Review #1301: Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.
Cast:
Peter Sellers (Group Captain Lionel Mandrake / President Merkin Muffley / Dr. Strangelove), George C. Scott (General Buck Turgidson), Sterling Hayden (Brigadier General Jack D. Ripper), Keenan Wynn (Colonel Bat Guano), Slim Pickens (Major T. J. "King" Kong), Peter Bull (Soviet Ambassador Alexei de Sadeski), James Earl Jones (Lieutenant Lothar Zogg), Tracy Reed (Miss Scott), and Shane Rimmer (Capt. Ace Owens) Directed and Producted by Stanley Kubrick (#044 - Full Metal Jacket, #065 - The Shining, #093 - 2001: A Space Odyssey, and #1046 - Barry Lyndon)
Review:
When it comes to satire and black comedies, Dr. Strangelove sure comes to mind as one of the best. It should come as no surprise that it is the work of masters in terms of cast headlined by Peter Sellers and its director in Stanley Kubrick, who are each at their prime in a film that is razor-sharp in every aspect. The film was based off the novel Red Alert by Peter George, a thriller novel that treated its scenario of nuclear accident seriously. In his attempts to write a screenplay based on the book, he found that their was comedy present involving the absurd or paradoxical when it came to the balance of terror that was the arms race between the two superpowers of the world of the time, the United States and the Soviet Union. There certainly was plenty of inspiration involving Cold War tensions for Kubrick to make light of, with the Cuban Missile Crisis, the closest the two powers came to nuclear war, having occurred just two years prior. The "doomsday / mine-shaft" gaps are parodies of the missile gap, which had been popularized for political effect in the late 1950s. As such, the screenplay was credited to Kubrick, Terry Southern (an American novelist known for his dark absurdist style), and Peter George.
On the surface, one might wonder humor could be found with the scenario of an accident that could lead to nuclear warfare. The answer comes out pretty quickly with a film that captures an atmosphere where such a ghastly thing could happen in eccentric hands with subtlety. This for a film with plenty of interesting to go around, such as a general who believes in a Communist plot involving water fluoridation prior that threaten one's precious bodily fluids, or a crazed scientist resisting the urge to have his hand rise to a familiar position, or even a cowboy style wearing pilot that provides the most famous image from this film for its climax involving a missile and him. Sellers is the star of the show, playing three roles with such brilliance that could only come from a comically unique actor, for which he had already showcased with his various disguises in Kubrick's previous film Lolita (1962). He just blends into his two surrounding sets and actors (one being Hayden and the other being Scott and Bull) with perfect ease, each having their own distinct mannerisms and voices without seeming like a distraction from artistic depth. Scott is just as excellent in his role, where over-the-top isn't so much a guild-line as it was a case of Kubrick utilizing takes that were thought to be warm-ups for less ridiculous takes with the actor (for which he swore to never work with Kubrick again, although he later came to appreciate his performance). One can see him give his all with unapologetic grace and bluster that is keen to the moment needed. This goes just as well for the gritting Hayden, who is absolutely the one needed for a madman general like this, needing only a cigar and some talk about the water to make him captivating to view in humor. Pickens (a rodeo performer who also appeared in Westerns), told to play the role straight, is just as fine a highlight in part because his natural cadence shines through to make for laughs without seeming inauthentic. The rest of the cast have their small moments, such as Wynn and his deadpan delivery for his last line that lands perfectly, or Bull and his expressive nature when he first comes into the war room with a small camera, or Jones (who had acted on stage for nearly a decade) with a short but capable way to make a film debut, or Reed and her one-scene show with Scott.
The film is a funny one about such serious things because it knows how to utilize its surroundings without playing everyone for complete fools while having plenty of style to go around in terms of cinematography (Gilbert Taylor, with that wonderful look) and its set design (Ken Adam, with that wonderful war room), where one can see a thriller alongside the satire without seeming like two different films. After all, a serious rendition of potential nuclear warfare through accident would be shown that same year with Fail Safe (itself based off the novel of the same name from Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler), which ended up being released ten months after this film from the same studio after Kubrick and George had sued for copyright infringement. In any case, this is a wonderfully dark comedy that plays on the fears and culture of the time with zest and prime work from its cast and crew to make this an easy winner for everyone, having a bittersweet climax that seals everything up quite nicely (changed from the original intent of having it end with a massive pie fight). It still stands true today because its basic framework of human error and the attitudes of warfare when the chips all seem to be in place for it.
Overall, I give it 10 out of 10 stars.
