Cindy S 94 At least in our world Americans only need to worry about PotUS going crazy and ordering a strike for no good reason; in this world, a whole bunch of regional generals have that power too, and they explicitly can lie and say that a chunk of usa has ALREADY been nuked by the enemy and the president ALREADY dead so now they just gotta avenge the government!
This is when I almost pissed myself laughing "I am sorry as you are Dimitri, Do not say that your are more sorry then I am, because I am capable of being as sorry as you are. So we are both sorry, all right ?
Sellers was indeed phenomenal, but there was a recent Harper's article displaying drafts of the script confirming that most of this is actually written by Terry Southern.
Yes. Distilled to its essence (of all things) in that the term was widely used in that era; I grew up in the '60s. My parents had taken me to see Dr. Strangelove when I was eight years old.
@@chrisgross5409 ...not to mention the large amount of gum George chewed throughout this movie was genius! It was like he was smoking one cigarette after another but chewing the tar out of each pack of gum instead!
Many takes of Scott were the funniest expression that Kubrick could find on his face during filming, he didn't know Kubrick would have use them, so he was very angry because of that.
I laughed when he said "One of our men went a little bit funny in the head. You know, just a little funny." It''s funny how he treats an attacking situation so calmly.
"Vladimir, one of our men went a little funny in the head. You know, just a little funny. No Vlad, it wasn't an air force base commander, it was the president. Joe Biden went a little funny in the head."
'...it's a friendly call, of course it's a friendly call...Listen, if it wasn't friendly...you probably wouldn't have even got it" LMAO!!!!! Classic black comedy, doesn't get better than this!
***** 1. It's the continuation of the trope that the President is sharing useless pleasantries while the world is about to end. 2. If the President launched a nuclear strike against Russia and wasn't being friendly about it, he never would've called Russia in the first place. An extension of Turgidson's fanatical surprise attack plan. He inadvertently calls out General Turgidson here.
This was not only my favorite scene in the whole movie, but probably the funniest scene in the movie as well. It's amazing how this movie still manages to be hilariously funny even 52 years after it's release. Rest in peace stanley kubrick. You will be forever missed and remembered.
3:36 “I am as sorry as you are Dimitri, don’t say that your more sorry than I am because I’m capable of being just as sorry as you are. So we’re both sorry.”- one of the best quotes 😂👌
Perfect commentary. In real life, the Cold War could be seen as two men playing chicken, with the rest of the world as their hapless passengers. Both of them probably would be rather sorry if they ended the world. Paved with good intentions etc. "I'm sorry Dimitri..."
The Phone Company...Directory Assistance...Operators, etc. controlling the situation are a running gag in this movie. See also the scene with Group Captain Mandrake, Col. Bat Guano, and the phone booth.
And the reaction of The President of the USA when he openly admitted to the Soviet Premier that one of his Air Force General went rogue and order his bomber squadron to nuke the Soviet Union.
Talking to a pissed up Premier....."The bomb Dimitri.........the hydrogen bomb" and then followed by "Well, I'll tell you what he did, he ordered his planes... to attack your country. Well let me finish, Dimitri. Let me finish, Dimitri." The pause before he almost chokes saying "to attack your country" kills me every time I see it.
And the expression on his face changes. You forget what a magnificently talented actor Peter Sellers is because you get lost in how extreme the Dr. Strangelove character is, but Sellers is also subtle and detailed.
It reminds me of a guy speaking to his wife. "Please let me finish, Dmitri. How do you think I feel about? Of course, I like to speak to you. Don't say you're more sorry than I am because I can be as sorry as you are."
The implication, though, is that while Muffley is always this much of a feelings type, the Soviet leader is only so because he's drunk. I imagine a blubbery, unrestrained man at the other end.
Fishslap 33 The story I heard was that Sellers has a mishap during filming and was unable to play the role of Maj. T.J. "King" Kong, and that's when Slim Pickens was brought in.
+gbushimprov Haha Jesus I mean what was their plan? To only ever show 1 actor at a time? I mean if Peter Sellers was supposed to play every role they wouldn't be able to show more then 1 person at a time correct? I don't see how he would even be able to make the movie then because all he should have been able to do there is only show one face at a time and have everyone else with their back to him... I mean were well before the technology was capable of putting faces on different actors like we can currently do right when this film was made right?
It's great that the President was made to resemble Adlai Stevenson -- a strong, able, and intelligent man who nevertheless came across as a bit wimpy. Image is everything.
