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OAITW r.2.0

(23,818 posts)
Wed Feb 19, 2020, 11:37 PM Feb 2020

Dr. Strangelove

The movie is played on TCM tonight. Bloody Fucking Brilliant and just as good, maybe better, with every watching.....at least a dozen times over the decades. I think this is worthy of GD because the core idea is timeless. Nuclear war is insane. I think this was released in Jan 1964....only month's after JFK's assassination and when the Cold War was at it's realest.

This movie exposed the absurdist notion that a nuclear war could be winnable.

But the Cast!

Peter Sellers is brilliant (I personally think this is his best work - the Pink Panther / Mouse that Roared /The Constant Gardener considered). 3 roles!

1st as Col. Mandrake the hapless RAF XO for the psychotic USAF Gen. Ripper (Sterling Hayden!) who jump starts the whole mess.

Then President Merkin Muffley <oh, I do love name- appropriate characters!> a nice guy chump that is in over his head. A liberal Donald Trump, I think.

Finally, as Dr. Strangelove. I'm thinking this was a nod to the entire US / German technology transfer that started in the early 40's. A little Hitler, a little Himmler, a little Goebbels. A totally crazy fucking dude as it turns out

Side note: I suppose if you were playing a part, you get totally immersed in the character to maximize your acting-nes. But Sellers. played 3 different/distinct characters. On a single movie set. I suppose the filming was done around Seller'd characters - I mean, could you do all 3 characters in a single day and pull it off?

The Russian Premier....we never met him, but we had a mental construct of who he was - and his transforming emotional change from a party hardy and corrupted/corrupting Head of State into a Holy Shit moment of personal and impending annihilation. But this is all understood through us listening to President Muffley, desperately trying to connect with this dude. Bloody brilliant thread throughout the movie.

George C. Scott as Gen. 'Buck' Turgidson...the "we fucked up but we gotta take advantage of the situation".

Keenan Wynn- Col. Bat Guano A by-the book dude who was concerned about preverts and oblivious to the WW3 threat. Just a great scene with Sellers.

The whole crew of the B-52 Slim Pickens - (Pilot and BombRider),James Earl Jones and Frank Berry - (the loyal, competent crew).

-------------------------------------------------------

Here's a brief dialog (just read this on IMDB) - I have missed this in all the times I have watched the movie.


General "Buck" Turgidson : Hmm... Strangelove? What kind of a name is that? That ain't no Kraut name is it, Stainesey?

Mr. Staines : He changed it when he became a citizen. Used to be Merkwürdigliebe.

[the German word for "Strangelove"]

General "Buck" Turgidson : Well, a Kraut by any other name, uh Stainesey?


-------------------------------------------

Final Note: I think this film had a huge impact on my parents generation,,,,WW2 was their war, less than 20 years removed. But I think this movie helped to catapult us out of the RW paranoid HUAC McCarthyism into a sober real politic of MAD. I know it impacted me when I watched it in 1967 in my Freshmen HS English Class.

Until We Meet Again! Thanks Mr. Kubrick!

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Dr. Strangelove (Original Post) OAITW r.2.0 Feb 2020 OP
There is a serious drama film with the same theme.. cannabis_flower Feb 2020 #1
Oh yeah....Failsafe. A great film OAITW r.2.0 Feb 2020 #2
My Top Ten List of public school US civics movies that need to be seen- OAITW r.2.0 Feb 2020 #3
Network misanthrope Feb 2020 #5
TU OAITW r.2.0 Feb 2020 #6
Add Mississippi Burning to that list! lastlib Feb 2020 #18
Dr. Strangelove was adapted from the book Red Alert by Peter Geroge. MicaelS Feb 2020 #17
I bought some high zoot criterion collection DVD, you know. Arthur_Frain Feb 2020 #4
LOL, "high zoot criterion collection ___" OAITW r.2.0 Feb 2020 #9
Gen Ripper would fit right in with the Trump administration. edbermac Feb 2020 #7
For me, a really different type of role for Hayden. OAITW r.2.0 Feb 2020 #10
If you have never seen Johnny Guitar, Blecht Feb 2020 #12
I am sure I stumbled upon it at sometime. OAITW r.2.0 Feb 2020 #14
I gave the DVD out as Christmas gifts to everyone I know about BigmanPigman Feb 2020 #8
Sellers was also supposed to play Maj. Kong Ex Lurker Feb 2020 #11
I think Slim Pickens was a far better Kong misanthrope Feb 2020 #13
Agreed! OAITW r.2.0 Feb 2020 #15
"Ice cream, Mandrake! Children's ice cream." Kid Berwyn Feb 2020 #16
Sterling Hayden's role was most curious Brother Buzz Feb 2020 #19

cannabis_flower

(3,764 posts)
1. There is a serious drama film with the same theme..
Wed Feb 19, 2020, 11:46 PM
Feb 2020

it's called Fail Safe and starred Henry Fonda.

