History Film / DrStrangelove

* ThrowingOffTheDisability: "Meihn [[AdolfHitler Führer]], I Can Walk!"

** SAC's motto "Peace Is Our Profession" is offhandedly highlighted by the camera angle several times; when Ripper explains how he's "preventing" WorldWarIII with his first-strike and later when the soldiers are fighting for the base-

* MadnessMantra: "Purity Of Essence", for GeneralRipper.

* OhCrap:
** ExplainExplainOhCrap :
** Under normal circustances, a commander would be proud of his own units getting to its target against all odds. In this scenario, it means the end of the World as we know it. 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..." Turgidson's realization face [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxLe8MWdWe0 is priceless]].

* TheArtifact: A pastry table seen in one scene refers to the original ending, a colossal [[FoodFight pie fight]], which was [[DeletedScene 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 TooSoon above).

* EagleLand: America's generalship is made of gung-ho jingoistic men hardly contained by a mild, well-meaning but ineffectual President. The top advisor is an "ex"-Nazi who in the heat of the moment regress to his GloryDays under the service of AdolfHitler. Armaggedon is triggered by an [[AmericansAreCowboys american cowboy]].

** SAC's motto "Peace Is Our Profession" is offhandedly highlighted by the camera angle several times; when Ripper explains how he's "preventing" WorldWarIII with his first-strike and later when the soldiers are fighting for the base

-->'''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."

-->'''Turgidson''': The Russki talks big, but frankly, we think he's short of know-how. You can't expect a bunch of ignorant peons to understand a machine like our boys. And that's not meant as an insult to you, Mr. Ambassador. I mean, we all know how much guts the average Russki's got. Look at all of them the Nazis killed off, they still wouldn't quit!

* PoorCommunicationKills: Mandrake has problems reaching the president to recall the bombers, he finds a PayPhone but has not enough pocket change and a brief [[SeparatedByACommonLanguage issue with British vs American terms]]. Finally one of the bombers cannot be recalled via the OverrideCommand because its communication system has been destroyed. Armaggedon ensues. And of course the Soviets didn't tell the world about their DoomsdayDevice because their premier "loves surprises".

** General Ripper, commander of an Air Force base, casually carries a machine gun in his golf bag, handy for aditional holes.

* EagleLand: Turgidson is very very type 2.

* EnemyMine: Presidnet Muffley brings the Soviets into the loop as soon as he is informed of the peril. Turgidson is dismayed.

* FailsafeFailure: The Doomsday Machine is deliberately Fail Deadly. Otherwise it wouldn't be much of a Doomsday Machine, as Strangelove [[LampshadeHanging points out]]. Unfortunately it didn't occur to the Soviets to tell anyone about the device well after it became operational, rendering it a complete liability as Strangelove once again points out.

* GeneralRipper: TropeNamer, obviously. Air Force Brigadier General Jack D. Ripper, commander of Burpelson Air Force Base.
* GeniusBonus: Arguable, but, Mandrake's last name; a common folkloric belief is that mandrakes grow only in ground into which has soaked the semen that is sometimes forced from the bodies of men hanged to death. Mandrake's role plays off General Ripper, who is strongly implied to have been driven insane by misconceptions about sex, and who is ultimately, as is mentioned in a throw-away line, the greatest mass murderer since AdolfHitler -- what's more, Mandrake "blooms" as a person, taking authority to try and stop the impending catastrophe, after he unintentionally goads Ripper into shooting himself.

** Also how General Turgidson deeply respects his lover as a person and wants to make her "Mrs. Buck Turgidson." before he reminds her to say her prayers.
*** How is that hypocritical or humorous? The general's just learned the entire world may be incinerated in a nuclear inferno before morning; why wouldn't he tell her to say her prayers? Especially given how deeply religious Americans are/were in the 60s, where ''not'' being a devout Christian could lead to one being accused of Communist leanings?

