{"id":24982,"date":"2024-11-23T18:35:10","date_gmt":"2024-11-23T18:35:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/?p=24982"},"modified":"2024-11-24T12:39:22","modified_gmt":"2024-11-24T12:39:22","slug":"media-dr-strangelove","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/?p=24982","title":{"rendered":"MEDiA: Dr Strangelove"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Wow! What an amazing film. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This gets the coveted six stars. It\u2019s beyond brilliant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Brilliant titles.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Everything about this movie is superlatively wonderful. The idea, the execution. The acting, directing, script, and so it goes on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sellers is superb in all three roles.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s famed for, amongst other things, Peter Sellers playing three major parts. And all three supremely well. Snd, as we\u2019d expect, with a movie starring Sellers, there are elements of comedy, albeit very black comedy, from the subtle nuanced to the outright farcical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Laughs aplenty.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The names of the characters are sublime: US President Merkin Muffley, Brig. Gen. Jack Ripper, Col. \u2018Bat\u2019 Guano, and Group Captain Lionel Mandrake, being just a few examples.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A chilling and powerful image.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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U.S. Prez, Merkin Muffley.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Stiff-upper lipped Grp. Cmdr. Mandrake.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The wonderfully unhinged Dr Strangelove.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There are several films within the main film:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s the flight crew, under Maj. \u2018King\u2019 Kong (Slim Pickens), who are \u2018just doing their job\u2019. This strand is mostly played as pretty straight drama, with only Picken\u2019s slightly gung-ho newkiller cowboy role stretching the envelope. It\u2019s a very well done subplot, especially in relation to the high-tech airborne procedural stuff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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B-52 business, with James Earl Jones.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Then there\u2019s the dynamics between Gen. Ripper and Lionel Mandrake. The former hell bent on annihilating those damn Reds, on account of his formerly faltering libido. The latter realising his superior is sending them all to Hell in a handcart, and is nuttier than a mountain of squirrel guano.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The War Room.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s also Merkin Muffley, and his ring of power – pause must be made here to reflect on the glory that is the War Room set – wherein \u2018Buck\u2019 Turgidson and Alexi come to blows like a proper pair of clowns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2018Two can play at that game, soldier.\u2019<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And there\u2019s even the mini war-film, with US troops attacking Burpelson Air Base. This is shot, in the main, like a documentary, or news item. I think the choice to make the movie in black and white is also connected with the collective memory of WWII newsreels, mostly in black and white. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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An absolutely stunning set.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And set, like jewels, within these strands are some truly wonderful moments, such as the first telephone call between Merkin and his Soviet counterpart, Dmitri. The latter drunk and – like \u2018Buck\u2019, earlier – out womanising. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2018Gentlemen\u2026\u2019<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Some of the best lines in film history are to be heard here:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here! This is the War Room!\u2019 Merkin Muffley<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Hayden is awesomely awful.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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\u2018Women sense my power, and they seek the life essence. I do not avoid women, Mandrake. But I\u2026 I do deny them my essence.\u2019 Gen. Jack Ripper<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2018I think you\u2019re some kind of deviated prevert\u2026\u2019 Col. \u2018Bat\u2019 Guano<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You could say Sellers steals the show, appearing as he does – and to brilliant effect – in three key roles. But the rest of the cast are actually equally brilliant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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George C. Scott\u2019s \u2018Buck\u2019 is amazing.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I have to pick out the following as particularly charismatic: Sterling Hayden as the lunatic Gen. Ripper; George C. Scott as the gruffly hawkish Gen. \u2018Buck\u2019 Turgidson; Slim Pickens, as good ol\u2019 boy Maj. Kong. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amongst the supporting cast, Tracy Reed is fab, as Miss Scott, Peter Bull\u2019s Alexi is pitch perfect, and Keenan Wynn\u2019s dim Col. \u2018Bat\u2019 Guano is priceless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2018You\u2019ll have to answer to the Coca-Cola Co.\u2019<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s one member of the B-52 crew I\u2019d dearly love to identify; the navigator. His voice is a key part of the film, during the parts in the B-52. I think it\u2019s this guy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Is this Paul Tamarin, as the B-52 navigator?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a beautifully made film, with a very powerful punch, that is simultaneously hilarious and very, very chilling. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What a movie!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To finish, here\u2019s a gallery of \u2018in the making\u2019 scenes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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FOOTNOTE<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fourth picture, in the above \u2018making of\u2019 type gallery, is famous photographer, Weegee, with a custard-pie splattered Sellers\/Muffley. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A very<\/em> different ending to the film than that which was finally released was originally shot, culminating not with the \u2018Mein Fuhrer, I can walk\u2019 line (and then the exploding bombs\/Vera Lynn), but a farcical custard pie fight.<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2018Buck\u2019 enjoys War.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It was rejected, as being too silly – not in keeping with the dark satire of the movie as a whole – and, crucially, the timing was off: there was a line where George C. Scott\u2019s Turgidson character says \u2018Gentlemen, our beloved president has been infamously struck down by a pie in the prime of his life!\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The day the movie had its first screen-test, Kennedy was assassinated. For this reason alone – never mind the scene spoiling a dark satire with unwonted levity – it\u2019s not altogether surprising that the pie-fight ending was binned. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The far better darker ending.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wow! What an amazing film. This gets the coveted six stars. It\u2019s beyond brilliant. Everything about this movie is superlatively wonderful. The idea, the execution. The acting, directing, script, and so it goes on. It\u2019s famed for, amongst other things, Peter Sellers playing three major parts. And all three supremely well. Snd, as we\u2019d expect, … <\/p>\n

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