Dr. Strangelove

Producer-director Stanley Kubrick has with talent and courageous created a harshly satirical comedy on a subject as series as Top Security – a nuclear holocaust – in the Columbia Picture 1963 release, “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.” This is a perfect look at development, and might have done very well at the Box Office.

Dave Kaufman said in his review, “Nothing would seen to be farther apart than nuclear war and comedy, yet Kubrick’s caper eloquently tackles a “Fail-Safe” subject with a light touch.” Even though there are times when it hurts to laugh because there is a somewhat feeling that the crazy events in “Dr. Strangelove” could happen, it comes out as a really unusual combination of comedy and suspense.

Kaufman stated, “Screenplay by Kubrick, Peter George and Terry Southern, based on the book, “Red Alert,” by Peter George, is imaginative and contains many an offbeat touch. Some of the characters have a broad brush in their depiction, but this is the very nature of satire. Kubrick also directed the film by his own production company, and successfully captured the incongruous elements of “Strangelove” with a deft, professional touch.”

Everything starts when a Strategic Air Command general, a Republican whose similarities to people still living is more than passing, who on his own plan orders bomb-carry planes under his command to attack Russia. He immediately closes in the base, so that there is no way for the President or anyone else to contact him, not to reverse his orders, since he has given them in a top-secret code only he knows. From this point it’s a crazy, exciting series of events, changing between the General who has began everything, the planes on route to the USSR, and the Pentagon’s war room, where the Chief Executive is trying his best to call off the nuclear war.

Kaufman said, “Again it would seem no setting for comedy or satire, but the writers have accomplished this with biting, piercing dialogue and thorough characterizations. The climax is one with a grim post-script, as the Pentagon begins worrying about the mine-shaft gap in the post-nuclear era, while the Red envoy snakes some pictures of the War room. The moral is obvious.”

Peter Sellers is excellent, playing three different roles – a British R.A.F. captain assigned to the U.S. base where everything started, the President and the main character, Dr. Strangelove, a German scientist helping the U.S. whose Nazi mannerisms beat him.

George C. Scott as the heated Pentagon general who grabs on the problem as a way to argue for complete annihilation of Russia gives an excellent performance, one of the best in the film. Kaufman said, “Odd as it may seem in this backdrop, he displays a fine comedy touch.” Sterling Hayden is coldly realistic as the General who chooses on his own to send nuclear bomb-carrying planes to attack Russia. Kaufman said, “He is a man who blames the Communists for fluoridation of water, and just about everything else. As the cigar-chomping General, Hayden emerges a tragi-comic hero.”

There are regularly great supporting performances from Slim Pickens, Keenan Wynn, Peter Bull, James Earl Jones, Shane Rimmer, Paul Tamarin and Tracy Reed, latter the only woman in the cast, very good in a small role, as the Pentagon General’s mistress.

Production is sizably increased, with fine work by art director Peter Murton, Wally Veevers, special effects, Laurie Johnson’s music, and excellent photography by Gilbert Taylor.

You especially have to love the famous line, “Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room!” This is definitely one of the best and one of the funniest movies ever made. Definitely see this one if you haven’t because it is a must. It actually is a funny movie to watch around President’s Day.

I apologize for posting this late, for I was out at my aunt’s house for lunch, but I ended up being there for a good majority of the day. With that said, stay tuned this Friday for the conclusion of this year’s “Black History Movie Month.”