** Group Captain Mandrake is a voice of reason, and his name refers to the Mandrake root, which can resemble a human figure and which (when ingested) acts as a hallucinogen. In certain ancient texts, it's referred to as an aphrodesiac.

* GreyAndGrayMorality: The Americans and Soviets aren't that different: it's not at all clear which side is meant to be the good guys, they both indulge in highly morally questionable behaviour (The Soviets build a DoomsdayDevice which is bad enough, only to compound things by not telling the Americans about it, while the American Plan R is simply a manual DoomsdayDevice that's also designed to fail deadly, and they're using an obvious Nazi as a science advisor). They try to avert the catastrophe yet each side is just as scheming or conniving or manipulative as the other, constantly harping on about various "gaps" (missile, doomsday, mineshaft, etc), and even after causing TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt they just can't take a step back, look at themselves and wonder how much of this is their own fault.

** Group Captain Mandrake is a voice of reason, and his name refers to a fertility herb.

** Mandrake himself is named for the Mandrake root, which can resemble a human figure and which (when ingested) acts as a hallucinogen. In certain ancient texts, it's referred to as an aphrodesiac.

** Strangelove himself has aspects of several real-life nuclear scientists, but his Nazi past specifically evokes Wernher von Braun. ArthurCClarke, who knew both Stanley Kubrick and Wernher von Braun, reported that Kubrick once asked him to "tell Wernher 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."

* PoorCommunicationKills: Mandrake has problems reaching the president to recall the bombers, he finds a PayPhone but has not enough pocket change and a brief [[SeparatedByACommonLanguage issue with british vs american terms]]. Finally one of the bombers cannot be recalled via the OverrideCommand because its communication system has been destroyed. Armaggedon ensues. And of course the Soviets didn't tell the world about their DoomsdayDevice because their premier "loves surprises".

* PunnyName
* RealisticDictionIsUnrealistic: Averted with a vengeance. It's especially noticeable in President Merkin's phone call to the Soviet premier, like a cross between SickeninglySweethearts, NoYouHangUpFirst and CasualDangerDialogue, it projects a ridicule image of Muffley.
* RedRightHand

* [[ActingForTwo Acting For Three:]] PeterSellers as Captain Mandrake, President Merkin Muffley and Dr. Strangelove, and it was meant to be 4 but he was injured and was unable to do "King" Kong.
* AluminiumChristmasTrees / TruthInTelevision: Ripper's paranoia about [[WaterSourceTampering water fluoridation]].

* CrazyPrepared: Ambassador [[MeaningfulName 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.

** Also, GeorgeCScott 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 [[LargeHam 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.

* 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.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: 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 JackTheRipper mutilated women's sexual organs), Merkin Muffley (speaking of CountryMatters), etc. etc. See VisualInnuendo below, also.

* LawfulStupid: "You're gonna have to answer to the Coca-Cola Company."
** Note that Mandrake had been constantly warning that guy that he'd have to answer to the President or whoever and end up in some demeaning job if he keeps getting in Mandrake's way- it could have been a DeadpanSnarker instead.

** Note that it's the same tune for "The Ants Go Marching One By One". For whatever you'll make of that.

* MilitaryAlphabet: 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.

* MrExposition: General Turgidson and Doctor Strangelove are advisors and explain most of the strategical and technical details to [[TheWatson the President]], and to the audience by extension.

** 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 Wernher von Braun.

** ArthurCClarke, who knew both Stanley Kubrick and Wernher von Braun, reported that Kubrick once asked him to "tell Wernher 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."

* NoYouHangUpFirst: The first conversation between the American and Russian presidents is modeled this way. It overlaps with CasualDangerDialogue and projects a ridicule image of Muffley.

** ExplainExplainOhCrap : Under normal circustances, a commander would be proud of his own units getting to its target against all odds. However a succesful bomb by the unrecalled lone plane would trigger the Doomsday Device, dooming planet Earth. 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..." Turgidson's realization face [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxLe8MWdWe0 is priceless]].
** Also when Mandrake realizes what's happened.

