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

"Gentlemen, you can't fight in here, this is the war room." A black comedy from Stanley Kubrick, Dr. Strangelove is considered a masterpiece of American cinema. Starring Peter Sellers, Slim Pickens, Sterling Hayden, Peter Sellers (again), George C. Scott, and Peter Sellers (yet again), the plot begins when renegade (and deranged) American Brigadier General Jack D. Ripper (Hayden) (yes, this is supposed to be funny) initiates an attack on the Soviet Union. His executive officer, Group Captain Lionel Mandrake of the Royal Air Force (Sellers) (an exchange officer), orders Ripper's squadron of nuclear-armed B-52 Stratofortress bombers to penetrate Soviet airspace. His reason for launching the attack: he believes the Soviets are conspiring to contaminate American water, thus contaminating people's "precious bodily fluids."
When word reaches President Merkin Muffley (Sellers, in his second role) of the raid, he immediately attempts to contact the Russian premier. Unfortunately, the Russian leader is quite drunk, forcing him to negotiate with the Soviet ambassador, Alexei de Sadesky (Peter Bull). General Buck Turgidson (Scott) does not trust the ambassador, however, leading to some conflict. Eventually, Muffley decides to help the Soviets shoot down the bombers. It is then that a horrible secret is revealed: the Soviets had built a doomsday machine that will essentially cause the end of life as we know it if the Soviets are attacked (they built it because they thought the Americans had one). According to weapons expert (and ex-Nazi) Dr. Strangelove (Sellers, yet again), the device will also spread its deadly radiation if any attempts to deactivate it are made.
Eventually, Muffley orders the U.S. Army to arrest Ripper and get the recall codes. I'll stop now, since I don't want to spoil the rest of the plot. From the opening scene of a B-52 being refueled in flight by a KC-135 Stratotanker (in a scene that, judging by the heavy use of sexual innuendos throughout the film, can only be interpreted as being representative of intercourse) to the ending montage (which replaced the original pie-fight ending), Dr. Strangelove is consistently suspenseful, sensual, and very funny. By the way, look for James Earl Jones as the bombardier of Slim Pickens' B-52 (he's the only black guy on the plane, so it should be easy to spot him).

Rating: 4/4