Dr. Strangelove Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (Peter Sellers, George C. Scott) 1/2
The sheer gall of Stanley Kubrick, to make a movie that targets the very people that supposedly kept him (as well as the rest of the world) "safe" from nuclear destruction, must have been unheard of in 1964. However, when one reflects back on the history of satire in cinema, Dr. Strangelove Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb may not have been the first in the category, but it would certainly pave the way for scores of audacious movies to follow.
Heralded as one of the best films ever made, Strangelove was voted #26 on AFI's list of the 100 greatest movies of alltime, and was awarded the #3 spot on their list of the 100 greatest comedies. That reflects a lot about its general acclaim, but having watched it recently for the first time, I found it more modest and ignoble than I would have expected. A lot of this has to do with Kubrick's decision to film it in black and white, which I found contrasted far too much with the zany, colourful characters. In one scene, we see the President of the United States and his trusted advisor arguing with a Russian ambassador ("You can't fight in here, this is the War Room!"), and in the background there is an endless banquet table filled with food. I laughed at the joke, but I thought how much better it would be if we could see all of the colourful fruits in the fruit bowl. There are other similar scenes where I had the same thought, particularly at one point when a series of nuclear explosions are shown detonating, all the while set to Vera Lynn's strangely appropriate "We'll Meet Again". Colour would have been better, I think. (As a side note, this is the only black and white picture I have yet seen where I thought it would have worked better "in colour". I just wanted to say this in case anyone started calling me Ted Turner.)
The situation is grim for the President of the United States. An accidental missile launch by General Jack D. Ripper sends the Pentagon into a panic as top officials struggle to contact the Russians and warn them of the impending disaster. Meanwhile, Captain Mandrake has obtained the counter-attack code but doesn't have enough change for the payphone to call the president and no one will accept his collect call. Will the crisis be avoided on time?
Peter Sellers, here playing three separate characters (President Merkin Muffley, Group Captain Lionel Mandrake, and Dr. Strangelove), had previously cut his teeth on The Mouse That Roared. It is here though, that his knack for cerebral, physical, and black comedy all converge. George C. Scott's General Buck Turgidson may play a character that has been lampooned through the decades (the trigger-happy advisor), but obviously his performance remains the best. With a scrunched up face and a demented enthusiasm in all things warlike, his scenes comprise the highlights of the movie.
I chuckled here and there at the wit of Dr. Strangelove, but I found it really lagged in spots. It works more as a series of monologues than a cohesive narrative. However, that is also part of its charm and quality. It doesn't pull punches when at times it very easily could have. With numerous alllusions to the male anatomy (including the character's names and repetitive references to "precious bodily fluids"), it should come as no surprise there are few women in the film. It could be argued that men and guns go hand in hand, just like men and -- ahem -- their guns.
