Hmm, this is gonna be harder than I thought ... I nodded off for about 10-15 minutes in the middle of the movie. I'm sure there's a statement to be made about the film's awkward pacing in there, but there's likely as much to be said about an old man up way past his bedtime, so I'll leave it alone.
The film is strange as hell. That's about the biggest summation I can offer. Its a satirical look at the cold war and the various actors within. From the vantagepoint of history, its actually a pretty damn good satire, to boot. Peter Sellars makes the movie, IMO. I particularly like the President ... who does indeed bear a striking resemblence to Adlai Stevenson in both appearance and tone. The Dr. Strangelove character is the one that befuddled me most of the night though. It got incredibly more and more hilarious as the movie progressed, though.
Dunno how much more I can really add ... you just have to watch it to get it. Normally, I'd say that makes me one piss-poor movie reviewer, but in looking back at the other reviews of it, I now realize they aren't much better and gave me about as little foresite as to what was about to render me asleep for brief time. But hey, the good news is, you can nod off for a spell during the movie and still not really lose any meaning.
1 Comments
Greg, you ignorant sack of earwigs, let me educate you on a few things concerning this movie:
1) Although I agree that Peter Sellars makes this movie, if it were not for the supporting cast this movie would be dull as hell. Having Sellars play off the characters of Gen. Jack D. Ripper and Gen. Buck Turgidson was a stroke of genius. It's apparent that Sellars' two main characters (The President and Cpn. Mandrake) are the only two sane people in this movie by the stark contrast between them and their counterparts. The true genius of Sellars is portrayed in the end when two of his characters are essentially playing off one another in the conversation between Dr. Strangelove and The President.
Now, with that being said, there is some background to this movie that you have to consider. First, it was released in the same year as the very serious Cold War nuclear drama "Fail-Safe". If you're looking for a serious representation of the nuclear threat, that's the movie to see. Dr. Strangelove takes the comedy route, and pays off nicely.
Second, consider that Peter Sellars was originally slated to play 4 parts, not 3. He was originally cast as Major T.J. 'King' Kong. Due to a simple twist of fate, Sellars was too fatigued to shoot all 4 roles, and the roll of Maj. Kong went to Slim Pickens, who stood out in this film and lent us the image of riding the bomb.
I say this is the premier Cold War satire film, and really does go a long way to show the insanity that both sides exhibited at the height of the war. This was 1964. Right after the Cuban Missile Crisis. Right after LBJ took office. The world was in a very serious imbalance. Yet, Kubrick could take a step back and laugh at the situation. That is why I admire the man as a filmmaker, and think that this is his premiere piece.