Dr. Strangelove

WEBVTT
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Check your CRM114 receiver circuits, test your
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water for fluoride, and ride your nuke to mutually
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assured destruction because we are watching the
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1964 Stanley Kubrick dark comedy classic Dr.
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Strangelove on this episode of Blind Spots and
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Second Thoughts. Welcome yet again to another
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episode of Blind Spots and Second Thoughts. I'm
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Dan. I'm Heather. And Heather, I am going to
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start by asking you if you actually know the
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full title of the movie we are going to watch
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for this episode. I knew that this movie had
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a long subtitle. It's Dr. Strangelove or How
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I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Bomb.
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You have a little transposed. Okay. It's Dr.
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Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying
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and Love the Bomb. Okay. So I just had, I think,
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two words in the wrong place. Yeah. Go me. What
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else do you know about this movie? Honestly,
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nothing. Really? I was racking my brain after
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you mentioned that we were going to cover this
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movie, wondering if I knew anything about it
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because I did know. full title or close to the
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full title. Do you know why? No, but you know
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my memory is weird. Sometimes things just stick
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in there. I don't know. I believe I've seen the
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cover art for this one, but I don't know anything
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about it. I have this notion that it's sort of
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maybe satirical or like a black comedy or something
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along those lines, but I actually have no idea
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if that's in any way accurate. Okay. Do you know
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who directed the movie? I don't off the top of
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my head, but when you say it. It may sound familiar
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to me. This movie was directed by Stanley Kubrick.
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Okay, yes, that actually does. What Kubrick films
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have you seen and do you have feelings about
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him as a director? I've seen The Shining, though
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it did take me a long time to see The Shining.
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Okay. Have we talked about that before? I don't
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think so. Well, I'm a huge Stephen King fan.
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I didn't know that. As you know, and Stephen
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King notoriously hated. the Stanley Kubrick,
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The Shining. And in my younger years, because
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I came to Stephen King when I was in high school.
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And so I think I was like, well, I'm not going
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to watch The Shining because Stephen King doesn't
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like The Shining and I'm team Stephen King. So
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blah. And then as I grew into more of a general
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horror fan than just a Stephen King fan, I eventually
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reached a point where I thought, OK, I have to
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watch The Shining. And I mean, I did think it
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was obviously a very well done movie. It does
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stray from the source material. So people on
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both sides of the aisle. aisle are right. Do
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not use that out of context. That's going to
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be the poll quote for the episode. Oh, no, I'm
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going to get canceled. So The Shining. Okay.
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I know that Stanley Kubrick has a reputation
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for being kind of a perfectionist in a way that
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may have been difficult for some of the actors
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and crew, I guess, but actors for sure in his
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films. That's really all I know about him and
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kind of my only stance on the matter. So this
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is not his full filmography, but these are the
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notable ones. Spartacus. No. I actually haven't
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seen Spartacus either. Lolita. No, actually.
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Doctor Strangelove. 2001, A Space Odyssey. No.
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That one might be worth a visit. It's definitely
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important in film history, but it's also not,
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in my opinion, it's not like a fun watch. It's
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not a romp. You know me, I love a romp. A Clockwork
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Orange. No, but I know a little bit about that
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one. Okay. Barry Lyndon. No. I actually haven't
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seen that one either. I need to. The Shining,
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Full Metal Jacket, Eyes Wide Shut. No. And then
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he died. Okay. Spoiler. I love the gasp like
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you didn't know. I mean, I did know. I knew that
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he was dead. I just I wasn't expecting that to
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be the end of that list. Well, he died famously
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during production of Eyes Wide Shut. Oh, I didn't
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realize that. That makes more sense. So this
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movie, Dr. Strangelove, or. How I Learned to
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Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, stars Peter
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Sellers, most famous for playing Inspector Clouseau
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in the Pink Panther movies. He would be nominated
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for an Academy Award for Best Actor for this
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film. It also stars future Academy Award winner
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George C. Scott. I don't know. That name sounds
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familiar. And do you think I'll recognize him
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when I see him? You might. I don't know. He played
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Patton in Patton. So, you know, the iconic. Honestly,
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I haven't either, but it's the iconic shot of
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General Patton standing in front of the American
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flag delivering a big speech for the first part
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of the movie. That's George C. Scott. Slim Pickens
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is also in this movie. That's a person? That
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is a person. Okay. Sterling Hayden and a very
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young James Earl Jones in his first film role.
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Him I know. This movie was nominated for Best
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Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay
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from the novel Red Alert. although it did fail
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to win any of those awards. It was also selected
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by the Library of Congress as one of the first
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25 films added to the National Film Registry.
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You know, in our Groundhog Day episode, you mentioned
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the Library of Congress inducting that movie,
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and I said I agreed with that take. That was
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after we'd watched the movie, so I cannot weigh
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in on this one quite yet. I cannot give this
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Heather seal of approval at this time. Gotcha.
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Okay. So to set the stage for this movie, it
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was released in January of 1964, which was arguably
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the peak of the Cold War between the Soviet Union
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and the United States. I've heard of it. The
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Cuban Missile Crisis was a little over a year
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previous, and the threat of nuclear war was hanging
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very heavily over the world. People were building
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bomb shelters in their backyards, and the rhetoric
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between the two rival superpowers was quite severe
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at this point in history. Additionally, John
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F. Kennedy had just been assassinated the previous
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November, and notable New York advertising firm
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Sterling Cooper just narrowly avoided a buyout
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from advertising juggernaut McCann Erickson.
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Reforming itself into Sterling Cooper Draper
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Price. These are all on equal footing of importance.
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Right. So that is setting the stage for this
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movie. Do you have any other thoughts or any
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other? Based on that context, I suspect that
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the full title is going to be relevant. That
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the word bomb is in it. Might have something
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to do with it. Who knows? Just maybe. Any other
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thoughts? I don't think so. All right. Let's
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watch the movie and then find out. Let's do it.
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Come on, Drake. Yes, Jack? Have you ever seen
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a commie drink a glass of water? Well, yeah,
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I can't say I have, Jack. Vodka, that's what
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they drink, isn't it? Never water? Well, I believe
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that's what they drink, Jack, yes. On no account
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will a commie ever drink water, and not without
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good reason. Oh, yes. I, um, can't quite see
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what you're getting at, Jack. Water. That's what
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I'm getting at, water. Mandrake, water is the
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source of all life. Seven -tenths of this Earth's
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surface is water. Why do you realize that 70
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% of you is water? Oh, God. And as human beings,
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you and I need fresh, pure water to replenish
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our precious bodily fluids. Yes. Are you beginning
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to understand? Yes. Mandrake. Mandrake, have
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you never wondered why I drink only distilled
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water or rainwater and only pure grain alcohol?
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Well, it did occur to me, Jack, yes. Have you
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ever heard of a thing called fluoridation? Fluoridation
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of water? Yes, I have heard of that, Jack, yes.
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Well, do you know what it is? No, no, I don't
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know what it is now. Do you realize that fluoridation
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is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous
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communist plot we have ever had to face? All
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right, Heather, now you have seen Dr. Strangelove.
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Which I have. What did you think? I loved it.
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Yeah? I loved it. It was satirical and it was
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zany. It was funny. I really liked it. It's such
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a great movie. It is zany in small doses. There's
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lots of tension and then it's broken up with
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zaniness, which is pretty funny. Yeah, I think
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it's really well balanced. There are some pretty
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madcap moments, but they are contrasted with
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more serious moments that are also funny because
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of the satire. And it really emphasizes the it
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really puts a very dark punctuation mark on it
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as well. And it's very relevant. Yeah. It's so
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relevant, which is not great for our lives, but
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great for a movie. I do. I want to know. What
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makes you say that it's so relevant? Because,
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you know, obviously at the time of recording
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this, we're not in the middle of a Cold War.
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Who knows what's going to happen between when
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we record this and when it releases. But as of
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now, we're not in a Cold War with the Soviet
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Union, which currently no longer exists, mostly.
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So what to you makes it relevant today? Well,
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I can sum that up with a line from the movie.
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War is too important to be left to the politicians.
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I feel like I'm in over my head a lot with politics,
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so I don't really want to speak too specifically
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to it. It just felt very much like people's lives
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being left in the hands of these types of men.
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Also, one particular thing that felt really relevant
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in a very weird way was Ripper's obsession with,
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well, bodily fluids and then the fluoride. And
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I'm like, isn't that a conspiracy theory that
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a bonkers conspiracy theory that people still
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believe to this day? Oh, you know, our current
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secretary of health and human services has said
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things to that effect. So that's fun. Yeah. I'm
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assuming you also think that it's relevant. So
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what what do you identify? I think it's an important
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movie. I think it's definitely a movie of its
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time, like especially when you view it now. It's
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very funny. But when you view it in the context
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of they were doing duck and cover drills in elementary
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schools. True. And they were terrified that the
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world was literally going to end a nuclear war.
