190. Dr. Strangelove Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb; movie review

DR. STRANGELOVE OR: HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE BOMB
Cert PG

91 mins
BBFC advice: Contains mild language, violence and sex references

Can it really be that we spent the best part of 40 years fearing that there would be a nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union?
Even though the world seems more messed up than ever nowadays, the reality was that it used to be even more dangerous.
When Stanley Kubrick made his satirical Dr Strangelove, there had already been threats to world peace such as the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Therefore, it was not so far-fetched to imagine the Western allies having to respond to an attack from the East.
It strikes me that the world always seems to need a bogeyman. In the 30s and 40s it was Hitler and the Nazis, for the past 20 years it has been Muslim extremists and during the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s, we lived in fear of the communists.

Therefore, the gung-ho American generals portrayed by George C. Scott and Sterling Hayden are rabid in their hatred of the "commies".
This inspires Hayden's character to send out an attack code against the Soviets to air force jets with nuclear bombs on board.
The movie focuses on the satirical debate of whether to go ahead with the bombings or try to prevent them.
Peter Sellers plays three parts - the posh and luxuriously moustached, Group Captain Mandrake, seconded from the RAF to be a personal assistant to Hayden's crazed general who he tries to dissuade from madness, a bald American president who is distraught at the prospect of a war to end all wars being inadvertently started by his countrymen and
Dr Strangelove, a Hitler-loving mad scientist who gives the prognosis on the fall-out of the attacks and consequences thereof.
Kubrick's film is clever in its mocking of the military and politicians with a hard-edge of foreboding over the dangers associated with a nuclear arms race.
Apparently, it was initially intended to be a drama but Kubrick for black comedy in the threat to the world.
I saw its considerable merit but didn't laugh and Mrs W thought it was too off the wall.
 However, I think that the viewer has to put themselves in the situation of the day to glean its full effect.

Reasons to watch: A Stanley Kubrick 'classic'
Reasons to avoid: Its jokes and its politics are very much of its day

Laughs:None
Jumps:None
Vomit: None
Nudity: None
Overall rating: 8.5/10

Did you know? Dr. Strangelove held its first test screening on November 22, 1963, the same day that John F. Kennedy was shot and killed in Dallas. Recognising that the tone of the dark, politically charged satire might seem too abrasive for American audiences in light of the tragedy, Columbia Pictures delayed the film’s release from December 1963 to January 1964. 

The final word. Katharina Kubrick: "He (Stanley) was terrified like everybody was, which was why he chose to make a movie about this very terrifying subject which is a threat still."

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