Arguably the greatest black comedy ever made, Stanley Kubrick's cold war classic is the ultimate satire of the nuclear age. Dr. Strangelove is a perfect spoof of political and military insanity, beginning when General Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden), a maniacal warrior obsessed with "the purity of precious bodily fluids," mounts his singular campaign against Communism by ordering a squadron of B-52 bombers to attack the Soviet Union. The Soviets counter the threat with a so-called "Doomsday Device," and the world hangs in the balance while the U.S. president (Peter Sellers) engages in hilarious hot-line negotiations with his Soviet counterpart. Sellers also plays a British military attaché and the mad bomb-maker Dr. Strangelove; George C. Scott is outrageously frantic as General Buck Turgidson, whose presidential advice consists mainly of panic and statistics about "acceptable losses." With dialogue ("You can't fight here! This is the war room!") and images (Slim Pickens's character riding the bomb to oblivion) that have become a part of our cultural vocabulary, Kubrick's film regularly appears on critics' lists of the all-time best. --Jeff Shannon
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
Quintessential Black Comedy of the Cold War:
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... more info
Dr. YES:
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... more info
An interesting film...:
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... more info
Hilarious and Historical:
Historical dark comedy about Cold-War-Era America and the Age of the Atom. Fantastic film... a must own.
