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

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

Director:

Stanley Kubrick

Writers:

Stanley Kubrick (screenplay), Terry Southern (screenplay),

Stars:

Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden

Top 250 #38 | Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 13 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Peter Sellers	...	Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake / President Merkin Muffley / Dr. Strangelove
George C. Scott	...	Gen. 'Buck' Turgidson
Sterling Hayden	...	Brig. Gen. Jack Ripper
Keenan Wynn	...	Col. 'Bat' Guano
Slim Pickens	...	Maj. 'King' Kong
Peter Bull	...	Russian Ambassador Alexi de Sadesky
James Earl Jones	...	Lt. Lothar Zogg
Tracy Reed	...	Miss Scott
Jack Creley	...	Mr. Staines
Frank Berry	...	Lt. Dietrich
Robert O'Neil	...	Adm. Randolph
Glenn Beck	...	Lt. Kivel (as Glen Beck)
Roy Stephens	...	Frank
Shane Rimmer	...	Capt. 'Ace' Owens
Hal Galili	...	Burpelson AFB Defense Team Member

Storyline

Paranoid Brigadier General Jack D. Ripper of Burpelson Air Force Base, he believing that fluoridation of the American water supply is a Soviet plot to poison the U.S. populace, is able to deploy through a back door mechanism a nuclear attack on the Soviet Union without the knowledge of his superiors, including the Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Buck Turgidson, and President Merkin Muffley. Only Ripper knows the code to recall the B-52 bombers and he has shut down communication in and out of Burpelson as a measure to protect this attack. Ripper's executive officer, RAF Group Captain Lionel Mandrake (on exchange from Britain), who is being held at Burpelson by Ripper, believes he knows the recall codes if he can only get a message to the outside world. Meanwhile at the Pentagon War Room, key persons including Muffley, Turgidson and nuclear scientist and adviser, a former Nazi named Dr. Strangelove, are discussing measures to stop the attack or mitigate its blow-up into an ...

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Plot Keywords:

general | bomber | war room | u.s. president | doomsday | 

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Taglines:

the hot-line suspense comedy

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Genres:

Comedy | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for thematic elements, some violent content, sexual humor and mild language

Details

Country:

USA UK

Language:

English Russian

Release Date:

29 January 1964 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Delicate Balance of Terror

Filming Locations:

Arctic

Box Office

Budget:

$1,800,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures Corporation, Hawk Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Stanley Kubrick wanted the tablecloth on the War Room table to be green, so it looked like the world leaders were playing poker with the world's fate. However, this makes little sense, since the film's budget required it to be shot in black & white, so color of the tablecloth would make no difference on the final film release.

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Goofs

Several times during the film, when the B52 is shown in flight from the side, even though the camera angle "pans" with the aircraft when banking (turning), there is no change in the angle or geography of the scenery on the background plate footage - it still looks as if the plane were in straight level flight.

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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.

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Crazy Credits

The screenplay title is incorrectly spelled. It reads: 'Base' on the book "Red Alert" by Peter George. This is pointed out on the DVD supplement about the making of the film.

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Connections

Referenced in The Muppet Show: Edgar Bergen (1977)

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Soundtracks

"Try a Little Tenderness"
(1932) (uncredited)
Music by Harry M. Woods, Reginald Connelly, and Jimmy Campbell
Arranged by Laurie Johnson
Performed by Studio Orchestra during the opening credits

User Reviews

Laughing at Fear

What makes this film so powerful is the message that it made at the time of its release. This film came out at a height of paranoia of the nuclear age and the Cold War, right around the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis. This film depicts a horrible, tragic incident in which a breach in the government and a few diplomatic mistakes result in nuclear holocaust. So, why didn't this film inspire panic? Because of the brilliant way in which Kubrick presents it... as a satire. The scariest thing about this film in retrospect is not how it depicts the impending doom of the Cold War, but how it makes you laugh at it. By presenting it with humor, it conveys just how much of a farce the nuclear arms race was in real life. And I don't think that any other film has captured the absurdity of war nearly as well as this one has. And I am not likely to believe that one ever will. In my opinion, Kubrick has never made a better film since. And kudos to George C. Scott for his astounding performance, as well as Peter Sellers for the most versatile acting I've seen from an actor in one film, and to Sterling Hayden, for performing the most serious, yet the most hilarious role in film with perfect accuracy. Beware of fluoridation!