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

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Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is a 1964 Stanley Kubrick film based loosely upon the straight-faced thriller novel Red Alert by Peter George. Refashioned as a black comedy from the source material by screenwriter Terry Southern, Dr. Strangelove's subject matter satirizes the fragile nature of the Cold War conflict and the doctrine of mutually assured destruction. The film opens at the fictional Burpelson Air Force Base, where the insane General Jack D. Ripper (named after Jack the Ripper) has just ordered a first strike nuclear attack on the Soviet Union. The rest of Dr. Strangelove follows the President of the United States, his advisors, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and an RAF officer as they all scramble to recall Ripper's bomber-wing in order to prevent a nuclear Apocalypse.

At the start of Dr. Strangelove 's production, Peter Sellers was set to play a fourth role; that of Air Force Major T. J. "King" Kong, the B-52 Stratofortress bomber captain. However, Sellers fractured his leg during filming, and was prevented from playing the role because of a technical constraint that would have confined him to cramped space of the cockpit set. It has been suggested that Sellers, who was concerned about correctly reproducing the Texan accent required, contrived the injury—or at least exaggerated it to make it seem worse than it really was. As fate would have it, Slim Pickens was quickly tapped to replace Sellers as Major Kong. It is no coincidence that his performance turned out so authentic; fellow actor James Earl Jones recalls, "He was Major Kong on and off the set—he didn't change a thing—his temperament, his language, his behavior." For the entire course of filming, Pickens was apparently unaware that Strangelove was to be a comedy, and instead played the role straight, thereby adding to the humor with his behavior contrasting to the rest of the film atmosphere. Kubrick biographer John Baxter further explains in the documentary "Inside the Making of Dr. Strangelove":

As it turns out, Slim Pickens had never left the United States. He had to hurry and get his first passport. He arrived on the set, and somebody said, "Gosh, he's arrived in costume!," not realizing that that's how he always dressed… With the cowboy hat and the fringed jacket and the cowboy boots—and that he wasn't putting on the character—that's the way he talked.

Pickens, who previously only played minor supporting and character roles, stated that his appearance as Maj. Kong greatly improved his career. He would later comment, "After ' Dr. Strangelove', the roles, the dressing rooms and the checks all started getting bigger."

Also appearing in the film is George C. Scott as General Buck Turgidson, a strategic bombing enthusiast who serves as the thinly-disguised avatar of General Curtis LeMay, the Air Force Chief of Staff who advocated a pre-emptive strike against bases in Cuba during the Missile Crisis of 1962, against Kennedy's better judgement. Sterling Hayden plays General Jack D. Ripper, who is equally (and rabidly) paranoid and patriotic; a young James Earl Jones plays bombardier Lieutenant Lothar Zogg; Keenan Wynn plays a Colonel "Bat" Guano, and Tracy Reed plays Gen. Turgidson's seductive secretary Miss Scott, the film's only female character, also known as "Miss Foreign Affairs".

Photography: Gilbert Taylor

Editor: Anthony Harvey

Production design: Ken Adam

Special effects: Wally Veevers

Contents

Synopsis

[Spoiler warningSpoiler warning]: Plot and/or ending details follow.
Jack D. Ripper, a delusional United States Air Force general, executes his plan to strike the Soviet Union with a nuclear knockout blow in order to thwart a Communist conspiracy which threatens to "sap and impurify" the "precious bodily fluids" of the American people with fluoridated water. The right-wing John Birch Society opposed fluoridation at the time on the grounds that it was a government-mandated and involuntary medical treatment that violated citizens' civil rights.[link] Exceeding his authority, Ripper convinces everyone at Burpelson Air Force Base that the United States is in a "shooting war" with the Soviet Union, and orders the 843rd Bomb Wing (which was in the air at the time as part of a training exercise called "Operation Dropkick") past its fail-safe points and into Russia. The provisions of a military protocol known as "Plan R" ('R for Robert') allows lower-echelon commanders to authorize the use of nuclear weapons without Presidential authority during a "time of conflict." It was apparently put in place after a certain Senator by the name of Buford pointed out that the nuclear deterrence plan of the United States lacked credibility, in that if only the President could authorize a nuclear strike, retaliation could be avoided if the USSR succeeded in wiping him out in a decapitation strike.

