Happy Birthday, ‘Dr. Strangelove’

[Permalink]

2 Likes

No pretty-boy actors or side-story romance just to pad the story; a better-looking film could be made, but there’s no way that you can make a better film.

It’s one of those movies that you should never try to remake.

2 Likes

“Gentlemen! You can’t fight in here! This is the war room!”

One of the best lines ever. Great film.

5 Likes

I knew an old bloke who was a huge Sellers fan; had just about everything he did on VHS.

For mine, Strangelove is the highest achievement of a singular talent…

Utterly hilarious yet thoroughly chilling.

4 Likes

Its the first movie I can remember watching. As a three year old I thought Dr Strangelove’s injuries made perfect sense given that he rode that bomb all the way to the ground.

1 Like

Fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face […] Mandrake, do you realize that in addition to fluoridating water, why, there are studies underway to fluoridate salt, flour, fruit juices, soup, sugar, milk… ice cream. Ice cream, Mandrake, children’s ice cream.

Just the fluoridation “plot” is hilarious enough to star it´s own movie, in conjunction with the other it creates a critical mass of pure, enriched, high yield comedy.

4 Likes

Just about all of General Jack D. Ripper’s lines have a strange quotability to them, partly due to the quiet, controlled mania of the performance. You can’t help recalling the sound of it if you ever hear the name Mandrake, or the words “bodily fluids”.

Though Mandrake has my favourite line, referring to the Japanese “swines” who needlessly tortured him as a POW, not for information but for their own amusement:

Strange thing is, they make such bloody good cameras.

1 Like

My favorite always was, “It would not be difficult, Mein Fuhrer; nuclear reactors could – I’m sorry; Mr. President…”

2 Likes

Almost everything in Dr. Strangelove was true…

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2014/01/strangelove-for-real.html

It’s one of those movies that you should never try to remake.

I wouldn’t mind a sequel with the right writers and actors.

Great documentary on YouTube: Inside the Making of Dr. Strangelove

Haven’t watched this but this is a link to an unreleased Air Force film intended to counteract Strangelove. http://www2.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/nukevault/ebb304/#film03. Streaming didn’t work on my computer but it is downloadable from the Internet Archive.

I actually wrote a short film screenplay, trying to look at the Dr. Strangelove story from the point of view of a family stuck in their fallout shelter, as a comedy of course. The strange thing is that the characters revolted and forced me to write it as a drama. Eerie feeling, it really felt like they took over.

2 Likes

This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.