Ripper's office, but suspects that Mandrake, whose uniform he does not recognize, is leading a mutiny of "deviated preverts" and proceeds to arrest him. Mandrake convinces Guano that he has to call the President to tell him the recall code, which he has deduced from Ripper's desk blotter doodles to be based on the initials for the phrases peace on earth and purity of essence. Since office phone connections had been knocked out by the fighting at the base, Mandrake is forced to use a pay phone to try to contact the President. Not having the correct change to place a long-distance call to the Pentagon, Mandrake persuades Guano to shoot a Coca-Cola vending machine to get the change out of it, and eventually is able to forward the likely code combinations to Strategic Air Command.The correct recall code, "OPE", is issued to the planes, and those that have not been shot down return to base except for one. Its radio and fuel tanks were damaged by a Soviet anti-aircraft missile, with the result that the plane is neither able to receive the recall code nor to reach its primary or secondary target where, at the urging of the U.S. President, the Soviets have concentrated all available defenses. On the crew's own initiative, and losing fuel, the plane proceeds to fly at low level under radar to a closer target of opportunity.As they start their bomb run, the damaged B-52's bomb bay doors will not open, and aircraft commander Major T. J. "King" Kong (Slim Pickens) goes down to the bomb bay to open them himself. He succeeds just as the plane reaches its target, and one of the nuclear bombs falls, with Kong still sitting on it. He straddles the bomb and rides it to the ground like a rodeo cowboy, whooping and hollering and waving his cowboy hat. The bomb explodes, triggering the Doomsday Machine.Back in the War Room, Dr. Strangelove recommends to the President that a select group of about 200,000 or more people be relocated into a deep mine shaft, where the nuclear fallout cannot reach them, so that the U.S. can be repopulated afterwards. Because of space limitations, Strangelove suggests a gender ratio of "ten females to each male", with the women selected for their sexual characteristics, and the men selected on the basis of their physical strength, intellectual capabilities, and importance in business and government. General Turgidson rants that the Soviets will likely create an even better bunker than the U.S., and argues that America "must not allow a mine shaft gap". Meanwhile, the Soviet Ambassador retreats to a corner of the War Room and starts taking pictures with a spy camera disguised as a pocket watch.A visibly excited Dr. Strangelove bolts out of his wheelchair, shouting "Mein Führer, I can walk!". Abruptly, the film ends with a barrage of nuclear explosions, accompanied by Vera Lynn's famous World War II song "We'll Meet Again".

Tags: dark, comedy, dramatic, cult, violence, absurd, humor, satire, psychedelic, suspenseful, entertaining

Review:
Peter Sellers, fantastic three times over (and he was also going to play the Slim Pickens part) George C Scott in one of the greatest comic performances ever put on film and Sterling Hayden in a frighteningly credible show of abuse of power, complete the pleasures of this remarkable film..
The characterization is excellent.Peter Sellers (Captain Lionel Mandrake, President Merkin Muffley and Dr. Strangelove, the wheelchair-using nuclear war expert and former Nazi) is simply awesome as a kind of voice of reason, incompetence and insanity at the same time.
Scott for his astounding performance, as well as Peter Sellers for the most versatile acting I've seen from an actor in one film, and to Sterling Hayden, for performing the most serious, yet the most hilarious role in film with perfect accuracy.
The horrors of the nuclear war caused by a simple mistake materialize before us, directed with skill by the late maestro, Kubrick.There are simply not enough words to describe Peter Sellers's BRILLIANT performance in three roles: A british officer, the U.S president and Dr. Strangelove.
He is hilarious as the british officer, with his wonderful accent, gloomy and neurotic as the president and simply insane as Dr. Strangelove.Also note that this movie includes a performance by very young James Earl Jones, who we now all know as the voice behind Darth Vader.The ending scene is also a masterpiece..
So realistic in fact, that the FBI almost investigated how they got the B-52 Bomber replicated to near perfection!In the end, 'Dr. Strangelove: or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb' is the best comedy.
Other features of the film such as the remarkably designed "war room" set, the hand-held camera techniques employed by Kubrick and the black and white cinematography of Gilbert Taylor only add to the power and impact of "Strangelove."  Quite simply, the greatest American film by the greatest American director..
Made in a period of time where the thought of nuclear war was a terrifying idea, that was believed to be a reasonable fear, the film takes this idea and turns it around, makes us laugh at it.
