Dr. Strangelove
Still equal parts funny and scary all these years later
Tags: Dr. Strangelove Categories: DVD/TV Reviews, Reviews
Posted by Daniel "monk" Pelfrey on Jun 12th, 2009
More than Being There or the various Pink Panther films, for me the quintessential Peter Sellers film is Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. With three very different roles, we get to see the actor stretch from outright comedy to serious drams and teeter back and forth in-between.
Even without Sellers, the film is a brilliant satire that strays far too close to what used to be the truth that in many ways it just isn’t funny. The threat of nuclear war used to be not only real, but palpable. As I was growing up in the 70’s and 80’s there was a real scare of the Soviet Union, and the nuclear arms race was in full escalation.
Commander Ripper (Sterling Hayden) decides to perform a preemptive strike against the Soviet Union and sends the standing bomber squadron deep into enemy territory to deliver their nuclear payload. The only problem is that this unprovoked attack would trigger full scale nuclear war with millions and millions of deaths. Trying to prevent everything from getting even more out of hand and reaching beyond the point of control, we have the President of the United States (Peter Sellers) working with the Soviet Ambassador (Peter Bull) and General Turgidson (George C. Scott) to get the planes recalled from their bomber runs. Commanding the B-52 bomber with a nuclear payload is Slim Pickens (along with James Earl Jones). Trying to convince Commander Ripper to issue the recall code is Group Captain Mandrake (Peter Sellers). Things don’t work out as a ground conflict ensues and we get a small part by Keenan Wynn.
Everybody is playing it fairly straight, with the situations providing the satire and allowing for the uncomfortable (at the time) humor to issue forth. Back in the infamous War Room, towards the end of the film, we get the only real comedic performance of the film, with Peter Sellers as the title character Dr. Strangelove. An ex-Nazi scientist, the man is the scientific advisor to the President and is an amalgam of different scientists of the day. Actually, it could be seen that most of the characters have parallels and real world counterparts as the film was made, and even today – which makes the film just as funny/scary today as on its first release in 1964.
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is just as darkly comic and foreboding today as it was when I first saw it 30 years ago. Even if the direct threat isn’t present, there are still parallels that can be drawn. Without the current parallels the film works as an eerie time capsule. This is, of course, without even going into the stellar acting that there is all around – George C. Scott simply steals the show, which isn’t easy to do considering who he is acting against.
The Blu-ray comes with a number of special features, most of which have been seen before. All of them are presented in standard definition, which is a shame. Also disappointing is the lack of deleted scenes, specifically the alternate ending that was filmed but cut at the last minute. There is plenty of discussion about it and a number of stills, but the scene itself is still missing.
No Fighting in the War Room or: Dr. Strangelove and the Nuclear Threat is a solid featurette that looks at the real life conditions surrounding the film as well as the cultural significance it holds and its political impact. A 45 minute retrospective “making of” that is well worth is also presented here and together we get a true appreciation for the film.
Also included on the disc is a17 minute examination of Peter Sellers and his acting credentials, an introduction to Kubrick’s professional life with a lot of focus on Dr. Strangelove that runs about 15 minutes, and a 25 minute unedited interview with Robert McNamara, former Secretary of Defense (who was featured in previous featurettes).
Exclusive to the Blu-ray is a pop-up trivia track with text and interview snippets. This feature is actually much more informative than most of the other trivia tracks in that it is continually providing information and concerning itself mostly with real world facts about the era and the events that inspired the film. Sadly, we don’t’ get an audio commentary track that focuses on the film itself, or an audio commentary track at all. Still, what we do have is quite good.
If you haven’t seen Dr. Strangelove yet, I can’t recommend it enough. For fans of Peter Sellers, Stanley Kubrick, the “cold war”, the 60, political thrillers, black comedies, George C. Scott, or simply great cinema, this is a film not to be missed.
| What Works | Score |
|---|---|
|
+ Brilliant script captures the absurdity and terror of the times + Great acting that is both comic and realistic + New trivia track actually worth checking out |
9.5 |
| What Doesn't | |
|
- No commentary track - Some of the featurettes (such as the one examining Kubrick's career) fall short - Some of the special features are in standard definition - Still don't have that alternate ending available |
|
| Under the Shrink-wrap | |
| It may not be completely worth upgrading from the 40th anniversary edition, but if you don't have the film in your collection then you have a hole to plug. | |
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Tags: Dr. Strangelove
Posted by Daniel "monk" Pelfrey on Jun 12th, 2009 and is filed under DVD/TV Reviews, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.
