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

The opening to Dr Strangelove is oddly similar to the ending of Fail Safe (with the assurance from the military that there are measures in place that would prevent the events depicted in the film from happening).  I’ll have to look up the trailers and see if there are any similarities.  Comedy or not, the inclusion of “the bomb” made me steer clear of this for all this time.  But, hell, if I can watch Fail Safe (which I did many years ago) I can make it through Peter Sellers’ version.

Holy cow James Earl Jones was a baby!!

Slim Pickens sounds an awful lot like George W Bush.  “Nucular”  Ugh.

I wonder how many people went to the theater and watched this film clueless to what they were getting into.

Watching Peter Sellers is such a pleasure and Dr Strangelove hasn’t even shown up yet.

“Only 20 million people dead”…why do I feel like this conversation could have been held in 2001?

Sellers gets all the best lines.  “Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here, this is the war room!”  I know it’s a classic line but I’ve never seen it delivered in context.  I laughed out loud.

The one-sided phone call between the Presidents and the Premier is a riot.  He’s so deadpan.  Christ, I miss Sellers.

I’m struck by how well the action shots are directed and filmed.  If you turned this movie on during this scene you’d think you were watching an old time  war movie.

Keenan Wynn using the word “prevert” is cracking me up.  Is this film where that word came from?

“You’re going to have to answer to the Coca Cola company”  Holy cow.

George C Scott’s constant referral to the “big board” is classic.  One of the best things I can say about this film is that it is  making me want to watch it without the laptop open.

“Hey, what about Major Kong?”  James Earl Jones with the deadpan right before the bomb hits.

Because I’ve seen the ending many times, it was a little anti-climactic for me, but still fabulous.

Kicking myself for waiting this long to watch it.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *