Dr Strangelove Or: How I Stopped Worrying And Learned To Love The Bomb is one of the all-time great black comedies,
Kubrick's sole foray into the genre. Of course, if we count it as an anti-war flick, that's a different matter;
Paths of Glory and
Full Metal Jacket are both outstanding. I was privileged enough to have had the opportunity to see this brilliant film at the cinema at a Kubrick marathon, and it still looked good even after 30 odd years (at the time).
While my wife reminds me that the humour in Strangelove is not to everyone's taste, I can't imagine anyone not appreciating at least some of the content. The B52 sequences are typical of Kubrick's meticulous approach to technology; the flight procedures are presented in painstaking detail, and the shots of the bomber in flight are still great to look at, almost 50 years later. The pilot, Major Kong (
Slim Pickens), represents everything we should be afraid of when we think of the US military; a gung-ho cowboy who just happens to think that dropping nuclear bombs on people is just about the most fun you can have standing up. His crew, on the other hand, display much more humanity in their reactions to the situation, including
James Earl Jones making his film debut; his distinctive bass voice always makes me smile.
While
Peter Sellers (as Group Captain Lionel Mandrake, US President Merkin Muffley, and the titular Dr Strangelove) and
George C Scott (General "Buck" Turgidson) receive top billing, the performance that stands out is that of
Sterling Hayden as the insane general who precipitates the crisis. Hayden's General Jack D Ripper is the only major character who is
not playing it for laughs, which only emphasises just how completely crazy he really is. His explanation of his motives for ordering a nuclear attack against Russia are bizarre, frightening, and truly twisted. "Women sense my power, Mandrake, but I deny them my essence". Think about the implications of this line, and you'll understand why he's so cranky!
The set design of the war room is still used as the model for films now; I don't think anyone in Hollywood has any idea of what the war room actually looks like, but if it's gonna look like anything, they guess it must look like it does in Dr Strangelove.
Another standout sequence is the attack on the airbase; the use of hand-held cameras gives it a gritty, documentary feel - It really feels like you're watching genuine combat footage. The same technique has been used since, but rarely as effectively.
My favourite scene, though, is the phone conversation between President Muffley and his Russian counter-part, Premier Kissoff. "Keep your feet on the ground while you're speaking to me, Dimitri" has gotta be one of the funniest lines ever.
While I could rave on about this film for hours, I don't want to give too much away. If you haven't seen it yet, you have missed out on one of the all-time greats. It's out on DVD in a couple of different editions, some with more specials than others (annoyingly, I bought my copy about a week before a more feature-packed edition was released), but, regardless of extras, the film is the same. Well worth repeated viewings, and a film which still has something to say about the stupidity and futility of war.
