Review of Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) by Josh M — 27 Jan 2012

Dr. Strangelove is one of those movies that gets deeper and funnier with time. It's not just hilarious but it's as terrifying as any film ever made.

It somehow makes gut wrenching suspense out of a collection of one dimensional stock characters played with panache and crackerjack comic skill, headed by the superlative Peter Sellers, in 3 distinct roles, including the title one.

Stanley Kubrick, not known for comedy (Maybe Lolita?), takes exactly the right approach here, The scenes and cinematography are stunningly photographed B &W and mostly realistic. The laughs fly furiously throughout, even as the tension get ratcheted increasingly up to the last frame. Music is meticulous as always, from military choruses to the haunting Vera Lynn 'We'll meet Again' as the world (Spoiler alert?!)comes to its inevitable end. Writer Terry Southern was a talented satirist and fiction writer, but his material in the hands of lesser directors (Candy - with a huge cast of sixties icons) can go very flat and pureile. Kubrick is a genius, and his films have mostly held up over many years, expecially this one.

The cast is stellar, starting with George C. Scott (who really should have done more comedy) as a gung ho and stupid General, film noir tough guy favorite Sterling Hayden as a red-baiting General who has gone utterly impotent - and bonkers - and, British comedian Peter Bull as the childish and venal Soviet Ambassador. Then Sellers: as well intentioned and ineffective President Merkin Muffley, the hapless British miltary observer Mandrake who tries to talk Sterling Hayden out of destroying the world (one of the funniest quiet reacting performances in film history), and of course, diabolical and utterly original Dr. Strangelove, an ex-Nazi scientist who is beyond funny, yet still unbeliveably frightening.

This film has stayed with me since childhood. I was terrified and obsessed wtih the end of the world and I still havne't recovered. Every time Strangelove comes on TV, I am hooked till the end when the mushroom clouds fly. I do wonder if younger people that have no memory of the cold war perennial nuclear threat would appreciate this at all, I'll have to test it out with my nephew, after which time I may revise this review.