Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (40th Anniversary Special Edition)

... perhaps it’s not much of a surprise that I’ve kept coming back to Dr. Strangelove over the last few months.But it’s not just the film’s newfound currency that makes me return. It’s a welcome opportunity to rediscover Stanley Kubrick as he came into his own. While I took pleasure in Spartacus and Lolita, those were Hollywood productions that (very sensibly) employed the budding director. By contrast, Dr. Strangelove was distinctly a Kubrick film with his thought and vision wholly intact.It is fascinating to watch him deal with humor. (This would be his only comedy.) He’s careful in parceling it out. I especially love the exquisite restraint in the scenes between Sterling Hayden’s soberly off-the-deep-end General Jack Ripper and Sellers’ oh-so-upright Lionel Mandrake. I don’t know how the actors kept straight faces — would that there were outtakes here — but they did and their scenes are splendidly insane for the effort. Less is indeed more.And that’s the rule for most of the distance: fly just under our radar. There are outright laughs, to be sure. Keenan Wynn whips out one of the film’s few overt punchlines and it’s hard not to smile at the clearly comic antics of George C. Scott’s riled-up, sputtering General Buck Turgidson.But Sellers’ president, Slim Pickens’ bomber pilot and the ethos are conceived within this same essentially stoic spirit — effectively setting us up for Sellers’ (yes, again!) climactic appearance as Dr. Strangelove.Arguably, the doctor is overdone. Arguably, he’s not even that funny. But I suspect that’s missing the point. He’s strategically overdone — a metaphorical bomb to roil the script’s placid surface at the critical moment. And at least at this level, it’s successful. The film detonates just ahead of the bomb and we’re on our way home.

