U.S. Air Force General Jack Ripper goes completely and utterly mad, and sends his bomber wing to destroy the U.S.S.R. He suspects that the communists are conspiring to pollute the "precious bodily fluids" of the American people. The U.S. president meets with his advisors, where the Soviet ambassador tells him that if the U.S.S.R. is hit by nuclear weapons, it will trigger a "Doomsday Machine" which will destroy all plant and animal life on Earth. Peter Sellers portrays the three men who might avert this tragedy: British Group Captain Lionel Mandrake, the only person with access to the demented Gen. Ripper; U.S. President Merkin Muffley, whose best attempts to divert disaster depend on placating a drunken Soviet Premier and the former Nazi genius Dr. Strangelove, who concludes that "such a device would not be a practical deterrent for reasons which at this moment must be all too obvious". Will the bombers be stopped in time, or will General Jack Ripper succeed in destroying the world ?
Written by
Colin Tinto {cst@imdb.com}
U.S. President Merkin Muffley is on the hot line to Moscow with some rather embarrassing news for the Soviet premier: "Hello, Dimitri....I'm fine....Now then, you know how we've always talked about the possibility of something going wrong with the bomb....The bomb, Dimitri. The hydrogen bomb....Well, now, what happened is that, uh, one of our base commanders...he went a little funny in the head....and he went and did a silly thing....He ordered his planes to attack your country." A comedy about an accidental nuclear attack? One that ends with total annihilation, thermonuclear apocalypse? Preposterous! Stanley Kubrick thought otherwise. In the end his thinking prevailed. The mad saga revolves around a psychotic Strategic Air Command officer, Gen. Jack D. Ripper, who lets loose his B-52 bomber squadron on the Soviet Union. Ripper takes this unilateral action because of his paranoid belief that Communists are sapping and contaminating "all our precious bodily fluids" as part of their plan to take over the world." Unbeknownst to Ripper, his attack will trigger the Russian's ultimate weapon, the Doomsday Machine, a diabolical retaliatory device set to blow up the planet.
Written by
alfiehitchie
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Oedipus in the war room
I am an occasional fan of Kubrick. 2001, ACO, and Barry Lyndon in
Blackadder11 from United States - 30 June 2009particular are all fun and entertaining films for me. The previous is a
disclaimer for those who may think I'm here for a smear campaign
against popularity; I think this may be one of the most overrated films
of all time. There are absolutely no contributions to either the
aesthetic or narrative language of film here, which is fine if a film
works, but it certainly precludes certain kinds of accolades that have
been doled out much too liberally in this case. The jokes are
sledgehammer to the face blunt and none particularly funny even as
blunt jokes, and the puns and names that may have been considered
daring or risqué once upon a time now just seem like the worst kind of
childishness. What are we left with then? A one joke film that hedges
all of its intellectual bets on an interesting but made tedious by
overexposure fad (Freud was right! And look at how goofy it makes our
leaders!). And a colonel named Bat Guano.
Fail-Safe on crack, LSD, and steroids!
Dr. Strangelove (1964)Fail-Safe on crack, LSD, and steroids!One secret to making a flawless movie is to make it so idiosyncratic
secondtake from United States - 23 June 2009you can't tell flaws from insights, weaknesses from flashes of
innovation. Surely this movie has its weaknesses, and I know people who
have seen it who like to point them out. Yes, it has sexist moments and
silly ones, and maybe even a couple of slow ones. But really, it's so
audacious and funny and tragic and ironic, who can say what is what,
and why, taken whole?What you can be clear about about is whether it succeeds, whether it
stirs you. I know I'm moved and tickled every time, even if I groan
sometimes, too. George C. Scott's performance is sometimes just too
much, but then he does a backflip and my faith is restored. Hayden is
such a stiff actor at his best, he is cast in the role of a lifetime
here and comes through with dark absurdity. And Peter Sellers? Which
one? Hilarious.Made the same year as Fail-Safe (both are from 1964, the height of the
Cold War), Dr. Strangelove, shows the further evolution of the insane
directing genius of Stanley Kubrick. This is the first of his three
great breakthrough movies that seem to be shamelessly new and
fresh–2001 and A Clockwork Orange followed–and it really is
breathtaking for its audacity. Dr. Strangelove is so utterly different
in tone and yet so parallel in intent and background to Fail-Safe, it's
just weird. Does it make light of annihilation? Does the military, and
the President, look foolish? And Peter Sellers? Which one?
Creme De La Kubrick
Even some forty-five years after the release of Stanley Kubrick's
druid333-2 from United States - 4 June 2009masterpiece of cold war paranoia, "Dr.Strangelove Or:How I Learned To
Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb', it still to this day packs the same
punch it packed in 1964. The screenplay (written by Kubrick,in
collaboration with Terry Southern & Peter George)was adapted from the
novel, 'Red Tide',that dealt with the possibility of an all out war
with Russia. Kubrick, as usual takes many pot shots at the military
(United States,as well as the British),as well as the ruling class the
preside over the military (and even gets a few jabs at Russia,for good
measure). A psychotic general,named General Jack D. Ripper,finally goes
over the edge & calls for bombers flying over the Arctic Circle to drop
a payload of atomic bombs on Russia. This triggers a catastrophic
series of events. Kubrick has assembled a top notch cast to play out
the various characters that pop up for the mayhem. The late, great
Peter Sellers plays no less than three roles. Add the likes of George
C. Scott,Sterling Hayden,Slim Pickens and even (a then unknown) James
Earl Jones,as well as others,and you have yourself the basis for a
sparkling cocktail of a political satire that will make you
laugh,shudder,and finally think of our future. Originally released
unrated in 1964,this film was eventually handed a GP rating in 1970,
which was eventually changed to a PG rating for a rude word or two,
some violent (but not graphic)content,some sexual humour & the
potential disturbing consequences of nuclear war & it's aftermath.
Brilliant film
This is an extremely funny film. But after my own analysis and reading
gascichx5 from United States - 26 May 2009some of the negative comments on here I came up with two reasons as to
why people may not find this funny.1.) It's outdated. This movie was made with the backdrop of the Cold
War and impending nuclear holocaust, and is a satire about just that.
Kids growing up these days, or even ten years ago, have no concept of
what it was like during the 50's and 60's.2.) It's such a great comedy, that other films and TV shows have stolen
its jokes. Like all great works of art, they are imitated to some
degree. Jokes from this movie have been used to death by other mediums,
and I think that makes them lose their effect if seen in this movie.Having said those two things, I didn't grow up with the threat of
nuclear holocaust and I've heard the retelling of Dr. Strangelove's
jokes, but I found this movie to be absolutely brilliant. Peter
Seller's jumped to one of the top 3 of my favorite comedic actors.
Every actor was fantastic. The writing was brilliant, and all the
characters add the hilarity that ensues in this film. The story was
great and extremely ridiculous, but still plausible, especially for
that era.Overall, a tremendous film by one of the greatest directors of all
time.9.5/10
Using dark humor to convey messages
It's an influential Kubrick movie any serious film buff should see even
Sébastien Patenaude from Montréal, Québec - 24 May 2009though like me you've probably seen the infamous bomb sequence before
out of context, ruining a bit, but not all, of the ending. This is one
of the best dark political comedies out there. It has great lines,
strong performances and Peter Sellers was tremendous in his very
different roles. His character Dr. Strangelove has little screen time
but is pure comic genius. The other standout was the general played by
George C. Scott. I think no matter how much time passes, this will
always be a cautionary tale about absurdity, the military and blind
patriotism. Rating: 8 out of 10
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