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

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 Machine | Precious Bodily Fluids

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 illuminated symbols on the War Room map displays were cutouts lit by individual floodlights behind them. They generated so much heat that the display was damaged. Air-conditioning had to be installed.

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:

Referenced in Severance (2006)

Soundtrack:

Try a Little Tenderness

Subtle and Symbolic

Entertainment Weekly called this one of the funniest 100 movies ever made. It also happens to be one of the most disturbing movies made. The humor is right there in your face, however, there is always an underlining political critique under every character, every line, and every government representation. Slim Pickins is the never quit Airman. He is a representative of our entire military system of the time. The president, played beautifully by Peter Sellers, is a demure, calm presence trying to deal with the Russian premiere. His perfect counterpart is a war hungry General, ready to accuse the Russians of any small infraction. This leads to one of the funniest lines in the whole movie. Sellers also plays a British airman who has to deal with the crazed general in the usual polite British manner. Seller's third role is that of the title character, Dr. Strangelove, a former nazi and weapons designer for the Americans. He represents the scientific community of that time period; those who worked tirelessly to build a better bomb. These characters, all of them strongly parodying a cross section of society make for an odd story. The final scene, while played for laughs, is actually a frightening image of a communist future. The final moments are frightening in their truth leading one to put themselves in a position of the characters. Dr. Strangelove is the funniest disturbing film I've ever seen.