From the script:

Ripper: Mandrake, I suppose it never occurred to you that while we're chatting here so enjoyably, a decision is being made by the President and the Joint Chiefs in the war room at the Pentagon. And when they realize there is no possibility of recalling the wing, there will be only one course of action open: total commitment... Mandrake, do you recall what Clemenceau once said about war?
Mandrake: No. I don't think I do sir, no.
Ripper: He said war was too important to be left to the Generals. When he said that, fifty years ago, he might have been right. But today, war is too important to be left to politicians. They have neither the time, the training, nor the inclination for strategic thought. I can no longer sit back and allow communist infiltration, communist indoctrination, communist subversion, and the international communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids.
General Ripper is unaware that the Soviets have constructed a doomsday device (always referred to as a "doomsday machine" in the movie) which, on automatically detecting any nuclear attack on the Soviet Union, destroys all life on Earth via massive nuclear fallout. The president at this point asks a nuclear war expert and German expatriate Dr. Strangelove to discuss the possibility of the doomsday machine. Strangelove himself is a type of "mad scientist", whose eccentricities include a severe case of alien hand syndrome—his right hand, clad in an intimidating black leather glove, alternates between attempting to strangle Strangelove and shooting out in a Nazi salute. Strangelove explains to the staff assembled in the American war room how the device is a natural extension to the Cold War stratagem of mutually assured destruction as a deterrent to an actual nuclear exchange. Moreover, the machine cannot be turned off as this would mitigate its value as a deterrent.
The iconic Pentagon War Room set.
Enlarge
The iconic Pentagon War Room set.
Dr. Strangelove delivering his "deterrence" oration.
Enlarge
Dr. Strangelove delivering his "deterrence" oration.

Major Kong, the captain of the "Leper Colony," riding the bomb to nuclear oblivion.
Enlarge
Major Kong, the captain of the "Leper Colony," riding the bomb to nuclear oblivion.

As a result, the Federal government of the United States cooperates with the Soviets in shooting the American planes down until they can be recalled. As American troops attack Ripper's base, Ripper commits suicide. The clueless commander of the unit attacking the base, Colonel "Bat" Guano believes that British Group Captain Lionel Mandrake, an officer participating in an "exchange program" with the USAF, is leading a mutiny of "deviated preverts" (sic) against General Ripper. He fails to recognise the RAF uniform as that of an allied nation, but he ultimately relents and helps Mandrake call the President and inform him of the recall code, which he deduces from Ripper's doodles. Mandrake is forced to use a phonebooth to inform the President, but, not having enough change, he tells Guano to shoot the coinbox on a Coca-Cola vending machine.

Unfortunately, one B-52 ("The Leper Colony") was damaged, but not destroyed, by a Soviet anti-aircraft missile. The missile hit triggers the self-destruct system of the airplane's radio (presumably designed to prevent the CRM114 code machine from being reverse-engineered should it be captured), and with no radio the aircraft cannot be recalled; and with a fuel leak, it also cannot reach its intended target, the Laputa Missile Complex, where the remaining Soviet defenses have been concentrated. So the plane continues its mission, evading the combined efforts of both the US and the USSR to stop it, to drop its nuclear payload on an unexpected target (now selecting the Kodlosk ICBM complex, not the plane's secondary target but still within the plane's range), which will in turn set off the doomsday machine. The bay doors jam closed, and in trying to open them, the pilot of the B-52, Major "King" Kong (in one of Hollywood's most memorable film moments) inadvertently ends up riding one of the bombs down to global destruction — with Kong cheering all the way. Kong straddles the bomb, gripping it with one hand and waving his cowboy hat in the air with his other in an homage to rodeo bullriding technique, whooping and hollering as he plummets to his thermonuclear doom.

The doomsday device is apparently activated. According to the Soviet ambassador, life on Earth's surface will be extinct within ten months; Dr. Strangelove recommends to the President that a group of about 100,000 humans be relocated to deep in a mine shaft, where the nuclear fallout cannot reach, so the Earth can be repopulated. Because of obvious limits to space in the mines, Strangelove suggests that a ratio of "ten females to each male". The chosen women would be selected based on their youth and beauty (to ensure the males would want to impregnate them), while the chosen males would be selected based on their intellectual and physical strength. The Soviet ambassador states at that point, "I must confess, that is an astonishingly good idea you've got there..." Turgidson rants that they "cannot allow a mine shaft gap" (spoofing the missile gap fears) and begins planning a war for when they emerge in a hundred years. In the concluding scenes, a visibly excited Strangelove bolts out of his wheelchair shouting "Mein Führer, I can walk!", mere seconds before the movie ends with a barrage of nuclear explosions, set to the song "We'll Meet Again".

Spoilers end here.

