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Movies / On DVD / Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

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

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Reviews Counted:56

Fresh:56

Rotten:0

Average Rating:9/10

Consensus: Stanley Kubrick’s brilliant Cold War satire remains as funny and razor-sharp today as it was in 1964.

Rated: PG

Runtime: 1 hr 35 mins

Genre: Comedies

Theatrical Release:00-00-0000

Synopsis: DR. STRANGELOVE OR: HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE BOMB is Stanley Kubrick's Cold War masterpiece. Based on the novel RED ALERT by Peter George, the film is set at the height of the... DR. STRANGELOVE OR: HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE BOMB is Stanley Kubrick's Cold War masterpiece. Based on the novel RED ALERT by Peter George, the film is set at the height of the tensions between Russia and the United States, when all it would take to destroy the world was one push of a button. And General Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden) is just the man to do it. Convinced that the Russians have infiltrated America's "vital essence," the crazed Ripper gives the go code to the 843rd bomb wing to attack Russia, setting in motion a series of darkly hilarious vignettes involving gung-ho soldiers, wacky generals, spying Russians, drunken premiers, battles with soda machines, fights in the War Room, and the Russians' top-secret Doomsday Machine. Shot in black and white, the film has three main centers of action: one of the B-52 bombers, on which a group of loyal men know they are about to start World War III; Burpelson Air Force Base, where Group Captain Lionel Mandrake (Peter Sellers) is trying to convince everyone that Ripper has gone mad and the bombing must be stopped; and the War Room, where President Merkin Muffley (Sellers again) is trying to make peace with the Russians. The finale featuring Sellers as Dr. Strangelove is a comic gem. Hayden, George C. Scott, Slim Pickens, Keenan Wynn, and Sellers (in three roles) are especially terrific in what may be the funniest, most poignant black comedy ever made, a vicious satire on the farcical aspects of the military and the cold war. [More]

Starring: Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, Slim Pickens

Starring: Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, Slim Pickens, Peter Bull, Keenan Wynn, James Earl Jones, Tracy Reed, Jack Creley

Director: Stanley Kubrick

Director: Stanley Kubrick
Screenwriter: Terry Southern, Stanley Kubrick, Peter George
Producer: Stanley Kubrick
Composer: Laurie Johnson
Studio: Sony Pictures Entertainment

[See More Credits]

Reviews for Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop...

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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[A] supremely ironic comedy on the possibility of nuclear annihilation.

Full Review Source: Film4 | comment Comment
10/03/07
Film4
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Perhaps Kubrick's most perfectly realised film, simply because his cynical vision of the progress of technology and human stupidity is wedded with comedy.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
01/26/06
Geoff Andrew
Geoff Andrew
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

It still features Peter Sellers' finest three performances as well as proving that the supposedly humourless Kubrick was up for a laugh.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
03/02/05
Dorian Lynskey
Dorian Lynskey
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

... like a morbidly sick Looney Tunes short with its cartoon heroes struggling impotently to keep hold of a hot potato.

Full Review Source: DVD Review | comment Comment
06/16/09
Felix Gonzalez Jr.
Felix Gonzalez Jr.
DVD Review

Dr. Strangelove's status as the movie that confirmed both Stanley Kubrick's reputation and the arrival of beat-sick irreverence can no longer be retracted.

Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | comment Comment
06/16/09
Eric Henderson
Eric Henderson
Slant Magazine

Kubrick nos presenteia com uma pérola de humor negro que critica acidamente as guerras e a mediocridade dos homens por trás destas.

Full Review Source: Cinema em Cena | comment Comment
02/09/09
Pablo Villaca
Pablo Villaca
Cinema em Cena

The funniest film ever made about nuclear holocaust...

Full Review Source: Seanax.com | comment Comment
10/26/08
Sean Axmaker
Sean Axmaker
Seanax.com

Like most of his work, Stanley Kubrick's deadly black satirical comedy-thriller on cold war madness and its possible effects (1964) has aged well.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
05/08/07
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Chicago Reader

The whole thing is a bit too contemptuous of our defense system for my comfort and taste, wrote NY Times critic Crowther, showing that Kubrick's dark satire was so ahead of its time that critics didn't know what to make of it; Crowther was not alone.

Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | comment Comment
05/04/07
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

It's as startling today as it was then. Catch it now before it becomes too relevant to be funny again.

Full Review Source: Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC) | comment Comment
10/11/06
Ken Hanke
Ken Hanke
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

'Purity of essence'.... Superbly crafted satire that's neocon fresh to this day.

Full Review Source: DVDJournal.com | comment Comment
04/15/06
Mark Bourne
Mark Bourne
DVDJournal.com

Sound funny? It is.

Full Review Source: Zertinet Movies | comment Comment
10/01/05
Steven Snyder
Steven Snyder
Zertinet Movies

Endures as one of the finest political satires.

Full Review Source: Arizona Daily Star | comment Comment
09/09/05
Phil Villarreal
Phil Villarreal
Arizona Daily Star

This landmark movie's madcap humor and terrifying suspense remain undiminished by time.

Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | comment Comment
11/26/04
Michael Wilmington
Michael Wilmington
Chicago Tribune

Stanley Kubrick's blackest of black comedies.

Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment Comment
11/18/04
Glenn Abel
Glenn Abel
Hollywood Reporter
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Stanley Kubrick's 40-year-old satirical polital-comedy about the end of the world is especially disturbing as one ponders world events at present.

Full Review Source: Blunt Review | comment Comment
11/13/04
Emily Blunt
Emily Blunt
Blunt Review

Is Dr. Strangelove Kubrick's best movie? Along with Paths of Glory, absolutely.

Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
11/05/04
Ty Burr
Ty Burr
Boston Globe

Kubrick's great 1964 tragicomedy about superpowers on the nuclear brink continues to fascinate new generations of moviegoers, as its frequent reissues attest.

Full Review Source: Christian Science Monitor | comment Comment
10/14/04
David Sterritt
David Sterritt
Christian Science Monitor

Stanley Kubrick's first genuinely original movie has been seen, reseen, dissected, and iconized, but a few sly truths about it have yet to be fully grokked.

Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
10/12/04
Michael Atkinson
Michael Atkinson
Village Voice

A masterpiece of satire, paranoia and straight comedy. One of the all-time classics with a great cast and many memorable moments. Sellers is magnificent.

comment Comment
07/31/04
Bob Bloom
Bob Bloom
Journal and Courier (Lafayette, IN)
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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