Dr. Strangelove Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

Dark humor at its best, this movie has a wicked cynicism about it, within it, above it, and around it. This ultimate war satire/black comedy about nuclear holocaust and those who so desperately devise and/or fight its intricate and seemingly impossible stages of development is a classic. More user-friendly than a lot of Kubrick’s other work, Dr. Strangelove is probably his most universally popular film. The first time I saw this movie I was rolling on the floor. The second time I saw it, It made me really think. It amazes me still, and entertains me constantly.

Perhaps my favorite element of the movie is the leitmotif of "Johnny Comes Marching Home," the Irish war ballad "Johnny I Hardly Knew Ya" in its American Union form. The song is hummed with harmony as the B-52 flies its heroic mission into the depths of the U.S.S.R. George C. Scott puts in a riveting performance (to use true film review language) as an idiotic and Alpha-Aggressive general (not unlike his based-in-reality Patton role). Sterling Hayden is the over the cliff Air Force Commander whose conspiracy theories and general paranoia are a classic portrayal of the era’s bigotry (be it warranted or not), and Peter Sellers is true Peter Sellers as Strangelove, the U.S. President, and an RAF Lieutenant captured by Hayden. He serves as the voice of reason in one role, the voice of absolute madness in another, and total ignorance and helplessness in the third.

This movie is as disturbing as it is funny. "A Clockwork Orange" is Kubrick’s most similar film, but that is entirely disturbing with the comedy even more disturbing than the drama. Dr. Strangelove is more innocently funny, based on idiocy and human folly rather than evil. The film is built with very simple pieces that come together to create an expressionist cross-section of America at war. But, it makes fun of it all. Beneath the film’s clear message and allegory is base comedy, mocking humanity. The events and people in this film may seem off the wall, but they’re probably closer to reality than we’d like to believe.

Dr. Strangelove is a standard, now. It has never been copied to my knowledge, and never should be (i.e. Psycho).