And it was meant to be 4 but he was injured and was unable to do "King" Kong.
Apocalypse How: "Obviously, you've never heard of Cobalt-Thorium G. When the bombs detonate, they'll create a radioactive cloud, that would circle the earth for a hundred years!"
Although he mainly did it because he wasn't sure he could trust himself to not give up the code to call The Wing back if he was in fact given "a pretty good working over."
Corpsing: If you look carefully, you can see Peter Bull (the Russian ambassador) shaking with barely controlled mirth and biting his own lip as Sellers fights with his Evil Hand.
Crazy Prepared: Ambassador DeSadesky accuses General Turgidson of trying to plant a spy camera on him, and is later shown with another spy camera. This means that either Turgidson always carries a spy camera in case of such an eventuality, or the Russian ambassador carried two spy cameras.
The survival kit carried by the crew of The Leper Colony arguably counts. There's a season's worth of MacGyver material in there.
De Fictionalization: In probably the most disturbing example of defictionalization, the Dead Hand system constructed by the Soviets in the 80s is essentially a real-life version of the Doomsday Device.
Does This Remind You of Anything?: The opening scene, of a B-52 re-fuelling in mid-air, set to an instrumental version of "Try A Little Tenderness" no less. Interestingly, it was taken from stock footage that Kubrick simply discovered and made one of cinema's most memorable opening scenes.
Gen. Turgidson: "Gee, I wish we had one of them doomsday machines!"
Strangelove: "We briefly investigated making a similar machine ourselves. Based on the findings of the report, my conclusion was that this idea was not a practical deterrent ... for reasons which at this moment must be all too obvious."
Dueling Movies: Fail Safe, a dead serious take on this Failsafe Failure premise, was also released in 1964. The straight film is good (though it performed poorly at the box-office), but Kubrick's film has become iconic.
Slim Pickens was unaware that the film was a comedy. This is possibly because previous actors, including John Wayne, had turned the part down because they saw the film as "pinko." That said, Pickens didn't have any problem with the film, especially since he became so famous for it.
Also, George C. Scott was unwilling to go over the top in his portrayal of General Turgidson, so Kubrick tricked him by telling him to do a few over the top takes as "practice" and that they would never be put into the real movie. Kubrick lied, creating one of the best Large Hams ever but also causing Scott to swear he'd never work with Kubrick again.
But even so, Scott did end up admiring Kubrick's genius behind all that deception.
Evil Hand: Dr. Strangelove has one, which seems to act on Strangelove's violent and Nazi subconscious. The portrayal was so influential that the real life condition "alien hand syndrome" is also known as "Dr. Strangelove Syndrome".
Executive Meddling: The geniuses at Columbia Pictures were for some reason under the impression that the only reason Lolita was a success was the gimmick of Peter Sellers playing multiple roles. They would only greenlight Dr. Strangelove on the condition that Kubrick agree to cast Sellers in at least four roles.
Fanservice: Precisely one female character appears in this movie. She is a secretary, heard in one scene and seen in a bikini in another. She is also a Playboy centrefold.
Specifically, the actress (and character?) who appears as General Turgidson's mistress also posed for the centerfold seen on board the B-52.
The Film of the Book: This was based on a novel by Peter George called Red Alert and was originally conceived as a straightforward drama. During the development of the script, Kubrick and company realized the potential for satire in the story and completely overhauled it. George subsequently wrote a Novelization of the finished film.
Freud Was Right: The opening refueling scene of two bombers "coupling" (see above) is most famous; Mandrake attempting "preversion" with a vending machine coin return slot.
Gallows Humor: Given that it was made against the real-life backdrop of the Cuban Missile Crisis, in which nuclear war was a genuine possibility, much of the film's humor would have qualified at the time.
Getting Crap Past the Radar: Honed to an art form. Almost everything is a sexual reference of some kind if you look hard enough— Kong's target (Laputa), Buck Turgidson's name, Jack D. Ripper (the murderer Jack the Ripper mutilated women's sexual organs), Merkin Muffley (speaking of "country" matters), etc. etc. See Visual Innuendo below, also.
Good People Have Good Sex: A semi-straight example- General Ripper won't allow himself to ejaculate during sex (the fear of losing his 'essence' is the motivating factor for his insane behavior); on the other hand, General Turgidson has a normal relationship with his Sexy Secretary and is not much better.
Also how General Turgidson deeply respects his lover as a person and wants to make her "Mrs. Buck Turgidson."
Insane Troll Logic: What led Ripper to first suspect the Communists of trying to "sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids" through fluoridation. "A profound sense of fatigue, a feeling of emptiness followed" sex = loss of 'essence'! Fluoridation starts in 1946 = part of postwar commie conspiracy!It all makes sense!
It Got Worse: Anything that could go wrong in the prevention of the end of the world, does.
Lampshaded Double Entendre: "Premier Kissov is a man of the people but he is also a man, if you know what I mean."
Lampshade Hanging: Subverted: It was impossible to launch a wing of B-52s on an irrevocable mission, and the movie acknowledges this, not to show their work but to calm potential hysterical moviegoers down.
