Stanley Kubrick's Dr Strangelove - How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb stands as one of the all time great films about war because it is so much different from any other film on the subject. It has much more in common with the work of the Marx Brothers than it does with Saving Private Ryan or The Dirty Dozen. The black humor of the film is exactly why it was considered controversial upon release, and how it manages to be so sincere and honest on the subject of nuclear war.
The film is funny because the subject matter is funny. Terrifying, yes, but funny. The notion of nuclear war is so ridiculous and absurd that you can't help but laugh at the logical inconsistencies that would lead to such scenarios. In fact, Kubrick tried to write the film as a drama, only to find that that was nearly impossible. The subject of the jokes are the insecure men who send brave soldiers off to die for the sake of their egos.
The movie has something to say, but it never feels preachy. It is sincerely, honestly funny. The statement it makes is simply through the fact that it's so unabashedly funny, that, on the eve of nuclear winter, we're hearing jokes like "Gentlemen, you can't fight in here, this is a WAR room!"
Years later, when Kubrick made Full Metal Jacket, he seemed to fully embrace the humorous nature of war to the point that there were no overt jokes in that film, but rather, he simply relies on the weirdness of war to provide the humor. While not as direct as Dr. Strangelove, Full Metal Jacket is equally funny in spite of the lack of any real comedic elements.
Peter Sellers in multiple roles is perhaps the heart of the film. In recent years, the idea of one actor playing several characters has become trite, and it's usually the sign of a bad comedy with a weak script and only enough of a budget to hire one skilled comic in hopes of salvaging bad material. Sellers, on the other hand, was the master of creating several comic characters and making them all feel like different people. There's no in-joke to Sellers playing so many characters, it's just that he was better suited than anybody to play all of them.
The primary performance here is of course Dr. Strangelove himself, the crazy former Nazi who sits in a wheelchair and whose "alien hand" will throw up a Nazi salute at the worst possible moments. It is through Strangelove that we most clearly see the link between nuclear weapons and sexual dysfunction, with Strangelove showing a tangible sense of sexual thrill at the possibility of a nuclear winter.
George C. Scott's performance as General Buck Turgidson is another highlight. It's odd to see such a wild performance from Scott, who is typically noted as a gruff master of understatement. Certainly, his trademark is to do with a grizzly whisper what most would do with a shout. Kubrick actually had to trick Scott into going so wild for this role by requesting over the top "practice" takes, and then using them in the actual movie. Slim Pickens as Major Kong was similarly fooled into giving a straight performance by being told that the film was a standard war film and not a comedy.
If you've not seen it yet, Dr. Strangelove is one of the all time great films on the subject of war, and definitely one of those to see some time in your life. It is the only statement that anyone needs to make on the silliness of war. - 40727
The film is funny because the subject matter is funny. Terrifying, yes, but funny. The notion of nuclear war is so ridiculous and absurd that you can't help but laugh at the logical inconsistencies that would lead to such scenarios. In fact, Kubrick tried to write the film as a drama, only to find that that was nearly impossible. The subject of the jokes are the insecure men who send brave soldiers off to die for the sake of their egos.
The movie has something to say, but it never feels preachy. It is sincerely, honestly funny. The statement it makes is simply through the fact that it's so unabashedly funny, that, on the eve of nuclear winter, we're hearing jokes like "Gentlemen, you can't fight in here, this is a WAR room!"
Years later, when Kubrick made Full Metal Jacket, he seemed to fully embrace the humorous nature of war to the point that there were no overt jokes in that film, but rather, he simply relies on the weirdness of war to provide the humor. While not as direct as Dr. Strangelove, Full Metal Jacket is equally funny in spite of the lack of any real comedic elements.
Peter Sellers in multiple roles is perhaps the heart of the film. In recent years, the idea of one actor playing several characters has become trite, and it's usually the sign of a bad comedy with a weak script and only enough of a budget to hire one skilled comic in hopes of salvaging bad material. Sellers, on the other hand, was the master of creating several comic characters and making them all feel like different people. There's no in-joke to Sellers playing so many characters, it's just that he was better suited than anybody to play all of them.
The primary performance here is of course Dr. Strangelove himself, the crazy former Nazi who sits in a wheelchair and whose "alien hand" will throw up a Nazi salute at the worst possible moments. It is through Strangelove that we most clearly see the link between nuclear weapons and sexual dysfunction, with Strangelove showing a tangible sense of sexual thrill at the possibility of a nuclear winter.
George C. Scott's performance as General Buck Turgidson is another highlight. It's odd to see such a wild performance from Scott, who is typically noted as a gruff master of understatement. Certainly, his trademark is to do with a grizzly whisper what most would do with a shout. Kubrick actually had to trick Scott into going so wild for this role by requesting over the top "practice" takes, and then using them in the actual movie. Slim Pickens as Major Kong was similarly fooled into giving a straight performance by being told that the film was a standard war film and not a comedy.
If you've not seen it yet, Dr. Strangelove is one of the all time great films on the subject of war, and definitely one of those to see some time in your life. It is the only statement that anyone needs to make on the silliness of war. - 40727
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