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at any given moment. And when you viewed that
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they made this movie in that context, that makes
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it stand out even more, which is to me, it's
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hilarious. It'd be like, well, I mean, it's my
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understanding, not having seen it. It's a lot
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like weapons or a movie that would satirize,
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you know, school shootings or, you know, if you
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satirized January 6th or something like that,
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it would be like making a movie like that in
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that context. and releasing it. And it makes
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it so much better, honestly. Yeah, no, I can
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see that. It's hard to think about. Because I
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would say that there are elements of weapons,
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just because you mentioned that one, that are
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analogies for school shootings. That's one read
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of the movie that I've heard, but it's not satire.
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So that, I think, is a really important component
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of it, of poking fun at the ridiculousness of
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it when it is a very real fear and a very real
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presence in people's lives. Did you have any
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favorite quotes from Dr. Strangelove? From him
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specifically? Well, just from the movie. Oh,
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from the movie. Yeah. When Buck Turgidson's girlfriend,
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secretary, whatever she is, when she calls him
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when he's in the war room and he's talking to
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her, and then at the end he says, don't forget
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to say your prayers. Right. That really made
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me laugh. He'll see the big board. He'll see
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the big board. He'll see everything. He'll see
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the big board. Not really a specific quote, but
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just both conversations between the president
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and Dmitry, who I can't even remember what his
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title is. He's the premier of Russia. The premier.
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I knew he was what I could because he just Dmitry.
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The head of the Soviet Union. No, actually, there
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is there is a specific quote when he says, of
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course, I like to call you. Of course, I like
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to say hello. And then, of course, you're going
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to have to answer to the Coca -Cola company.
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Right. That's a good one. There were I mean,
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there were a lot of funny lines. So we talked
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about this movie in the context of the Cold War,
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but there were some other significant changes
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made to this movie because of when it was released.
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I mentioned it was released in the beginning
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of 1964. A test screening of the movie was originally
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scheduled for November 20. 1963. Oh my God. But
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was canceled. Yeah. Understandably. Wait, what
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happened? Yeah. Well, that was, uh, that's when
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James Franco time traveled, right? Yeah. Something
00:14:40.340 --> 00:14:42.419
like that. That, of course, was the date that
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John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, which
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also led to some other changes to the movie.
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First of all, the line when Major Kong is going
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through their emergency kits in case they have
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to crash the plane and he's reading off the increasingly
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ludicrous items. At the end, the line was, a
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fella could have a pretty good time in Dallas
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with all that. But because one of those things
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was a gun, they went ahead and decided to change
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the line. And you can you can read his lips do
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not match what he says. And in the movie, he
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says, I felt like I'd have a pretty good time
00:15:22.210 --> 00:15:24.750
in Vegas with all that. The original ending also
00:15:24.750 --> 00:15:28.710
had a pie fight in the war room after the movie's
00:15:28.710 --> 00:15:32.809
end with. The president getting struck by a pie
00:15:32.809 --> 00:15:36.710
and the line, gentlemen, our gallant young president
00:15:36.710 --> 00:15:39.490
has been struck down in his pride. Oh, my goodness.
00:15:40.370 --> 00:15:44.879
So that was also removed. I think. For the better.
00:15:44.919 --> 00:15:47.360
I love the way the movie ends on the hard cut
00:15:47.360 --> 00:15:51.820
on Strange Love's last line. So it might not
00:15:51.820 --> 00:15:53.840
have just been because of that line. They might
00:15:53.840 --> 00:15:55.759
have also they might have just cut that one line,
00:15:55.820 --> 00:15:57.440
but it's good that they cut the pie fight, I
00:15:57.440 --> 00:15:59.299
think. I think a pie fight might have been too
00:15:59.299 --> 00:16:02.279
silly. The New York Times review of the film
00:16:02.279 --> 00:16:06.799
by Bosley Crother, dated January 30th, 1964,
00:16:07.480 --> 00:16:11.659
starts by saying the movie. quote, is beyond
00:16:11.659 --> 00:16:15.580
any question the most shattering, sick joke I've
00:16:15.580 --> 00:16:18.700
ever come across. And I say that with full recollection
00:16:18.700 --> 00:16:20.679
of some of the grim ones I've heard from Mort
00:16:20.679 --> 00:16:23.019
Sahl, some of the cartoons I've seen by Charles
00:16:23.019 --> 00:16:25.279
Adams, and some of the stuff I've read in Mad
00:16:25.279 --> 00:16:28.259
Magazine. For this brazenly jesting speculation
00:16:28.259 --> 00:16:30.879
of what might happen within the Pentagon and
00:16:30.879 --> 00:16:33.440
within the most responsible council of the President
00:16:33.440 --> 00:16:36.159
of the United States, if some maniac Air Force
00:16:36.159 --> 00:16:38.600
General should suddenly order a nuclear attack
00:16:38.600 --> 00:16:41.500
on the Soviet Union, is at the same time one
00:16:41.500 --> 00:16:45.279
of the cleverest and most incisive satiric thrusts
00:16:45.279 --> 00:16:47.559
at the awkwardness and folly of the military
00:16:47.559 --> 00:16:50.080
that have ever been on the screen. My reaction
00:16:50.080 --> 00:16:52.419
to it is quite divided because there is so much
00:16:52.419 --> 00:16:55.100
about it that is grand, so much that is brilliant
00:16:55.100 --> 00:16:57.159
and amazing. amusing, and much that is grave
00:16:57.159 --> 00:17:01.259
and dangerous. Interesting. The U .S. government's
00:17:01.259 --> 00:17:03.419
reaction to the film was to assure the public
00:17:03.419 --> 00:17:05.900
that such a thing could never happen, although
00:17:05.900 --> 00:17:08.740
later it seems that the movie may have also inspired
00:17:08.740 --> 00:17:12.000
some policy changes, so it may have actually
00:17:12.000 --> 00:17:14.460
been possible. Do you know what policy changes?
00:17:14.680 --> 00:17:17.500
I don't know, but supposedly, according to an
00:17:17.500 --> 00:17:20.000
article in The New Yorker that said almost everything
00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:22.779
in Dr. Strangelove was true, there may have been
00:17:22.779 --> 00:17:27.279
contingency plans like Attack Plan R that might
00:17:27.279 --> 00:17:30.940
have been carried out by crazy... Bodily fluids
00:17:30.940 --> 00:17:34.359
obsessed generals. Yeah. It's interesting to
00:17:34.359 --> 00:17:37.539
me that that reviewer mentioned the awkwardness
00:17:37.539 --> 00:17:41.019
and folly of the military because, I mean, I
00:17:41.019 --> 00:17:43.299
just think that was the scariest part. Ripper
00:17:43.299 --> 00:17:46.539
just deciding to go rogue and having the ability
00:17:46.539 --> 00:17:53.390
to do it. It's more. The novel the film was based
00:17:53.390 --> 00:17:56.069
on, Red Alert, was straightforward and a cautionary
00:17:56.069 --> 00:17:58.589
tale about how nuclear deterrence and supposed
00:17:58.589 --> 00:18:01.130
safeguards in the case of the president's death
00:18:01.130 --> 00:18:03.990
or incapacitation could be exploited by a rogue
00:18:03.990 --> 00:18:06.549
general. Kubrick noted that as he was adapting
00:18:06.549 --> 00:18:09.500
the book, what he was writing was darkly funny
00:18:09.500 --> 00:18:11.640
and he brought in screenwriter terry southern
00:18:11.640 --> 00:18:13.839
to collaborate with himself and peter george
00:18:13.839 --> 00:18:17.099
the book's original author kubrick himself described
00:18:17.099 --> 00:18:21.079
the movie as a nightmare comedy so the book was
00:18:21.079 --> 00:18:33.420
not no the book was not funny okay So the movie
00:18:33.420 --> 00:18:37.759
begins with a disclaimer assuring the contemporary
00:18:37.759 --> 00:18:41.519
audience that the United States government says
00:18:41.519 --> 00:18:44.559
that this could not possibly happen. Don't worry.
00:18:45.660 --> 00:18:49.740
And then there are the opening credits, which
00:18:49.740 --> 00:18:52.880
feature a midair refueling over an instrumental
00:18:52.880 --> 00:18:58.299
version of try a little tenderness. And it looks
00:18:58.299 --> 00:19:02.009
like. Two planes making a baby plane in the air.
00:19:02.150 --> 00:19:05.250
I didn't even get that. Really? Yeah. The fact
00:19:05.250 --> 00:19:07.970
that it's a midair refueling, but they're playing
00:19:07.970 --> 00:19:11.230
romantic music, try a little tenderness. Yeah,
00:19:11.230 --> 00:19:15.569
that went over my head, much like a plane. Something
00:19:15.569 --> 00:19:17.289
that's notable about the opening credits is the
00:19:17.289 --> 00:19:21.029
hand lettered text by designer Pablo Ferrero.