Themes

Sexuality
The film is also uncompromisingly sexual. From the opening scene, depicting the refueling of a B-52 jet bomber, to General Ripper's sexual frustration being at the root of the eventual apocalypse, to Strangelove's plans to build a society of "ten females to each male" in the postapocalyptic mine shafts, sexual references are readily apparent. The character of Strangelove is similarly laced with innuendo—aside from his suggestive name, he is the character responsible for creating fantasies of a polygamous postwar society—during this explanation, it is even strongly implied that his uncontrollable right hand has started to masturbate. Strangelove's newfound ability to walk at the thrill of this world to come has even been seen as analogous to the male erection. Many character names also have sexual meanings—General Turgidson, who is initially depicted as being in an apartment preparing to have sex with his secretary, is named using the word turgid is a biological term meaning full of fluid to the point of hardness as in an erection. General Jack Ripper is named after Jack the Ripper, the famous serial killer who murdered prostitutes. The target Laputa can be heard as a derogatory Spanish word for prostitute -- "La Puta" would be "the whore.", as well as being the Gulliver's flying island. A final innuendo can be seen in the President's name: President Merkin Muffley. A Merkin is a female pubic wig ,used mainly by prostitutes in the 18th century.

Suspensful Comedy
Although it is a comedy, Dr. Strangelove is also suspenseful and engrossing and not the least bit "madcap". Two major scenes of action are the immense War Room dominated by the Big Board showing the location of every American bomber in the world, and the meticulous B-52 interior. The remainder is set in General Ripper's headquarters at Burpleson Air Force Base.

Pentagon Cooperation
The Pentagon did not cooperate in making the film, as it did in making Strategic Air Command (1955). Because the B-52 was state of the art in the 1960s, its cockpit was off limits to the film crew; the cockpit was reconstructed by educated guesses made in comparing the interior of a B-29 Superfortress's cockpit and a single photo of a B-52 Stratofortress's cockpit to the geometry of the B-52's fuselage; it was so accurate that the Department of Defense suspected the film crew of sneaking into a B-52 and taking pictures.

Satiring the Cold War
Dr. Strangelove takes passing shots at numerous Cold War attitudes, but focuses its satire on the theory of mutual assured destruction (MAD), in which each side is supposed to take comfort in the fact that a nuclear war would be a cataclysmic disaster. Herman Kahn in his 1960 On Thermonuclear War used the concept of a doomsday machine in order to mock mutually assured destruction — in effect, Kahn argued, both sides already had a sort of doomsday machine. Kahn was a leading critic of American strategy during the 1950s and urged Americans to plan for a limited nuclear war. Kahn became one of the architects of the MAD doctrine in the 1960s. The prevailing thinking that a nuclear war was inherently unwinnable and suicidal was illogical to the physicist turned strategist. Kahn came off as cold and calculating; for instance, in his works, he estimated how many human lives the United States could lose and still rebuild economically. This attitude is reflected in Turgidson's remark to the president about the outcome of a pre-emptive nuclear war: "Now I'm not saying we wouldn't get our hair mussed, but I am saying no more than 10 to 20 million killed. Tops!" In the War Room, Turgidson also has a binder which is labeled “World Targets in Megadeaths”.

Satiring Hollywood
It satirizes the conventions of Hollywood war movies, as well as the curious "red telephone" relationship between heads of state, in which a first-name intimacy competes with a culturally conditioned dislike for the other and for the entire political system which he heads:
"I'm sorry, too, Dimitri. ... I'm very sorry. ... All right, you're sorrier than I am, but I am as sorry as well. ... I am as sorry as you are, Dimitri! Don't say that you're more sorry than I am, because I'm capable of being just as sorry as you are. ... So we're both sorry, all right?! ... All right." (Dialogue improvised by Sellers)
Use of Ex-Nazis in Government
The title character, Dr. Strangelove, is a comment on the US government's use, considered morally questionable by some, of Nazi scientists in programs such as nuclear weapons research. Dr. Strangelove, played by Peter Sellers, retains a thick German accent, and mistakenly calls the President "Mein Führer" on more than one occasion. He once refers to a study, that he commisioned, by the Bland Corporation (a parody of the Rand Corporation). His appearance echoes the villains of the Fritz Lang era in 1920s Germany whose sinister and evil characters were usually offset by some disability. Sellers improvised Dr. Strangelove's lapse into the Nazi salute, borrowing one of Kubrick's black gloves for the uncontrollable hand that makes the Sieg heil gesture. Sellers found the director's gloves that Kubrick perpetually wore to avoid direct contact with hot lights to be especially menacing. The thought of the new, post-war centrally controlled, underground, male-dominated society with its members specially selected from the population is evocative of Nazi visions and animates Dr. Strangelove at the end.