DR. STRANGELOVE is a black and white movie about "The Bomb." The movie stars George C. Scott, Peter Sellers, and Slim Pickens. For those not familiar with Slim Pickens, countless Americans have been thrilled by his comedic charm in Spielberg's epic movie, 1941.George C. Scott plays General Turgidson, who is played in an exaggerated cartoonish manner. Sterling Hayden plays General Jack Ripper, who plays an unpleasant paranoid character, who likes to talk about "precious bodily fluids." General Jack Ripper eventually shoots himself in his quarters. Keenan Wynn plays Colonel Bat Guano, and in this movie, he resembles the principal in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. His "big scene" in this movie is to shoot a hole in a Coca Cola machine in order to get change for a pay telephone, and out of the hole comes a gush of soda that douses Colonel Bat Guano (in the same humiliating manner as the humiliation showered upon the principal in Ferris Bueller's Day Off). The Coca Cola scene occurs at 73 minutes.Dr. Strangelove begins with an image of a remote island poking above the clouds, with the narration, "For more than a year, ominous rumors had been privately circulating among high level western leaders, that the Soviet Union had been at work on what was the ultimage weapon, a doomsday device. Intelligence sources traced the site of the top-secret Russian project . . . to the perpetually fog-shrouded wasteland below the Arctic peaks of the Zerkoff Islands . . . "SEXY FUELING SCENE. Then, at the 75-second time point, begins footage showing the fueling by a tanker jet to a bomber. Some of the footage shows a side view of the two jets, which are connected to each other by the fueling tube. Some of the footage was shot where the camera was pointing out the rear fueling door of the tanker jet, and in this shot, the viewer is shown how the fueling pipe thrusts in and out and in and out of the receiving device of the bomber. The music is romantic Montovani music. After a couple of minutes of this amusing sexual innuendo, the plot starts.We see an airforce base with radar antenna rotating, and a bomber taking off. Then we see a general conversing with Peter Sellars. "The base is being put on condition red . . . I'm afraid this is not an exercise . . . I'm afraid this is a shooting war," says the general. The general is General Jack Ripper.At the 6-minute time point comes visually appealing footage of bombers flying over snowy mountain peaks. At 6 min, 30 sec, we see Slim Pickens in the pilot's seat in the cockpit of a bomber reading Playboy Magazine. At 8 min, his crew consults a codebook, and Slim Pickens and his crew discuss "Plan R." Slim Pickens converses with another crewman, saying: "Did you say using Attack Plan R? . . . how many times have I told you that I don't want no horsing around on the airplane . . . well I've been to one world's fair, one picnic, and a rodeo, and that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard coming over a set of earphones . . . you sure you got today's code? . . . there's just gotta be something wrong." Slim Pickens looks at the control panel which reads: FGD135. Then, he looks in the codebook, and notices that FGD135 matches up with Attack Plan R. At 9 min, 45 sec, we see fellow crewman James Earl Jones (as we know, he later played the voice of Darth Vader). At 10 min begins a steady drumbeat and trumpet playing, "When Johnny Comes Marching Home." (This is on the soundtrack whenever we are shown the inside of Slim Pickens' jet bomber.) Slim Pickens says, "Well boys, I guess this is it. Nuclear combat, toe-to-toe with the Ruskies . . . look boys, I ain't much a hand at giving speeches . . . I have a fair idea of the personal emotions you might be thinking." (At this point, Slim Pickens has put on his cowboy hat, and he speaks into a microphone.)BIKINI SCENE. Then, at 12 min, we are in General Turgeson's suite (played by George C. Scott) and the viewer is treated to many views of his secretary in a bikini. The two of them talk about Plan R. For three entire minutes, the viewer is treated to images of the slender secretary in a bikini. At 16 min, the scene returns to Peter Sellars in the computer room at an air force base, that is, at the same air force base where General Jack Ripper works.BODILY FLUIDS. This movie has a few references to "precious bodily fluids." The first of these references occurs at 24 minutes in a talk in General Ripper's office by the general to Peter Sellars. At 46 min, General Ripper says this to Peter Sellars, "fresh pure water to replenish our precious bodily fluids." This takes place in a discussion about fluoridation being a Communist plot. At 56 minutes, the dialogue goes, "foreign substances introduced into our precious bodily fluids . . . that's the way a Commie works." At 60 min, Peter Sellars remarks that there was never anything wrong with his "bodily fluids."SURVIVAL KIT. At 35 min, the scene changes from the tense situation in the war room, to the comedic situation in the bomber piloted by Slim Pickens. Comedy comes from the perusual of the items in the survival kit. The items include, vitamin pills, morphine pills, sleeping pills, Russian phrase book, Russian rubles, prophylactics, nylon stockings, etc. The sound track features a harmonica and snare drum. Slim Pickens remarks, "Shoot! A fella could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with that stuff!!!"At 51 minutes, the character of Dr. Strangelove make his entrance, and the discussion is about the Doomesday Machine. Here, Dr. Strangelove (played by Sellers) speaks to the President of the United States (played by Sellers). At 61 minutes, General Ripper kills himself in the bathroom, thus bringing to a halt his chit-chat session with Peter Sellers. The scene then changes, and we are with Slim Pickens in his bomber. The problem is that a Russian missile approaches, and it damages the bomber. At this point, Peter Sellers needs to call the President of the United States, but he does not have change for the pay telephone, and the viewer is treated to the Coca Cola scene (described above). At 68 minutes, Slim Pickens continues to fly his damaged bomber and he says: "If we was flying any lower we'd need sleigh bells on this thing."At 82 minutes, James Earl Jones notices a problem with the bomb bay doors. They won't open. So Slim Pickens decides to go down to the bomb bay to open them manually. Slim Pickens orders James Earl Jones to "fire the explosive bolts" but this does not work. And so, as the snare drums continue, and as the horns play "Johnny Comes Marching Home," Slim Pickens plays his very, very, famous "Yee-hawwww" scene by riding one of the nuclear bombs out of the bomb bay door, where it eventually explodes. Then, we hear the sone, "We'll Meet Again." The real reason I bought this movie was to see if it was the recording by The Byrds or the recording by Vera Lynn. I was disappointed to learn that it was Vera Lynn's recording, not the recording by The Byrds. Oh well.

