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

This film is a great parody of what would have happened if the Cold War turned hot. Very funny looks better than newer movies. Highly recommend.

This is one of my favorite all time films. About 10 years ago I decided to watch all films of the AFI 100 years 100 movies. That was the only reason I grabbed this off of the shelf. This movie is one of the rare films that gets better every single time you watch it. The dialogue is crisp and fantastic. I have a digital copy on my Zune and have LISTENED to this film a dozen times while on road trips. I just slap on my headphones and listen, laugh and quote dialogue to myself. My wife thinks I am crazy.

This is the story of one maniacal Air Force general who authorizes his planes to nuke the Soviet Union. After he gives the go code, and refuses to call them back, the rest of the film follows 3 groups of people, the general and his RAF counterpart holed up in the office on the base. The army is trying to get to the general to get the recall code. The RAF commander is trying to get the insane general to give in. We also have the B52 bomber flown by Major Kong on its way to deliver the payload (Kong is the one from the iconic image of the pilot riding the nuke as it plummets) and my favorite arena, the Pentagon. At the pentagon we have the President and his closest advisers, including Buck Turgidson and the titular Dr Strangelove. George C Scott as Turgidson is phenomenal. His facial expressions, mannerisms, and overall insanity play perfectly in this nuclear satire. While Strangelove is the ex nazi scientist who is helping America to win the cold war.

There are so many fantastic parts, lines, innuendos, and visuals in this film, it would take too long to mention them all. Just please, watch the film.

On the DVD you can see inside the mind of the 1960's Hollywood marketing team. The Trailer is awkward at best. What was nice was the "interviews". IN the 60's they used to tape answers to questions from the cast for a split screen interview. Then they would have their local entertainment reporter "ask" the questions and it woudl look like Peter Sellers was talking to your hometown guy.
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Stanley Kubrick was a director of many faces. His films always had that distinctive look. His films dealt with the consequences of war (Full Metal Jacket, Paths of Glory), human evolution & alien intelligence (2001: A Space Odyssey), a descent into madness (The Shining), and an analysis on humanity & free will (A Clockwork Orange). While most of his films are based off of novels from Stephen King, Anthony Burgess, and others, Kubrick mostly moved away from the primary sources and put his own artistic qualities into them. Out of all the novels, I have read only "A Clockwork Orange" (which is ironic since I've never seen the film just yet, but I hope to see it as soon as possible), and judging from author's reactions (the most obvious being Stephen King), it's quite clear that Kubrick had a different vision with each of the novels that he adapted onto the big screen. With Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb, it's yet another loose adaptation, but I'm not here to complain about the director's calculated and eccentric process.

Inspired by the novel "Red Alert" by Peter George, this black comedy was created in 1964, and was seen as a daring attempt to bring humor into the thought of a nuclear war. Knowing that this film was made in the middle of the Cold War, it's even funnier forty-five years later. This is not toilet humor. This is dark political humor that's incredibly ironic and satirical. There are so many classic scenes ("Be careful, Mr. President. I think he's drunk."), that it's simply hard to describe all of them in just one review. Straight to the point, this is one of Stanley Kubrick's greatest films, and one of the greatest comedies of all time. It has a great ensemble of actors (Sellers, Scott, and Pickens steal the show), a bold script, amazing black-and-white cinematography, and, as I've mentioned earlier, numerous memorable scenes. Now granted, this film isn't for everybody. Those who are not into politics may not be interested, but those who are willing to see a 60's black comedy that's fantastically modern would do doubt find this one entertaining.

Grade: A

I am 50 years old and just watched this film for the first time. I loved it.
I thought Eddie Murphy and Mike Meyers were the original multi-character creators. I was wrong, Peter Sellers showed them how to do it.
The film is serious and funny all at the same time. It deals with a very intense
subject with over the top humor thrown in. Watch it, you will not be disapointed.

I give the movie, itself, a 5-Star rating. It is one of the best movies ever made. But I give the DVD a 4-Star rating. I love how the DVD is formated to the specs of the actual theatrical release (4x3 video, mono audio), but I take off points for not cleaning up the edge noise, dust particles and sprocket registration shakes. However, it's like actually seeing it in the theaters on the second week of its release.