After the end of World War II in 1945, tensions between the US and the Soviet Union began to arise. While both were allies fighting against the Nazis, the two were still wary of one another. The US feared the threat of communism, while Russia viewed Americans as cowards. The USSR began spreading their communist influence throughout Eastern Europe as the US and England provided aid to Western Europe. This led to a decades-long conflict known as the Cold War, a term coined by George Orwell in 1945. For the next 40+ years, the two were engaged in a stand-still, threatening one another with total nuclear annihilation. As paranoia continued to mount, Stanley Kubrick, following his 1962 film Lolita, decided to show how absurd this conflict was. In 1964, he created the black comedy, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.
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At Burpelson Air Force Base, General Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden) has gone insane. He is convinced that the Russians have poisoned our drinking water through fluoridation, threatening our “precious bodily fluids”. As such, he orders Group Captain Lionel Mandrake (Peter Sellers) to put the base on high alert. Ripper also issues “Wing Attack Plan R”, wherein several B-52 Bombers attack various Russian targets. Meanwhile, at a secret underground base called the War Room, several officials have been assembled. As General Turgidson (George C. Scott) explains the situation, President Muffley (Sellers) tries warning the Russian premier. We also follow a crew of one of the B-52s, led by Major TJ Kong (Slim Pickens), as they prepare their run. With the threat of nuclear annihilation looming, the president’s nuclear advisor Dr. Strangelove (Sellers) tries working out how to survive. It’s a race to try and avert the situation before getting worse.
Despite how dire the situation is, the movie presents this as an absurd black comedy. The characters are intentionally over-the-top and exaggerated caricatures and things spiral out of control to a ridiculous level. Peter Sellers plays three roles in this film: Captain Mandrake, President Muffley, and Dr. Strangelove. He does such a great job that you can buy these characters as three different people. George C. Scott is also memorable as General Buck Turgidson, who acts almost like a spoiled child. He pouts whenever he’s scolded at has an adolescent view of women and sex. Slim Pickens is fun as the stereotypically Texan Major Kong, and watch for an early role for James Earl Jones. Sterling Hayden plays General Ripper seriously enough to where he’s believable in spite of his ridiculous lines. The cast assembled does a great job between playing it straight and being as crazy as possible.
This being one of his first major studio productions, Kubrick does an outstanding job staging these scenes. In spite of how absurd things get, this movie does have a message that’s still relevant today. Today, we live in a world where our leaders can wipe out entire countries with the press of a button. At anytime, the US, Russia, North Korea, or any other country can use nuclear weapons to take out their enemies. This movie was very ahead of its time, given that the Red Scare was still prevalent. Admittedly, some of today’s audience might find this movie to be dated and not as funny as one would believe. There is a lot of dialogue and it can be hard to follow at times. However, if you have an open mind, you’ll find that Dr. Strangelove is a great slice of absurd counter-culture satire.
