Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb Also DVD Format:    Black & White / Mono Region Code:  1 Rating:   Video/DVD Release Date: 2/27/2001 UPC: 43396061873 Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

Rarely does nihilistic humor bubble up so relentlessly as in Stanley Kubrick's 1964 masterpiece of political satire, DR. STRANGELOVE. The tale begins when Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden), a United States general who is as obsessed with the spread of communism as he is with the dangers of fluoridation, dispatches a flock of B-52's into Russia, putting the world inexorably on a path toward self-annihilation. Kubrick's early training as a photographer is evident, especially in his bold sense of visual composition. The film's cartoonish characters grease the scathing commentary on cold war buffoonery. George C. Scott blows hard as a posturing hawk of the Pentagon. Peter Sellers plays three characters, among them the bizarre title character -- a former Nazi war criminal turned White House consultant. And of course, there's Slim Pickens's cowboy kamikaze, who rides a missile rodeo style, whooping and hollering into oblivion. Monica McIntyre

TV Guide Review:

Expertly directed by Kubrick, who deftly intercuts the events at Burpelson with the War Room conference and the action on Kong's B-52, DR. STRANGELOVE is the ultimate black comedy, one that makes unthinkable horror unbearably funny. The film is a model of barely controlled hysteria in which the absurdity of hypermasculine Cold War posturing becomes devastatingly funny--and at the same time nightmarishly frightening in its accuracy. (The Burpelson motto, "Peace Is Our Profession," is not so absurd; consider the labeling of the Strategic Defense Initiative as a "Peace Shield.") While at times Kubrick seems to strive a bit too hard for laughs (Keenan Wynn's being sprayed in the face after shooting a Coca-Cola machine comes to mind), other effects, especially the cinematography and Adam's brilliant production design, potently enhance the film's satirical vision.

STRANGELOVE also contains some truly remarkable comic performances, especially from Sellers in his triple role and Hayden as the mad general, and genuinely priceless dialogue ("Gentlemen, you can't fight in here. This is the War Room!"). A prophetic look at the insanity of superpower politics which, like George Orwell's 1984, has entered the lexicon of modern political discourse.

Film Review 

Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb 
Peter George

Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

The swaggering threats of the Cold War might have been dismissed as the macho posturings of quarrelsome children--except for the arms buildup that accompanied them. As it was, no one underestimated the very real danger of the situation: The terrifying possibility of world annihilation hung like a pall over much of the 1950s and '60s. When filmmaker Stanley Kubrick set out to make a movie about a nuclear weapons mishap, he was referred to Peter George's 1958 novel Red Alert, a serious treatment of the world's most terrifying recurring nightmare. Kubrick recruited George to help him create the screenplay with Terry Southern; but early on, all three writers agreed a humorous treatment was the only way to go. The result is cinematic history. Dr. Strangelove, which incorporates many of George's original characters and situations, is considered by many to be the best black comedy ever filmed. This book follows the screenplay almost exactly, re-creating all the brilliance, razor-sharp satire, and comic suspense of the movie's devilishly clever plot. Includes b&w stills from the film.

The swaggering threats of the Cold War might have been dismissed as the macho posturings of quarrelsome children--except for the arms buildup that accompanied them. As it was, no one underestimated the very real danger of the situation: The terrifying possibility of world annihilation hung like a pall over much of the 1950s and '60s. When filmmaker Stanley Kubrick set out to make a movie about a nuclear weapons mishap, he was referred to Peter George's 1958 novel Red Alert, a serious treatment of the world's most terrifying recurring nightmare. Kubrick recruited George to help him create the screenplay with Terry Southern; but early on, all three writers agreed a humorous treatment was the only way to go. The result is cinematic history. Dr. Strangelove, which incorporates many of George's original characters and situations, is considered by many to be the best black comedy ever filmed. This book follows the screenplay almost exactly, re-creating all the brilliance, razor-sharp satire, and comic suspense of the movie's devilishly clever plot. Includes black-and-white stills from the film.

• The United States was engaged in a cold war and an arms race with the Soviet Union from 1946 until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. By the 1960s, the period during which this movie is set, each country could inflict grievous injury on the other with nuclear weapons. The military theory under which the U.S. armed forces were proceeding was called "deterrence" or "Mutual Assured Destruction" (MAD).
  
  
• One of the risks that have haunted people since the advent of the nuclear age is the possibility of nuclear war caused by mistake or by a madman. This movie explores the latter possibility.
  
