Dr. Strangelove

I loved it, but at first, I was unable to laugh at it because the mood lighting/ coloring made it feel as if I was watching a film from the 1950's. As I matured, I felt the exact opposite.

Still, I can see why the OP wouldn't laugh at this film. There are some things you really have to dig deep into just to laugh at it.

Strangelove falls into what I call the funny awareness movies; ones that you recognize are funny, and in an intellectual sense are amusing to you, but that you don't actually laugh at.

There's a few Flying Circus skits which are the same way for me.

That's pretty funny because that's the one joke that's the most out-of-place with the rest of the movie's themes.

One of the main themes is people obsessing over things that don't matter in the face of hugely important crises, no?

Like the Soviet Premier having an emotional breakdown on the phone with the president.

If that situation doesn't warrant a Heroic BSoD, I don't know what does.

Yeah, how often does the President of the United States imply that he doesn't like to call you just to say hello?

There's no reason for the Persident not to be friends with the Soviet Premier on a personal level. In fact, it could eeeeasily be argued that the posturing at the time was in the interest of the leaders of both countries, who were gaining much from keeping a foreign threat to manipulate the patriotism of the citizens as well as their fear for the sake of exploiting and dominating them, and who were mostly interested in keeping the Third World down by fostering conflict and economical dependence there: The Cold War was hardly cold at all, it's just that it's all those niggaz, chinks, and redskins that took the heat and died by the millions. One could eeeeasily extend this argument in that The War On Terror was a mere continuation of the same principle: part of the appeal of Putin is that he protects the Russians against the eeeeevil bandits from Thetchenia, Georgia, Ossetia...

So From a Certain Point of View, you'd almost expect the Soviet Premier and the US President to be great chums indeed.

Plus the president in this story really seemed like the Only Sane Man. Him and that British officer.

edited 11th Oct '11 6:26:58 AM by PacificState

While there's no Word of God that I know of to confirm possible starting points for some of the gags and characters mentioned above, I've at least gotten ideas of what said starting points may've been.

The real life hotline was put in following the Cuban Missile Crisis, correct? Now think of it bluntly: it's a phone line exclusive to the President and the Premier. It's got a huge potential for comedy through that description alone. I always got the impression that the Premier's "breakdown" was due to him perhaps being a little drunk, which is what the Ambassador politely points out. Sellers' improv as the Muffley really helps to sell it too. So there you have the gag for the film: President calls the Premier in the case of an emergency, turns out the Premier is drunk in (stereo)typical Russian Head of State fashion.

And as for Muffley, you take a strong political icon of the 1950s in Adlai Stevenson and then exaggerate his defining characteristics. Perhaps take the position of a contemporary history student who's just learning about the guy - he might come across as a nice and cool spirit, an Only Sane Man like you say. And then you learn that he was weak in the face of an aggressively conservative dominant opposition (remember how Turgidson has to piint out the principles of Wing Attack Plan R - it came about in reaction to a Mc Carthyesque senator's advice). There you go, you've got Muffley, and the satire is still grounded in "it could happen" because it leans on Adlai Stevenson's impression.

You could arguably get a similar effect today if you, say in the War Room, have a nice and friendly Black man who can't stop smiling as the In Name Only leader.

You mean like in Twenty Four? Or in Tiger And Bunny?

edited 11th Oct '11 7:17:29 AM by PacificState