Review of Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) by Nate J — 15 Aug 2013

Dr. Strangelove is what is often considered the Godfather of satires and black comedies, and although this isn't Kubrick's masterpiece in my opinion, it's hard to deny how much fun I had with this one. What's probably the riskiest, boldest thing about this film is the fact that Kubrick actually released this during the Cold War. Considering this film is a black war comedy satirizing our decisions during the war, and it was a statement on what was seen at the time as a deadly threat, it must have been the subject of controversy at the time, but it must've also shined light on how ironic and ridiculous the war really was. Dr. Strangelove is offbeat and weird in one of the best ways possible, although lots of the humor is subtle and you may have to "read between the lines" in order to really understand the significance of the humor and find it to be a thought-provoking film. That being said, Dr. Strangelove is still absurd and ridiculous enough to be a crazily hilarious dark humor on its own. I must admit that I still can't get myself to love this film, and although I can't get myself to call it "overrated" either, I feel like some of the humor didn't quite work for me and went over my head. Even then, Dr. Strangelove still deserves its reputation as a classic, intelligent war film.

Dr. Strangelove concerns the utterly bonkers General Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden) who decides to issue his planes on "Plan R", instructing the aircrafts to commence a nuclear war on the Soviet Union. While the planes are heading towards the Soviet Union, the ineffective yet well-intentioned president (Peter Sellers) has a discussion with his other men as well as a Russian ambassador (Peter Bull) in the Pentagon's War Room, and they learn that a "doomsday device" in the Soviet Union will detonate should any nuclear attack strike the country. What's interesting was the fact that the story was actually intended to be a serious Cold War thriller based off of the novel known as "Red Alert", but Kubrick felt like the idea would work better as a flat-out black comedy. What's even more interesting is the fact that audiences laughed at Kubrick's exposing of their own fear, a nuclear threat, despite the fact that the scenario of a nuclear strike could happen any second during the time. Other roles include General Buck (George C. Scott), Major T.J Kong (Slim Pickens), and Colonel "Bat" Guano (Keenan Wynn) as well as two other roles by Peter Sellers, including Lionel Mandrake, a British officer, and (of course), the ex-Nazi Dr. Strangelove.

Yes, you heard that right- Peter Sellers plays a total of three roles in this movie, and all of them are top-notch. What I found to be a little disappointing was the fact that Dr. Strangelove himself only had a screen time of about ten minutes, yet he sticks in memory well because of his silly accent and slapstick. I feel like most of the laughs really come from the more deadpan scenes. Apart from his role of Dr. Strangelove, he also plays the president, and what I found to be quite fascinating was the fact that at times, both the president and Strangelove were having a conversation with each other in the War Room. However, since there can't be two Peter Sellers, the filmmakers used a quite clever way in order to make the two characters played by one actor have a discussion. The roles played by Peter are very diverse and comparing the three, it's near-impossible to know that they're all played by the same person at first glance. My favorite role by him, other than Dr. Strangelove, was the bumbling role of officer Lionel Mandrake, and his conversations with Sterling Hayden's General Jack D. Ripper were hysterical. Practically every role has their moments of great.

One problem I had with the movie was the fact that flight sequences involving Major T.J. Kong and the planes heading towards the Soviet Union played in between the War Room sequences, and I was a little annoyed by the unnecessary flight details. I was a little frustrated at the start because I really didn't find myself loving the experience until the War Room was introduced. Some of the jokes really didn't work for me and went over my head, and although I still laughed quite a bit throughout the movie, many people may not see the funny side of nuclear annihilation. These few, but glaring flaws were clearly made up by the enduring and amazingly written script, with some of the best lines I've heard from a war movie. A few lines that come to mind are "Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room" and "Mein Fuhrer! I can walk!". The writing is endlessly quotable and not only is it funny, but it's actually quite thought provoking. The script exposes the weaknesses of the safeguards of a nuclear war, and considering it was released only a year before the Cuban Missile Crisis, the movie must've been very controversial, building up not only lots of fear but odd laughter for audiences.

Dr. Strangelove is an unbelievably brave take on the Cold War that is oddly stupidly and smartly humorous at the same time, using silly slapstick in order to surprisingly bring up extremely good points about the Cold War. It's a certainly dark film, and not all the humor will appeal to every audience, but if you can appreciate and play along with it you're more than likely going to have fun with this movie. As I said, even though I can't say this movie is "overrated", I can't quite get myself to love it at the same level as everyone else, but it's certainly an enduring war film. Who knew that Kubrick could tackle dark humor so well? Not only is this film hysterical and absurd, but it's also well-researched, thought-provoking, and very smart when it comes to raising a devastating question. The ending is also incredibly pessimistic and ironic. Dr. Strangelove as a whole is not one of the best Kubrick films, but it's still purely genius and although it has its fair share of flaws, the tightly-written, darkly-funny script and the fantastic acting more than make up for them. Dr. Strangelove has clearly stood the test of time, and it's still amusing even by today's standards.