Director: Stanley Kubrick | USA | Fiction | 1964 | 95 mins |
Film source: Sony Pictures Repertory
Introduced by: Taylor Downing
Sponsor: Eyes of the World
Has it really been 50 years since Stanley Kubrick’s Cold War masterpiece made the fallout shelter generation fall out of its seats laughing at the terrifying yet absurd prospect of mutual assured nuclear destruction? Originally conceived as a deadly serious thriller—like Fail-Safe, released later that year—the unique impact of Dr. Strangelove stems from its combination of a documentary aesthetic and cinéma vérité-influenced cinematography with ribald black comedy and a cultural irreverence which dared to mock the president, the military and the general paranoia of the American public in the aftermath of the Cuban Missile Crisis. With an all-star cast, including George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden and Peter Sellers (in three roles), Dr. Strangelove remains the benchmark for political satires.