By the way my favorite line from Dr. Strangelove was "Gentlemen, you can't fight in here, this is the war room"

OAITW r.2.0

(23,818 posts)
2. Oh yeah....Failsafe. A great film
Thu Feb 20, 2020, 12:07 AM
Feb 2020

So powerful....so many great actors.

Here is another that I'd add to a much watch HS public civic education-

7 Days in May

<https://www.imdb.com/video/vi813826329>

OAITW r.2.0

(23,818 posts)
3. My Top Ten List of public school US civics movies that need to be seen-
Thu Feb 20, 2020, 12:31 AM
Feb 2020
Dr. Strangelove
Failsafe
7 Days in May
12 Angry Men
The Bedford Incident
The Manchurian Candidate (A McCarthy fantasy when the original was made, but seemingly very relevant with the current POTUS).
The China Syndrome
Malcolm X
Lifeboat
Easy Rider and Woodstock (for the music mostly, lol.)

This is just a starting.....


lastlib

(22,981 posts)
18. Add Mississippi Burning to that list!
Thu Feb 20, 2020, 10:40 AM
Feb 2020

Every sentient human being ought to watch that movie at least once.

MicaelS

(8,747 posts)
17. Dr. Strangelove was adapted from the book Red Alert by Peter Geroge.
Thu Feb 20, 2020, 08:53 AM
Feb 2020
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Alert_(novel) (copy and paste entire link including the word copy)

https://books.google.com/books?id=T6MUBeL6t1IC

Fail Safe was a straight ripoff of Red Alert. George sued Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler who wrote Fail Safe, and the case was settled out of court.

Stanley Kubrick got involved because he owned the rights to Red Alert, and he feared that the Fail Safe movie would hurt his production of Dr. Strangelove. Both movies came out in 1964 but Fail Safe got good reviews, but poor ticket sales.

Arthur_Frain

(1,783 posts)
4. I bought some high zoot criterion collection DVD, you know.
Thu Feb 20, 2020, 12:34 AM
Feb 2020

This is one that will be labeled as “subversive” early on. Key dialogue will disappear, be amended, etc. Welcome to a boring dystopia.

But y’all can still come to my silo and watch the classics like they were back in the before days. The revolution will be televised.

edbermac

(15,919 posts)
7. Gen Ripper would fit right in with the Trump administration.
Thu Feb 20, 2020, 01:03 AM
Feb 2020

And he’d be one of the more rational ones.

OAITW r.2.0

(23,818 posts)
10. For me, a really different type of role for Hayden.
Thu Feb 20, 2020, 01:15 AM
Feb 2020

I think he was pretty slotted/typecast in his career (50s/60s), but this is a familiar face and voice in a very different character rolw.....and he played this insanely well..

Blecht

(3,803 posts)
12. If you have never seen Johnny Guitar,
Thu Feb 20, 2020, 02:29 AM
Feb 2020

You need to put that on your list. Sterling Hayden plays the title role in one of the strangest movies ever made.

OAITW r.2.0

(23,818 posts)
14. I am sure I stumbled upon it at sometime.
Thu Feb 20, 2020, 02:45 AM
Feb 2020


Made a mental note to watch. Hope my Short-Term Memory System (STMS) is recording.

BigmanPigman

(51,430 posts)
8. I gave the DVD out as Christmas gifts to everyone I know about
Thu Feb 20, 2020, 01:04 AM
Feb 2020

15 years ago. Yet, I recorded it on my DVR today since you can never watch it enough. I saw Fail Safe for the first time a few months ago and my mouth hung open for 5 minutes at the end, then I rewatched it and my mouth was still hanging open.

Ex Lurker

(3,808 posts)
11. Sellers was also supposed to play Maj. Kong
Thu Feb 20, 2020, 01:59 AM
Feb 2020

But couldn't get the accent right.

Personally I think Keanan Wynn steals the show.

OAITW r.2.0

(23,818 posts)
15. Agreed!
Thu Feb 20, 2020, 02:51 AM
Feb 2020

That was Slim's defininb acting role, IMHO. No way Seller's makes this character better.

But!

I wish there were a Seller's audition for this role.

Kid Berwyn

(14,651 posts)
16. "Ice cream, Mandrake! Children's ice cream."
Thu Feb 20, 2020, 08:32 AM
Feb 2020

“Your commie has no respect for human life. Not even his own.”

One of the best films ever made. Diverted our reality from continuing down a very bad path.

Brother Buzz

(36,214 posts)
19. Sterling Hayden's role was most curious
Thu Feb 20, 2020, 02:41 PM
Feb 2020

Playing a whacked-out Commie hating general was the antithesis of what Sterling Hayden really was all about.

Hayden fought with, and learned to respect Commie Yugoslav partisans during WW11, and was even awarded a medal by Tito. He joined the Communist Party after the war, then got stung, big time, in McCarthy's HUAC circus. He testified under duress, naming names.

I haven't sorted it all out, but I'm beginning to think Hayden found a bit of redemption by portraying the general the way he did.

Fast forward fifteen years: Sterling Hayden attended Tito's funeral and was horribly conflicted; he loved the partisan freedom fighter, but hated the commie bureaucrat.

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