00:19:21.130 --> 00:19:25.269
They stand out in a very unique and cool design
00:19:25.269 --> 00:19:27.869
way. And they've been imitated, most notably
00:19:27.869 --> 00:19:32.569
in the opening credits of Men in Black. So the
00:19:32.569 --> 00:19:35.170
movie opens up very seriously. It's actually
00:19:35.170 --> 00:19:37.869
a while before you get to any kind of funny moments.
00:19:38.049 --> 00:19:42.170
General Ripper orders his executive officer,
00:19:42.450 --> 00:19:46.170
Colonel Mandrake. drake played by peter sellers
00:19:46.170 --> 00:19:50.750
to put burpleson air force base on condition
00:19:50.750 --> 00:19:54.029
red and lock the base down okay so maybe not
00:19:54.029 --> 00:19:56.369
that long before we get to anything funny because
00:19:56.369 --> 00:19:59.349
burpleson is ridiculous all the names in this
00:19:59.349 --> 00:20:03.470
movie are every single one hilarious yeah ripper's
00:20:03.470 --> 00:20:07.329
name is jack ripper yeah general jack d ripper
00:20:07.329 --> 00:20:09.109
they should have known they should have known
00:20:09.109 --> 00:20:14.210
general ripper issues attack plan And that cuts
00:20:14.210 --> 00:20:19.230
to Major Kong's bomber, Major Kong, played by
00:20:19.230 --> 00:20:21.910
Slim Pickens. I think you have to say it's Slim
00:20:21.910 --> 00:20:25.589
Pickens. He's fantastic in this as part of the
00:20:25.589 --> 00:20:30.170
843rd bomb wing. There's a little bit of a voiceover,
00:20:30.210 --> 00:20:32.930
the only voiceover in the movie to get you caught
00:20:32.930 --> 00:20:36.309
up to know that the U .S. And this was true at
00:20:36.309 --> 00:20:39.150
the time. The U .S. did keep nuclear bombers
00:20:39.150 --> 00:20:42.650
in the air two hours from their target. in the
00:20:42.650 --> 00:20:45.450
Soviet Union pretty much at all times. They don't
00:20:45.450 --> 00:20:48.029
anymore because we have ICBMs and nuclear subs.
00:20:48.269 --> 00:20:51.289
But at the time, yeah, we did have bombers pretty
00:20:51.289 --> 00:20:53.569
much in the air at all times. It's kind of amazing
00:20:53.569 --> 00:20:55.950
that we survived the Cold War, to be perfectly
00:20:55.950 --> 00:20:59.210
honest. It really is. Let's hope we do it again.
00:20:59.410 --> 00:21:03.809
The first obvious joke is when it looks like
00:21:03.809 --> 00:21:08.750
one of the crew members is studying important
00:21:08.750 --> 00:21:11.730
flight information and then the camera. zooms
00:21:11.730 --> 00:21:15.170
out and it's a playboy. Yeah. But she does have
00:21:15.170 --> 00:21:18.309
a document on her butt that says foreign affairs.
00:21:18.490 --> 00:21:22.279
Yeah. So you don't know that that wasn't going
00:21:22.279 --> 00:21:25.299
to help with plain stuff. Right. So the bobber
00:21:25.299 --> 00:21:29.819
wing gets the message for Plan R encoded on their
00:21:29.819 --> 00:21:34.339
CRM 114. CRM 114 is referenced in a lot of other
00:21:34.339 --> 00:21:37.039
movies. And it's one of those things that because,
00:21:37.160 --> 00:21:41.079
you know, filmmakers love this movie. You know,
00:21:41.099 --> 00:21:43.640
you can look at Wes Anderson takes a lot of influence.
00:21:44.160 --> 00:21:47.000
Barry Sonnenfeld takes a lot of influence. Men
00:21:47.000 --> 00:21:49.920
in Black. CRM 114 is one of those things. that
00:21:49.920 --> 00:21:53.559
ends up in other works and referenced a lot.
00:21:53.640 --> 00:21:57.059
So the CRM114 circuit is how they receive their
00:21:57.059 --> 00:22:00.059
coded messages. They receive the message, Major
00:22:00.059 --> 00:22:04.539
Kong breaks out the cowboy hat. Now, we haven't
00:22:04.539 --> 00:22:07.019
talked about Peter Sellers. Peter Sellers plays
00:22:07.019 --> 00:22:10.339
three parts. I did not realize that. In this
00:22:10.339 --> 00:22:12.519
movie. When we watched it. You know what? Honestly,
00:22:12.579 --> 00:22:14.359
neither did I the first time I saw it because
00:22:14.359 --> 00:22:18.589
his accents are... So good. Yeah. You could tell.
00:22:18.589 --> 00:22:20.869
I mean, and you could tell because Dr. Strangelove
00:22:20.869 --> 00:22:24.910
is a very silly voice. Yeah. But his President
00:22:24.910 --> 00:22:28.029
Muffley voice, his accent, there's not a lick
00:22:28.029 --> 00:22:31.369
of that, you know, British person trying to be
00:22:31.369 --> 00:22:36.049
American at all. No, no. Do you know if Mandrake
00:22:36.049 --> 00:22:40.170
was his real voice? It's closer to his. It's
00:22:40.170 --> 00:22:42.789
a lot more affected. Yeah, it's a lot more affected
00:22:42.789 --> 00:22:47.880
British. But Major Kong was actually also supposed
00:22:47.880 --> 00:22:51.460
to be played by Peter Sellers. Okay. Peter Sellers
00:22:51.460 --> 00:22:53.700
was worried about it. He didn't think that he
00:22:53.700 --> 00:22:57.660
could convincingly do a Texan accent. And he
00:22:57.660 --> 00:23:01.019
sprained his ankle and bowed out. I don't know.
00:23:01.740 --> 00:23:04.319
Sources say that, you know, maybe he didn't really
00:23:04.319 --> 00:23:06.519
hurt his ankle that bad. He just used it as an
00:23:06.519 --> 00:23:12.019
excuse. So was Slim Pickens Texan? So Slim Pickens
00:23:12.019 --> 00:23:15.990
was. that guy here's a quote from an article
00:23:15.990 --> 00:23:18.809
as it turns out slim pickens had never left the
00:23:18.809 --> 00:23:21.369
united states he had to hurry and get his first
00:23:21.369 --> 00:23:24.009
passport he arrived on the set and somebody said
00:23:24.009 --> 00:23:27.710
gosh he's arrived in costume not realizing that
00:23:27.710 --> 00:23:30.970
that's how he always dressed with the cowboy
00:23:30.970 --> 00:23:33.490
hat and the fringe jacket and the cowboy boots
00:23:33.490 --> 00:23:36.549
and that he wasn't putting on the character that's
00:23:36.549 --> 00:23:39.359
the way he talked where was it filmed It was
00:23:39.359 --> 00:23:42.400
mostly filmed in England, I believe. Slim Pickens
00:23:42.400 --> 00:23:47.220
was a former rodeo clown, and he was directed
00:23:47.220 --> 00:23:49.799
by Stanley Kubrick to play the part completely
00:23:49.799 --> 00:23:57.799
straight. Oh. Okay. That was him playing it completely
00:23:57.799 --> 00:24:02.539
straight? Yes. Isn't that awesome? I dread to
00:24:02.539 --> 00:24:04.660
think what it would have been like if he tried
00:24:04.660 --> 00:24:10.309
to play it campy or silly. He's so fantastic,
00:24:10.390 --> 00:24:13.589
though. No, he is really good. The only things
00:24:13.589 --> 00:24:16.490
I've seen him in are this and Blazing Saddles.
00:24:16.490 --> 00:24:20.549
And he's fantastic in both. But he was a larger
00:24:20.549 --> 00:24:22.869
than life person. And apparently that's just
00:24:22.869 --> 00:24:30.480
who he was. Well, good for him. Major Kong gets
00:24:30.480 --> 00:24:35.279
on the intercom to the plane and tells them about
00:24:35.279 --> 00:24:37.460
their mission and says that there are citations
00:24:37.460 --> 00:24:40.599
for everyone, regardless of race, color or creed.
00:24:40.599 --> 00:24:43.619
So Major Kong is progressive. Yeah, love it.
00:24:43.940 --> 00:24:49.809
Then we. Move on to General Buck Turgidson. The
00:24:49.809 --> 00:24:52.470
most ridiculous name I've ever heard in my life.
00:24:52.670 --> 00:24:54.809
General Buck Turgidson getting a middle of the
00:24:54.809 --> 00:24:59.170
night phone call. He happens to be with his secretary.