The Novel
The movie is based upon the Cold War thriller novel Red Alert. Stanley Kubrick had originally wanted to film the story as a serious drama. However, he explained during interviews that the comedy inherent in the idea of MAD became apparent as he was writing the first draft of the film's script. Kubrick stated:

"My idea of doing it as a nightmare comedy came in the early weeks of working on the screenplay. I found that in trying to put meat on the bones and to imagine the scenes fully, one had to keep leaving out of it things which were either absurd or paradoxical, in order to keep it from being funny; and these things seemed to be close to the heart of the scenes in question." — Macmillan International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, vol. 1, p. 126

Ending

[Spoiler warningSpoiler warning]: Plot and/or ending details follow.
The planned original ending to the film was a chaotic pie-fight scene with the Soviet ambassador in the war room. It was cut from the final print and the film ends with Strangelove stepping out of his wheelchair (saying, "Mein Führer, I can walk!") before cutting to a montage of nuclear explosions, accompanied by Vera Lynn's singing of the WWII standard "We'll Meet Again". Reportedly, Spike Milligan was responsible for suggesting the montage ending.

The custard pie fight has become one of the most famous of "deleted" scenes in the history of movies; it was not included in the laserdisc and DVD releases, and the only known public showing of it was in the 1999 screening at the National Film Theatre in London following Kubrick's death.

Spoilers end here.

Critical views

Dr. Strangelove was listed as #26 on the American Film Institute's 100 Years, 100 Movies and #3 on its 100 Years, 100 Laughs. Sellers' line "Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the war room!" made #64 on AFI's 100 Years, 100 Quotes. The film has also been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. In 2000, readers of Total Film magazine voted it the 24th greatest comedy film of all time.

Roger Ebert has Dr. Strangelove in his list of Great Movies[link], saying it's "arguably the best political satire of the century."

This film is number 53 on Bravo's 100 Funniest Movies.

Academy Awards

Award Person
Nominated:
Best Actor Peter Sellers
Best Adapted Screenplay Stanley Kubrick
Peter George
Terry Southern
Best Director Stanley Kubrick
Best Picture Stanley Kubrick

Fail-Safe and Seven Days in May

Dr. Strangelove was based on the paperback novel Red Alert (1958) by Peter George. George collaborated on the screenplay with Kubrick and satirist Terry Southern. Red Alert was far more solemn in tone than its film version; the character of Dr. Strangelove never even existed on its pages. The main plot and technical elements, however, were quite similar. A novelization of the actual film, rather than a re-print of the original novel, was later penned by Peter George.

During the filming of Dr. Strangelove, Stanley Kubrick learned that Fail-Safe, a project with a similar theme, was being produced. Although Fail-Safe was to be an ultra-realistic thriller, Kubrick feared that its overall plot resemblances would damage Strangelove's box office run, especially if it were to be released first. What worried him the most about Fail-Safe was that it boasted an acclaimed director (Sidney Lumet) and first-rate dramatic actors (Henry Fonda as the American President and Walter Matthau as the bold civilian advisor to the Pentagon, Professor Groeteschele). As an ever-cunning strategist, Kubrick decided that it would be in Strangelove 's best interest for a legal wrench to be thrown into the gears of Fail-Safe 's production efforts. Director Sidney Lumet recalls in the documentary, Inside the Making of Dr. Strangelove:

We started casting. Fonda was already set... which of course meant a big commitment in terms of money. I was set, Walter [Bernstein, the screenwriter] was set... And suddenly, this lawsuit arrived, filed by Stanley Kubrick and Columbia Pictures.
Kubrick tried to halt production on Fail-Safe by arguing that its own 1960 source novel of the same name had been plagiarized from Peter George's Red Alert, to which Kubrick himself owned the creative rights. The plan ended up working exactly as Kubrick intended; Fail-Safe opened a full eight months behind Dr. Strangelove to critical acclaim, but mediocre box office results.

Also released in 1964 was Warner Brothers' Seven Days in May. The plot involves a coup attempt by the Joint Chiefs of Staff to prevent the President of the United States from signing a nuclear disarmament treaty with the Soviets, who they believe cannot be trusted.

The Kennedy assassination

A first test screening of the movie was actually scheduled to be on November 22, 1963, the day of the John F. Kennedy assassination. The film was just weeks from its scheduled premiere. The release was delayed until late January 1964 as it was felt that the public was in no mood for such a film any sooner.

