Dr. Strangelove

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, often shortened to *Dr. Strangelove*, is a 1964 black comedy that satirizes Cold War anxieties about nuclear conflict. Stanley Kubrick co-wrote, produced, and directed the film, which draws loosely from Peter George's 1958 thriller *Red Alert*. George worked on the screenplay alongside Kubrick and Terry Southern. Columbia Pictures handled financing and release, and the production was a joint venture between the United States and the United Kingdom.

The story follows a paranoid U.S. Air Force brigadier general who launches an unauthorized nuclear strike against the Soviet Union. The President of the United States, his scientific advisor Dr. Strangelove, a Royal Air Force exchange officer (all three played by Peter Sellers), and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (George C. Scott) scramble to stop a B-52 bomber crew from reaching its target and triggering a full-scale nuclear war. The cast also includes Sterling Hayden, Keenan Wynn, Slim Pickens, and Tracy Reed.

The film is regarded as one of the finest comedies ever made and ranks among the most influential films in history. In 1998, the American Film Institute placed it 26th on its list of the best American films; the 2007 edition ranked it 39th. In 2000, the institute listed it as the third funniest American film. In 1989, the U.S. Library of Congress selected *Dr. Strangelove* as one of the first 25 films preserved in the National Film Registry, citing its cultural, historical, and aesthetic significance. The film earned four Academy Award nominations: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Actor for Sellers. It also received seven BAFTA Film Award nominations, winning Best Film From Any Source, Best British Film, and Best Art Direction (Black and White), and took the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation.

**Plot**

U.S. Air Force Brigadier General Jack D. Ripper, commander of Burpelson Air Force Base, orders his executive officer, Royal Air Force exchange officer Group Captain Lionel Mandrake, to put the base on maximum lockdown (condition red), confiscate all private radios, and execute "Wing Attack Plan R" for the 843rd Bomb Wing. At the time, the wing's B-52 bombers, each carrying thermonuclear bombs, are on airborne alert two hours from their Soviet targets.

The bombers begin their attack runs and set their radios to accept only communications preceded by a secret three-letter code known solely to General Ripper. Mandrake, finding a missed radio and hearing civilian broadcasts, realizes no attack order came from the Pentagon. He tries to stop Ripper, who locks them both in his office. Ripper explains he believes the Soviets are fluoridating American water to contaminate the "precious bodily fluids" of citizens. Mandrake concludes Ripper is insane.

In the Pentagon's War Room, General Buck Turgidson briefs President Merkin Muffley and other officers that "Plan R" allows a senior officer to launch a retaliatory nuclear strike if all superiors have been killed in a first strike. Since trying every CRM code combination to issue a recall would take two days, Muffley orders the Army to storm the base and arrest Ripper. Turgidson, noting the slim chance of recalling the planes in time, suggests letting the attack proceed and sending reinforcements. Muffley rejects this and instead brings Soviet Ambassador Alexei de Sadeski into the War Room to phone Soviet Premier Dimitri Kissov. Muffley warns the premier of the attack and offers to reveal the bombers' targets, flight plans, and defenses so the Soviets can protect themselves.

After a heated conversation with a drunken Kissov, the ambassador tells Muffley that the Soviet Union built a doomsday machine as a nuclear deterrent: a network of buried cobalt bombs set to detonate automatically if any nuclear attack strikes the country. The resulting fallout would make Earth's surface uninhabitable for 93 years. The device cannot be deactivated, as it is programmed to explode if anyone tries. The president's German scientific adviser, the paraplegic former Nazi Dr. Strangelove, notes that such a machine would only be an effective deterrent if everyone knew about it; de Sadeski replies that Kissov planned to announce its existence at the Party Congress the following week.

When Army troops take control of Burpelson, General Ripper shoots himself. Mandrake deduces the CRM code from doodles on Ripper's desk blotter and relays it to the Pentagon. Strategic Air Command recalls all bombers except one, commanded by Major T. J. "King" Kong. Its radio was damaged by a Soviet surface-to-air missile, so it cannot receive or send messages. Major Kong flies below radar and changes targets, avoiding Soviet air defenses. Because the missile also damaged the bomb bay doors, Kong enters the bay and repairs the wiring. When he succeeds, the bomb drops with him straddling it. Kong joyfully hoots and waves his cowboy hat as he rides the falling bomb to his death.

In the War Room, Dr. Strangelove recommends that the President...