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

Dr. Strangelove is one of Kubrick’s most acclaimed movies. Dr. Strangelove is a 1964 cold war satire, which was filmed at Shepperton Studios in London. Kubrick’s initial idea of the film was to create a serious nuclear war drama based on the novel Red Alert.  While working on the script, Kubrick realized that if he wanted to convey his message as clearly as possible he had to alter his approach and plot of the movie.  Working side by side with Peter George, the director decided to write the film as a black comedy The fruit of his work is a powerful satire that deviates from the usual hollywood film.

Plot

General Jack D. Ripper is a neurotic commander of a U.S. Air Force base.  He is in command of a group of B-52s that are in failsafe points around Russia waiting for orders to attack.  Overcome by his madness, Ripper initiates plan “R”, which is made to allow a senior commander to initiate an attack to the USSR in case the heads of the government are killed in a surprise attack.
     Captain Mandrake, Ripper’s second man in command, is aware that there hasn’t been any attack.  When the Captain reveals this fact to Ripper, the General refuses to stop the attack.  The General locks Mandrake and himself in his office to stop Mandrake from trying to use his authority to recall the attack.
     Meanwhile at the Pentagon, General Turgidson is trying to convince President Muffley to launch a complete nuclear attack.  The President opts to contact the Primer Minister of Russia, Dimitri Kissoff.  Muffley insists on giving the soviets the needed military information to destroy the planes to avoid the conflict.  The drunk Prime Minister reveals that the Soviet Union has installed a Doomsday device that will destroy all life on Earth if the Soviet Union is attacked.
     The President sends an Army to Ripper’s base to arrest him and stop the attack. Thinking that the incoming American troops are disguised soviet soldiers, Ripper’s men and Ripper himself start an attack to defend the base.  After a violent battle, the Army forces gain entry to the base.  Ripper commits suicide to avoid the American troops from torturing him to get the code.  After this event, Mandrake finds a doodle with the recall code. The troops arrest Captain Mandrake, but he is able to convince them to let him go because he has to contact the President to tell him the recall code.
     After a heavy anti-aircraft attack, there is only one B-52 left. The radio and fuel tanks of the plane are heavily damage hence the plane can’t get the recall code.  The damaged B-52’s bomb bay doors are stuck, and the commander has to open them himself.  One of the nuclear bombs is dropped with the commander on top of it.  This bomb explodes and activates the Doomsday Machine.
     Knowing that life on Earth will be extinct in ten months, Dr. Strangelove, a former Nazi and war expert, advices the President to create a Noah’s arc in a mine shaft to repopulated the U.S. The film ends with footage of nuclear explosions combined with Vera Lynn’s song “ We will meet again”.

Making Fun of the Cold War

  Dr. Strangelove is a Cold War satire that mocks the well-planned U.S. security system to preserve peace, the contemporary nuclear annihilation paranoia, and the foreign, government employed, nuclear scientists.

The Dooms Day Machine
Dr. Strangelove mocks the manner in which the militia was organized during the Cold War.  The movie shows the weakest point of the contemporary organization, that too much power and independence was delegated to some high rank commanders in the militia

The Red Menace
The norm criticizes nuclear annihilation paranoia that  most of the population and public leaders suffered from.  The movie portrays this by depicting the concerns of several characters about the Soviet Union’s next move.

The Character Dr. Strangelove
The wheelchair-bound Dr. Strangelove is President Muffley's scientific advisor in the War Room, a former Nazi, and a strategy expert.  The fact that Dr. Strangelove accidentally calls the president “Mein Führer” and that the independent entity of his right hand does the Nazi salute a couple of times is a satire of the fidelity of some important foreign nuclear scientist.   The character Dr. Strangelove has several traits that can be traced to important coeval figures like strategist Herman Kahn, mathemetician John von Neumann, and German rocket expert Werhner von Braun.