Classic Cold War satire, released in 1964. Directed by Stanley Kubrick and written by Kubrick, Terry Southern, and Peter George, based on George's novel "Red Alert." Starred Peter Sellers in a tremendous triple-role as Group Captain Lionel Mandrake, President Merkin Muffley, and Dr. Strangelove, George C. Scott as General Buck Turgidson, Sterling Hayden as General Jack D. Ripper, Keenan Wynn as Colonel Bat Guano, Slim Pickens as Major T. J. "King" Kong, Peter Bull as Ambassador de Sadesky, and James Earl Jones as Lieutenant Lothar Zogg.
When USAF General Jack D. Ripper goes completely nuts and orders his bomber wing to nuke the Soviet Union, Captain Lionel Mandrake tries in vain to reason with the mad general, while the American president and his advisors discover that the USSR has a failsafe if they are ever attacked with nuclear weapons: a Doomsday Device which will destroy all life on Earth. As the best efforts of the few people who could avert the disaster are thwarted by stupidity, insanity, and lunacy, the viewer is left to wonder if a nuclear holocaust would really be such a bad thing...
Peter Sellers was originally cast in four roles, but he had trouble getting his Texas accent down for Major Kong. He sent Kubrick a letter telling the director he couldn't play the role, then conveniently broke his leg. Pickens, meanwhile, was never shown a script, nor was he told the film would be a black comedy. He played the part as if it were a serious drama, which made his performance even funnier...
"Dr. Strangelove" was blessed with a plethora of funny lines and moments, ranging from President Muffley's "You can't fight in here, this is the War Room!" and Strangelove's "Mein Fuhrer! I can WALK!" to General Ripper's impassioned rant: "I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion, and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids."