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Dr. Strangelove: Difference between revisions
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'''''Dr. Strangelove [[Either or Title|or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb]]''''' is a 1964 [[Black Comedy]] film by [[Stanley Kubrick]]. The plot is largely lifted from the 1958 novel ''[[wikipedia:Red Alert chr(28)novelchr(29)|Red Alert]]'' by Peter George.
One day, General [[General Ripper|Jack D. Ripper]] (Sterling Hayden) goes mental. He orders the nuclear bombers under his command to carry out a surprise attack on the Soviet Union. He puts his entire military base in lockdown with all communications cut, ordering all radios confiscated (so that Communist infiltrators can't receive outside commands) and all troops to fire on anyone who tries to enter the base, even if they appear to be fellow Americans (because they will surely be Communists in disguise). Ripper's aide, British Group Captain Lionel Mandrake ([[Peter Sellers]]), discovers one last unconfiscated radio - playing dance music. Realizing that civilian stations wouldn't be playing dance music while the country was under attack, Mandrake confronts General Ripper. Ripper explains that after he felt "a profound feeling of emptiness" following [[This and That|"the physical act of love"]] one night, he [[Insane Troll Logic|realized]] that the [[Dirty Commies|Communists]] were trying to contaminate America's "precious bodily fluids" by means of [[Tampering
In Washington, U.S. President Merkin Muffley ([[Peter Sellers]] again) holds a meeting in the War Room. The President's [[Genius Cripple|wheelchair-bound]], [[Nazis With Gnarly Weapons|ex-Nazi]] [[Mad Scientist|science adviser]], Dr. Strangelove (also [[Peter Sellers]]), and the Soviet ambassador both confirm that an attack on the USSR will trigger [[Doomsday Device|The Doomsday Machine]]: a computer programmed to [[Suicidal Cosmic Temper Tantrum|detonate a cobalt bomb that will kill nearly all life on Earth's surface with its radiation over the course of months, if the Soviet Union is attacked or if any attempt is made to disable the Doomsday Machine]]). The president gets on the hotline and desperately attempts to convince the drunken Soviet premier that the American attack is just a silly mistake as they attempt to call off the attack.
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* [[The Big Board]]: [[Trope Namer]].
* [[Black Comedy]]: Arguably cinema's greatest example of the form.
* [[Bombers
* [[Cigar Chomper]]: Ripper.
* [[Comically Missing the Point]]: After being informed of the ''badness'' of the Doomsday Machine, a world-ending device, Turgidson first reaction is : "Gee, I wish we had one of them doomsday machines!"
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* [[Double Vision]]
* [[Downer Ending]]: Probably one of the funniest.
* [[Dressing
* [[Dueling Movies]]: ''Fail Safe'', a dead serious take on this [[Failsafe Failure]] premise, was also released in 1964. The straight film is good (though it performed poorly at the box-office), but Kubrick's film has become iconic.
* [[Dying Moment of Awesome]]: [[Riding the Bomb|Riding a nuke]] all the way to the target, whooping and hollaring like a cowboy all the way down is about as awesome as a death gets! It's one of the most memorable (and parodied) scenes in the film.
* [[Either or Title]]
* [[The End of the World
* [[Enforced Method Acting]]:
** Slim Pickens was unaware that the film was a comedy. This is possibly because previous actors, including John Wayne, had turned the part down because they saw the film as "pinko." That said, Pickens didn't have any problem with the film, especially since he became so famous for it.
** Also, [[
*** But even so, Scott did end up admiring Kubrick's genius behind all that deception.
* [[Evil Hand]]: Dr. Strangelove has one, which seems to act on Strangelove's violent and Nazi subconscious. The portrayal was so influential that the real life condition [[wikipedia:Alien hand syndrome|"alien hand syndrome"]] is also known as "Dr. Strangelove Syndrome".
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* [[Fog of War]]: The Soviets are unable to detect the last B-52, ''The Leper Colony''. The Americans urge them to concentrate the search around the assigned targets but the crew switches them for targets of opportunity and fly at low altitude to escape detection.
* [[Forever War]]: Implied; the jingoist generals and advisors are planning [[After the End]] schemes to maintain the status-quo of the [[Cold War]], prevent Soviet expansionism and a "mine-shaft gap". Reinforced by the [[We Will Meet Again]] final [[Apocalyptic Montage]].
* [[Freud Was Right]]: Invoked by the film itself. A central theme of the movie is the portrayal of sexual symbolism as more than symbolism; Kubrick paraphrases Clausewitz "war is the continuation of sex by other means" without much room for interpretation. The opening refueling scene of two bombers "coupling", Mandrake attempting "preversion" with a vending machine coin return slot, the not-even-veiled [[Intercourse
* [[Gallows Humor]]: Given that it was made against the real-life backdrop of the Cuban Missile Crisis, in which nuclear war was a genuine possibility, much of the film's humor would have qualified at the time.
* [[General Ripper]]: [[Trope Namer]], obviously.
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* [[Government Drug Enforcement]]: What [[General Ripper]] fears fluoridation has become.
* [[Herr Doctor]]: Strangelove, of course. With elements of [[Morally-Ambiguous Doctorate]].
* [[Hiroshima
* [[Hitler Cam]]: Gen. Ripper.
* [[Hypocritical Humor]]:
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* [[Long Title]]
* [[Madness Mantra]]: "Purity Of Essence", for [[General Ripper]].
