Hilarious and Historical Historical dark comedy about Cold-War-Era America and the Age of the Atom. Fantastic film... a must own.
Truth within humor is always a scary thing... In this day and age, during these times of political uncertainty, a black comedy such as `Dr. Strangelove' is a welcome distraction. It takes all of our fears about what our own society may come to and it throws it in our face with enough humor (scarily realistic humor) that we find ourselves laughing at what could possibly be our eventual future. Stanley Kubrick has been my favorite director for some time now, and `Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb' is quite possibly his finest film (I still have a warm and fuzzy place in my heart for the anti-warm and fizzy movie known as `A Clockwork Orange')
The film centers around panic in the white house when General Jack D. Ripper acts on his own accord to eradicate Communism by launching a squadron of B-52 bombers over the Soviet Union. When the Soviet reacts by threatening to use their Doomsday Device the President finds himself in the middle of heated debate on how to handle the current crisis.
The film is littered with jabs at politics in general, with the country's fascination with war and the crazy ideas floating around the heads of the men in power. Taking a more subtle approach to the films humor, Kubrick's gem of a film fairs much greater than most other parodies like `Blazing Saddles' (I need to stop hating on that film) for it actually manages to make all of its jokes work. The film is genuinely hilarious, but it never sacrifices its intelligence for a quick laugh.
Kubrick has a wonderful bedmate in Peter Sellers, who previously worked with Kubrick on the equally subtle yet effective comedy `Lolita'. Sellers takes on three separate roles in this film; the President, Captian Lionel Mandrake and the bomb maker Dr. Strangelove. He dominates this film by creating three completely different characters with different ideals and even accents, and he nails each one. He's aided by the hilarious George C. Scott (who makes those `war room' scenes unforgettable) and Sterling Haydem, who captures the realness of human insanity. These actors create such real, yet exaggerated characters that give the film such authenticity within its humor.
The scary thing about `Dr. Strangelove' is that, in all honesty, it's probably not that far fetched. Today more so than ever the general public has a pretty good idea of just how manipulative and chaotic our world leaders really are, so when watching a supposed comedy like `Dr. Strangelove' it becomes more and more dramatic as we put the pieces together. I remember feeling the same way when watching the more recent `Wag the Dog', another political comedy. They always say that reality makes for the best comedy because real life is almost always unbelievable; and this film is a real case-in-point, for it is as funny as it is scary.
In other words; it's funny cuz' it's true.
The Big Board and Doomsday Imagine a film where Colonel "King" Kong (Slim Pickens) tells his B-52 crew, "Well boys, this is it. Nuclear combat toe to toe with the Rooskies!" Sterling Hayden as Gen. Jack D. Ripper who -- fearing contaminating his bloody fluids -- launches a nuclear attack on Russia. George C. Scott as Gen. "Buck" Turgison: "I'm not saying we're not going to get our hair mussed. Ten million casualties, twenty million tops." Then there is Peter Sellers in several roles: an RAF Liasion officer, the President of the United States and Dr. Strangelove -- a former Nazi scientist, crippled with an arm that gives an involuntary "Seig Heil" nazi salute. A brilliant dark satire from Stanley Kubrick (coming in the wake of being fired from the Brando western ONE-EYED JACKS and directing the Kirk Douglas epic SPARTACUS). From this film onward all of Kubricks successive movies (2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, BARRY LYNDON, FULL METAL JACKET & EYES WIDE SHUT) would all be distinct provoking. Look for the first screen appearence of James Earl Jones as a crewmember on Col. Kong's B-52.
Classic Movie This collection is truly a classic movie from Kubrick. Of interest will be the special disc that has been added.
A true masterpiece This movie is a true masterpiece. I don't understand anyone that gives it less than 4 stars. I've watched this movie at least 6 times and I get something new out of it every single time. And, by the way, I usually hate watching any movie more than once. George C. Scott and Peter Sellers are dynamite, as is the rest of the cast. Definitely one of the 10 best movies of all time.
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