Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

Dr. Strangelove 

Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying 

and Love the Bomb

Starring Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, Keenan Wynn

Directed by Stanley Kubrick

When you think of a satirical film, "Dr. Strangelove" rises to the top of the list.  A film directed by the great Stanley Kubrick, it was made during the height of the Cold War between the US and USSR, and serves as a darkly humorous look at what could've been the actual destruction of the world - a film that was so influential that it led to actual changes in policy to make sure something like that would never happen.

The US and the USSR are involved in the Cold War, and at any moment all hell could break loose - and that happens when General Ripper (Sterling Hayden) issues an unauthorized nuclear strike against the USSR out of fears that they're adding fluoride to the water supply.  He has the code to cancel the order, but refuses due to his misplaced fears, even to the chagrin of British Group Captain Mandrake (Peter Sellers), who tries to get the code from him.

The order goes out to a fleet of airborne B-52s over Russia, which is led by commander Major T.J. Kong (Slim Pickens), who takes his men over the Russian landscape to achieve the mission as they come under heavy fire.

Meanwhile, at the Pentagon, the President (Peter Sellers) is trying to calm the tensions between the US and the USSR, and prevent the strike from happening, but comes into conflict on every front due to mismanaged communications.  He learns that the Russians have a contingency plan in the event of a nuclear strike - a doomsday machine that would release several cobalt bombs that would send the world into darkness for one hundred years in which all human and animal life would be extinct.  While the President, his advisors, and his scientific advisor - former Nazi Dr. Strangelove (Peter Sellers) - try to stop it, Mandrake continues to pry the increasingly insane Ripper for the cancel codes.

What makes a satirical film so good is the fact that the actors play it out like it's a serious event.  Things aren't as funny when everyone is in on the joke, but when you know the comedy is coming before the characters do, it makes it all the more humorous (in fact, Slim Pickens was cast later on as Major Kong, and had no idea the film was a comedy, and performed it as a dramatic piece).  War is hardly something to be made fun of, but Kubrick did a wonderful job at making it all come together that's as thought-provoking as it is gut-fetchingly hilarious.

Speaking of hilarious, the outcome of the film is darkly humorous on its face, yet something that has been expounded upon in the fears of people all over the world - leaving doomsday weapons in the hands of fallible humanity doesn't seem to make sense, because at any moment something can happen that'll trigger the literal end of the world.  This was a huge fear during the Cold War era, and even resounds today with the likes of North Korea making nuclear weapons capable of reaching the United States, no one is really laughing about it, but it's still oddly funny on its face.  Kubrick took this fear to new heights in "Dr. Strangelove," showing how completely inept our world governments are to prevent a world-ending event that they created with their own hands.

The film has been hailed as a masterpiece, and it's no surprise why.  The comedy was nominated for four Academy Awards, including one for Peter Sellers for Best Actor despite the fact that he played three distinctly different roles.  It's been parodied and satirized countless times, and includes some of the most memorable scenes set to film (most notably the character's ride on the bomb) and memorable lines ("Gentlemen, you can't fight in here!  This is the War Room!").  All the actors gave fantastic performances, especially how they managed to keep a straight face during the most farcical moments (especially Sellers, who often ad-libbed his lines).  There's reasons why a film like this has withstood the test of time, and it's due to its longevity of its narrative and deadpan performances.

War is hell, but "Dr. Strangelove" proves that it's also eerily humorous in its most darkest ways, providing a satirical look at the fears of the Cold War that parallels real fears that people still hold to today.

The Score: A+