Customer Rating: 
Summary: Quintessential Black Comedy of the Cold War
Comment: A very intelligent yet hilarious look at the insanity of war and those responsible for waging it in the nuclear age. Full of 4 Star performances by Peter Sellers (in multiple roles), Sterling Hayden, George C. Scott and Slim Pickens, the epitome of the commie-fighting cowboy
The behind-the-scenes companion DVD is just as much of a treat as the film itself: the set designers made educated guesses as to the interior of a B-52 bomber, and turned out to be so accurate that the Air Force got concerned and Stanley Kubrick was worried that the FBI would come after him; Peter Sellers was originally set to play the Slim Pickens role in addition to the President, Group Captain Mandrake, and Dr. Strangelove -- but a dispute with Kubrick, Sellers own near-exhaustion from playing 3 other roles, plus an "accident" all conspired to allow Sellers to bow out as the B-52 commander, and in came Slim Pickens in perhaps the most memorable film role of his career. Pickens, as Major Kong, upon being told by his radio operator they've just received orders to bomb the Russians in reponse to an attack on the United States, responds: "Well I been to one World's Fair, a picnic and a rodeo, and that's the stoopidest thing I ever heard come over a pair of earphones!" Do not miss this classic!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Dr. YES
Comment: What can I say that hasn't been said already? This is a comedy about a grim subject but WHAT a comedy. The characters are literally to die for. Obviously Peter Sellers in his many roles is terrific but it's tough--even for Sellers--to top his truly odd character, Dr. Strangelove. Strangelove's previous work for the Nazis has left him with a strange schizophrenia in which is right hand, quite literally, doesn't know what his left hand is doing. It's constantly flying up in an attempted Nazi salute and, by the end of the film, like the B-rated horror flick "The Hand", tries to strangle the confused Dr. Strangelove.
Slim Pickens is equally great as the hilarious cowboy B-52 pilot who, overcoming all odds, Russian and U.S., flies his bomber in low, fast and deadly to deliver a nuclear bomb fated to--indirectly, at least--destroy the world.
Then there's Sterling Hayden with his obsession with the purity of his bodily fluids, women and Communists. Sterling has figured things out, though, and 'punishes' women by depriving them of his bodily fluids. He also lauches the nuclear strike doomed to--yep--set off the Russian "Doomsday Machine" that will utterly demolish the earth and all life upon it. Great fun.
Ron Braithwaite author of novels--'Skull Rack' and 'Hummingbird God'--on the Spanish Conquest of Mexico
Customer Rating: 
Summary: An interesting film...
Comment: This comedy is about the dangers of our nuclear age. Doctor Strangelove is a spoof about the insanity produced by those who concentrate in seeking power, for power corrupts and absolute power has a tendency to corrupt absolutely.
General Jack D. Ripper, played by Sterling Hayden, is after purity of bodily fluids and wants to rid the world of Communism, therefore he orders a squadron of bombers to penetrate Russian soil and eliminate key places to destroy this enemy of the free world.
The President of the United States, played by Peter Sellers, who by the way, plays several roles during this film, from the war room, gets involved in negotiations for peace, and the give and take is simply... hilarious. Simply love when he says: "you can't fight in the war room, that behavior is unacceptable in the war room." Peter Sellers is also the British soldier who attempts to prevent the bombing of Russia, and the bomb-maker, the... Strange-love Doctor.
We realize that the movie must have been seen as a daring move during its release, but today, we have gone beyond the fear of making the bomb, to the realization that at anytime... we are in danger of taking weapons to the point of self-destruction.
An interesting film.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Hilarious and Historical
Comment: Historical dark comedy about Cold-War-Era America and the Age of the Atom. Fantastic film... a must own.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Truth within humor is always a scary thing...
Comment: In this day and age, during these times of political uncertainty, a black comedy such as `Dr. Strangelove' is a welcome distraction. It takes all of our fears about what our own society may come to and it throws it in our face with enough humor (scarily realistic humor) that we find ourselves laughing at what could possibly be our eventual future. Stanley Kubrick has been my favorite director for some time now, and `Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb' is quite possibly his finest film (I still have a warm and fuzzy place in my heart for the anti-warm and fizzy movie known as `A Clockwork Orange')
The film centers around panic in the white house when General Jack D. Ripper acts on his own accord to eradicate Communism by launching a squadron of B-52 bombers over the Soviet Union. When the Soviet reacts by threatening to use their Doomsday Device the President finds himself in the middle of heated debate on how to handle the current crisis.
The film is littered with jabs at politics in general, with the country's fascination with war and the crazy ideas floating around the heads of the men in power. Taking a more subtle approach to the films humor, Kubrick's gem of a film fairs much greater than most other parodies like `Blazing Saddles' (I need to stop hating on that film) for it actually manages to make all of its jokes work. The film is genuinely hilarious, but it never sacrifices its intelligence for a quick laugh.
Kubrick has a wonderful bedmate in Peter Sellers, who previously worked with Kubrick on the equally subtle yet effective comedy `Lolita'. Sellers takes on three separate roles in this film; the President, Captian Lionel Mandrake and the bomb maker Dr. Strangelove. He dominates this film by creating three completely different characters with different ideals and even accents, and he nails each one. He's aided by the hilarious George C. Scott (who makes those `war room' scenes unforgettable) and Sterling Haydem, who captures the realness of human insanity. These actors create such real, yet exaggerated characters that give the film such authenticity within its humor.
The scary thing about `Dr. Strangelove' is that, in all honesty, it's probably not that far fetched. Today more so than ever the general public has a pretty good idea of just how manipulative and chaotic our world leaders really are, so when watching a supposed comedy like `Dr. Strangelove' it becomes more and more dramatic as we put the pieces together. I remember feeling the same way when watching the more recent `Wag the Dog', another political comedy. They always say that reality makes for the best comedy because real life is almost always unbelievable; and this film is a real case-in-point, for it is as funny as it is scary.
In other words; it's funny cuz' it's true.
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