00:25:00.279 --> 00:25:04.920
I love this scene because it is so dry and funny.
00:25:05.039 --> 00:25:07.339
It's the first of these one -sided phone calls
00:25:07.339 --> 00:25:09.519
where we don't hear the person on the other end.
00:25:09.599 --> 00:25:13.059
The secretary's back and forth where she's being
00:25:13.059 --> 00:25:17.099
very professional. And she sounds like she's
00:25:17.099 --> 00:25:19.960
trying to be flirty, but also professional. And
00:25:19.960 --> 00:25:21.720
she's flirting with both of them at the same
00:25:21.720 --> 00:25:24.519
time. Yeah, she was great. She was great. She
00:25:24.519 --> 00:25:27.420
doesn't come back after the scene, but I really
00:25:27.420 --> 00:25:29.890
liked her. It was three in the morning. i can't
00:25:29.890 --> 00:25:32.670
figure out were they wearing swimsuits it is
00:25:32.670 --> 00:25:34.170
hard to tell because i don't know if that was
00:25:34.170 --> 00:25:37.609
supposed to be his underwear or pajamas or what
00:25:37.609 --> 00:25:39.890
he was doing at three in the morning what she
00:25:39.890 --> 00:25:42.750
was wearing looked like a bikini yeah well and
00:25:42.750 --> 00:25:44.509
the bikini bottom also kind of looked like a
00:25:44.509 --> 00:25:48.210
diaper or like one of those pull -ups like swim
00:25:48.210 --> 00:25:52.029
1963 so i guess i sort of did just assume it
00:25:52.029 --> 00:25:54.250
was swimwear but yeah but why were they wearing
00:25:54.250 --> 00:25:56.940
swimwear at three in the morning Good question.
00:25:57.160 --> 00:26:01.619
Good party, apparently. So after the one -sided
00:26:01.619 --> 00:26:05.500
phone call, then even though the secretary urges
00:26:05.500 --> 00:26:09.059
Buck to stay with her and stay in bed with her,
00:26:09.140 --> 00:26:11.380
Buck says he's just got to go, you know, to the
00:26:11.380 --> 00:26:13.559
war room. It's not really a big deal, but he's
00:26:13.559 --> 00:26:15.299
just got to, you know, go to the war room for
00:26:15.299 --> 00:26:19.039
a little bit. It's cash. But he tells her that
00:26:19.039 --> 00:26:22.819
he will be back before she can say, Blast off!
00:26:23.259 --> 00:26:27.329
Is that what he says when he... You know, that's
00:26:27.329 --> 00:26:30.210
the impression I got. He says it with such relish.
00:26:30.309 --> 00:26:34.289
It's such gusto. Yeah. Back on Burpleson Air
00:26:34.289 --> 00:26:38.029
Force Base, Mandrake discovers a radio that's
00:26:38.029 --> 00:26:41.069
been left behind inside some of the machinery,
00:26:41.309 --> 00:26:43.730
turns it on, finds out that civilian music is
00:26:43.730 --> 00:26:46.890
still playing, and he goes to Ripper. And that's
00:26:46.890 --> 00:26:50.220
when Ripper tells him. that he shouldn't have
00:26:50.220 --> 00:26:53.660
done that. And I can no longer sit back and allow
00:26:53.660 --> 00:26:57.039
communist infiltration, communist indoctrination,
00:26:57.440 --> 00:27:00.640
communist subversion, and the international communist
00:27:00.640 --> 00:27:05.400
conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious
00:27:05.400 --> 00:27:10.220
bodily fluids. It's so good because the list
00:27:10.220 --> 00:27:14.099
starts out with three things that sound so grounded
00:27:14.099 --> 00:27:18.789
and real. When you get to that last one, It is
00:27:18.789 --> 00:27:22.230
so effective. And the editing is great, too,
00:27:22.309 --> 00:27:25.109
because there's just a pause on Ripper's face
00:27:25.109 --> 00:27:28.970
before it goes to the next scene for it to sink
00:27:28.970 --> 00:27:33.250
in and really hit you. You're just like you're
00:27:33.250 --> 00:27:37.220
not expecting it. At all. And it just works so
00:27:37.220 --> 00:27:41.359
well. The next scene is the war room briefing
00:27:41.359 --> 00:27:45.480
where we find out what has happened. General
00:27:45.480 --> 00:27:48.319
Ripper called the president and urged him to
00:27:48.319 --> 00:27:51.839
go ahead and start World War III, essentially,
00:27:51.900 --> 00:27:56.980
and annihilate the USSR before they could fight
00:27:56.980 --> 00:28:02.660
back. George C. Scott is so unhinged and so funny
00:28:02.660 --> 00:28:05.380
in this movie. He is. But, you know, and first
00:28:05.380 --> 00:28:08.339
of all, let me say that I did recognize him when
00:28:08.339 --> 00:28:10.420
we watched the movie. His name sounded familiar,
00:28:10.539 --> 00:28:14.200
but I wasn't sure. He is in a classic horror
00:28:14.200 --> 00:28:17.039
movie called The Changeling. Huh. It's considered
00:28:17.039 --> 00:28:19.200
by some to be the scariest movie of all time.
00:28:19.279 --> 00:28:21.599
I've heard it called that. I watched it. It was
00:28:21.599 --> 00:28:23.839
good, but I didn't think it was that scary. But
00:28:23.839 --> 00:28:26.900
I know him from that. And in that, he plays...
00:28:26.900 --> 00:28:30.160
Scarier than Cars 2? I haven't seen Cars 2, so
00:28:30.160 --> 00:28:33.460
I can't compare. They are probably on a level.
00:28:34.460 --> 00:28:39.140
But in The Changeling, he is playing a man who,
00:28:39.220 --> 00:28:44.700
spoiler, loses his wife and like tween aged daughter
00:28:44.700 --> 00:28:49.339
and he is grieving and then some supernatural
00:28:49.339 --> 00:28:51.720
things start to happen to him. So very, very
00:28:51.720 --> 00:28:53.920
different role. So that's the first thing. The
00:28:53.920 --> 00:28:57.059
second thing is that he is unhinged, but the
00:28:57.059 --> 00:29:01.450
dialogue that he has is. very like he sounds
00:29:01.450 --> 00:29:03.670
smart. He sounds like he knows what he's talking
00:29:03.670 --> 00:29:07.930
about. He's just super intense. And like he's
00:29:07.930 --> 00:29:10.630
trying to deflect blame. Right. Like when he's
00:29:10.630 --> 00:29:12.930
explaining to the president how this happened,
00:29:13.109 --> 00:29:14.970
he's like, you know, you approve this. Remember.
00:29:15.109 --> 00:29:17.069
And so I think that's another thing that makes
00:29:17.069 --> 00:29:20.430
the comedy so effective is that he's not just
00:29:20.430 --> 00:29:24.329
completely ridiculous. Like he is speaking from
00:29:24.329 --> 00:29:28.009
a place of military knowledge. Yeah. But it's
00:29:28.009 --> 00:29:31.259
just. cranked up to a thousand percent he's ridiculous
00:29:31.259 --> 00:29:34.700
but he's competent but he's also ridiculous and
00:29:34.700 --> 00:29:36.680
he doesn't know that he's ridiculous and that
00:29:36.680 --> 00:29:38.799
i think is what makes it so funny is that he's
00:29:38.799 --> 00:29:41.079
not a buffoon that like i think that would be
00:29:41.079 --> 00:29:44.759
maybe less like that wouldn't really be satire
00:29:44.759 --> 00:29:47.519
as much maybe but the fact that yes he seems
00:29:47.519 --> 00:29:52.339
competent he's just so over the top and he is
00:29:53.160 --> 00:29:56.240
constantly putting in new pieces of gum. He chews
00:29:56.240 --> 00:29:59.519
more gum than you. And I chew a lot of gum. You
00:29:59.519 --> 00:30:02.180
do. You love gum. I love that he's just constantly
00:30:02.180 --> 00:30:06.200
shoving gum in his face during this scene. This
00:30:06.200 --> 00:30:08.599
is when we, the audience, find out what plan
00:30:08.599 --> 00:30:12.940
R is. It's a fail safe for retaliation in case
00:30:12.940 --> 00:30:17.140
the president. has been incapacitated. So generals
00:30:17.140 --> 00:30:21.339
could order a nuclear strike as a retaliatory
00:30:21.339 --> 00:30:24.599
strike, but they are not authorized to do this
00:30:24.599 --> 00:30:27.980
if the president is not incapacitated, which
00:30:27.980 --> 00:30:31.200
leads to the quote, which is, I love the, as
00:30:31.200 --> 00:30:33.880
you said, his hemming and hawing on it. You are
00:30:33.880 --> 00:30:36.599
the only person authorized to do so. And although
00:30:36.599 --> 00:30:39.180
I hate to judge before the facts are in, it looks
00:30:39.180 --> 00:30:44.859
like General Ripper exceeded his authority. It's
00:30:44.859 --> 00:30:49.720
the matter of fact phrasing and the soft shooing.
