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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 comments; UK critics are listed first)
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[A] supremely ironic comedy on the possibility of nuclear annihilation.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
10/03/07
Channel 4 Film
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

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

No review available.

comment 1 Comment
12/25/03
Spence D.
Spence D.
IGN Movies

The film is a model of barely controlled hysteria in which the absurdity of hypermasculine Cold War posturing becomes devastatingly funny--and at the same time nightmarishly frightening in its accuracy.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
01/01/00
TV Guide's Movie Guide
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A fantastically satirical picture with many chuckles and a goodly amount of suspense.

Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment Comment
06/05/02
Boxoffice Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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)

The most shattering sick joke I've ever come across.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
01/01/00
Bosley Crowther
Bosley Crowther
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Hysterically funny cold war satire. Peter Sellers' triple role is the crowning touch. One of Kubrick's greatest films.

comment Comment
03/21/03
Brian Mckay
Brian Mckay
eFilmCritic.com

Not only is the movie wickedly funny, it's a subversive anti-war film that shows just how easily a conflict could erupt and the end of the world be brought about.

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
01/01/00
Christopher Null
Christopher Null
Filmcritic.com

Dr. Strangelove is one of the most hilarious and desperate satires in the history of cinema.

Full Review Source: Apollo Guide | comment Comment
01/01/00
Dan Jardine
Dan Jardine
Apollo Guide

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

This is one of the greatest political satires, if not the greatest ever made. A not to be missed film.

Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment Comment
01/01/00
Dennis Schwartz
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

No review available.

comment Comment
04/02/04
Derek Smith
Derek Smith
Apollo Guide

One of the greatest films ever made.

Full Review Source: rec.arts.movies.reviews | comment Comment
07/17/02
Dragan Antulov
Dragan Antulov
rec.arts.movies.reviews

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

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

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

... 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

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
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by comments; UK critics are listed first)
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Latest News for Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to...

February 04, 2009: Exclusive: Inside Pinewood/Shepperton - A Photo Tour
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