In the long and diverse history of film, there have been films released meant to convey a certain message. There have been those that are meant to inspire. There have been and are plenty that are meant as cacophonous showcases of pure thrill and action. And then there is the rarer air: those meant to make you experience an emotional and behavioral rollercoaster replete with laughter, shock, befuddlement, and deep philosophical thought related to the human experience. Stanley Kubrick, as one of the world’s most prominent auteurs and filmmakers of the 20th Century, enjoyed bringing his audiences on rides like this – his seminal classic “Dr. Strangelove,” however, stands on its own.
Produced in the early 1960s, before the United States found itself utterly mired in a foggy, morally ambiguous cloud of war in Vietnam, the ideology of the US was unsubtly sitting out in plain sight. A bastion of democracy, each president since WWII and beginning with Truman openly declared in their own ways that communism was an evil needing to be stamped out. The nuclear arms race between the U.S. and the USSR was ramping up before reaching a fever pitch during 1962 and the Cuban Missile Crisis. Nuclear shelters were constructed; and this would all prove to be fodder for Stanley Kubrick to tackle head-on – and tackle it head-on, with great satirical force, he does in “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.”
Yes, that’s the full title – and the comedy only begins there. As the producer, co-writer, and director of this loose film adaptation of the 1958 book “Red Alert” by George Miller, Kubrick establishes his own satirically amplified vision of the United States within the opening moments of the film. One could reasonably interpret Kubrick’s presentation in black and white as a commentary on the US’ stance toward communism as a black and white issue of moral rightness and wrongness.
He introduces the audience to the character who is responsible for the film’s central conflict: Air Force Brigadier General Jack D. Ripper, played by the brilliant Sterling Hayden in a hilarious, committed, and impactful performance. His paranoia and rant about the USSR’s infiltration of America’s water supplies with fluorides that pollute the “precious bodily fluids” of Americans stands alone as one of the most brilliantly written and performed satirical monologues ever put on film. He thus sets in motion the plan to drop a nuclear weapon on the USSR through “Wing Attach Plan R” to all B-52 bombers circling the USSR under his command. The film takes off from this moment, having us shortly thereafter brought into the satirically over-done and self-important “war room” with President Merkin Muffley (Peter Sellers) and his closest advisors, including the hawkish General Buck Turgidson (George C. Scott).
Kubrick’s style of filmmaking for the film is wholly understated. He employs many wide shots of the war room juxtaposed with close-ups of each central character, often with the camera looking up, to emphasize the importance of each and showcase their power. These scenes happen mostly without any musical score to speak of or noise outside of dialogue at all. And this creates the perfect environment for a showcase for the brilliantly assembled cast.
Slim Pickens steals every scene he’s in while on the B-52 as the Texan cowboy Major Kong – and conveys a rootin’ tootin’ Americanism that’s both hilarious and real while on his mission to drop a nuclear weapon. His plane loses communication functionality, and so ends up as the lone B-52 still on course to drop the bomb at the film’s end – and he does so, literally, on the bomb that falls. Kubrick created an iconic image with this final moment, as Major Kong accidentally falling to his explosive death (after straddling the bomb while attempting to fix the bomb releasing shaft) riding a fully armed nuclear weapon as a cowboy would ride a bull stands out as one of the film’s most iconic standstill images.
George C. Scott was said to be a satirical analogue for the Kennedy/Lyndon Johnson military advisor Curtis LeMay, who was a warmonger and hawk himself. Scott launches himself into the role, with an utter commitment and lack of self-awareness as Turgidson that stays perfectly within the absurd-yet-realistic world created by Kubrick. He’s loud, he’s as stereotypically proud as any alpha male military man, and he does not see any issue with bombing the USSR – as far as he’s concerned, those “damn commies” had it coming. As a vessel for those who encouraged the sometimes-reckless brinksmanship employed by the U.S./USSR, his performance satirizes that population wholeheartedly.
In a fascinating behind the scenes turn, Scott was said to have been self-conscious about being too over-the-top; Kubrick would often tell him go for it for each scene for at least one take, assuring Scott these would not ultimately be the takes chosen. Well, these were the takes that were ultimately – in almost every scene’s case – chosen; Scott, feeling betrayed, never worked with Kubrick again. Nevertheless, and in spite of himself, his performance nearly stands alone. In fact, he would have been the stand-out in 99.9% of other films; however, this is that 0.1%.
It is the on-his-game Peter Sellers that steals the film with his turn as three characters: RAF officer Lionel Mandrake, US President Merkin Muffley, and the titular sinister Dr. Strangelove. He had committed to Kubrick to play four characters originally; after an accident while shooting as the B-52 captain and pilot Major T.J. “King” Kong, however, he settled for “only” three. And, I believe, gives three of the most incredibly funny and committed performances ever to be seen in film – and all within the SAME movie. All have different accents, distinct mannerisms, and idiosyncrasies – Mandrake is a top British military man through and through (Sellers was British), Merkin Muffley was as bland of a president from the Midwest and Adlai Stevenson send up as ever, and Dr. Strangelove’s thick German accent as a wheelchair bound ex-Nazi scientist who could not stop himself from saluting through the infamous “heil” gesture, as it was a physical tick – saw three different men brought fully to life.
As one of the top comedic character actors of his time, and after working with Kubrick on his 1962 film “Lolita,” Kubrick learned that giving Sellers a blank canvass on which he could intricately create could only yield the most positive of results. His influence on the following generations of comics – from Robin Williams to Steve Carell – is apparent with his dedication and hilarity throughout “Dr. Strangelove.” He improvised much of his dialogue over what Kubrick had in the script – one exchange that sees President Muffley apologizing and asserting that he’s the sorrier one to the USSR Premier over the phone is a powerhouse showcase of his in-character talent. He was nominated for that year’s Academy Award for best actor – and, like the rest of those associated with the film, lost out, in one of the great injustices in Oscar history. He has since remained the only actor to ever be nominated for three performances in the same film. It is one of his many magnum opuses (opii?).
The film’s conclusion juxtaposes a montage of nuclear explosion footage taken from actual test footage of hydrogen bombs exploding with Vera Lynn’s soothing voice crooning her popular World War II hit single “We’ll Meet Again” in the background. It beautifully underscores the film’s pitch black satiric worldview – if the earth were to go up in nuclear flames, this roster of self-important yet incompetent characters might reassure themselves: at least there will be the afterlife. And we’ll see each other there, according to Vera Lynn, on “some sunny day.”
Stanley Kubrick created a masterpiece with “Dr. Strangelove.” In my view, it stands alone as one of the funniest, well-written comedies ever produced. In the bigger picture, as a showcase of Kubrick’s filmmaking talent and ear for satire – alongside the forceful comedic performances of Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, and Slim Pickens – it should be considered one of the most well-crafted films ever. If you have not yet seen it, I promise that doing so will leave your precious bodily fluids uncontaminated.