00:30:50.430 --> 00:30:53.650
The horrible thing that's happened. Yeah. Oh,
00:30:53.890 --> 00:30:56.950
funny. I didn't have this thought, but we watched
00:30:56.950 --> 00:30:59.950
this movie with my kid and my kid pointed out
00:30:59.950 --> 00:31:04.950
that George C. Scott bears a strong resemblance
00:31:04.950 --> 00:31:08.670
to Tim Robinson. Yeah, I could see that. Yeah.
00:31:08.730 --> 00:31:10.869
So you could see like it's it's a very similar.
00:31:10.930 --> 00:31:13.369
I would say Tim Robinson has more of kind of
00:31:13.369 --> 00:31:18.069
like a desperation to his manicness. But yeah.
00:31:18.170 --> 00:31:20.960
And they also do have. similar kind of facial
00:31:20.960 --> 00:31:23.180
structure so i thought that was interesting i
00:31:23.180 --> 00:31:25.740
didn't i hadn't thought about it me either but
00:31:25.740 --> 00:31:29.140
i see it so you know not that you should remake
00:31:29.140 --> 00:31:32.019
movies but i think that you could cast tim robinson
00:31:32.019 --> 00:31:34.759
in a similar role if you did something like that
00:31:34.759 --> 00:31:36.799
that would be pretty funny that's when turgenson
00:31:36.799 --> 00:31:41.130
gets the call from his secretary and Again, he
00:31:41.130 --> 00:31:43.609
has the one -sided call with her. That's quite
00:31:43.609 --> 00:31:48.170
funny. Turgenson suggests a full strike on Russia
00:31:48.170 --> 00:31:52.690
to do what Ripper has essentially set up. But
00:31:52.690 --> 00:31:55.670
President Muffley refuses and orders the army
00:31:55.670 --> 00:31:58.609
to storm the base and arrest Ripper and get him
00:31:58.609 --> 00:32:00.750
on the phone with the president. Muffley then
00:32:00.750 --> 00:32:04.289
brings in the Russian ambassador over Turgenson's
00:32:04.289 --> 00:32:06.450
objections. Because he's going to see the big
00:32:06.450 --> 00:32:09.799
board. He'll see the big board! They argue and
00:32:09.799 --> 00:32:13.440
get into a little bit of a physical altercation
00:32:13.440 --> 00:32:16.680
when Targeson says that he catches him with a
00:32:16.680 --> 00:32:21.980
spy camera, which leads to the amazing sublime
00:32:21.980 --> 00:32:24.940
line. Gentlemen, you can't fight in here. This
00:32:24.940 --> 00:32:29.299
is the war room. Good. It's so good. It's just
00:32:29.299 --> 00:32:34.319
that he's aghast. It's delivered so straight.
00:32:34.440 --> 00:32:37.079
He's like appalled that they are getting into
00:32:37.079 --> 00:32:40.039
fisticuffs. You can't fight in here. This is
00:32:40.039 --> 00:32:42.279
the war room. And it's so great that, again,
00:32:42.400 --> 00:32:48.079
Peter Sellers was so funny because he does both
00:32:48.079 --> 00:32:52.599
plays absolutely absurd and also 100 % straight
00:32:52.599 --> 00:32:57.000
man. Yeah, he was really good. both so well in
00:32:57.000 --> 00:32:59.680
this movie. The president is kind of on the more
00:32:59.680 --> 00:33:03.079
straight side. I mean, completely straight, honestly.
00:33:03.319 --> 00:33:06.259
And then Mandrake kind of fluctuates between
00:33:06.259 --> 00:33:09.839
and then Strangelove is crazy. Just bonkers.
00:33:09.900 --> 00:33:12.920
Yeah. So it's just like it is a spectrum and
00:33:12.920 --> 00:33:16.500
he just nails it all. Honestly, it's kind of
00:33:16.500 --> 00:33:18.660
insane that he didn't win Best Actor for this
00:33:18.660 --> 00:33:25.359
part. It was Rex Harrison for My Fair Lady. Yikes.
00:33:25.779 --> 00:33:30.000
That one over this? Why can't a woman be more
00:33:30.000 --> 00:33:35.339
like a man? That one over this? That is insane.
00:33:35.859 --> 00:33:37.819
That's what I'm saying. When you look back at
00:33:37.819 --> 00:33:40.140
some of these older movies and you see what won
00:33:40.140 --> 00:33:43.720
over what, it is mind -boggling sometimes. Not
00:33:43.720 --> 00:33:46.079
that My Fair Lady has been lost to time, but
00:33:46.079 --> 00:33:52.480
just, yeah, it's crazy. President Muffley calls
00:33:52.480 --> 00:33:58.619
the Soviet premier Dmitry Kisov. Yep. I love
00:33:58.619 --> 00:34:02.160
this phone call. It is so good. It is so good.
00:34:02.220 --> 00:34:04.660
And it's great to be good. No, they're fine.
00:34:04.900 --> 00:34:07.500
That's what he says. Well, I'm fine, too. It's
00:34:07.500 --> 00:34:09.840
good that we're both fine. Well, you're sorry
00:34:09.840 --> 00:34:13.780
and I am sorry. We're both sorry, Dmitry. You're
00:34:13.780 --> 00:34:18.539
not more sorry than I am. No. Muffley gives the
00:34:18.539 --> 00:34:22.699
Soviets the attack plans so they can shoot down
00:34:22.699 --> 00:34:25.300
the planes. Sorry, I just read one of the other
00:34:25.300 --> 00:34:27.619
lines from the phone call. The general, he did
00:34:27.619 --> 00:34:31.460
a silly thing. He ordered his planes to attack
00:34:31.460 --> 00:34:35.679
your country. He did a silly thing. It's such
00:34:35.679 --> 00:34:39.300
a funny scene. Muffley gives the Soviets the
00:34:39.300 --> 00:34:43.579
attack plan. But then at the end of the call,
00:34:43.840 --> 00:34:47.119
Kissov gets back on with the Russian ambassador
00:34:47.119 --> 00:34:51.840
and tells him something. shocking meanwhile back
00:34:51.840 --> 00:34:56.000
on burpleson air force base the army has arrived
00:34:56.000 --> 00:35:00.320
and the air force guys were told that the russians
00:35:00.320 --> 00:35:02.699
would be arriving and they would be disguised
00:35:02.699 --> 00:35:06.820
as u .s troops so i feel bad for the air force
00:35:06.820 --> 00:35:09.800
guys who are shooting at and getting shot at
00:35:09.800 --> 00:35:13.340
by the army guys it's actually that's it's probably
00:35:13.340 --> 00:35:15.300
the saddest thing that happens in this movie
00:35:15.300 --> 00:35:18.780
although darkly funny the combat that's happening
00:35:18.780 --> 00:35:21.480
in front of the sign that says peace is our profession
00:35:21.480 --> 00:35:25.519
our profession oh it's good back in the war room
00:35:25.519 --> 00:35:30.000
in the pentagon the ambassador reveals the doomsday
00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:36.000
machine It turns out that there is a doomsday
00:35:36.000 --> 00:35:41.420
device that the Soviets have built, and it will
00:35:41.420 --> 00:35:45.199
be an immediate retaliatory strike that will
00:35:45.199 --> 00:35:49.980
end the world should a nuclear weapon explode
00:35:49.980 --> 00:35:53.460
over the USSR. That seems extreme, but what are
00:35:53.460 --> 00:35:56.280
you going to do? Back on Burpleson Air Force
00:35:56.280 --> 00:36:01.159
Base, we have General Ripper and Mandrake reluctantly.
00:36:01.449 --> 00:36:04.110
Poor Mandrake. I feel so bad for him. Feeding
00:36:04.110 --> 00:36:06.590
him bullets for his machine gun that he keeps
00:36:06.590 --> 00:36:09.250
in his golf bag, which is also pretty hilarious.
00:36:09.690 --> 00:36:12.469
And he fights to get it out. Feed me, Mandrake.
00:36:13.309 --> 00:36:16.389
He said, feed me. It was there feeding you, Jack.
00:36:17.230 --> 00:36:20.309
And then we have General Ripper's fluoridation
00:36:20.309 --> 00:36:23.989
speech, which is so great. He also talks about
00:36:23.989 --> 00:36:28.590
how he has an essence. Women are drawn to him
00:36:28.590 --> 00:36:30.530
because of this essence, but he doesn't share
00:36:30.530 --> 00:36:33.530
it with them. He denies them. He denies them
00:36:33.530 --> 00:36:36.840
his essence. I wrote... Women sense his power
00:36:36.840 --> 00:36:39.840
and they seek his life essence. He does not avoid
00:36:39.840 --> 00:36:43.360
women, but he does deny them his essence. And
00:36:43.360 --> 00:36:45.719
I wrote, on behalf of all women, it's cool, dude.
