Sunday, May 2, 2010

Dr Strangelove Dark Comedy

Dr Strangelove, or How I learned to Stop Worring and Love the Bomb, co-stars George C. Scott.  This movie is so famous it has made it to our pop culture, and even The Simpsons.



I watched the movie for the first time tonight and I have to say even though the movie was made in the 1960s, it was still as entertaining, and relevant, today as it was over 40 years ago.  The hour and thirty minutes the movie runs goes by quickly.  What I love about these old movies is they are very much character and dialog driven, and there isn't as much useless "flash bang" that just takes up space.

The movie clearly shows in a dark comedy how risky the cold war was, and how human nature is never perfect.  Due to imperfect information, crazy individuals, and just bad timing, one bad decision by a General resulted in the total annihilation of the whole human race.

I can see parallels even today with our own "war on terror".  How absurd some of the suggestions are now that "made sense" at the time.  Individuals use misinformation and fear to further their own agenda.

The highlight of the movie is how everyone feared the Russians, while within their own ranks "Dr Strangelove" was still very obviously pro-Nazi.  The leaders in the war room were obsessed with every word from "Dr Strangelove", and although they were the ones who caused the apocalypse, they felt they should all be saved.

Although you can rent the movie pretty much anywhere, you can find the movie for free on Hulu.com here.

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