Large Ham: George C. Scott originally gave a subtle portrayal of Colonel Turgidson. At the end of each scene Kubrick would tell him to do one take over the top to help entertain the crew. Almost the entire performance that made it into the film was made of these takes. It works. It works so hard. Notably, Scott was very upset at which takes were used, as he had been assured that his 'serious' takes would be ones used.
Lawful Stupid: "You're gonna have to answer to the Coca-Cola Company."
Leitmotif: 'When Johnny Comes Marching Home' plays whenever Major Kong's B-52 appears. It could, knowing Kubrick, also be a musical Double Entendre on the much, much darker 'Johnny I hardly knew ya'
Note that it's the same tune for "The Ants Go Marching One By One". For whatever you'll make of that.
Loads and Loads of Roles: Peter Sellers plays three roles. He was originally slated to play Major Kong, but broke his ankle during filming and the part was recast. Sellers also had trouble with the accent.
Meaningful Name: Just about every name in the film has some sort of suggestive connotation regarding sexuality, playing on the film's theme that war is fueled by masculine sexual urges.
General Turgidson is a horn-dog whose name refers to a "turgid" erection.
Group Captain Mandrake is a voice of reason, and his name refers to a fertility herb.
General Ripper is motivated by sexual frustration (he's afraid of losing his "essence" through ejaculation) to spread destruction and is named for the misogynistic killer.
Colonel "Bat" Guano is "batshit" insane. His Meaningful Name is lampshaded by Mandrake, who asks him if his name is real.
Military Alphabet: Most famously "Wing Attack Plan R for Romeo." Also used by the bomber crew. Major Kong's accent could be a shining example of why a phonetic alphabet is useful.
General Ripper uses "R for Robert" when speaking to Mandrake on the phone. The Royal Air Force commonly used a different phonetic alphabet (including R for Robert) until adopting the NATO standard in the late 1950s — shortly before the events of the film. Since Grp Cpt Mandrake is a former RAF fighter pilot, Ripper may use it for Mandrake's convenience. Or maybe it's only an oversight filmed before someone could Do The Research.
Mood Dissonance: It's hard not to root for the crew of The Leper Colony, even with the knowledge that when they succeed, they've doomed the world.
No Celebrities Were Harmed: President Muffley has some similarities to Adlai Stevenson. Gens. Ripper and Turgidson could both be seen as caricaturing different aspects of real-life USAF General Curtis LeMay. And Strangelove himself has aspects of several real-life nuclear scientists, but his Nazi past specifically evokes Werner von Braun.
Other scientists upon whom the Strangelove character was based were Herman Kahn, Edward Teller and John von Neumann. Contrary to popular belief, Strangelove was not based on Henry Kissinger, who at the time was not well known outside of academic circles.
Arthur C. Clarke, who knew both Stanley Kubrick and Werner von Braun, reported that Kubrick once asked him to "tell Werner I wasn't getting at him". Clarke adds, "I never did because, firstly, I didn't believe him, and secondly, even if Stanley wasn't, Peter Sellers certainly was."
Noodle Implements: The survival kit - which was based entirely on real survival kits of the second world war.
Oh Crap: In normal circumstances, you WANT your attacking aircraft to get to its target against all odds. However, we have just learned that this will trigger a planet-destroying Doomsday Device, and there's ONE bomber out there that has missed the recall order and survived being shot down so far. It finding a target to bomb is now exactly what we do NOT want. Gen. Turgidson misses this point for a while, gushing on about the toughness and skill of the surviving B-52 bomber and its crew. Finally, Pres. Muffley cuts in and asks directly: (on reaching the target and dropping a bomb, even through the entire Soviet air defense grid) "Has he got a chance?" Turgidson: "Has he got a chance? HELL YE...ohhh..." George C. Scott's face is priceless.
Also when Mandrake realizes what's happened.
Mandrake: "Well, I'm afraid I'm still not with you, sir, because, I mean, if a Russian attack was not in progress, then your use of Plan R - in fact, your order to the entire wing... [beat] Oh. I would say, sir, that there were something dreadfully wrong somewhere."
The One Thing I Don't Hate About You: Mandrake laments his treatment in a Japanese POW camp, but admits that the Japanese do make bloody good cameras.
Only Sane Man: Mandrake, at the base; Muffley, in the War Room; and most ironically the bomber crew (save, perhaps, for Kong).
Arguably Strangelove himself. Despite the Dead Hand Syndrome, there's a brief scene with the president demanding to know who would create a doomsday device; the camera lingers on Strangelove, calmly smoking in the shadow, the president off-screen. A few minutes from later, Strangelove casually suggests the mine shaft survival plan, a new system of government, including who lives and who dies. For all intents and purposes, he takes over the US government right then and there, in front of its actual leaders, who are oblivious. Nobody said the Only Sane Man has to be a good person.
Actually, while he looks and speaks like a loony tunes character, everything he says is coldly rational. See his Doomsday Device analysis quoted above.
Operation Blank: Turgidson tells the President that the bombers in Ripper's wing were airborne "as part of a special exercise we were holding called Operation Drop-Kick".
