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

Rating:
Summary: Peerless comedy-satire
Review: The genius of this film is that it spans all generations in its key scenarios. Sometimes comedy masks reality by disguising the syntax in humour. For instance, the depiction of lunatic military and political leaders stands throughout history. Look at today's situation. War prosecuted in various places around the world; for what reason? To enhance the business of the military-industrial complex as much as anything else. So what if thousands die? Yes, shocking but not suprising to realise that the same fruitcakes who ruled the world then, rule now. Why not take the late Carl Sagan's advice and spend the $trillions on exploring the universe rather than bombing people not so different from us? Or as aka 'Elvis Costello' so eloquently put it: 'Why are we shipbuilding when we could be diving for pearls?'

Rating:
Summary: NOT THAT FUNNY AT ALL
Review: Despite Peter Sellers in three roles this is all pretty laugh-free as a comedy. Great sets, good dialogue (interesting but not humourous at all). I never heard that Pickens thought he was in a drama all the time he was filming. Doubtul when he's filming the sequeance when he's on the bomb falling out of the plane he still thought he was in a drama.

Rating:
Summary: "The purity and essence of our natural fluids"
Review: Supposedly, Kubrick originally intended for this movie to be more "serious" rather than a comedy. But after about 2-3 minutes of some thinking, Kubrick finally settled for this movie to be a comedy. And Peter Sellers was originally supposed to play Major TJ "King" Kong, but the Cowboy accent was something Sellers was unsure of. So Kubrick casted Slim Pickens, but didn't tell him that this movie is a comedy. This was some lil' fun-fact trivia that I learned from first watching this movie on the Turner Classic Movies channel. Naturally, I think 90% of youse already knew this. But I found this info quite interesting, especially the first.

The Cold War years and Red Scare contributed mass fear into the American public. I wasn't born in those years, so I cannot imagine what the fear was like. With such political satires as Kubrick's "Dr. Strangelove" and "The Manchurian Candidate," one can only imagine what the viewer then felt while viewing these movies. While "The Manchurian Candidate" feared communists invading America, "Dr. Strangelove" feared nuclear holocaust... but in a humorous way.

The movie begins when a General named Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden) orders an attack on Russia. Somehow, he thinks "commies" are poisoning "the purity and essence of our natural fluids." The first thought that came to mind was, "What the-??" Even the other characters are puzzled by this statement. But I managed to laugh out loud. Ripper is obsessed with protecting our "precious bodily fluids" that basically he's gone mad. After ordering the unauthorized attack on Russia, he orders the base to go on red alert and kill anyone that dares to enter. He's also convinced that commies could be in disguise and look like any soldier or any other American. The base is on red alert, it's sealed off, the planes are flying to Russia to attack (thanks to a coded message called Plan R), and all telecommunications are cut off (both base and all planes). Ripper has a British companion named Mandrake (Peter Sellers) who tries to get the General to stop the planes.

Meanwhile, in the War Room at the Pentagon, President Muffley (Sellers again) is informed of what's going on and what's gonna happen by Gen. Turgidson (George C. Scott) and a large group of aides. Seeing Scott as Gen. Patton, I typically thought of him being in serious roles. "Dr. Strangelove" proved me wrong. This was something totally unexpected. I mean, George C. Scott's character is just downright wacky and seemingly maniacal. Truly, a major surprise.

Later on, the people in the War Room are shocked to discover that once the planes release a nuclear warhead, a "Doomsday" device of some sort will go off, killing all life on Earth and radiation will gradually permeate the entire planet, which will last for 90+ years. Dr. Strangelove (Sellers once again!) is a unique character. An ex-Nazi that now works as part of the president's aides. He offers advice on what to do and has trouble controlling his right hand, which has a life of its own once we see Dr. Strangelove struggling to gain control of it (and also preventing it from strangling himself). Dr. Strangelove deep down also retains his Nazi heritage by accidentally calling the president "Mein Fuhrer" and his right arm raised in a Nazi salute.