00:36:45.840 --> 00:36:48.340
We don't need your essence. I feel comfortable
00:36:48.340 --> 00:36:50.840
speaking for all of us on this matter. I love
00:36:50.840 --> 00:36:54.119
that he said that he noticed the reason he knows
00:36:54.119 --> 00:36:57.400
that fluoridation is a problem is because he
00:36:57.400 --> 00:37:01.360
first noticed a sense of fatigue and emptiness
00:37:01.360 --> 00:37:05.530
after the physical act of love. Oh my God. So
00:37:05.530 --> 00:37:11.469
he ascribed his refractory period to fluoridation.
00:37:11.610 --> 00:37:14.809
It's as good a theory as any. What better reason
00:37:14.809 --> 00:37:18.849
to start World War III and end the world? We
00:37:18.849 --> 00:37:31.940
say in 2026. Back in the war room. Now we meet
00:37:31.940 --> 00:37:36.039
the titular character, Dr. Strangelove. So far
00:37:36.039 --> 00:37:40.139
into the movie. I was shocked. You see him earlier
00:37:40.139 --> 00:37:43.119
at the table in the war room. I saw him and I
00:37:43.119 --> 00:37:46.699
was like, I recognize him from the cover. We
00:37:46.699 --> 00:37:48.340
don't actually meet him until more than halfway
00:37:48.340 --> 00:37:51.920
through. Also played by Peter Sellers. He is
00:37:51.920 --> 00:37:58.630
a defected. former Nazi scientist with a quote
00:37:58.630 --> 00:38:02.030
unquote former with a possibly possessed arm.
00:38:02.309 --> 00:38:05.670
I guess whoever wrote the movie Idle Hands was
00:38:05.670 --> 00:38:08.349
also inspired by this movie. Yeah, I mentioned
00:38:08.349 --> 00:38:10.389
to you while we were watching it that in Men
00:38:10.389 --> 00:38:13.409
in Black, Barry Sonnenfeld more or less directed
00:38:13.409 --> 00:38:18.429
Vince D 'Onofrio to walk like Dr. Strangelove
00:38:18.429 --> 00:38:21.909
when he's moving around as the bug in the Edgar
00:38:21.909 --> 00:38:26.400
suit. And he does. That's absolutely what he
00:38:26.400 --> 00:38:29.380
looks like. I love when they're talking about
00:38:29.380 --> 00:38:31.659
they're talking about the doomsday device and
00:38:31.659 --> 00:38:35.659
Dr. Strangelove inspired by, I believe, Werner
00:38:35.659 --> 00:38:39.800
Von Braun and other former Germans who came over
00:38:39.800 --> 00:38:44.519
and defected after World War Two. When Dr. Strangelove
00:38:44.519 --> 00:38:47.679
is laying out how the doomsday device could work,
00:38:47.940 --> 00:38:50.960
General Turgidson is talking to someone else
00:38:50.960 --> 00:38:52.780
and he's like, Strangelove, that's not really
00:38:52.780 --> 00:38:56.460
a. kraut name and the other guy is like he changed
00:38:56.460 --> 00:38:59.260
it from and he says something very german sounding
00:38:59.260 --> 00:39:02.659
it's literally strange love in german oh really
00:39:02.659 --> 00:39:07.820
that's funny So Dr. Strangelove explains that
00:39:07.820 --> 00:39:13.320
the doomsday device will go off and essentially
00:39:13.320 --> 00:39:18.559
end the world if a nuclear bomb is detected over
00:39:18.559 --> 00:39:21.880
the Soviet Union. But then he points out that
00:39:21.880 --> 00:39:24.340
the whole point of having the device is that
00:39:24.340 --> 00:39:26.079
you should tell the world about it. Why didn't
00:39:26.079 --> 00:39:28.300
you tell the world about it? And they were going
00:39:28.300 --> 00:39:30.940
to. They were going to on Monday because the
00:39:30.940 --> 00:39:34.780
premier likes his surprises. So it's in place.
00:39:34.920 --> 00:39:37.780
Nice and active, but was not due to be announced
00:39:37.780 --> 00:39:40.579
until Monday. We don't know what day it is now,
00:39:40.699 --> 00:39:44.400
do we? No. Okay. Just not Monday. Right. So since
00:39:44.400 --> 00:39:49.289
the... Soviets were given the attack plan so
00:39:49.289 --> 00:39:52.690
they could deter the bombers in case the bombers
00:39:52.690 --> 00:39:56.849
could not be recalled. Major Kong's bomber is
00:39:56.849 --> 00:40:00.949
attacked with a surface -to -air missile. They
00:40:00.949 --> 00:40:05.650
managed to evade it just barely, but that leads
00:40:05.650 --> 00:40:09.349
to several problems. They are leaking fuel and
00:40:09.349 --> 00:40:14.269
their CRM -114 is damaged so they can no longer
00:40:14.269 --> 00:40:17.780
receive. coded messages no another flaw in the
00:40:17.780 --> 00:40:21.099
plan you can only call this off with the secret
00:40:21.099 --> 00:40:24.619
code well what if that machine is damaged the
00:40:24.619 --> 00:40:27.960
army successfully takes over burpleson air force
00:40:27.960 --> 00:40:31.820
base which leads ripper to lock himself in the
00:40:31.820 --> 00:40:37.639
bathroom and kill himself mandrake then is flustered
00:40:37.639 --> 00:40:41.659
but sees the scribblings of a totally sane normal
00:40:41.659 --> 00:40:45.860
man completely and determines that the three
00:40:45.860 --> 00:40:49.880
-letter code for the CRM114 is likely some combination
00:40:49.880 --> 00:40:52.980
of P -O -E. And he's correct. It actually happens
00:40:52.980 --> 00:40:55.199
to be O -P -E. We saw that earlier in the movie.
00:40:55.480 --> 00:40:59.739
Mandrake is found by Army Colonel Bat Guano.
00:41:00.820 --> 00:41:03.420
That's his real name? It says, if you look at
00:41:03.420 --> 00:41:06.179
his name tag, you can see Bat is in quotes. So
00:41:06.179 --> 00:41:08.719
like his last name is Guano and then people just
00:41:08.719 --> 00:41:11.340
nicknamed him Bat and he goes by that. That guy
00:41:11.340 --> 00:41:14.230
looked really familiar to me. And I looked him
00:41:14.230 --> 00:41:16.389
up and I couldn't figure out what I knew him
00:41:16.389 --> 00:41:19.889
from, but he had an extensive filmography. He
00:41:19.889 --> 00:41:23.090
was in so much stuff. Just the length of the
00:41:23.090 --> 00:41:28.030
list was insane. Colonel Guano is very dense
00:41:28.030 --> 00:41:33.210
and does not respond to Mandrake's very sensible
00:41:33.210 --> 00:41:37.739
pleas until Mandrake basically just... forces
00:41:37.739 --> 00:41:41.980
him to take him to a nearby pay phone there's
00:41:41.980 --> 00:41:43.760
some great gags in here too like when he picks
00:41:43.760 --> 00:41:46.519
up the phone and the big cord is just cut off
00:41:46.519 --> 00:41:53.239
yeah the extended bit with the change So funny.
00:41:53.699 --> 00:41:56.300
He's trying to call the White House and does
00:41:56.300 --> 00:41:58.760
not have the correct amount of change. And the
00:41:58.760 --> 00:42:01.139
operator, oh, he tried to make it a collect call
00:42:01.139 --> 00:42:03.519
and the White House declared that Pentagon. And
00:42:03.519 --> 00:42:06.659
so he's trying to see if the guano has any change.
00:42:06.760 --> 00:42:10.300
And Peter Sellers plays it so straight. And again,
00:42:10.300 --> 00:42:12.199
I was like, I wouldn't bring loose change into
00:42:12.199 --> 00:42:15.929
a combat mission. But it just, yeah, it's very,
00:42:16.170 --> 00:42:21.829
very funny. Yeah, finally, it ends with Mandrake
00:42:21.829 --> 00:42:24.769
telling Colonel Guano, ordering Colonel Guano
00:42:24.769 --> 00:42:29.170
to shoot the Coca -Cola machine nearby to get
00:42:29.170 --> 00:42:34.530
some change out. Guano says, OK, but if you're
00:42:34.530 --> 00:42:36.570
not right about this, you're going to have to
00:42:36.570 --> 00:42:39.070
answer to the Coca -Cola company. And that scene
00:42:39.070 --> 00:42:41.670
is very funny. The one thing if I could change
00:42:41.670 --> 00:42:44.510
one thing about this movie, I probably would
00:42:44.510 --> 00:42:47.909
remove the Coke hitting Guano in the face because
00:42:47.909 --> 00:42:50.590
that feels a little lowbrow for the rest of this
00:42:50.590 --> 00:42:53.510
movie. The rest of this movie is such smart and
00:42:53.510 --> 00:42:55.949
subtle humor. And that's just a very physical
00:42:55.949 --> 00:42:58.610
slapstick. Yeah. Which is I mean, the same thing
00:42:58.610 --> 00:43:00.190
would have been true for the pie fight. Yeah.
