"You can’t fight in here, this is the War Room!"
– President Merkin Muffley (Peter Sellers)

"…(A) brilliant black comedy, which seems better with each passing year."
– Leonard Maltin’s MOVIE & VIDEO GAME

Stars: Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, Keenan Wynn, Slim Pickens, Tracy Reed

Director: Stanley Kubrick

Fast Facts:
  • The film is based on the serious 1958 nuclear war novel Red Alert written by Peter George, an ex-RAF flight lieutenant and nuclear-disarmament activist.
  • To design the sets, Kubrick hired Ken Adam, who had just gained fame for his futuristic sets in the first James Bond film Dr. No, beginning a long and fruitful collaboration.
  • Tracy Reed, who plays Miss Foreign Affairs, was the daughter of British director Carol Reed (Oliver!).
  • The character of Dr. Strangelove did not appear in the original novel, being created by Kubrick and co-writer Terry Southern.
  • The character of Buck Turgidson was based on General Curtis LeMay, head of the Strategic Air Command during the 1950s and early ’60s.
  • Although the U.S. Air Force refused to cooperate with the filmmakers due to the satiric story, Ken Adam was able to faithfully recreate the instruments and interior of a B52 bomber from pictures and articles in various flying and science magazines.
  • Peter Sellers was originally supposed to also play Major Kong, along with his other three characters, but couldn’t quite master the Texas accent. Sellers then accidentally broke his leg and couldn’t physically perform the role, so Kubrick cast Slim Pickens.
  • The original ending to the film involved a massive cream pie fight in the War Room, but Kubrick decided it didn’t work and cut the scene out, writing and shooting the released ending.
  • The New York Film Critics named Kubrick Best Director for Dr. Strangelove, and the film earned four Academy Award® nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director.

 

Stanley Kubrick’s classic black comedy about a group of war-eager military men who plan a nuclear apocalypse is both funny and frightening — and seems as relevant today as ever. Through a series of military and political accidents, two psychotic generals — U.S. Air Force Commander Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden) and Joint Chief of Staff "Buck" Turgidson (George C. Scott) — trigger an ingenious, irrevocable scheme to attack Russia’s strategic targets with nuclear bombs. The brains behind the scheme belong to Dr. Strangelove (Peter Sellers), a wheelchair-bound nuclear scientist who has bizarre ideas about man’s future. The President (also Sellers) is helpless to stop the bombers, as is Captain Mandrake (Sellers once again), the only man who can stop them. Dr. Strangelove is truly a brilliant film classic.

FAQ's

*****

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