Just like Kubrick's other films, this one has some very memorable scenes, one of which(the bomb-riding sequence) has been referenced and spoofed a huge number of times...
Scott (his facial expressions are a crack up every time), and a supporting cast of crazies in a government of loons, the most impressive of these being the incomparable Sterling Hayden in his best dramatic/funny role.
These twisted paranoid ideas could mean the end of the world as we know it and director Stanley Kubrick made a great classic comedy about it.When watching this classic movie, one must not forget that the director made this movie in an era in which the americans came close to nuclear war with the russians during the "bay of pigs" conflict in Cuba during the sixties.
Stanley Kubrick's pitch black satire about the nuclear threat and the ends of which mankind is capable of going to prove its superiority.The plot goes that a US general has gone rogue and ordered a nuclear attack against the Soviets.
The first two were on the subjects of war and treason, but while the former was extremely serious, DR STRANGELOVE is a dark comedy which tells many truths about the delicate balance of the nuclear bomb and peace, in contrast with FAILSAFE, a film which came out on the same year but which approached the subject of nuclear conflict from a much more factual and formal angle.I can safely say that DR STRANGELOVE made me far more aware of the world's perilous balance, because my guffaws at some of the film's funny lines caused my mind to imagine the real consequences much more realistically than the serious-minded FAILSAFE ever could.
Scott is marvelous as the US Armed Forces commander with side interests and an eye always firmly tracked on the military solution, conveying suspicions about the Ruskies and sending shivers down your spine with his mad eyes and his confidence in US military capacity; Keenan Wynn does well with a tiny part and his quip about Coca Cola Company's power is so outlandish that it is frightening; Peter Bull is superb as the Russian ambassador called to the War Room, who uses the opportunity to take spy shots; Slim Pickens, as commander of the aircraft which delivers the bomb, is memorable in his desire to serve his beloved country, to the extent of going down with the bomb; and Sterling Hayden is also at the top of his form as the base commander who loses his marbles and orders the air attack on Russia, and then takes the coward's way out.Great photography, special effects, fitting soundtrack, and fantastic dialogue, full of sharp one-liners, always pursuing the absurd and darkly comic angle, complete the bouquet.
Well I warned you this doesn't sound like a comedy - A General paranoid with fear and Xenophobia as to what The Russians are doing launches the emergency plan to nuke hot-spots and eventually start World War III, not content with just that he also locks down his own base telling his men to shoot everyone on sight if they aren't known to the soldiers personally.
There are moments during movie that you follow the dialogue and watch it progress and you feel fine, but then there are verbal 'bombs' (for lack of a better word) dropped on you and you can fall on the ground for laughing so hard.At some point in the move I was thinking: is it inappropriate that I'm entertained, and then I looked it up on IMDb to see the genre: and felt a bit relieved to see that it is indeed a comedy.The pace was so slow (and in the best way possible): you wonder how Kubrick managed to squeeze so much in so little screen time, yet nothing feels rushed, and everything gets enough time.
Peter Sellers is doing one of the best performances of his whole carrier in his triple role in the film; As group captain Lionel Mandrake a British RAF exchange soldiers who has the bad luck of being locked in the same room with the maniac that launched the attack, as President of the United States Merkin Muffley and Dr. Strangelove a former Nazi and now nuclear war expert.
With a slightly better storyline and less boring characters, "Dr. Strangelove" truly might have become worth watching.And that explains the very good reason why this is Kubrick's first and only comedy.
There intervenes a motley group of offbeat characters such as a scientist (Peter Sellers was paid $1 million, 55% of the film's budget ,Stanley Kubrick famously quipped "I got three for the price of six") whose artificial arm repeatedly makes Heil Hitler sign as an involuntary reflex action , a hawkish general named Buck Turgidson (gunchewing militarist excellently performed by Geoge C Scott , this character was patterned after the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, Gen. Curtis LeMay, who was renowned for his extreme anti-Communist views) and the US President Merklin Muffley (inimitable Peter Sellers , this role was patterned after Adlai Stevenson II, who lost two presidential elections to Dwight D.
Eisenhower )to deal with consequences a nuclear attack .This splendid film contains unforgettable scenes such as a soft drinking vending machine dispute , sketches involving a phone call to the American President and the movie's funniest the notorious Slim Pickens's wild ride on the bomb .
