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In 1964, Kubrick would break all odds with humanity’s fear of the cold war in the most obscured way. The film entitled, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Stopped Worrying and Love the Bomb would be an essential to dark comical aspects. This film was made during the Cold War, when there was great fear over several nations of nuclear annihilation; weapons of the United States and Soviet Union were in fact capable of destroying civilizations, including the Cuban missile crisis. But to express these situations in the most absurd way possible would take courage. The film was loosely based from the novel, Red Alert by Peter George about the horrors of nuclear warfare.

Kubrick had the idea of making this a serious film of the matter, but the concept of global extermination by mankind was purely insane. So by partnering with satirical writer, Terry Southern, it was possible to make a film about lunacy over the American government. All the characters are acted in this provocative “cartoon” manner, each character is insane at a point without even realizing it. The film stars Peter Sellers playing title three roles as the English captain, Mandrake, the American president, Muffley and the ex-Nazi, Dr. Strangelove; also George C. Scott as the madding general, Sterling Hayden as the crazed base commander, always concerned about bodily fluids; and who could forgot Slim Pickens riding down with a destructive arsenal toward his death. In a way it pokes fun of the Cold War as idiotic, senseless behavior.

When Dr. Strangelove was first released, it gained an appalling uproar but it held an idea of seeing things from a political point of view, this film would also work well in modern society. A Kubrick film was not without controversy, due the fact that Kubrick broke the limitations of how a film should react toward an audience. Kubrick was trying to prove a point of how we live in a cold and stupid world.

This is a case where the parts are greater than the whole. Taken altogether, Dr. Strangelove is a good movie that doesn’t quite seem to come together. The parts, though; the distinct segments that make up the movie; the masterful cinematography that captures the characters and sets in ways that beautifully heighten their essences; the sexual underpinnings of the most powerful character motivations; the all around great performances including Peter Sellers’ triple roles and, most impressive of all, George C. Scott’s Buck Turgidson which is so animated, so expressive, and so thoroughly committed that, while it hovers just shy of Sellers’ delightfully cartoonish Dr. Strangelove, it remains completely believable, these are what make the film a must see for anyone who loves comedy, or good filmmaking, or great acting.

In my opinion Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove is the greatest satirical film of all time. At a time when the whole country was terrified of the Soviet Union, Kubrick’s film decided to deal with the issue through humor, instead of fear. Supposedly Kubrick began writing the film as a drama, but found the whole situation so absurd that he just had to laugh. The film is about a crazed general who finds a loophole in the US military and manages to order a nuclear attack. As the film progresses it is revealed that the Soviets have set up a “doomsday” machine that will cause the whole world to be in destruction if Russia is attacked. What follows is an absurd race to stop the bombers before they attack the USSR, which in turn would destroy the world.

The general, who began the whole ordeal, did what he did, because he believed the Russians were poisoning his water. This idea came to him when he could not sexually perform as he would like, and of course the only logical answer to that was the Commies. This is making fun of the ridiculous paranoia that was surrounding everyone’s mind at the time.
Another example of satire in the film, is when it is decided that certain people are going to have to go underground to protect the human race. As the Americans are discussing this, the Russian ambassador takes out a hidden camera and begins taking pictures of the American plans. Even when the world is ending, he is still thinking about ruling it.
What’s wonderful about Dr. Strangelove is that it works even without the context. I first watched the film four years ago when I knew nothing about the history and I still enjoyed it. The film supplies enough information on its own so that those uneducated on the topic can still understand the satire. However it makes the experience so much more rewarding when outside knowledge is in fact known.

When I was a kid , back when broadcast TV showed old movies, this film was on TV a lot. It is the first film I remember seeing more than once (in those pre-VHS days). The repeated viewings led to me starting to recognize things: lines of dialogue, camera movement, rhythm of editing. It’s the film that smashed open my brain with the shock that movies are made artifacts, and that movies could be made. And that directors had a hand in the making. (Actually that second revelation came from repeat viewings of “The Apartment” and " Irma La Douce", which led to Billy Wilder being the first director whose name I remembered) It was pure fortune that “Strangelove”, the film that did that for me also happened to be an awesome picture in its own right.

A watershed film; arguably the best film satire ever made and certainly the most bold. Stanley Kubrick’s legendary black comedy came at the height of the Cold War, thumbing its missile-shaped nose at the paranoia and fear perpetrated on a world fraught with potential nuclear disaster. A demented Air Force General, convinced of a Communist plot to infiltrate the “precious bodily fluids” of all Americans, launches an unsanctioned attack on Russia, leaving the President and his Pentagon “War Room” team with no choice but to divert disaster. A drunken Soviet Premier, his mysterious Ambassador, a gun-ho fighter pilot, and a deadly Doomsday Machine are all that stand in their way. Considered by many to be the most perfectly structured comic screenplay, “Dr. Strangelove” is somehow both improvisatory in tone and meticulous in execution. What results is an amalgam of cinematic highlights that are equal parts suspenseful, audacious, and hilarious. The cast includes Sterling Hayden as the screw-loose General Ripper, George C. Scott as the infantile General Turgidson (probably Scott’s best performance), Slim Pickens as a battle-starved fighter pilot, and Peter Sellers, in a tour de force triple performance as President Merkin Muffley, British Captain Lionel Mandrake, and the brilliant German physicist Dr. Strangelove; three distinctly original characters that remain the best example of Sellers genius. A remarkable film that must be considered mandatory viewing.