Additionally, one line by Slim Pickens ("a fella could have a pretty good weekend in Dallas with all that stuff") was dubbed to become "in Vegas". The dub is just barely visible if Pickens' lips are watched closely when he speaks. Also, the climactic pie-fight scene was scripted to include General Turgidson exclaiming, "Gentlemen! Our gallant young president has been struck down in his prime!" after Muffley takes a pie in the face. While the pie fight was filmed but cut, this line, no matter how coincidental, would have hit too close to home to be used.

Songs

Trivia

Popular culture references

*In the episode "Homer the Vigilante", Homer Simpson rides a bomb à la Major Kong
*The episode "Sideshow Bob's Last Gleaming" features a war room in the style of the film's, with Professor Frink as Dr. Strangelove. In a different scene, Sideshow Bob whistles "We’ll Meet Again".
*The episode "$pringfield or: How I learned to stop worrying and love legalized gambling" is an obvious parody of the title.
*General Turgidson appears in Treehouse of Horror XIII, again in Mayor Quimby's war room.
  • The saturday morning cartoon version of The Tick had a recurring character named "Doctor Strangepants." He was confined to a wheelchair, spoke with a pronounced German accent, and had a hair style very similar to Sellers in the movie. He was a science advisor for Mayor Blank, and was frequently seen in closed meetings with various civil leaders, advising them on how to deal with various threats to the city. Usually, these plans involve giant versions of regular objects.
  • In Dr. Strangelove, the CRM-114 is the nomenclature of the Strategic Air Command encryption/decryption device aboard the B-52 Stratofortress (and also a frequent in-joke used by Kubrick in his other films). This has been referenced:
  • *In an episode of the television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the characters make reference to a powerful laser cannon called the 'CRM-114'.
  • *In Kubrick's film A Clockwork Orange the serum which is given to the main character during the so-called "Ludovico treatment" is called 'Serum 114'.
  • *In the first scene of Back to the Future, Marty McFly switches an amplifier with the words 'CRM-114' printed on it.
  • *The CRM114 Discriminator is the name of a data stream analyzer (think SPAM filter), which achieves very high accuracy based on a "learning" algorithm.
  • *In the 2005 film Fun with Dick and Jane a financial transaction form is referred to as a 'CRM-114'.

    • Quotes

    General Jack D. Ripper: 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!

    President Merkin Muffley: Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here...this is the War Room!

    General "Buck" Turgidson: Doctor, you mentioned the ratio of ten women to each man. Now, wouldn't that necessitate the abandonment of the so-called monogamous sexual relationship, I mean, as far as men were concerned?

    Major T. J. "King" Kong: Stay on the bomb run, boys! I'm gonna git them doors open if it harelips everybody on Bear Creek!

    General "Buck" Turgidson: The Duty Officer asked General Ripper to confirm the fact that he *had* issued the go code, and he said...uh...'Yes, gentlemen, they are on their way in, and nobody can bring them back. For the sake of our country, and our way of life, I suggest you get the rest of SAC in after them. Otherwise, we will be totally destroyed by Red retaliation. Uh...my boys will give you the best kind of start, 1400 megatons worth, and you sure as Hell won't stop them now, uhuh. Uh...so let's get going, there's no other choice. God willing, we will prevail, in peace and freedom from fear, and in true health, through the purity and essence of our natural...fluids. God bless you all.' Then he hung up.
    (three beat pause)
    General "Buck" Turgidson: Uh, we're, still trying to figure out the meaning of that last phrase, Sir.

    Colonel "Bat" Guano: Okay. I'm gonna get your money for ya. But if you don't get the President of the United States on that phone, you know what's gonna happen to you?
    Capt. Lionel Mandrake: What?
    Colonel "Bat" Guano: You're gonna have to answer to the Coca-Cola company.

    Major T. J. "King" Kong: Survival kit contents check. In them you'll find: one forty-five caliber automatic; two boxes of ammunition; four days' concentrated emergency rations; one drug issue containing antibiotics, morphine, vitamin pills, pep pills, sleeping pills, tranquilizer pills; one miniature combination Russian phrase book and Bible; one hundred dollars in rubles; one hundred dollars in gold; nine packs of chewing gum; one issue of prophylactics; three lipsticks; three pair of nylon stockings...Shoot! A fella' could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff.

    Dr. Strangelove: Mein Führer! I can walk!

    General "Buck" Turgidson: Boy, I wish we had one of those Doomsday Machines.

    General Jack D. Ripper: Mandrake, you ever seen a commie drink a glass of water?

    See also

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