Dr. Strangelove Reaction!
Added 2025-08-01 16:46:10 +0000 UTC
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"Nuclear Warhead - Handle With Care - This Side Down", Notice on the warheads when Major Kong is repairing the bomb bay doors, "Dr. Strangelove" I downloaded the full-length way back in August, reached for my copy of the DVD and ... I couldn't find it. Did I even have a copy? But, anyway, I couldn't watch it with you at the time. But just today it turned up - horray! I don't know if anyone will read this four months late - but here goes. I notice that Shane Rimmer was credited - he's the B-52 co-pilot - although, I don't know if he has a line. He's most famous for me as the voice of Scott Tracy in "Thunderbirds". But, of course, we've seen him as Seth Harper in the Classic Who story "The Gunfighters". "But we got one little budge on them russkies, at this this height, why, they might harpoon us but they dang sure ain't gonna spot us on no radar screen.", Major Kong, "Dr. Strangelove" The sequences of the plane flying low over the ground and sea ice look very familiar. I believe the footage was reused in the "Beyond the Infinite" sequence of "2001" (with false colors) and also in The Beatles "Magical Mystery Tour" (with false colors). That could just be an urban legend but it does look very similar (with false colors). "Keep off the Grass", Sign on the lawn during the attack on the Air Force base, "Dr. Strangelove" Thanks, for the reaction. Sorry about the delay.
Andrew Vignaux
2025-12-08 08:18:29 +0000 UTCNot entirely sure when I first heard the name Kubrick. I caught images of his work growing up. First started seriously seeing his work around college. Started with The Shining. Somewhat similar thing of being denied seeing one of his films for being too young as I knew of A Clockwork Orange around the time that I was twelve, and one time, my older cousins wouldn’t let me watch it before I was eighteen. Saw it shortly after seeing The Shining. Dr. Strangelove is one of Kubrick’s best, and certainly one of his most quotable. (As evidenced by both of us quoting it in a few comments.) That would be a hell of a trip to have seen this in its initial release. As mentioned, caught in a rerelease, and like you said about The Godfather, the closeups really pop so much more on a big screen, especially the one of General Ripper with the cigar. Fail-Safe is a really damn good movie too. Great six degrees of separation game with both films. The thought of the response Jess would have to there only being one woman character in this, that I felt could go either way. It could be like Red October where the speaking parts for the women are done before the opening credits finish, though that’s such a male dominant movie, no problem. Or like you posit, the response of annoyance that there’s only the one woman in the film who’s just there to be walking fanservice. Since Jess never much said anything about it, turns out it’s more the former, though I like that read of the implication that any women in the room would have been able to clear everything up just fine. Much though I do love George in this, yeah, you knew Jess would respond to Turgidson about the way she did. Love the Scrooge and Patton references. Could see him getting suspicious, then Kubrick would have shot more serious takes. Plus, Kubrick’s predilection for filming endless takes might have helped keep the subterfuge going. It is a fun thing seeing if people catch Peter playing the three roles. The guilt part, think the same could probably be said for Robin Williams. The heart does break for Peter that there weren’t the proper resources to help him. The talent is still something. Dad really liked him in Being There as I recall. President Muffley would fit in well with Xiono and the other New Republic types as we’ve been saying, yes. Shared love of Jess getting the kick out of the phone call scenes. Dr. Strangelove is in that vein of Betelgeuse; the man just commands the screen as that character. Nolan was sneaky with that sunscreen part. Love the contrast how the plane scenes feel like the serious war picture. Slim is one damn fine talent. James making his debut, and what a debut it was. Just fantastic to hear that iconic voice making an impression that early. Still love the smash cut from “Hey, what about Major Kong?” straight to Slim hollering whilst riding the bomb. And those on the plane, even though Major Kong first understandably asks, “What in the WIDE, wide world of sports is a-going on here!?” (Of course, we both reference that film, and at different spots too.) the crew commits and does the damn thing. Shame that it dooms the world. Sort of feels like watching the brilliance of the Sith. Or like Jess said in Andor about Dedra that she hated how good at her job she was. Something like that here. Extremely ballsy of Kubrick to end the film with the real fear of what could happen happening. He did make the right call in cutting the pie fight, that contrary to the persistent rumors wasn’t cut because of the Kennedy assassination. It would have put the kibosh on the scene if it wasn’t already cut, especially with that eerily prescient line. Easy to catch the change in the Dallas line. As I said, there is the rough tie between this and Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte for favorite of that year. Were I forced to pick one for best picture, yes, you would go with this one, easy. My Fair Lady is in the likes of Driving Miss Daisy, The English Patient, or The King’s Speech, and like you describe: Pleasant enough time, (I KNOW Elaine would disagree on the one,) just not best picture quality. About four years ago, they had My Fair Lady on Turner Classic Movies as part of the series of examining and reassessing problematic classics, and they touched on the sexism in My Fair Lady. But this film endures and remains relevant. And it does lead to the very difficult problem of you love that the film has remained very relevant, yet you HATE the reasons as to why it has remained relevant. Just so lovely to see Jess react to this. Next month will be interesting as I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone react to next month’s film. Going to be interesting, and it will be testing with my inability to work picture-in-picture. Should be fun.
