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

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)

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Written by: Stanley Kubrick & Terry Southern & Peter George (screenplay), Peter George (based on the book: "Red Alert" by) 
Directed by: Stanley Kubrick
Starring: Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, Slim Pickens, James Earl Jones
Rated: PG [PG-13]
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Plot
An insane general triggers a path to nuclear holocaust that a War Room full of politicians and generals frantically tries to stop.

Verdict
I'm surprised at how timeless this movie remains. Kubrick probes the absurdities of war and the problems with fool proof plans. None of the situations in the movie seem that absurd. This manages to balance comedy and drama as a terrific satire. The dialog is sharp and the characters are distinct. This captures the friction and fear between civilians, military, and other countries. The movie manages to be very frank and funny, intertwining the two to create a movie just as relevant today.
Watch it.

Review
The infamous unseen final scene was the war room devolving into a pie fight. It wasn't to be either because it was too ludicrous or the actors were indistinguishable by the end covered in pie. Kubrick started the script as a drama, but felt the ridiculous ideas he was discarding contained the most truth. 

George C. Scott vowed never to work with Kubrick again, tricked into an over the top performance that Kubrick claimed would only be practice.

The War Room.

Peace can be quite fragile as one rogue general manages to bring the world to the brink of destruction. The system of protection is made to start a war or retaliate, but not to peacefully end a war. In this scenario the only end game is total destruction. It's a simple yet ridiculous premise that seems very likely. The president can't grasp how this happened, and is informed he signed off on it. The fail safe is that a designated military officer has the power to attack Russia in the scenario that the Russians eliminate the upper echelons of government. Part of the fail safe is that the planes can't contacted. The designated officer is extremely paranoid, and decides he must eliminate Russia.

The scenario is silly in a way that only real life can be. The movie plays it serious, though the dialog is often very sharp and quotable. There are three stories unfolding. The president, his advisors, and a Russian diplomat are in the war room with the "big board" trying to determine how to stop the impending war, Lionel Mandrake attempts to stop General Jack D. Ripper who started this thing, and then there are the B-52 pilots en route to Russia.

Peter Sellers plays Dr. Strangelove.

The most over the top part is Dr. Strangelove, a German scientist now working for the U.S. As a Russian diplomat explains how an American attack would launch a Russian doomsday device that would eliminate everyone on Earth, Strangelove posits that the entire point of a doomsday device is to let everyone know you have it to generate fear. The diplomat notes that Russia had planned to announce it on Monday. That's the type of subtlety in this movie, and it strikes the perfect tone. At the brink of annihilation, General Turgidson's only concern is ensuring Russia doesn't gain an advantage if portions of the world have to flee to underground mine shafts to avoid radiation.
You can imagine these situations or something similar happening or being in place. Despite being made in 1964, this movie doesn't seem dated other than being in black and white.