00:43:00.360 --> 00:43:02.619
So that's the one that's the one bit that to
00:43:02.619 --> 00:43:05.099
me stands out a little bit. And it's it's maybe
00:43:05.099 --> 00:43:07.719
a little too silly. Yeah, I agree with that.
00:43:11.079 --> 00:43:16.360
So the war room celebrates because they are able
00:43:16.360 --> 00:43:19.599
to recall most of the bombers, but they note
00:43:19.599 --> 00:43:23.699
that there is still one bomber left on the big
00:43:23.699 --> 00:43:27.409
board. That would be Major Kong's bomber. They
00:43:27.409 --> 00:43:31.909
have redirected because of their fuel leaks.
00:43:32.130 --> 00:43:34.650
They're no longer going to their primary or secondary
00:43:34.650 --> 00:43:37.070
targets. So they are winging it and the Russians
00:43:37.070 --> 00:43:41.550
cannot find them because Major Kong is such a
00:43:41.550 --> 00:43:44.989
good pilot. He's flying low and below enemy radar.
00:43:45.369 --> 00:43:47.289
You've got the really great scene where George
00:43:47.289 --> 00:43:49.909
Scott is like, do they have a chance? Hell yeah!
00:43:51.289 --> 00:43:54.269
The realization that comes over him. And I don't
00:43:54.269 --> 00:43:57.010
know if it's in that same moment, but when the
00:43:57.010 --> 00:43:59.130
president is then back on the phone with the
00:43:59.130 --> 00:44:01.409
premier talking about the planes that have been
00:44:01.409 --> 00:44:02.809
shot down and the planes that have been recalled,
00:44:02.929 --> 00:44:04.630
but that there's one plane left. And when they
00:44:04.630 --> 00:44:07.849
realize that one plane can set off the doomsday
00:44:07.849 --> 00:44:11.429
machine, the look on George Scott's face is so
00:44:11.429 --> 00:44:14.949
funny. He looks like he just knocked over a display
00:44:14.949 --> 00:44:20.280
at a supermarket. He just looks like, oops. He's
00:44:20.280 --> 00:44:22.719
got his hand up to his face, right? Yeah. Yeah.
00:44:23.280 --> 00:44:28.519
And he's just like cringing, but it's so funny.
00:44:28.980 --> 00:44:33.340
Back to the bomber, Major Kong's bomber. The
00:44:33.340 --> 00:44:36.260
bomb doors won't open. James Earl Jones is...
00:44:36.260 --> 00:44:38.380
Baby James Earl Jones. Incapable of... We haven't
00:44:38.380 --> 00:44:41.320
talked about him. Yeah. Again, he doesn't have
00:44:41.320 --> 00:44:43.579
a lot to do here, but he's... Sounds the same.
00:44:43.639 --> 00:44:46.159
Very handsome. I think I only ever saw him when
00:44:46.159 --> 00:44:48.719
he was much older. He looks the same to me. I
00:44:48.719 --> 00:44:51.039
mean, he looks like him, but he looks young and
00:44:51.039 --> 00:44:52.940
handsome. Not to say that he wasn't handsome
00:44:52.940 --> 00:44:54.139
when he was older, but you know what I mean.
00:44:55.519 --> 00:45:00.079
The bomb doors were also damaged in the attack.
00:45:00.539 --> 00:45:04.280
So Major Kong goes to check it out. One of my
00:45:04.280 --> 00:45:07.820
favorite visual gags in this movie is the bombs
00:45:07.820 --> 00:45:10.219
with hi there and dear John written on them.
00:45:10.360 --> 00:45:12.619
That also feels like something that. people would
00:45:12.619 --> 00:45:15.260
do though yeah like and that was interesting
00:45:15.260 --> 00:45:17.780
to me because it was funny but it also felt realistic
00:45:17.780 --> 00:45:21.559
and then it really underscored this idea of the
00:45:21.559 --> 00:45:25.159
ways that people cope with the horrors of war
00:45:25.159 --> 00:45:28.980
but also the world and also it's so funny because
00:45:28.980 --> 00:45:31.719
it's a hydrogen bomb like no civilian population
00:45:31.719 --> 00:45:36.539
or Nothing other than a test has ever been conducted
00:45:36.539 --> 00:45:39.880
with a bomb of that scale. Like those bombs are
00:45:39.880 --> 00:45:43.000
considerably more powerful than the atomic bombs
00:45:43.000 --> 00:45:46.400
that hit Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And just the
00:45:46.400 --> 00:45:49.880
fact that you have this awe -inspiring, world
00:45:49.880 --> 00:45:53.500
-destroying power and someone wrote hi there
00:45:53.500 --> 00:45:58.570
on it. Yes, but that's what humans do. I mean,
00:45:58.610 --> 00:46:02.449
really, I really believe that. We can't cope
00:46:02.449 --> 00:46:05.670
with things of this magnitude. We have to make
00:46:05.670 --> 00:46:09.829
them feel more within our control. Yeah. It was
00:46:09.829 --> 00:46:12.090
a funny gag, but it also was like, yeah, they
00:46:12.090 --> 00:46:15.309
would do that for that reason. I also personally
00:46:15.309 --> 00:46:18.710
got a kick out of the instruction that says this
00:46:18.710 --> 00:46:23.210
side down on the nuclear weapon. Like there might
00:46:23.210 --> 00:46:25.250
have been a practical reason for it, but it's
00:46:25.250 --> 00:46:27.250
also just funny to think that like, you know,
00:46:27.269 --> 00:46:29.869
this is the side you want to go down with a nuclear
00:46:29.869 --> 00:46:35.719
bomb. Like it matters. Major Kong is repairing
00:46:35.719 --> 00:46:42.199
the bomb door as the plane approaches its improvised
00:46:42.199 --> 00:46:46.539
target. The door opens up while Major Kong is
00:46:46.539 --> 00:46:50.840
straddling the bomb, which leads to the bomb
00:46:50.840 --> 00:46:54.119
being dropped with Major Kong riding it and giving
00:46:54.119 --> 00:47:00.000
his rodeo. Yeah, he is. As the bomb drops. He's
00:47:00.000 --> 00:47:02.860
loving it. That is an iconic shot that's been
00:47:02.860 --> 00:47:05.920
parodied. And I'd seen it and I didn't know what
00:47:05.920 --> 00:47:07.679
it was from originally. Like, I think the first
00:47:07.679 --> 00:47:10.139
time I saw it, it was a Simpsons episode where
00:47:10.139 --> 00:47:12.599
they had Homer doing that shot and waving the
00:47:12.599 --> 00:47:15.320
cowboy hat. Yeah, it's one of those shots that
00:47:15.320 --> 00:47:18.500
I'd seen a billion places. I don't think I ever
00:47:18.500 --> 00:47:21.780
have. It's a very iconic shot and it perfectly
00:47:21.780 --> 00:47:25.440
captures this movie and that it is somber and
00:47:25.440 --> 00:47:30.489
hilarious at the same time. And the bomb goes
00:47:30.489 --> 00:47:35.690
off now with the bomb destroyed and the doomsday
00:47:35.690 --> 00:47:39.949
device sure to go off any moment in the war room.