Thomas Corp
2025-08-01 23:50:28 +0000 UTCI've always wondered if Mandrake saying Ripper was "mad as a march hare" was a deliberate reference to Keenan Wynn's dad, especially since he was getting a lot of attention the same year in Mary Poppins.
Ryan
2025-08-01 23:13:38 +0000 UTCI first heard of Kubrick when he died. I was 14 years old and just starting to really develop my cinephile bona fides, and suddenly everyone was talking about the loss of one of the greatest film artists who ever lived. And that night, The Jim Lehrer Show paid tribute by airing the bomb dropping scene in its entirety, with no context, and I immediately wanted to see the whole thing. My parents wouldn't let me since they thought I wasn't quite mature enough for it yet (hard to blame them in retrospect) so instead my introduction to his work was 2001, which I'll get into next time. I got to Dr. Strangelove a few years later, and it's been one of my favorites ever since (you might have noticed I've quoted it quite a bit here). And I can't imagine what it was like to watch this back in 1964, just two years after the Cuban Missile Crisis with the whole country still very much on edge that this kind of thing could happen (watch Thirteen Days, or Matinee, for a pretty good idea of the atmosphere). It was actually a competing project with a film called Fail Safe, both based on books with pretty much the same story, and Kubrick made the genius decision to set his film apart by making it a political satire while Fail Safe was left playing it straight, though somehow it's the one that got Walter Matthau and Dom DeLuise in the cast. It's still well worth watching in its own, directed by the great Sidney Lumet, and there's another curious connection to one of your faves 12 Angry Men between these two, as one of George C. Scott's final acting roles was Juror #3 in William Friedkin's 1997 remake, opposite Matthau's frequent partner Jack Lemmon as #8...whose original actor Henry Fonda was the President in Fail Safe. One part I thought you might take issue with is that there's only a single female character, Turgidson's secretary who's only there to have a body that can support a head, and a butt that seems to say "Hey, I'm a talking butt." But I find it works with the implication that any women in the room would have been able to clear everything up just fine. No surprise that you have no time for Turgidson, who the Christmas spirits apparently haven't gotten around to yet, and I highly doubt would know what to do if he stuck his hand in a bunch of goo that a moment before was his best friend's face. The legend goes that Scott wanted to do a more subtle dramatic performance, and Kubrick tricked him into this one by claiming those takes were just for their own fun. I have my doubts that he wouldn't have caught on at some point, but however we got it, I'm glad it exists. One neat part of watching reactions to this movie from people going in blind is whether they even notice the same guy is playing three roles. I've felt a bit guilty for a while about appreciating Peter Sellers' talent, knowing how much of it came out of his very serious mental issues that he only felt comfortable talking about with Kermit the Frog. If you read up on anything about his life, you can only mourn the lack of mental health infrastructure at the time that could have given him the help he needed. Instead, we get a trio of indelible performances, which were also supposed to include Kong before production issues got in the way. I've mentioned Dr. Strangelove himself alongside Betelgeuse as characters who don't have much actual screen time, but leave such an impact that you never question why the movie is named after them. I don't know how much about Operation Paperclip was publicly known at the time, but clearly someone knew something because he's an obvious reference to it, largely based on Edward Teller, who you'll remember from Kitty Oppenheimer refusing to shake his hand (the scene where he puts on sunscreen deliberately increases the resemblance). And President Merkin Muffley is based on Adlai Stevenson, who I've never looked much into but apparently had a reputation as the kind of guy who'd say "There's nothing to worry about in these rumors about Thrawn returning. Now back to this letter about how disappointed I'll be if these First Order people make another Death Star." Lovely to see the kick you got out of his phone calls, all totally improvised by Sellers in an extreme rarity for the extremely professional Kubrick, who wouldn't allow this kind of thing again until he was impressed by how creatively vulgar R. Lee Ermey could get. Another part of the movie's legend is that the bomber crew were told it was an entirely serious movie, which if it's true I'd guess Kubrick only hit on after Sellers wouldn't be involved. Instead we got Slim Pickens, a genuine cowboy (supposedly a lot of the insane horse stunts in William Wyler's The Big Country are from him) who instantly brings the perfect personality to the part. Alongside him is James Earl Jones, making his film debut showing off his marvelous voice after spending most of his childhood functionally mute with a severe stutter. And already he makes a