Dr. Strangelove (1964)

NOTE: The title of this film is actually Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, but it's too long for the title of this topic.

Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is a black comedy dealing with the Cold War. Basically, a crazy Air Force general orders a group of US B-52 bombers to carry out "operation R" which means the President has been killed and they are to proceed with a nuclear attack on the Soviet Union. The President is not dead and the President wants to order a retreat but that is impossible as the planes will not receive outside communication unless the correct 3-letter sequence is given first and there are 17,576 possible permutations. While the film warns us at the beginning that there are security measures in place making this film impossible, it doesn't really matter. The film attempts to satirize the Cold War and the theory of mutual assured destruction, and it is quite effective in doing so.

The starring actor in this film is Peter Sellers who plays the title character of Dr. Strangelove, the President of the United States, and a group captain. Playing three roles in one film is rather impressive in itself, but Sellers is great doing so. The group captain is British and Seller produces a realistic British accent (which is no surprise as he is British), the President is American and Sellers comes off as American, and Dr. Strangelove is a former German Nazi and his German accent is equally impressive. The film also has actors like George C. Scott and James Earl Jones. Everyone else is good enough, but Sellers' characters are easily the most noticeable.

Overall, this is a good, fast-paced film that's largely entertaining. While it isn't the greatest film I've ever seen, it's certainly above-average and offers very good criticism of the Cold War.

82/100
B-

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