Peter Sellers: In three roles. He was originally going to play Major "King" Kong as well, however a broken leg prevented him from getting into and out of the B-52 set, so Slim Pickens was added to the cast.
Pointless Doomsday Device: The Soviets activated the Doomsday Machine before they told anyone about it, eliminating the whole point of its role as a deterrent from nuclear war. Dr. Strangelove points this out, and the Soviet ambassador counters that they were saving its announcement for a special occasion (See As You Know above).
Refuge in Audacity: Remember, this movie was made at the near-height of the Cold War, when the fear of nuclear apocalypse was cruelly plausible — and it's Played for Laughs.
Shown Their Work: The movie is filled with references to military life and then quite obscure research. Also subverted, what the cockpit of a B-52 looked like was classified so Kubrick and crew just made what a B-29 would look if the plane was shaped like a B-52. They were so close to correct that they were briefly investigated to make sure there was no spying going on! Also all the procedures inside the aircraft (e.g. going through the checklists) are absolutely believable.
Soundtrack Dissonance: The ending montage, of course. In-universe, the playing of pleasant civilian music over the radio during a supposed nuclear attack is what clues Mandrake into Ripper's lie.
Stealth Pun: Dr. Strangelove is strangled by his glove.
Straight Man: Peter Sellers plays two of these, oddly enough. His third role more than makes up for it.
Strawman Political: President Muffley is a well-meaning but ineffectual liberal (look-up the meaning of merkin, or, for that matter, muff) and General Ripper is an insane "John Bircher" conservative.
Those Wacky Nazis: Dr. Strangelove is portrayed as a comically bizarre weirdo who is revealed to be completely insane at the very end of the film.
Throw It In: Much of Peter Sellers' dialogue was improvised (Kubrick had three cameras on Sellers at all times to take full advantage of this), including the hotline telephone conversation; similarly, Strangelove's Evil Hand's rampage at the end was largely improvisation (it was also Sellers' idea that it should be gloved). Plus, Buck tumbling over while arguing that the Russians are bluffing about the Doomsday Machine was an accident that Kubrick kept in because George C. Scott handled it so beautifully.
Keep in mind that Kubrick was the most insane perfectionist in the history of filmmaking. And Sellers got to ad-lib.
Being said in the context of his WWII capture and torture, he is almost certainly referring to the hamstring muscle, which captors sometimes cut to cripple a prisoner and prevent escape.
Supposedly, Sellers' last line was the result of a mistake; he forgot that Strangelove was supposed to be a cripple, and realized it after he had stood up.
I doubt that, as he staggers to his feet and moves jerkily and is off-balance, as if not used to using his legs. He would've stood up normally if he simply forgot.
Too Soon: The release date was slightly delayed after JFK's assassination due to the story involving a fictional president.
Also, in the scene where Major Kong reads the description of a survival kit's contents out loud, he originally says "Shoot, a fella could have a pretty good weekend in Dallas with all that stuff!" Dallas was redubbed to Vegas because of the connotations carried by Dallas in a post JFK-assassination America.
Which actually worked out well, as Vegas makes more sense in this context.
Most importantly, the original ending was to have everyone in the war room end up in a pie fight (don't ask). The President would be knocked down from the impact of the pie hitting him, with Gen. Turgidson saying "Gentlemen! Our gallant young president has been struck down in his prime!" Despite it being filmed before the assassination...wow. Just wow. (That wasn't why the scene was deleted, though- they just couldn't film it with the necessary "gravity.")
Understatement: "Mr. President, I'm not saying we wouldn't get our hair mussed..."
President Muffley, on the phone with the Soviet Premiere — "One of our generals went a little... "funny"... and went and did a silly thing..."
Unwitting Pawn: The crew of The Leper Colony. Poor guys are just following orders. They don't know that the guy who gave them has lost it.
Visual Innuendo: There are a number of phallic and sexual images throughout the film to highlight its theme of sexuality. The famous opening credits sequence of planes refueling in a way which looks like sexual congress. General Ripper is particularly fond of compensating for his impotency with enormous cigars. Major Kong straddles the strikingly tubular bomb just before it explodes.
Vodka Drunkenski: Even though we hear only President Muffley's side of the conversation, it's quite obvious that Premier Kisov is sloshed out of his gourd.
Water Source Tampering: General Ripper has a paranoid belief that there is a Communist conspiracy involving water fluoridation which will lead to contamination of everyone's "precious bodily fluids".
What Happened to the Mouse?: A pastry table seen in one scene refers to the original ending, a colossal pie fight, which was deleted from the film's final cut for being too farcical. The fact that a joke was made about the President being "struck down in his prime" by one of the pies didn't help its case (see Too Soon above).
Every single group of people are various sorts of insane, incompetent, and/or incapable of focusing on the important subject at hand. Except for the bomber crew, who are all well-trained and manage to adapt to the various obstacles in their path. Too bad they're the one group that desperately needs to fail.
Mandrake isn't too bad either. He actually manages to guess the password and get the wing recalled except for one.
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