Dr. Strangelove (Blu-ray) (1964)

This is the saga of two psychotic generals: Joint Chief of Staff "Buck" Turgidson (George C. Scott) and Air Force Strategic Commander Jack Ripper (Sterling Hayden), who orders a bomber squadron to attack the USSR, triggering a Soviet secret weapon, the "Doomsday Machine," a diabolical retaliatory missile system.

Peter Sellers portrays a trio of men who attempt to avert this catastrophe: British Captain Lionel Mandrake, the only person with access to paranoid Gen. Ripper; U.S. President Muffley, whose best attempt at diverting this disaster depends on convincing a boozed-up Soviet Premier it's all a silly mistake; and the President's advisor, Dr. Strangelove, a demented ex-Nazi scientist. Can any one of them possibly save the world?
 
"Kubrick's comic gem sparkles with enduring relevance."  Gregory Weinkauf, Dallas Observer
"...a brilliant black comedy, outstanding cast..."  Leonard Maltin
"This landmark movie's madcap humor and terrifying suspense remain undiminished by time."  Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune
 


Editor's Note

DR. STRANGELOVE OR: HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE BOMB is Stanley Kubrick's Cold War masterpiece. Based on the novel RED ALERT by Peter George, the film is set at the height of the tensions between Russia and the United States, when all it would take to destroy the world was one push of a button. And General Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden) is just the man to do it.

Convinced that the Russians have infiltrated America's "vital essence," the crazed Ripper gives the go code to the 843rd bomb wing to attack Russia, setting in motion a series of darkly hilarious vignettes involving gung-ho soldiers, wacky generals, spying Russians, drunken premiers, battles with soda machines, fights in the War Room, and the Russians' top-secret Doomsday Machine. Shot in black and white, the film has three main centers of action: one of the B-52 bombers, on which a group of loyal men know they are about to start World War III; Burpelson Air Force Base, where Group Captain Lionel Mandrake (Peter Sellers) is trying to convince everyone that Ripper has gone mad and the bombing must be stopped; and the War Room, where President Merkin Muffley (Sellers again) is trying to make peace with the Russians. The finale featuring Sellers as Dr. Strangelove is a comic gem. Hayden, George C. Scott, Slim Pickens, Keenan Wynn, and Sellers (in three roles) are especially terrific in what may be the funniest, most poignant black comedy ever made, a vicious satire on the farcical aspects of the military and the cold war.