by Abel Horwitz
Daily Lobo
Stanley Kubrick's "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb," originally released in 1964, is considered by many to be a masterpiece of cinema. The film, now playing at Madstone Theater, deals with the safety of nuclear weapons and the people who handle them during the Cold War. With the threat of a hot war looming, this film holds up 40 years later.
To say that the film is well done is an understatement. This black comedy is expertly cast, beautifully shot and very well-written. The end result is powerful and fascinating to watch.
The film imparts this idea -- all it takes is one insignificant person to start an unstoppable chain of events ending in nuclear holocaust.
Brigadier General Jack D. Ripper, played by Sterling Hayden, snaps and puts his military base under red alert, saying that the communists are killing the Americans by "stealing our essence." He sends the code to drop the bomb up to a B-52 flying outside of Russia armed with two nuclear war-heads.
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The president of the United States is rushed to the War Room along with his top advisors to figure out how to stop the potential attack which could cause a retaliation of mass devastation. It all comes down to the realization that once the attack command is given, there is no way to stop the full-blown destruction of the planet.
Kubrick, instating an anti-war motif, portrays the politicians as little boys with excessive power. President Merkin Muffley -- one of the three roles played by the brilliant Peter Sellers -- speaks to the Russian president over the phone about the upcoming attack like one child to another.
War and sex are overtly associated throughout the film, from the opening credits in which a plane is refueled in midair to Slim Pickens infamous ride on a nuclear missile. The politicians even decide to accept nuclear holocaust simply because there will be ten females to every male placed in an underground shelter.
War is shown as a dangerous joke while the responsibility has been placed in the hands of children. No one since has been able to replicate Kubrick's dark and humorous outlook on the subject. "Dr. Strangelove" should be required viewing right now. Go see "Dr. Strangelove," it may make you chuckle bitterly about the end of the world.