It was during this stage that, according to Harris, Kubrick began to toy with the idea of turning it into a comedy .Very good acting by Sterling Hayden as a crazed general initiating a nuclear attack on the Soviets and George C.
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is a 1964 movie directed by Stanley Kubrick.
Meanwhile back at the airbase, Group Captain Lionel Mandrake (Peter Sellers) finds out that General Ripper issued the go code for no good reason other than 'the commie boogeymen trying to pollute the natural fluids their enemies' and struggles to recall the bombers.People at Pentagon are also informed of the unstoppable Russian Doomsday device by Soviet Ambassador Alexei de Sadeski (Peter Bull) built to wipe out all life on earth in case Russia is attacked by Nuclear weapons.
This could have been so much more and if Peter Sellers was not in it this flick and Kubrick did not have his name to it then this film probably would have been placed in the correct chart ie the worst of comedy.On a positive note some of the characters are good ie the base commander, and Sellers as his side kick.
This is barely even a comedy by any definition I am aware of.If you are a massive Kubrick fan then maybe you should watch this film but go in with open eyes and accept that you won't laugh, not even once.1/10.
I quite liked his English airman though: suitably snooty without being offensive.Many of the other actors (notably excluding James Earl Jones) were fairly rubbish, I thought; lots of overacting, presumably under the mistaken impression that this is what makes a good comedic performance.The story was original enough, although it basically fizzled out at the end, not knowing quite where to go and instead just stopping.
The variety was stunning and almost without precedent--except for a very similar multiple role situation Sellers also played in 1959's THE MOUSE THAT ROARED--another brilliant comedy about nuclear war.In addition to the great acting and writing, I do have to take my hat off to Stanley Kubrick.
A mad American general (Sterling Haydon) orders an nuclear attack on Russia that the rest of the US military machine finds hard to overturn.A film that has three major "The's": The best regarded cold war film, the film that crowned director Kubrick as a genius, and the role(s) that made Peter Sellers the comic actor of the 60's.
In reality no food or drink is allowed in war room locations in case it is spilled in to the sensitive equipment.)Strangely a more straight version of the "ultimate nightmare" Fail-safe (1964) is generally forgotten, although it is, perhaps, better plotted and more true-to-life.Kubrick's admiration for Sellers allowed him to be cast in four roles (he only played three in the end): An RAF officer, the US President, the mad German scientist (Strangelove) and one of  the bomber pilots.
On the Shining (1980) Kubrick wanted 50 takes to get a door slam right!Despite having three shots at the prize Sellers doesn't come out of the film with the best comedy performance award.
In the sad little world of close-minded people who sip fine wine as they watch "films" but never "movies", Dr. Strangelove is a timeless classic.
You have everything you could ever want here: great dialogue, fantastic acting, flawless directing, cool sets, and timely political farce (that could still ring true today in this age of Bush America, Institutionalized Fear, and the War on Terror).Everyone deservedly raves about Peter Sellers in his multiple roles (as Mandrake, the President, and Dr. Strangelove), but I dare you to find a funnier performance than that of George C.
With characters like Colonel "Bat" Guano, and Slim Pickens' Major Kong, great scenes naturally flow forth, and Kubrick's one take on pure comedy is simply genius.
45 minutes into the movie, we literally looked at each other and said "this is a comedy, right?" 15 minutes later I fell asleep (that shows how boring the movie was) so it wasn't until the next day that I finally found 2 things to laugh at:1) The scene with Sellers looking for spare change and the subsequent shooting of the Coca-Cola machine.2) The bit with Dr. Strangelove referring to the president as "Der Fuehrer" and his hand continually attempting to raise in the style of a nazi salute.Those of you who have seen this movie know what I'm referring to.
Both most important geniuses of this film, Kubrick and Sellers, very well know that when fighting stupidity, a good laugh can often be much more effective than a ton of serious warnings.If you are by any chance amongst those who didn't see this movie - don't wait for another second.
