Review of Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) by Stevenf — 26 Aug 2013

A film that simply doesn't age, almost 50 years after its release, Dr. Strangelove is still considered to be the greatest comedy of all time and one of the all time best films, it takes the very serious and historic setting of the Cold War and manages to make it hilarious, not through the actions, but through the characters that are carrying out these actions, Peter Sellers plays three roles in this film, and each of these roles is as side-splitting as the next. But perhaps his best of the three is the titular character Dr. Strangelove, a former Nazi scientist who aides the current President of the United States, Merkin Muffley (also played by Sellers) on the basis of the film, where a crazed general (George C. Scott) initiates a first stike nuclear attack on the Soviet Union, something which everyone else is now attempting to prevent as this will mean nuclear annihilation.

The simplicity of the comedy in Dr. Strangelove is visible from the beginning, it isn't a complex plot of drawn out jokes and cringeworthy gags, but the expressions, motions and general dialogue of the characters that truly make it a special film, it doesn't have spectacular special effects nor does it have visually striking sets, but its simplicity is its greatest weapons, because all it needs is the correct characters and you have a winner, the easiest way to make people laugh is turning a serious situation on its head which really shouldn't be funny, but human nature wins out over morals.

Its ironic that a film like this should be so highly praised, but yet probably wouldn't last in todays current climate of happy endings and learnt lessons, we have a very pure and a very real outcome of what the film sets out to do, director and writer Stanley Kubrick proves that he was one of the most iconic and inspirational filmmakers of all time by turning his hand to a comedy, especially with a subject so fresh at the time of filming. He proves that laughter can be found in the most unlikely of places, especially when we have a very character driven story which throws perspective after perspective, we see a more subdued side when we are in the of the B52s, yet in the infamous 'War Room' we have much more insanity laced and lighter atmosphere.

Dr. Strangelove is a true timeless classic and a fantastic film, it pushed the boundaries of what was funny and what was satire, and came out throwing all the punches, equalling to a dazzling display of excellent performances and some of the funniest moments and quotes to come out of the cinema.