Stanley Kubrick's Dr Strangelove - How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb still stands as one of the greatest war films of all time, not in spite of what it does differently, but because of it. In the pantheon of great war films, there are no others like Dr. Strangelove. It is because of the bizarre mix of terrifying truth and Marx Brothers like one liners that the film succeeds on so many levels.
The film finds humor in the fact that nuclear war really is an absurd, logically inconsistent idea. The film targets the absurdity of nuclear war and the foolishness of the politicians who send young men to die. The brave soldiers who go to fight are not discredited, rather, the war machine that has them dying, in some situations for no reason, is made the butt of the joke.
The movie has something to say, but it never feels preachy. It is sincerely, honestly funny. The statement it makes is simply through the fact that it's so unabashedly funny, that, on the eve of nuclear winter, we're hearing jokes like "Gentlemen, you can't fight in here, this is a WAR room!"
Years later, when Kubrick made Full Metal Jacket, he seemed to fully embrace the humorous nature of war to the point that there were no overt jokes in that film, but rather, he simply relies on the weirdness of war to provide the humor. While not as direct as Dr. Strangelove, Full Metal Jacket is equally funny in spite of the lack of any real comedic elements.
Peter Sellers in multiple roles is perhaps the heart of the film. In recent years, the idea of one actor playing several characters has become trite, and it's usually the sign of a bad comedy with a weak script and only enough of a budget to hire one skilled comic in hopes of salvaging bad material. Sellers, on the other hand, was the master of creating several comic characters and making them all feel like different people. There's no in-joke to Sellers playing so many characters, it's just that he was better suited than anybody to play all of them.
Of course the centerpiece of these performances is Strangelove himself, the wheelchair bound former Nazi physicist suffering from "alien hand syndrome", wherein he will subconsciously throw out a Nazi salute only to have to pull his hand back down. The link between the power of nuclear arms and sexual dysfunction is made most clear with Strangelove, who seems to experience a real thrill when the bombs start falling.
George C. Scott's performance as General Buck Turgidson is another highlight. It's odd to see such a wild performance from Scott, who is typically noted as a gruff master of understatement. Certainly, his trademark is to do with a grizzly whisper what most would do with a shout. Kubrick actually had to trick Scott into going so wild for this role by requesting over the top "practice" takes, and then using them in the actual movie. Slim Pickens as Major Kong was similarly fooled into giving a straight performance by being told that the film was a standard war film and not a comedy.
If you haven't seen it yet, this is one of those movies that you absolutely must see before you die. From the opening scenes to the apocalyptic finale, Dr. Strangelove is the only statement that needs to be made on the foolishness of nuclear war.
The film finds humor in the fact that nuclear war really is an absurd, logically inconsistent idea. The film targets the absurdity of nuclear war and the foolishness of the politicians who send young men to die. The brave soldiers who go to fight are not discredited, rather, the war machine that has them dying, in some situations for no reason, is made the butt of the joke.
The movie has something to say, but it never feels preachy. It is sincerely, honestly funny. The statement it makes is simply through the fact that it's so unabashedly funny, that, on the eve of nuclear winter, we're hearing jokes like "Gentlemen, you can't fight in here, this is a WAR room!"
Years later, when Kubrick made Full Metal Jacket, he seemed to fully embrace the humorous nature of war to the point that there were no overt jokes in that film, but rather, he simply relies on the weirdness of war to provide the humor. While not as direct as Dr. Strangelove, Full Metal Jacket is equally funny in spite of the lack of any real comedic elements.
Peter Sellers in multiple roles is perhaps the heart of the film. In recent years, the idea of one actor playing several characters has become trite, and it's usually the sign of a bad comedy with a weak script and only enough of a budget to hire one skilled comic in hopes of salvaging bad material. Sellers, on the other hand, was the master of creating several comic characters and making them all feel like different people. There's no in-joke to Sellers playing so many characters, it's just that he was better suited than anybody to play all of them.
Of course the centerpiece of these performances is Strangelove himself, the wheelchair bound former Nazi physicist suffering from "alien hand syndrome", wherein he will subconsciously throw out a Nazi salute only to have to pull his hand back down. The link between the power of nuclear arms and sexual dysfunction is made most clear with Strangelove, who seems to experience a real thrill when the bombs start falling.
George C. Scott's performance as General Buck Turgidson is another highlight. It's odd to see such a wild performance from Scott, who is typically noted as a gruff master of understatement. Certainly, his trademark is to do with a grizzly whisper what most would do with a shout. Kubrick actually had to trick Scott into going so wild for this role by requesting over the top "practice" takes, and then using them in the actual movie. Slim Pickens as Major Kong was similarly fooled into giving a straight performance by being told that the film was a standard war film and not a comedy.
If you haven't seen it yet, this is one of those movies that you absolutely must see before you die. From the opening scenes to the apocalyptic finale, Dr. Strangelove is the only statement that needs to be made on the foolishness of nuclear war.
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