Talk:Dr. Strangelove/Archive 1
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I had put Kissinger in as a model for Strangelove, but a couple of Strangelove web sites said both Sellers and Kubrick had denied it, saying that von Braun's persona was the only one, although Herman Kahn's ideas were all through it. The web site cited for the Weegee story is the only one that I could find that even mentioned that Weegee had an accident, so it could be so. Left it in. Ortolan88
- Kissinger wasn't well known at the time, so it seems unlikely that he would be a model. I have heard that John v. Neumann was, though.
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Disputed sentence:
- The only person who can save the world is Dr. Strangelove, the former Nazi who heads the U.S. weapons research program.
I watched the film over Labor Day weekend and again last week. I don't recall anything about Stangelove having the ability to save the world. However, Captain Mandrake is focussed on little other than transmitting the recall code that will stop the US bombers from attacking Russia.
Is it possible that with the multiple roles Sellers played, we have confused which incarnation of Sellers was which? --Ed Poor
- Great catch! I didn't write that, but I read it so many times without noticing. In a sense, Mandrake is the person who can save the world in terms of the plot of the movie, while Dr. Strangelove is put forward, ironically, as the only person who can save the world politically. Ortolan88
- If I recall correctly, Strangelove suggests that with ten women for each men, it would be the, um, pleasant duty of men who survived Armageddon to repopulate the world -- thus saving the human race from extinction. --Ed Poor
- Hence the word "ironically". Recall Sen. Richard B. Russell's assertion: "If only one boy and girl are left alive after an atomic war, I want that boy and girl to be Americans."Ortolan88
General Ripper's plan is foiled--at first--but one B-52 ("The Leper Colony") can't be called back and is heading in to drop the one nuclear bomb that will set off the doomsday machine. The only person who can save the world is Group Captain Lionel Mandrake, the British exchange officer who discovers the recall code.
Now, wait a second. I admit I haven't seen the movie in a while, but this summary seems chronologically backwards. As I remember it, the sequence of events is: a) the General's death, b) discovery and broadcasting of the recall code, which stops most of the bombers, then c) realization that the last bomber isn't responding to the code. Once it's discovered that the last B-52 won't respond to the code, there's nothing Mandrake can do about it anymore. To point out that the last bomber can't be stopped, and subsequently imply that Mandrake can do something about it seems bass ackwards. Am I incorrect? Dachshund
No that's it.
- Sounds right, but Mandrake not only discovered the code, but also discovered the radio and figured out that the general was lying. Maybe it should say "Mandrake only could have saved the world". Ortolan88
Surely 'Dmitri' is spelt Demetrius? (with the us silent) -Adrian
- Unfortunately, we don't hear Kissoff himself, so he's not credited on the IMDb. But if you google '"dr. strangelove" kissoff' you'll see that in the first 3 pages it's all "Dmitri." --KQ
- For what it matters, the DVD English subtitle spells it "Dimitri" Ash Lux 4 July 2005 05:17 (UTC)
- The novelization which came out at the same time as the movie also spells it "Dimitri". Wahkeenah 4 July 2005 10:22 (UTC)
Obviously in the movie the only one who could have saved the world by he's own choice is the pilot of the b-52 that droped the bomb :-)
The one thing that comes to mind when thinking about this movie is a man riding a falling atom bomb, but no notion of this is made here. Am I mistaken or is this powerful image indeed connected to this movie?
- yes, it's one of the final scenes of the film. -- Tarquin
- Well, the final scene. Added explicitly to article.
I'm going to move this to the IMDB Title "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb"
Damn I made a mistake and moved the talk page, can someone please fix Mintguy
Surely, in the name of common sense, the move ought to be to just plain "Dr Strangelove"? Tannin
I've always thought Dr Strangelove wasn't nearly as funny or clever as it thinks it is. Most of the jokes appear to have been crudely tacked onto the original thriller plot, the British, Germans and Russians - and the Americans, I guess - are all crudely stereotyped, and all of the characters have stupid "funny" names. Maybe these points should be discussed in the article. Lee M
- Done --Lee M
- Shouldn't there be more sources than just Lee M's feelings about this reaction to the movie before his paragraph becomes etched in stone. I have read many articles and books about this film and have never encountered the term crude applied to it by anyone else. It seems to be pushing the edge of wiki NPOV to have it in the article when it is better suited to these discussion pages. Just a thought, I could be wrong. MarnetteD | Talk 22:08, 28 Apr 2005 (UTC)
I think the converse is true - this film was a lot more serious than some might now realise. I saw it in 1965 with two others in their late teens - it was less than 3 years since the Cuban missile crisis. We all saw it as a very black and bitter anti-war film leavened with a little pointed clowning by Sellers. Revisiting it a couple of times in the last ten years the things that live on are the beauty of the B52 winging through the mountains, and the real tension that's still stirred by the final bomb run. You're right, it isn't at root that funny - but that's because it wasn't meant to be. Linuxlad 09:19, 30 Nov 2004 (UTC)
The plot summary doesn't explain the part which the character Dr Strangelove plays in the story. Could someone put that in? Marnanel 01:53, Apr 24, 2004 (UTC)
"Pickens was unaware the film was to be a comedy and played the role straight, thereby becoming all the more funny" -- is there an authoritative source for this statement? A quote from Pickens himself would be best. Lefty 02:03, 2004 Apr 24 (UTC)
I claim responsibility for this edit, and I've been looking round for a reputable cite. Many other sources mention it but only as a long-rumoured story. The best I've found is from Roger Ebert in 1999:
- Major Kong was intended to be Sellers' fourth role, but he was uncertain about the cowboy accent. Pickens, a character actor from westerns, was brought in by Kubrick, who reportedly didn't tell him the film was a comedy. Pickens' patriotic speeches to his crew (and his promises of promotion and medals) are counterpoint to the desperate American efforts to recall the flight.
Unless someone can find an unpublished autobiography by Slim Pickens himself it's unlikely that we will know for sure but his acting does seem to have an earnestness not present in the other characters. Perhaps the phrase should be softened to indicate uncertainty. Meanwhile, why is 170.140.79.13 removing the perfectly justified remark about characters as metaphors? Dbiv 21:48, 10 May 2004 (UTC)
- Or one could ask James Earl Jones who appeared in the bomber with Slim Pickens to see if he knew they were in a comedy or if he knew Pickens knew. Jones, as one of the few actors in the bomber scenes with Pickens might have the best recollection. --SeanO 00:10, May 11, 2004 (UTC)
I did read in a book about war movies that Slim Pickens didn't know they were in a comedy and so he played the role straight forward. I'll let you know what book it is just as soon as I can.
I think that on the DVD they said Sellers was pulled from the bomber pilot character simply because he had an on-set accident that made working in the close-quarters of the bomber set uncomfortable. Someone might want to check on that. Wahkeenah 21:15, 8 Jun 2005 (UTC)
I don't buy into the idea that Pickens didn't know it was a comedy of some sort. Even if he didn't know initially, riding the bomb and screaming "YA-HOOO" is not exactly a normal dramatic device. Wahkeenah 4 July 2005 10:22 (UTC)