  
• Dr. Strangelove was made shortly after the October 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis in which the U.S. and the Soviet Union came close to nuclear war. In the early 1960s the U.S. began a program to acquire enough long range nuclear delivery devices to give it a an overwhelming advantage over the Soviet Union. By 1962 the U.S. had a four to one advantage over the Russians in nuclear missiles. (At the end of the buildup the U.S. had 1000 Minuteman Missiles, 32 Polaris submarines that could deliver 656 warheads, and 600 B-52 bombers which could carry nuclear bombs.) The Soviet Union had been humiliated in Berlin where it was forced to build a wall to keep East Germans from fleeing to the West. Nikita Kruschev, the Soviet dictator, thought that President John F. Kennedy was a weak leader who would not respond to the secret placement of intermediate range missiles in Cuba. He sought to humiliate the West and redress some of the imbalance in nuclear forces without the necessity of building a large number of long range delivery devices. The U.S. discovered this scheme before the missiles were operational and, after a tense thirteen days in which the entire country seemed to hold its breath, forced the Soviets to agree to dismantle the missiles and take them back to Russia. In return the U.S. guaranteed that it would not invade Cuba. The government also made a secret promise to the Soviets to remove outdated medium range nuclear missiles from Turkey within six months. The Cuban Missile crisis was seen as a tremendous victory for the United States and a defeat for Russia.
  
  The Cuban Missile Crisis provides an excellent example of how the leaders of the U.S. and the Soviet Union were aware of the horrendous toll of a nuclear war and how they were willing to do almost anything to avoid it.
  
  
• After the Cuban Missile crisis, the Soviets were determined never to be caught short again. They embarked on a massive nuclear arms buildup to ensure that while they may not have as many intercontinental ballistic missiles as the U.S., they had more than enough to destroy the country.
  
  
• To further the policy of "deterrence" (MAD) it was important that neither side be able to adequately defend against a nuclear attack. Thus, the U.S. and the Soviet Union entered into an anti-ballistic missile treaty in which they promised not to develop weapons to defend against a missile attack. Defensive weapons were seen as destabilizing. To prevent either side from developing the capability of destroying the other side's nuclear deterrent in a first strike, silos for nuclear missiles were hardened so that they could withstand anything except a direct hit, while cities containing millions of people were left totally undefended. Everyone knew that the civil defense programs would do little to mitigate the damage of a full scale nuclear exchange. It was in this climate that Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb was made.
  
  
• During the Cold War many people in the United States were obsessed with the menace of communism from within the United States. They went to unjustified extremes in trying to persecute people with left wing political views who they considered to be communist sympathizers and, therefore, unpatriotic. General Ripper is a caricature of these people. See Learning Guide to "The Crucible".
  
  
• The first long range missiles were the German V-1 and V-2 rockets which terrorized England during WW II. At the end of the war the United States and the Soviet Union competed to capture and keep the top German engineers. The engineers who had built the V-1s and V-2s became the backbone of the American space program for decades. The most famous of these engineers was Dr. Wernher Von Braun (1912 - 1977). The character of Dr. Strangelove is in part a take off on these engineers. (See The Right Stuff for an exploration of how the seven original U.S. astronauts forced NASA, over the objections of the formerly German engineers, to install manual controls in the space capsules.)
  
  
• The Director Stanley Kubrick, who also wrote the screenplay, originally intended for the film to be serious and to follow the novel Red Alert by Peter George III. However, as he wrote the scenes, they all turned out to be black humor. He then switched the tenor of the film from drama to satire. It says something about the seriousness of the topic that it is so terrifying that it can only be dealt with by laughing at it and at ourselves.

1. [Standard Questions Suitable for Any Film].
2. [Quick Discussion Question:]During the "Cold War" there were some people who accepted the inevitability of a nuclear war and tried to plan for it. Many people objected that this type of thinking desensitized leaders making them more likely to start a nuclear war with casualties of 20 - 50 million Americans and as many Russians. What do you think?
3. What was the policy of Mutually Assured Destruction? Did it work?
4. During the Cold War, when the United States and the Soviet Union were pursuing a policy of mutual assured destruction, why were missiles that could permit a defense against nuclear attack seen as dangerous and destabilizing?
5. Why did Dr. Strangelove call the President "mein Führer"? Who was the Führer?
6. Did you agree with Dr. Strangelove's suggestion that the Americans should try to defeat the doomsday machine by living in tunnels for a hundred years at a ratio of 1 man to 10 women?
   
   
   Character Development
   Leadership
7. Describe the leadership style of President Muffley. What did he do with all the bad advice that was given to him?
8. What did you think of General Turgidson (played by George C. Scott)? Was he a leader or a follower? Did he show good judgment in some of the solutions that he proposed?
9. Did you think that President Muffley, as portrayed in the movie, provided good leadership?
   
   
   Ethical Emphasis
   (Teachwithmovies.org is associated with Character Counts and uses The Six Pillars of Character to organize ethical principals.)
   
   Discussion Questions Relating to Ethical Issues are designed to maximize the use of this film to teach ethical principles and critical viewing. One concept from The Six Pillars of Character that is raised in this film is Trustworthiness (Be honest; Don’t deceive, cheat or steal; Be reliable — do what you say you’ll do; Have the courage to do the right thing; Be loyal — stand by your family, friends and country)
   
10. Was President Muffley right to try to call back the bombers and to give the Soviets information so that they could shoot down the bombers that could not be called back?
11. Was the Soviet Ambassador doing the right thing when he tried to take pictures of the War Room? If the roles were reversed, would you have expected the U.S. Ambassador to try to take pictures of the Soviet War Room?