Truly, Peter Sellers gave such great performances and it's hard to believe all three characters (Mandrake, Muggley, and Strangelove) are acted out by this lone man. He gives life to each character, which makes all three seem as if three different people acted out the roles. Seeing this movie, I'd like to see what other work Sellers has done.

I can't help but ponder that perhaps Steven Spielberg tried to make his own version of "Dr. Strangelove" with his underappreciated, slap-stick, comedic epic "1941," with John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, and... wha-hey, Slim Pickens! Like how Kubrick's movie dealt with the fear of nuclear holocaust and communism, Spielberg's movie dealt with the fear of a pending Japanese or German attack on US soil (mass panic that erupted shortly after Pearl Harbor was attacked). It's no coincidence, right? But Spielberg was criticized for that movie. Kubrick's satire is hailed as "arguably the best political satire of the century" (Roger Ebert).

Although a comedy, it still seemed quite scary if such a "Doomsday" device existed and would wipe out mankind as we know it. Once the movie was about to begin, I knew I was in for a treat. And I wondered how Kubrick would be able to pull off a comedy. To my surprise, I ended up loving this movie. Dark and twisted humor interjected into the most frightening time of US history was probably the sigh of relief audiences back then needed... or were they? The movie as a whole is funny but also scary at the same time. Towards the end has Slim Pickens' memorable moment when he rides a nuclear warhead to his untimely demise. Are we supposed to laugh or be shocked? Once the movie ends, it's rather more of a down note once we see stock footage of nuclear blasts and mushroom clouds.

Nevertheless, I ended up loving this movie and I dare call it Kubrick's best work.

Rating:
Summary: Great Movie, but unnecessary release
Review: Of course this is an all-time classic movie, but I am surprised to hear all the accolades about this DVD 40th anniversary edition. Most of the DVD extras are already available in various releases. The Robert McNamara interview is definitely only worth one viewing and he is not very credible to begin with.
Sadly, this 40th Anniv. Edition has attempted to present an aspect ratio of 1.66:1, which was only achieved by cropping the top & bottom of the picture. Also, the transfer is decidedly darker than any version I have seen. This results in a loss of detail, especially in the B-52 interior shots.
I would recommend buying the Special Edition DVD release already
available. The varying aspect ratios are true to the original theatrical release and it includes most of the extras on the 40th Anniv. release. Plus, you can get it for about half the price.

Rating:
Summary: Stop the madness!
Review: This film is one of my all-time favorites. This DVD, though, is representative of the big scam in media marketing and in the DVD industry in particular. That is, release one edition, and then, one or two years later, release a new edition with like 3 more extra features, call it the "Super-Mega-Ultra-Wonderful-Incredible Edition" and make everyone go out and buy it again. How many editions of Dr. Strangelove are there already? Now there's a 2-disc anniversary edition, which I guess trumps this edition, which is the one that I have. So if you are considering purchasing this film, I guess it's just a question of how much you want to spend, for how many extra features.

Rating:
Summary: "Gentleman you can't fight in here! This is the war room!"
Review: Dr. Strangelove
Or: How I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb

I knew I would love this 1964 film from the beginning. As the opening Addams Family-esque credits by Pablo Ferro rolled over blatant love scenes between planes and phallic missiles and meadow lark love scene music trickled to my ears, I knew I was in for a treat.
General Jack D. Ripper (seriously) informs his British-Exchange officer Mandrake (the great Peter Sellers of Insp. Jacques Clousea fame, who plays several roles) that we will be going to "Plan R" in a shooting war against the Russians in order to preserve their precious bodily fluids... A cowboy hat-clad bomber pilot and his crew (which includes a young James Earl Jones' screen debut) set off to bomb the hell out of the russkies while the American government tries desperately to stop them.

It is chock full of strange and funny details such as a binder with the title "World Targets in Megadeaths" or the bombers' survival kits including lipstick and nylons or the Russia Premier being named Kiss-off. Some of my favorite scenes of the film are the conversations between Kissoff and President Muffley- where Peter Sellers really has a chance to shine.