mark on film history by inciting one of the most iconic images of the art form. Because however much we keep hoping these guys will have to go back for a shitload of dimes, they end up being so good at their jobs that they destroy the world. Who but Kubrick would have the guts to end a movie this way at a time when the whole world was expecting it to actually happen any day? Well, in full honesty that wasn't the original ending, as the reason that buffet table has such focus in a couple scenes is everyone was going to get into a food fight, which Kubrick decided didn't fit his more subtle comedy tone at all. Which ended up being a VERY good thing, since in one of the most horrifying coincidences in all entertainment, the scene was going to include Muffley taking a pie to the face, causing Turgidson to shout "Our gallant young President has been struck down in his prime!" You can also clearly see Kong's line about "a pretty good weekend in Vegas" is dubbed from the original Dallas. The movie became one of the most notorious Best Picture losses ever, since that year's winner My Fair Lady is a pleasant enough time, but suffers from maybe the least justified three hour runtime ever, and the inherent sexism of its male lead has become increasingly frowned upon. And it got the last laugh, being heralded as one of the greats ever to this day, and still being beloved by each new generation that discovers it and finds things in it relevant to their own experience. You can argue that's not exactly a good thing, but I'll take what I can get.
Ryan
2025-08-01 22:59:00 +0000 UTCHad a feeling that George C. Scott would test you as General Turgidson. My brother adores George in the role. Think the line exchange my brother and I quote the most is when President Muffley asks, “Yeah, but has he got a chance!?” and General Turgidson replies, “HAS HE GOT A CHANCE!? WELL, HELL YEAH, HE...”. Fantastic how Kubrick tricked George into being as over the top as he was. Funny enough, one moment was not planned when he tripped mid-line, and kept going with the dialogue, and it fit the absurdist tone so well, that Kubrick kept it in. The plane scenes are great in how taken out of context it would be inspiring. Shame you know the truth. Love how you sensed the foregone conclusion of that. Slim Pickens is so absurdly delightful. Everyone thought he was fucking with them with the accent, but that is how he talks. That’s his voice. A voice which inspired the voice of Bender in Futurama, true story. And the scenes feature the film debut of the titan and the legend, James Earl Jones. Realize too that when this came out, James turned thirty-four, meaning that I’m as old now as he was then. Which also means that I’m about a year younger than George was when they filmed this. George always did look older than his age. Oh, that was just so good seeing you spot James, and that smile on your face, gah, that was just terrific. And yeah, the plane crew, they state that the order would not be given unless things were that dire. But the order is falsely given. Meaning Major Kong’s got the green light to work up a Number Six on the Russians. Nothing was preparing me for the look on your face, Jess, when Major Kong and the bomb drop, we cut to James asking, “Hey, what about Major Kong?” right before that iconic smash cut to perhaps the film’s most enduring image. You do have quite the amount of respect for Mandrake in trying his damndest to save the day, especially after his job got harder after General Ripper blew his brains out, due to fear of torture, and he presumably dreaded a repeat occurrence of that fated dinner at Louie’s Restaurant in the Bronx. Then Mandrake had to put up with the great Keenan Wynn as the aptly named Colonel Bat Guano in what was left of the base. The base, and the plane, by the way, yes, they had some good signs. Then there is the most well-known of the three characters that Peter plays in this, and that is the title character. Only the two real scenes, and he holds the film hostage. Figured you would not like the dialogue of Dr. Strangelove’s second scene, on top of him ad-libbing with the physical comedy, a rarity for a Kubrick picture. Poor Peter Bull as Ambassador De Sadeski who is valiantly trying not to laugh. Adored your reaction to Dr. Strangelove getting out of the wheelchair. That also was not planned. Peter just forgot about the wheelchair, you can even hear how he cuts himself short with the silent “Oh, shit.” moment of realization, so he said the famous closing line to save the take, which is preserved. A fitting capper as we stop worrying and love the bomb. Would imagine that the good doctor has a lot of money in Vault-tech stock, which is likely to get blown sky high after the events of the film. Which, yes, you mention Fallout. Fallout is FAR from the only property to crib from this film, though they definitely cribbed a lot from this film. All in all, a most terrific reaction. Yeah, this is one that greatly benefits from repeat viewings, as do most Kubrick pictures. Spielberg says it well by saying, “Kubrick films tend to grow on you.” Thank you for the lovely reaction, Jess. Much appreciated.
Thomas Corp
2025-08-01 19:34:22 +0000 UTC