* [[Mad Scientist]]: The titular doctor is a [[Shout-Out]] to Rotwang from ''[[
* [[Malaproper]] : Bat Guano keeps on saying "preversion"
* [[Meaningful Name]]: Just about every name in the film has some sort of suggestive connotation regarding sexuality, playing on the film's theme that war is fueled by masculine sexual urges.
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** And President [[wikipedia:Merkin|Merkin]] [http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=muff Muffley] is a {{spoiler|pussy}}.
** Colonel "Bat" Guano is "batshit" insane. His [[Meaningful Name]] is lampshaded by Mandrake, who asks him if his name is real.
** The target for the bomber is Laputa. La puta is Spanish for "the whore". Doubles as a [[Shout-Out]] to ''[[
** The Russian ambassador's name DeSadesky refers to the outrageous [[Marquis
** Premier Kissov, piss off.
* [[Military Alphabet]]: Most famously "Wing Attack Plan R for Romeo." Also used by the bomber crew. Major Kong's accent could be a shining example of why a phonetic alphabet is useful.
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* [[Mr. Exposition]]: General Turgidson and Doctor Strangelove are advisors and explain most of the strategical and technical details to [[The Watson|the President]], and to the audience by extension.
* [[Mutually Assured Destruction]]: Turgidson thinks it can be averted with a pre-emptive strike since the United States has a five-to-one missile superiority. Enforced once the Doomsday Machine comes into play as an involuntary [[Suicidal Cosmic Temper Tantrum]].
* [[A Nazi
* [[No Celebrities Were Harmed]]:
** President Muffley has some similarities to Adlai Stevenson. Gens. Ripper and Turgidson could both be seen as caricaturing different aspects of real-life USAF General Curtis LeMay. And Strangelove himself has aspects of several real-life nuclear scientists, but his Nazi past specifically evokes Werner von Braun.
** Other scientists upon whom the Strangelove character was based were Herman Kahn, Edward Teller and John von Neumann. Contrary to popular belief, Strangelove was not based on Henry Kissinger, who at the time was not well known outside of academic circles.
** [[Arthur C. Clarke
* [[Noodle Implements]]: The survival kit - which was based entirely on real survival kits of the second world war.
* [[Not So Different]]: The Americans and Soviets: it's not at all clear which side is meant to be the good guys, they both indulge in highly morally questionable behaviour (The Soviets build a [[Doomsday Device]] which is bad enough, only to compound things by not telling the Americans about it, while the American Plan R is simply a manual [[Doomsday Device]] that's also designed to fail deadly, and they're using an obvious Nazi as a science advisor). Each side is just as scheming or conniving or manipulative as the other, constantly harping on about various "gaps" (missile, doomsday, mineshaft, etc), and even after causing [[The End of the World
* [[No, You Hang Up First]]: The first conversation between the American and Russian presidents is modeled this way. It overlaps with [[Casual Danger Dialogue]] and projects a ridicule image of Muffley.
* [[A Nuclear Error]]
* [[Oh Crap]]:
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* [[Peter Sellers]]: In three roles. He was originally going to play Major "King" Kong as well, however a broken leg prevented him from getting into and out of the B-52 set, so Slim Pickens was added to the cast.
* [[Pointless Doomsday Device]]: The Soviets activated the Doomsday Machine before they told anyone about it, eliminating the whole point of its role as a deterrent from nuclear war. Dr. Strangelove points this out, and the Soviet ambassador counters that they were saving its announcement for a special occasion (See [[As You Know]] above).
* [[Poor Communication Kills]]: Mandrake has problems reaching the president to recall the bombers, he finds a [[Pay Phone]] but has not enough pocket change and a brief [[Separated
* [[Punny Name]]
* [[Realistic Diction Is Unrealistic]]: Averted with a vengeance. It's especially noticeable in President Merkin's phone call to the Soviet premier.
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* [[Refuge in Audacity]]: Remember, this movie was made at the near-height of the [[Cold War]], when the fear of nuclear apocalypse was cruelly plausible -- and it's [[Played for Laughs]].
* [[Riding the Bomb]]: The [[Ur Example]] of this.
* [[Screw the Rules, I Have
* [[Secondary Character Title]]: The good doctor is a memorable character, to be sure, but, definitely not the main one.
* [[Sensor Suspense]]: When the missiles are approaching the nuclear bomber.
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* [[Too Soon]]: The release date was slightly delayed after JFK's assassination due to the story involving a fictional president.
** Also, in the scene where Major Kong reads the description of a survival kit's contents out loud, he originally says "Shoot, a fella could have a pretty good weekend in ''Dallas'' with all that stuff!" ''Dallas'' was redubbed to ''Vegas'' because of the connotations carried by ''Dallas'' in a post JFK-assassination America. It actually worked out well, as ''Vegas'' makes more sense in this context.
** Most importantly, the original ending was to have everyone in the war room end up in a pie fight (don't ask). The President would be knocked down from the impact of the pie [[Pie in
* [[Understatement]]:
** "Mr. President, I'm not saying we wouldn't get our hair mussed..."
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* [[Water Source Tampering]]: General Ripper has a paranoid belief that there is a Communist conspiracy involving water fluoridation which will lead to contamination of everyone's "precious bodily fluids".
* [[We Will Meet Again]]: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdytOGnUFoI The memorable final montage] plays the song of the same name over images of atomic explosions, implying the two superpowers are destined to trade blows ever after.
* [[What Happened to
* [[World Gone Mad]]: Oh yes.
** Every single group of people are various sorts of insane, incompetent, and/or incapable of focusing on the important subject at hand. Except for the bomber crew, who are all well-trained and manage to adapt to the various obstacles in their path. Too bad they're the one group that desperately needs to fail.
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