Scott as General Turgidson, a calculating general on the edge of losing his mind, who gives a terrifically over the top performance ;Slim Pickens, the captain of a B-52 and determined to rain hell on the USSR; Sterling Hayden, as General Ripper, is also great as an American Patriot brought to the frayed ends of sanity by paranoia and "flouridated water in his bodily fluids." ; also, Peter Sellers' triple performance as Captain Mandrake, the US President, and Dr. Strangelove (three voices of sanity, well almost) in an otherwise insane situation, is terrific.Cast aside, the film's real power comes in it's presentation of the world stage and the irony of it all and the fact that there are two sides to every coin -- war is both a nation builder and a nation destroyer, nationalism both creates trust and demolishes it, paranoia both helps to keep the military in top shape to protect their nation or it can destroy everything we now know and hold dear.
Watching "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb" was a refreshing comedy on mass destruction and the insane predicament during the Cold War and the Nuclear arms race.
Turgidson says this to President Muffley (Peter Sellers- in his first of three supporting roles) in the "War Room" as Gen. Jack Ripper (Sterling Hayden) has gone "psychotic" and ordered 34 planes to Nuke Russia (U.S.S.R) because he thinks the commies are trying to spoil their "precious bodily fluids." He says the meaning is "water," but the low angle shots, almost as if the camera is in Hayden's lap, of Ripper sucking on a large cigar only scream of something more than just bodily water.
One such film is The Great Dictator, which was explicitly aimed at Hitler but also works as a mockery of every kind of dictatorship; another example is Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove, a cold-war satire which has lost none of its power considering nuclear weapons still exist and, albeit less than in the past, constitute a threat to the planet's safety.Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (one of the longest titles in history, but also one of the most poignant) is set in a dystopic reality where the conflict between USA and Soviet Union has reached disastrous proportions, leading the mad Gen. Ripper (Sterling Hayden) to believe the Russians have poisoned the American soldiers'water supplies, contaminating their "bodily fluids" as he puts it, and orders an irrevocable attack on Sovietic soil: a series of nuclear devices will be dropped on the enemy's territory unless someone convinces Ripper of the insanity of his actions.
Scott) and the titular scientist (still Sellers), think of what to do to keep humanity alive, given the Bomb on hostile soil will trigger a device called the Doomsday Machine (the name says it all).The genius of Kubrick's masterpiece derives from the exaggeration of typically clichéd elements of other war movies: the officers' incompetence, the paranoid atmosphere, the soldiers' selfless bravery et al.
The same goes for Hayden: what could easily have been a low-quality parody of war-related madness becomes in his hands a realistic depiction of paranoia and (extreme) patriotism.Neither of them, however, can match the brilliance and versatility of Sellers' triple act: the first (and one of the few) to get an Oscar nomination (Best Actor, more precisely) for playing multiple characters in the same movie, he successfully moves from pure slapstick (Strangelove) to typically British anxiety (Mandrake) and deadpan delivery (Muffley) without breaking a single sweat.
Unlike in any of Kubrick's later works, there's a sense of playfulness here that gives the whole movie a crazy kind of energy; I'm guessing that Seller's love for improvisation forced Kubrick to ditch his usual perfectionism to a certain degree (and the film is all the better for it).
Unlike in any of Kubrick's later works, there's a sense of playfulness here that gives the whole movie a crazy kind of energy; I'm guessing that Seller's love for improvisation forced Kubrick to ditch his usual perfectionism to a certain degree (and the film is all the better for it).
Peter Sellers plays three roles in here, but is best as the President of the U.S. Scott, with an outlandish Patton-like performance (no wonder he got that role later on), is particularly good with his facial expressions as "Buck Turgidson." Hayden, meanwhile, was always a favorite from the 1950s film-noir days.
Stanley Kubrick's political masterpiece "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb" is a brilliant satire on the cold war as we follow absurd characters trying to deal with a rogue general and his order to bomb the enemy.
It is Kubrick at his best with the genius of Peter Sellers and some great performances by George C.
I thought this movie was not only funny but very well thought up especially that this was the only real comedy that Stanley Kubrick made.
Watched this movie because it is supposed to be one of the best comedies ever and I did not laugh a single time.
I just rented this movie out and to be honest I couldn't even finish watching it..I really thought it wasn't funny or whatever it was suppose to be.First of all it started out really boring, I usually love black and white movies but this one was really bad for some reason..I didn't like the shots and the picture anyhow.I just don't understand how this is one of the best movies in the history.Can somebody tell me what is it that so good about it I'm really interested to learn about it..Also was this suppose to be a dark comedy???