Adlai Stevenson saved the world when he came up with the idea for Kennedy of US standing down nukes in Turkey in exchange of Soviets standing down in Cuba. Khrushchev agreed, and threat of end of world was ended.
+Blue .Effigy The decision to put the camera right down at table-level, and shoot through the arms of the actors helps as well - despite being set in a really big room the scene is very claustrophobic. When it clicks to the wide shot at 03:46 and they dial up the reverb you suddenly realise how small the president is.
I remember my parents and uncles and aunts watching this movie in the den during a family get-together & just laughing hysterically. Peter Sellers was a master with personas and accents. Kubrick..... so ballsy to do a movie about nuclear war as a comedy? George C. Scott was such a great actor
Gorbachev wasn’t a big drinker, at least in a Russian perspective. Neither was Kruschev. They both drank, just not a ton compared to the others. Yeltsin definitely had drinking issues, but so did several of the Soviet General Secretaries/Premiers. Brezhnev was a renowned piss tank, just as bad as Stalin, perhaps even worse. Andropov and Chernenko also liked to partake in vodka, which is partially why they all died younger than normal (in perspective). Russia (and the Soviet Union) and her republics always had and still have a serious alcohol problem, especially in regards to vodka. There are a few interesting documentaries on it and I recommend viewing them. And it goes back a long, long ways.
I personally think that Dr Strangelove is one of the best films ever made. It’s just pure genius from start to finish. I must’ve watched dozen times. Dialogue is just absolutely fantastic and so funny. One of the best lines from the film was “what’s cooking on the big boards”
Has anyone ever noticed the running joke in this film? That is, how the phone and the phone company are pivot points and controls over the characters and their fortunes? (Dimitri, do you happen to have the phone number?...Try Omsk 411?...Mandrake needing exact change in the phone booth to avert nuclear war, etc.) Pure, satirical genius!
Did you know that in the UK, government civil servants were provided with pennies for use in a public phone box should they need to contact an aircraft base during a nuclear crisis?
Still like it? I sometimes think how scary Nuclear war must have been for my dad. But when a gun is pointed at your head 24/7 when do you.stop noticing it. What is like is we are born with.the gun pointed at our head. Do we ever eve.n see it. I think it’s a. Einstein quote that goes something like: “Man can be expected to walk a tight rope from time to time but now we must walk it for all time. Because although I cannot tell you what weapons will be used in WWIII I can tell you that WWIV will be fought with sticks and stones.”
@@orsonwelles4254 Actually it's mostly true and is pretty well-known. It's said that he improvised much of his dialogues, and caused a lot of retakes due to the crew laughing. I said mostly true because I don't recall reading about Kubrick himself laughing and causing the retakes.
@@orsonwelles4254 It might not be true but this has a quality to it that suggests a lot of the wonderful details and mannerisms were improvised by a talented comedian/performer rather than written by a screenwriter.
@@salestraining8775 No, it was implied the Soviet Prime Minister said that in response to the US President's informing him about the approaching American bombers. Scott later just demonstrated how 'hot dog' American bomber pilots were and what that Kong's bomber's chances were of executing its mission.
@@salestraining8775 He never said "I know those are our boys." The American president was talking to the Soviet PM on the phone and when he requested the Soviets to shoot down the US bombers, the Soviet PM said something back, then the president said, "I know they are our boys." Implying that the Soviet PM was shocked when the president asked him to shoot down the B-52s, probably saying "But they are YOUR boys!"
"Well now, what happened is ah, one of our base commanders , he had a sort of ..he went a little funny in the head & he went and did a silly thing." LOL
This scene is great. Sellers is a legend. I love how the lines in this scene and all of Sellers lines were ad-libbed after the first line of the script that he spoke. I wonder how the dialogue of Sellers characters actually went in the script. Probably not as good as what he said in the film, but it probably was good, it was co-written by Kubrick after all, but I wonder what was originally written before Sellers put his genius to the lines. Why Sellers didn't get an Oscar for this is beyond me.
It’s an old vaudeville act called “telephone”.. And I think everything about it was intentional, including the ad-libing.. I’m sure there are videos of Bob Newhart doing skits like this on RU-vid.. Check them out, he’s hilarious..
Every outstanding actor in this memorable, 54 year old classic is dead. Peter, George Stirling, Slim, Kennen, and a host of the secondary supporting actors that made this film a treasure. They all now belong to the ages.