Kubrick did a lot of research before beginning to adapt Peter George's 1958 novel "Red Alert". Originally he intended it to be a serious film on nuclear devastation called "Edge of Doom", but later changed it to a satire to better voice his concerns. The result is the black and white classic full of stellar performances and quirky moments that rules the cult film section.

I really recommend watching the special features on the DVD.
The "interviews" with Scott and Sellers give a great look at Seller's remarkable ability to slide into different regional accents.
The "Making of" featurette is also very informative and provides a great look at the cast.



"You just start your countdown and old Bucky will be back before you can say Blast-Off!"

Rating:
Summary: One of the Best Movie Satire's of All-Time
Review: During the height of the Cold War and following the 1963 Cuban Missle Crisis, Stanley Kubrick released this classic black comedy. As the producer/writer/director, Kubrick was nominated for three of the film's four Oscar nominations in 1964. Peter Sellers played three very different characters within the movie and received a well earned best actor nomination as well. The fact that "Dr. Strangelove" won no Oscars was due more to the "My Fair Lady" musical juggernaut of that year than anything else.

Ironically, the movie "Fail-Safe" (with Henry Fonda) was also released in the same year. The plots of both films have the United States accidently launching a pre-emptive nuclear attack by the USAF upon Russia. I recommend that the viewer watch the "Fail-Safe" drama first (now out on DVD) before seeing the satirical "Dr. Strangelove."

This B/W movie paints both a broad brush in its comedy (Colonel Jack D. Ripper is Sterling Hayden's role) and a narrow brush in its comedy (Peter Sellers modeled his Nazi scientist, Dr. Strangelove, upon NASA's Warner von Braun and his American president upon past Democratic presidential candidate and UN ambassador Adlai Stevenson). There are many classic set pieces within the film and occasionally "Dr. Strangelove" goes way over the top -- but that is also part of its charm.

Rating:
Summary: It's the bomb
Review: Talk about nuclear proliferation -- "Dr. Strangelove" is back on DVD, making its fifth appearance in that video format's relatively short life. This "40th Anniversary Special Edition" of Stanley Kubrick's blackest of black comedies targets households bunkered for the widescreen age. The primary upgrades are the high-definition transfer (its first) and -- more dramatically -- a re-engineering into 1.66:1 anamorphic widescreen.

Aspect ratios usually don't draw attention, but "Strangelove" is a special and controversial case. The previous Columbia DVD, released in 2001 (included in Warner Bros.' "Stanley Kubrick Collection"), followed specs issued by the director. Kubrick's home-vid vision -- presumably influenced by VHS and the square TVs that still dominated in the 1990s -- was mostly full screen (1.33:1) with some slight ratio adjustments. Criterion's marvelous laserdisc of 1992 shifted between 1.66 and 1.33, again per Kubrick.

Columbia's latest thinking was to redeploy "Strangelove" in its "correct" original British theatrical widescreen ratio of 1.66, providing consistent dimensions scene-to-scene as in 1964. A direct comparison of the 2001 DVD and the new disc reveals a lot of lost visual information, some significant. The effect on compositions inside on Ken Adam's famed War Room set ranges from meaningless to dramatic when A-B'd. The transfer holds other surprises. The new version is markedly darker at the expense of imagery previously much more brightly cast. The older versions tended toward coarse, blown-out contrasts, however, and many viewers will appreciate the new more elegant and sinister look. Sony's restorers were able to exterminate a lot of the debris evident on the older DVD, even though they used materials several generations away from the mother negative (the original is long gone).

Audio options are Dolby Digital, DTS and mono, all solid choices, but don't expect much from the 40-year-old sound. (Kubrick wanted you to hear it in mono.) The 5.1 formats add some rear-channel rattle and hum from the bombers and some echoes, but the sound mostly holds its center-channel position. All that great dialogue from Kubrick and Terry Southern is crystal clear, an upgrade from the 2001 version, which sounds a bit hollow.