OK so once upon a time (1958) a man named Peter George wrote a novel called Red Alert. It was a serious novel about the possibility that the madness of one low level military general could lead to all out nuclear war. Stanley Kubrick was intrigued by the novel and it's concept, but the more he thought about it the less possible it seemed to take the disastrous circumstances seriously. Consequently, for a serious interpretation of the book, one must turn to the rather turgid movie Fail-Safe. Kubrick instead decided to present the blatant absurdity that mankind could choose to annihilate itself.
Synopsis:
The action begins with General Buck Turgidson (George C. Scott) being informed of the crazy actions of Brigadier General Jack Ripper played by Sterling Hayden (yes even character names are absurd in this movie). He has issued an order for his bombers to drop their nuclear bombs over the Soviet Union. He was able to do so thanks to a loophole that was designed to allow us to blow up the Russians even if the first assault against us managed to take out the President and other people in the chain of command. The Brig. Gen then goes incommunicado, making it impossible to obtain the recall codes without which the planes will, indeed, drop their bombs on Russia. Soon all the powers that be have been assembled in the war room (a FAR more impressive location than the White House situation room) in order to brainstorm - and I use the term very loosely -- about how to stop the attack. Not everyone, I should point out wants to stop the attack, some, notably Scott's Turgidson believe that the U.S. should take advantage of this inevitable first strike to push ahead and finish off the enemy. Others, most importantly President Merkin Muffley (one of three roles played by Peter Sellers) disagree. Can and will the attack be stopped in time???
Now nuclear war may not sound that funny but with Terry Southern's script, Kubrick's direction and the madness of Peter Sellers it is HILARIOUS! Now don't get me wrong - it isn't hilarious like the three stooges or even the hangover it's dry as dust humor and humor you have to think about a minute. But I promise it is hilarious. In addition to the mealy mouthed president, Sellers plays a rather demented nuclear scientist (Dr. Strangelove) who was clearly a Nazi before he joined the U.S. team (not unlike many of our actual nuclear scientists and rocket scientists in the 60s), and he plays the only truly sane character in the movie, Group Captain Lionel Mandrake who spends most of the movie trying to pry the recall codes from the mouth of the brilliantly insane Sterling Hayden. There is the Russian Ambassador played by Peter Bull who not only has his own role to portray but also gets to relay the words of Soviet Premier Kissoff who has been raised on the red phone as part of the effort to avert disaster. The interaction of all these men (and they are all men with the exception of brief moments with Buck Turgidson's secretary/girlfriend there are no women in the movie) most of whom seem determined to prove their manhood, by destroying their lives and everyone else's, is hilarious because it is just so stupid. This really is a movie you will find people reference regularly, meaning it's worth seeing just so you know what they are talking about. Fortunately, it's also very fun to watch.
No comments:
Post a Comment