Stanley Kubrick’s dry black comedy “Doctor Strangelove” came to define the absurdity of the Cold War and assured mutual destruction. The novel plays the material pretty straight (Red Alert) and, at first, thar was Kubrick’s intention as well. The longer he worked with the material, the more he realized the insanity of the situation. Bringing in writer Terry Southern to highlight the absurdity and Peter Sellers for his comedic genius (although ironically Sellers would play straight man to Sterling Hayden’s General Jack D. Ripper), Kubrick also cast George C. Scott (who plays his role brilliantly but Kubrick had to trick him into playing his role more broadly by having Scott play the role broadly in early takes then informing Scott he had no intention of using them. He explained he was trying to eliminate that energy with later takes. He would also play chess with Scott on set. The reward-play it Kubrick’s way. Kubrick always won. Scott vowed to never work with him after “Strangelove’) and filling other key roles with actors who could play their roles with the brush of absurdity needed.The 4K transfer of the film looks marvelous. The image quality is top notch with great delineation, depth and detail. Blacks are not crushed so there’s plenty of derail even in the War room. The HDR does provide better black and white images but they don’t provide the same benefit as a color film would. The audio remains true to its source (mono) and clear with dialog up front. English subtitles are provided.The 4K includings the featurette “Stanley Kubrick Considers the Bomb”, interviews, The Today Show clips featuring Sellers and Scott, The special features are carried over from the previous Blu-Ray edition (and are included on the recycled Blu-Ray in the set).Kubrick’s masterpiece of black comedy will continue to delight fans. This 4K is a terrific edition. Will you see a big difference compared to the Blu-Ray? It depends on your set up at home.

This is a cold War Classic masterpiece. I guess most have seen this Stanley Kubrick film, but if you have not it will be a few pounds well spent. Filmed in black and white it has a great cast. Peter Sellers plays three parts, the US President, a RAF Group Captain and a mad German Scientist. He is ably supported by the USAF General played by George C. Scott and Stirling Hayden who plays the mad General who sets off a nuclear strike on the USSR. Slim Pickens plays the USAF pilot flying the B52 that potentially ends the world. I won't spoil it if you have not seen it, but the ending, wow!

Actually, I would have rated this film a star four stars, but the extra star was for the fascinating extras. They were just as interesting as the film itself, if not more so. It is a one off film, with sterling performances from everyone, especially the President, who did not overdo his American accent. Of course, the special effects are primitive by today's standards, but the message is still the same. The fact that it is black and white adds to its atmosphere, and it delivers a chilling view of what might happen in a state of confusion. It is very amusing, in parts, but nevertheless the message is put across, with some stereotypical gung ho attitudes shown by many of the Americans. The pace is rather slow, but it certainly was ahead of its time, and as it turned out, a similar situation nearly happened in real life.

Once upon a time in the cold war, there was something calledMAD (Mutual-Assured-Destruction), which meant whoeverstarted WW3, the other side would react in kind, thus destroyingeach other... yes... quite mad... I know, but this was a everydayreality living in the cold war. and being a child of thecold war, I remember the fear of Nuclear War,.Although the cold war is over, we still face the threat of a nuclearwar, but it is not something we overtally worry about, but backin the 1960s, it was a possibility, and that is why this film is sogood, as It really taps into the fear of those times.I can't say anything more about this movie. Yes, there area couple of flaws in it, but so does any masterpiece, andthis is a classic. I love Sterling Hayden, and can watch himin any thing. George C Scott is great too, and Ken Adam'sset designs are brilliant...You must watch this film at least once in your life.

Brilliant acting by Peter Sellers in three different roles, President, RAF adjutant and insane scientific adviser. (Interesting that, originally, Sellers was going to play a 4th role - that of the B52 pilot - very well played in the end by 'Slim' Pickens). George C Scott plays an excellent parody of his previous roles - all to good effect. From start to finish the film is full of dark references in ironic humour (probably only best understood by those of us who remember those times - the height of the cold war). Tremendously humorous throughout.

Brilliant satire of the Cold War. This is director Stanley Kubrick at his best.Peter Sellers' performances(he plays three roles) steals the show.. Especially in the part of Dr. Strangelove ,the crazy nazi adviser in a wheelchair . One half of him is 100% nazi, the other half 'normal' ,creating a man in conflict with himself(mentally and physically). Sterling Hayden is the insane air force general who is determined to bring about the nuclear apocalypse.The film goes from comedy to surreal horror as doomsday approaches.George C Scott is also very good as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs. The final minutes of the film however belong to the talented character actor Slim Pickens and this scene will be etched into your mind for ever.Great classic film -Get it if you have not seen it .Well worth the cost of the movie