Dr. Strangelove

Dr. Strangelove was a very unique movie, to say the least. The movie was set in the 1960’s and talked about the hostilities between the U.S.S.R. and the United States. Though it didn’t go into detail on the Cold War, it still portrayed the United States and the U.S.S.R. as enemies. The movie opened with General Ripper calling for a Code Red for his airfield and commanded Mandrake to take away all of the radios in the airfield. Mandrake tells Ripper that since they could hear the radio, it was just a false alarm. General Ripper did not like this; he then threatens Mandrake with his gun. In the United States’ war room, was the president, General Turgence, and several other men that seem to be of high ranking, politically speaking. They are talking about how General Ripper called for a Code Red and an attack using “Plan R” against the U.S.S.R. The men are very unsure of what to do, so the President calls in the ambassador from the U.S.S.R., named Kissinger. General Turgence is furious that the President would bring a foreign ambassador down into the United States’ most secretive rooms. He then proceeds to attack Kissinger claiming he has a camera. The ambassador and the President call the leader of the U.S.S.R., who is perceived to be drunk, and talk things out with him. The leader of the U.S.S.R. then tells the President of the “Doomsday Device’ that would be set off if any nuclear bombs were dropped into the U.S.S.R. In order to call off the planes, they would need to know the three letter code to call them off. The President orders his men to attack the airfield at all costs and get the three letter code from General Ripper. While all this is going on, the men in one of the B52 Bombers, get hit by an anti-aircraft missile, but still maintain flight. They are now flying very close to the ground and fall out of the radar’s mapping. After the President’s men successfully invade the airfield, General Ripper goes into the bathroom, and kills himself. This is almost immediately proceeded by a man shooting down the door and finding Mandrake. He thinks Mandrake is responsible for General Ripper’s death, but Mandrake remains alive by telling him he knows the three letter code. The three letter code is put in, and all the planes on the radar’s mapping were called off. But the one plane that is off of the map is still flying toward the target. They have issues opening their bomb door, so their captain, TJ Kong, goes down to fix it; he fixes it after a small struggle. As soon as the door opens, the bomb falls out with TJ Kong on top of it. The last thing we see before the mushroom clouds is TJ Kong, on the bomb, waving his cowboy hat in a joyous fashion. Stillman’s article that I read after watching the movie talks about the movie, characters, plot, and humor of the movie. He talks about how Kong enjoyed his “last ride” when he says “In the movie, this type of excitement pervades the near miss by the missile, evasive and low-flying tactics of the bomber, and finally Major T.J. ‘King’ Kong (Slim Pickens) bull riding the H-bomb over the target site”. He also talks about how much humor he put into the movie when he says “These unexpected sources show us the range of material collected by Kubrick and playfully exploited by him before the time of his collaboration with Terry Southern.”

Works Cited:

Kubrick, Stanley, dir. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the

Bomb. 1964. Columbia Pictures, 2009.

Stillman, Grant, “Two of the MaDdest Scientists.” Film History. 20 (2008): 487-500.

Web. 24 Aug. 2009.: