In 1964, Stanley Kubrick unleashed one of the darkest comic satires of all time on the world with DR STRANGELOVE OR: HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE BOMB.
Kubrick and Terry Southern (Easy Rider, The Cincinnati Kid) craft a screenplay filled with big laughs, sharp black comedy and huge stereotypes.
Sterling Hayden is General Jack D. Ripper, whose gone mad with power and has given one of his flight teams the codes and direction to drop nukes on Russian targets.
George C. Scott is hilarious as General Buck Turgidson, who understands that bombing Russia might start the end of the world, but constantly pitching ideas on how to make it good for America.
Peter Sellers is fantastic in three roles, a British Captain stuck next to Ripper during his coup, American President Merkin Muffley and the chain smoking, mad German Doctor Strangelove.
Sellers scene as the President, breaking the news of the impending bombing to the Russian Ambassador (the perfect Peter Bull) is one of the funniest comedy scenes of all time.
Sellers is so immersed in these three roles, you get lost in them as a viewer. Sellers is a genius and was the first actor to be nominated for an Oscar for playing three roles in one film.
Slim Pickens is Major "King" Kong, piloting the sole bombing run deep into Russia. James Earl Jones is on board as well, feeding Kong targets for the big drop.
Radio communication knocked out, both countries on the verge of nuclear war, Kubrick pops quickly between the bomber, Ripper's armed holdout on a base and the White House war room.
The war room itself is fantastic, created by Ken Adam, who would design and build most of the jaw dropping James Bond film sets of the sixties and seventies.
At a lean 95 minutes, it's one of Kubrick's shortest films and has become a modern classic. I've never seen Scott be this funny on film, he just about steals the film from Sellers.
The final images of the film with Pickens on top of the nuclear bomb makes you laugh, then think.
After the film was released, policies were actually made more rigid to make sure the scenario depicted could never happen.
I still remember doing bomb drills in grade school where we would all hide under our desks in case Russia dropped the bomb.
I'm still trying to figure out what those desks must have been made of to protect us in that scenario.....
Kubrick's funniest film will leave you thinking, once you're done laughing.
Dr. Strangelove gets an A.
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