Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)

User Rating:

8.7/10   

Director:

Stanley Kubrick

Writers:

Stanley Kubrick (screenplay) &
Terry Southern (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

29 January 1964 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Thriller

Tagline:

the hot-line suspense comedy

Plot:

An insane general starts a process to nuclear holocaust that a war room of politicians and generals frantically try to stop.

Plot Keywords:

General | Bomber | U.S. President | Doomsday | Doomsday Machine

Awards:

Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 10 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Peter Sellers	...	Group Captain Lionel Mandrake / President Merkin Muffley / Dr. Strangelove
George C. Scott	...	General 'Buck' Turgidson
Sterling Hayden	...	Brigadier General Jack Ripper
Keenan Wynn	...	Colonel 'Bat' Guano
Slim Pickens	...	Major 'King' Kong
Peter Bull	...	Russian Ambassador Alexi de Sadesky
James Earl Jones	...	Lieutenant Lothar Zogg
Tracy Reed	...	Miss Scott
Jack Creley	...	Mr. Staines
Frank Berry	...	Lieutenant Dietrich
Robert O'Neil	...	Admiral Randolph
Glenn Beck	...	Lieutenant Kivel (as Glen Beck)
Roy Stephens	...	Frank
Shane Rimmer	...	Captain 'Ace' Owens
Hal Galili	...	Burpelson AFB Defense Team Member

Also Known As:

A Delicate Balance of Terror (USA) (working title)
Dr. Strangelove (USA) (short title)
Edge of Doom (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG for thematic elements, some violent content, sexual humor and mild language. (2005 re-rating)

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English | Russian

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Canada:A (Nova Scotia) | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) (Canadian Home Video rating) | Spain:18 | Portugal:M/12 | South Korea:12 | Brazil:10 | Argentina:Atp | Australia:PG | Canada:G (Québec) | Finland:K-16 | France:U (re-release) | Germany:12 (re-rating) | Hong Kong:IIA | Iceland:Unrated | Ireland:PG | Japan:Unrated | Netherlands:AL (video rating) | New Zealand:PG | Norway:11 | Singapore:PG (DVD rating) | Sweden:11 | UK:PG | USA:Approved (Certificate No. 20469) (original rating) | USA:GP (re-rating) (1970) | USA:PG (re-rating) (2004) | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Arctic

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

The last film Stanley Kubrick ever shot in black & white.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The bombs carried by the B-52 are 20 and 30 megaton thermo-nukes. However, the stock detonation footage used for the target blast is from operation Upshot-Knothole, event Grable at the Nevada Test Site. This test yielded 15 kilotons or 1/1000 the yield stated in the film. Many of the "Doomsday" blasts are similarly-sized weapons. There are a few megaton range blasts in the latter sequence but none approaching the 100 MT bomb size the Ambassador mentions as comprising the Doomsday Machine.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Narrator: For more than a year, ominous rumors had been privately circulating among high-level Western leaders that the Soviet Union had been at work on what was darkly hinted to be the ultimate weapon: a doomsday device. Intelligence sources traced the site of the top secret Russian project to the perpetually fog-shrouded wasteland below the Arctic peaks of the Zhokhov Islands. What they were building or why it should be located in such a remote and desolate place no one could say.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The 100 Greatest War Films (2005) (TV)

Soundtrack:

We'll Meet Again

The Ultimate Black Comedy

Few films are able to take a deadly serious issue and place it within the context of a broad comedy successfully. Dr. Strangelove does exactly that. Kubrick's masterpiece illustrates in brilliant fashion the idiocy of nuclear war and the idiots who are orchestrating it. What strikes one most however in this cinematic gem are the individual characterisations of Sellers, Scott, Hayden and Pickens. To refer to them as memorable roles is a gross understatement. With names such as President Merkin Muffley, General "Buck" Turgidson, General Jack D. Ripper and Major T.J. "King" Kong, you know that these characters will not be soon forgotten. Other features of the film such as the remarkably designed "war room" set, the hand-held camera techniques employed by Kubrick and the black and white cinematography of Gilbert Taylor only add to the power and impact of "Strangelove." Quite simply, the greatest American film by the greatest American director.