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Old Hippie's Review

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)

From 1964 comes - perhaps - Stanley Kubrick's best known work. But it's a dark, and I do mean dark comedy. Remember back then, the cold war was going on. The USA built bombs and the USSR built more. Then we built more, etc., etc. Under the provisions of "Plan R" a base commander can issue the 'go code' for B-52 bombers to attack Russia. "Plan R" stipulates that this is only to occur if Washington D.C. and the President have already been wiped out. Just one little problem... The President and Washington D.C. are fine - just fine.

Sterling Hayden as Brigadier General Jack Ripper is insane! He believes that a communist plot using fluoridized water is sapping us all of our "precious bodily fluids." Quote, " I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids." OMG!

The cast is outstanding, with George C. Scott as General 'Buck' Turgidson, Slim Pickens as Major Kong, and James Earl Jones as Lieutenant Lothar Zogg. Most noteable is Peter Sellers in three roles as Group Captain Lionel Mandrake / President Merkin Muffley and Dr. Strangelove.

The only way to recall the planes is through a decoder - the CRM-114. On Major Kong's plane, this has been knocked out. Now, on a lighter note, watch Back to the Future sometime. There is a connection. As Michael J. Fox (Marty McFly) plugs a guitar into the amp & turns up the volume, one of the knobs is clearly marked CRM-114. I died laughing. My poor son didn't understand what was so funny.