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

An insane general triggers a path to nuclear holocaust that a War Room full of politicians and generals frantically tries to stop.

Director:

Stanley Kubrick

Writers:

Stanley Kubrick (screenplay), Terry Southern (screenplay)

Stars:

Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden

Top Rated Movies #59 | Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 13 wins & 7 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 D. 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, 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 all ...

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Plot Keywords:

war room | u.s. president | bodily fluids | nuclear holocaust | nuclear weapons | 

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Taglines:

The Red-Hot suspense story that's rocking and shocking the world!

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Genres:

Comedy

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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:

Okaloosa County, Florida, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$1,800,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$11,751, 17 July 1994, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$9,440,272, 31 December 1994

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures, 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

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.

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Goofs

The pilots wings on General Turgidson are basic pilot wings. For a four star general they should be Command Pilot Wings with a wreath and star on top.

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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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Alternate Versions

The US version opens with the following text being displayed before the Columbia lady appears: "It is the stated position of the U.S. Air Force that their safeguards would prevent the occurence of such events as are depicted in this film. Furthermore, it should be noted that none of the characters portrayed in this film are meant to represent any real persons living or dead."

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Connections

Referenced in Mousehunt (1997)

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Soundtracks

We'll Meet Again
(1939) (uncredited)
Music and Lyrics by Ross Parker and Hugh Charles
Performed by Vera Lynn and chorus at the end

User Reviews

"Gentlemen, you can't fight in here, this is the war room!" Silly movie, with a serious message.

Slowburning, satyrical nuclear war comedy about an american general who goes bananas and starts a nuclear attack on his own.

The bad: This movie is dated. And it shows: the special effects give me headaches, because they are so clumsily done. And there are lots of those clumsy effects. But it is a comedy, so who cares? Most of the jokes are completely silly, which sometimes irritates me a bit. But hey, it is a comedy, so who cares if it is completely silly now and then. The speed of this story might be way to slow for some viewers, but acting is really great and hilarious, so that evens things out a lot, for me personally.

The good: Despite all of these minor flaws that are mentioned above, "Dr Strangelove" is still an impressive movie about the total madness of nuclear war. However silly this comedy might be, it has got a serious message for all us viewers: a nuclear war will mean the end of all of us. There are no winners, only losers in a nuclear war, however hard some try to convince us folks of the opposite. This movie is about all those people who think that nuclear war can be good IF we strike first. Because IF WE DON'T have nuclear powers, THEY will have them. These twisted paranoid ideas could mean the end of the world as we know it and director Stanley Kubrick made a great classic comedy about it.

When watching this classic movie, one must not forget that the director made this movie in an era in which the americans came close to nuclear war with the russians during the "bay of pigs" conflict in Cuba during the sixties. However silly this movie might be, it has got a very serious message about the dangers of nuclear power. THAT particular message is what makes "Dr. Strangelove" a timeless classic.