DR. STRANGELOVE OR: HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE BOMB (1964) (****)
The legendary director Stanley Kubrick has several films on his resume that would be the singular achievement of almost any other director. Of all his films, DR. STRANGELOVE is my favorite. Ironically, it was a film I disliked when I first saw it in college. After seeing it a second time, with a little more life experience under my belt, the film washed over me like a revelation. When it comes to black comedy, this is one of the best and one of the subtlest.
Brig. Gen. Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden, 1956's THE KILLING) has gone rogue, launching a nuclear attack on the Soviet Union. As Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake (Peter Sellers, LOLITA) listens to Ripper ramble on about the Ruskies plan to poison Americans' precious bodily fluids, he tries to convince the insane general to hand over the abort code. Meanwhile, President Merkin Muffley (Sellers) is briefed on the situation by Gen. Buck Turgidson (George C. Scott, PATTON), who wants to reserve judgment on Ripper's actions exceeding his authority until all the information is in. Baffled and astonished by the news, the President invites the Russian ambassador Alexi de Sadesky (Peter Bull, DOCTOR DOOLITTLE) to the War Room while he makes the difficult call to the Russian leader Kissoff to tell him that four bombers, one flown by Maj. T.J. "King" Kong (Slim Pickens, THE BALLAD OF CABLE HOGUE), are on their way to unleash the bomb. Then Sadesky reveals the clincher, if one of the bombers succeeds, it will automatically trigger the Russian's Doomsday Device, which will wipe all living things off the Earth. So the President turns to former German scientist Dr. Strangelove (Sellers) to find a solution.