Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)

Director:

Stanley Kubrick

Writers:

Stanley Kubrick (screenplay) &
Terry Southern (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

29 January 1964 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Thriller

Tagline:

the hot-line suspense comedy

Plot:

An insane general starts a process to nuclear holocaust that a war room of politicians and generals frantically try to stop.

Plot Keywords:

General | Bomber | U.S. President | Doomsday Machine | Precious Bodily Fluids

Awards:

Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 10 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Peter Sellers	...	Group Captain Lionel Mandrake / President Merkin Muffley / Dr. Strangelove
George C. Scott	...	General 'Buck' Turgidson
Sterling Hayden	...	Brigadier General Jack Ripper
Keenan Wynn	...	Colonel 'Bat' Guano
Slim Pickens	...	Major 'King' Kong
Peter Bull	...	Russian Ambassador Alexi de Sadesky
James Earl Jones	...	Lieutenant Lothar Zogg
Tracy Reed	...	Miss Scott
Jack Creley	...	Mr. Staines
Frank Berry	...	Lieutenant Dietrich
Robert O'Neil	...	Admiral Randolph
Glenn Beck	...	Lieutenant Kivel (as Glen Beck)
Roy Stephens	...	Frank
Shane Rimmer	...	Captain 'Ace' Owens
Hal Galili	...	Burpelson AFB Defense Team Member

Also Known As:

A Delicate Balance of Terror (USA) (working title)
Dr. Strangelove (USA) (short title)
Edge of Doom (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG for thematic elements, some violent content, sexual humor and mild language. (2005 re-rating)

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English | Russian

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Canada:A (Nova Scotia) | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) (Canadian Home Video rating) | Spain:18 | Portugal:M/12 | South Korea:12 | Brazil:10 | Argentina:Atp | Australia:PG | Canada:G (Québec) | Finland:K-16 | France:U (re-release) | Germany:12 (re-rating) | Hong Kong:IIA | Iceland:Unrated | Ireland:PG | Japan:Unrated | Netherlands:AL (video rating) | New Zealand:PG | Norway:11 | Singapore:PG (DVD rating) | Sweden:11 | UK:PG | USA:Approved (Certificate No. 20469) (original rating) | USA:GP (re-rating) (1970) | USA:PG (re-rating) (2004) | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Arctic

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

The Soviet ambassador describes the Doomsday Machine as an array of 100 megaton bombs covered with a special fallout-inducing material. A few years before the movie's release, the Soviets produced a working 100egaton bomb design (the "Tsar Bomba") but scaled it back to 50 megatons before testing. If the full- scale bomb were tested, it would have increased the global radioactive fallout from all nuclear detonations to that point in history by 25%. Interestingly, by removing the fallout-producing uranium third stage, the scaled-back test had the lowest fallout per kiloton of explosive power.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: In the scene where Mandrake finds the radio, it is on the shelf of an IBM 1403 high-speed printer, with the cover open. The printer is running; anyone who has ever been around a working 1403 printer knows that they are very loud. Operators had to shout to be heard, and it is unlikely that Mandrake could have heard a tiny pocket radio. In the scene, the printer is making no noise even though it is running at 600 lines per minute with the cover open.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Narrator: For more than a year, ominous rumors had been privately circulating among high-level Western leaders that the Soviet Union had been at work on what was darkly hinted to be the ultimate weapon: a doomsday device. Intelligence sources traced the site of the top secret Russian project to the perpetually fog-shrouded wasteland below the Arctic peaks of the Zhokhov Islands. What they were building or why it should be located in such a remote and desolate place no one could say.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Next (2007)

Soundtrack:

When Johnny Comes Marching Home

Laughing at Fear

What makes this film so powerful is the message that it made at the time of its release. This film came out at a height of paranoia of the nuclear age and the Cold War, right around the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis. This film depicts a horrible, tragic incident in which a breach in the government and a few diplomatic mistakes result in nuclear holocaust. So, why didn't this film inspire panic? Because of the brilliant way in which Kubrick presents it... as a satire. The scariest thing about this film in retrospect is not how it depicts the impending doom of the Cold War, but how it makes you laugh at it. By presenting it with humor, it conveys just how much of a farce the nuclear arms race was in real life. And I don't think that any other film has captured the absurdity of war nearly as well as this one has. And I am not likely to believe that one ever will. In my opinion, Kubrick has never made a better film since. And kudos to George C. Scott for his astounding performance, as well as Peter Sellers for the most versatile acting I've seen from an actor in one film, and to Sterling Hayden, for performing the most serious, yet the most hilarious role in film with perfect accuracy. Beware of fluoridation!