I've never really cared for any of Stanley Kubrick's films. I know they're iconic but not a single one has been something that I would watch twice. Dr. Strangelove did nothing to change this opinion. A zealous Army general (Sterling Hayden) enacts a set of orders enabling a nuclear strike on Russia. It was meant as a failsafe should Washington, D.C. be destroyed in a surprise attack, but the general believes that it is his solemn duty to protect the precious bodily fluids of Americans by destroying the Red Menace. President Muffley (Peter Sellers) assembles his advisors, as well as the Russian ambassador (Peter Bull), in the War Room to try and stave off full-fledged nuclear war. Unfortunately, the deluded general has the only passcode that will stand down the assorted bomber units and time is running out.
There is a lot of humor to be mined from the absurdity of mutually assured destruction and the nuclear arms race in a post-Cuban Missile Crisis world. Unfortunately, this movie confines itself to bad puns and stupid names for characters like 'Jack D. Ripper' and 'Merkin Muffley'. Peter Sellers plays three roles in the production, with his most recognizable being the titular Dr. Strangelove. The inclusion of the character makes no sense and seems to exist only to make Nazi references. I'm sure it's an allusion to the fact that we actively recruited top German scientists after WWII, absolving them of whatever crimes of affiliation they might have had, but it's still a one-line joke. I honestly don't understand why people wax poetic about this movie.
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