00:47:40.050 --> 00:47:44.469
They start making plans, a very eugenics forward
00:47:44.469 --> 00:47:48.690
plan to send people into mine shafts with a 10
00:47:48.690 --> 00:47:53.289
to 1 female to male ratio with the females selected
00:47:53.289 --> 00:47:57.050
for their sexual characteristics. Your voice
00:47:57.050 --> 00:47:58.949
is so good. Your impression is. really good but
00:47:58.949 --> 00:48:02.010
yeah i mean and that was just like i i got it
00:48:02.010 --> 00:48:04.829
and it was effective and then i was like of course
00:48:04.829 --> 00:48:07.570
like and he's stroking their egos and he's telling
00:48:07.570 --> 00:48:10.190
you of course we would need the best military
00:48:10.190 --> 00:48:14.449
and political minds yeah but the guys are also
00:48:14.449 --> 00:48:17.210
like when they hear it's going to be 10 10 women
00:48:17.210 --> 00:48:19.730
to one man they're like i think this is a pretty
00:48:19.730 --> 00:48:23.690
good idea i'm like Gross. And I was like, you
00:48:23.690 --> 00:48:26.309
know, I have terrible genes. So in this situation,
00:48:26.469 --> 00:48:28.550
I don't know that I would get chosen. But if
00:48:28.550 --> 00:48:31.210
I had the choice between getting annihilated
00:48:31.210 --> 00:48:33.929
with the entire human race or getting to live,
00:48:33.949 --> 00:48:37.510
but as basically breeding stock, it'd at least
00:48:37.510 --> 00:48:43.530
be a coin flip. the soviet ambassador takes the
00:48:43.530 --> 00:48:46.929
distraction opportunity to go ahead and take
00:48:46.929 --> 00:48:49.989
more spy photos which is pretty funny which are
00:48:49.989 --> 00:48:54.150
good for about two seconds then we must not allow
00:48:54.150 --> 00:48:57.469
a mineshaft gap one of the things are i don't
00:48:57.469 --> 00:48:59.469
know if you're familiar the missile gap was i
00:48:59.469 --> 00:49:03.840
wasn't but i i looked at the movie after we watched
00:49:03.840 --> 00:49:05.880
it. And I read a little bit about the missile
00:49:05.880 --> 00:49:07.599
gap. So yeah, the missile gap was something that
00:49:07.599 --> 00:49:10.139
was talked about a lot during the Cold War in
00:49:10.139 --> 00:49:13.639
the 60s. And so now we have a mineshaft gap.
00:49:14.019 --> 00:49:17.900
And then that's the period of the movie. But
00:49:17.900 --> 00:49:21.760
then the punctuation mark is Dr. Strangelove,
00:49:21.760 --> 00:49:25.059
whose arm has been going increasingly insane.
00:49:25.119 --> 00:49:27.659
I love the bit where he's like biting his hand.
00:49:28.679 --> 00:49:33.719
Because he keeps giving a Nazi salute. No, it's
00:49:33.719 --> 00:49:36.639
just an enthusiastic wave. Oh, right. My mistake.
00:49:36.820 --> 00:49:41.500
He's just waving enthusiastically. That's a South
00:49:41.500 --> 00:49:44.519
African billionaire enthusiastic wave, not a
00:49:44.519 --> 00:49:48.619
Nazi salute. I am so sorry. He says, Mr. President.
00:49:48.739 --> 00:49:52.699
And then he gets up out of his chair and surprises
00:49:52.699 --> 00:49:56.119
himself. And the last line of the movie, it's
00:49:56.119 --> 00:50:01.019
so funny. I CAN BLOCK - And then as you said,
00:50:01.119 --> 00:50:05.800
hard cut to explosions. Yeah. Actual nuclear
00:50:05.800 --> 00:50:10.280
test footage. Basically every nuclear test footage
00:50:10.280 --> 00:50:13.420
that they could get their hands on. And the song
00:50:13.420 --> 00:50:18.260
is We'll Meet Again, which is so dark. Yeah.
00:50:18.340 --> 00:50:21.719
And so funny. Yeah, it's really good. I loved
00:50:21.719 --> 00:50:24.239
that choice. Perfect ending. And I'm very glad
00:50:24.239 --> 00:50:25.920
that they did not go with the pie fight. That
00:50:25.920 --> 00:50:28.539
is the perfect way to end this movie. Yeah, it
00:50:28.539 --> 00:50:30.539
would have. been too silly it would have been
00:50:30.539 --> 00:50:35.719
too slapstick it is such a smart funny movie
00:50:35.719 --> 00:50:38.400
it's not what i expected and when you it does
00:50:38.400 --> 00:50:41.800
not fit it feels like such an odd character out
00:50:41.800 --> 00:50:44.500
with the rest of stanley kubrick's films at least
00:50:44.500 --> 00:50:46.739
the ones that i've seen you know he's not known
00:50:46.739 --> 00:50:52.860
for his comedy stylings Generally, you know,
00:50:52.860 --> 00:50:55.480
if you were going to describe Kubrick as a filmmaker,
00:50:55.760 --> 00:50:58.219
I would say cold and calculating are probably
00:50:58.219 --> 00:51:02.579
the most apt descriptors. Don't quote me on this
00:51:02.579 --> 00:51:05.940
because I haven't seen it. As I said before,
00:51:06.300 --> 00:51:10.380
I've only seen The Shining, but I am given to
00:51:10.380 --> 00:51:13.260
understand that there may be some elements of
00:51:13.260 --> 00:51:17.800
dark humor in A Clockwork Orange. Yeah, but not
00:51:17.800 --> 00:51:21.110
like this, like not this kind of. dark humor
00:51:21.110 --> 00:51:24.329
it's more like kind of like sick dark humor for
00:51:24.329 --> 00:51:25.789
lack of a better word i don't know how to describe
00:51:25.789 --> 00:51:27.929
it like have you seen that yeah okay it's been
00:51:27.929 --> 00:51:31.210
a while you know the The main character of the
00:51:31.210 --> 00:51:34.030
movie very famously commits a home invasion and
00:51:34.030 --> 00:51:37.769
a rape. Yeah, I knew that. It's kind of hard
00:51:37.769 --> 00:51:41.449
to take anything that he does or says with any
00:51:41.449 --> 00:51:44.449
kind of levity. So there are moments where he
00:51:44.449 --> 00:51:47.050
might say something that's kind of funny, but
00:51:47.050 --> 00:51:50.449
no, it's really just more dark than dark humor.
00:51:50.730 --> 00:51:52.789
That's a young Malcolm McDowell, right? Correct.
00:51:52.909 --> 00:51:56.469
Never been a villain ever again. Except for...
00:51:56.699 --> 00:51:59.679
All the other times that he was a villain. Has
00:51:59.679 --> 00:52:02.039
he ever played like a not villain? I don't know.
00:52:02.480 --> 00:52:04.840
That's funny. I don't know. So that was Dr. Strangelove.
00:52:04.860 --> 00:52:09.039
Yeah. Or how I learned to stop worrying and love
00:52:09.039 --> 00:52:12.719
the bomb. Who is I? Is I Stanley Kubrick? Is
00:52:12.719 --> 00:52:17.039
I one of the characters? Is it the royal I? I
00:52:17.039 --> 00:52:21.409
think it's the royal I. I should show you the
00:52:21.409 --> 00:52:24.190
trailer. It's a very unique trailer, especially
00:52:24.190 --> 00:52:29.309
for 1964. I'm just realizing that I didn't really
00:52:29.309 --> 00:52:33.849
think that movies from before the 70s had trailers.
00:52:34.130 --> 00:52:36.269
No, they did. This one was very unique. The way
00:52:36.269 --> 00:52:39.469
that it's cut was also influential. It does a
00:52:39.469 --> 00:52:42.550
lot of like rapid cuts where you can't really
00:52:42.550 --> 00:52:46.230
tell what's... going on and i just distinctly
00:52:46.230 --> 00:52:49.909
remember the voiceover because it's a male voice
00:52:49.909 --> 00:52:53.909
going dr strange love or how i learned to stop
00:52:53.909 --> 00:52:57.570
worrying and and then it cuts to a female voice
00:52:57.570 --> 00:53:02.230
who goes love the bomb so i always anytime i
00:53:02.230 --> 00:53:04.829
think of the full title i cannot help but hear
00:53:04.829 --> 00:53:09.440
it that's funny love the bomb It was a movie
00:53:09.440 --> 00:53:12.980
that, you know, I came to it, I think I was either
00:53:12.980 --> 00:53:15.599
maybe late teens, early 20s when I first saw
00:53:15.599 --> 00:53:18.199
it finally. So my sense of humor is more or less
00:53:18.199 --> 00:53:20.260
fully formed. I wouldn't say it was an influential
00:53:20.260 --> 00:53:23.300
movie for me, but I was like, okay, I can see
00:53:23.300 --> 00:53:27.059
where the people who were my influences were
00:53:27.059 --> 00:53:30.619
100 % influenced by this movie. Like this is
00:53:30.619 --> 00:53:33.960
the genesis of a lot of dry humor and it's such
00:53:33.960 --> 00:53:36.500
a great piece of satire, but that's the movie.
00:53:36.579 --> 00:53:39.500
So I love it. I'm glad. you loved it it's a it's
00:53:39.500 --> 00:53:42.019
a great film yeah i'm glad we watched it i know
00:53:42.019 --> 00:53:45.380
it's a classic so it's nice to have finally seen
00:53:45.380 --> 00:53:48.260
it well thank you for watching it with me and
00:53:48.260 --> 00:53:51.800
thank you all for listening to us talk about
00:53:51.800 --> 00:53:54.739
it i'm dan i'm heather and we will catch you
00:53:54.739 --> 00:53:58.559
next time on the next episode of blind spots
00:53:58.559 --> 00:53:59.579
and second thoughts