* OnlySaneMan: Mandrake, at the base; Muffley, in the War Room; and most ironically the bomber crew (save, perhaps, for Kong).
** Arguably [[spoiler: 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 OnlySaneMan has to be a good person.
** Actually, while he looks and speaks like a WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes character, everything he says is coldly rational. See his Doomsday Device analysis quoted above.

* PeterSellers: 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.

** Turgidson is rather more keen to fully commit to a full-blown first strike than someone in his position really should be, but without the benefit of knowing about the Soviet DoomsdayDevice, he does have a point. 20 million dead is an awful outcome, but it's still less awful than 150 million dead.
** Strangelove himself is pretty much the living personification of PragmaticVillainy.

* RealisticDictionIsUnrealistic: Averted with a vengeance. It's especially noticeable in President Merkin's phone call to the Soviet premier.

* TooSoon: 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. It 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 [[PieInTheFace 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 [[{{Corpsing}} couldn't film it with the necessary "gravity."]])

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: A pastry table seen in one scene refers to the original ending, a colossal [[FoodFight pie fight]], which was [[DeletedScene 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 TooSoon above).
* WorldGoneMad: Oh yes.
** 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 [[spoiler: except for one]].

-->'''Turgidson''': The Russki talks big, but frankly, we think he's short of know-how. You can't expect ignorant peons to understand a machine like our boys. And that's not meant as an insult. We all know how much guts the average Russki's got. Look at all of them the Nazis killed off, they still wouldn't quit!

* ApocalypseHow: "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 ninety-six years!"

** The Russian ambassador's name [=DeSadesky=] refers to the outrageous MarquisDeSade, trope namer of the sexual tendency.

* PragmaticVillainy: The United States ruled out building a device like the Soviet DoomsdayMachine, but only because they realised that such a device could come back to bite them hard.
** Turgidson is rather more keen to fully commit to a full-blown first strike than someone in his position really should be, but without the benefit of knowing about the Soviet DoomsdayMachine, he does have a point. 20 million dead is an awful outcome, but it's still less awful than 150 million dead.

One day, General [[GeneralRipper Jack D. Ripper]] (Sterling Hayden) goes mental. He orders the nuclear bombers under his command to carry out a surprise attack on the Soviet Union. He puts his entire military base in lockdown with all communications cut, ordering all radios confiscated (so that Communist infiltrators can't receive outside commands) and all troops to fire on anyone who tries to enter the base, even if they appear to be fellow Americans (because they will surely be Communists in disguise). Ripper's aide, British Group Captain Lionel Mandrake (PeterSellers), discovers one last unconfiscated radio - playing dance music. Realizing that civilian stations wouldn't be playing dance music while the country was under attack, Mandrake confronts General Ripper. Ripper explains that after he felt "a profound feeling of emptiness" following [[ThisAndThat "the physical act of love"]] one night, he [[InsaneTrollLogic realized]] that the [[DirtyCommies Communists]] were trying to contaminate America's "precious bodily fluids" by means of [[TamperingWithFoodAndDrink fluoridation]] and that [[IdiotBall a preemptive strike on the Soviet Union was necessary]] [[IdiotPlot to force America to end the Communist threat once and for all]].

* BeneathTheEarth: The future of mankind AfterTheEnd is to dwell in underground facilities and fallout shelters for almost a century. That an AdamAndEvePlot and eternal vigilance by those who think that "a mine-shaft gap should not be allowed"

* CriticalResearchFailure: In-universe. [=DeSadesky=] explains that the Soviets built their machine because they feared a "Doomsday-gap" when they "discovered" that the Americans were building one. When the US President refutes that as a ludicrous fantasy, the ambassador replies: [[EpicFail our source was the ''The New York Times'']]

* FreudWasRight: Invoked by the film itself. A central theme of the movie is the portrayal of sexual symbolism as more than symbolism; Kubrick paraphrases Clausewitz "war is the continuation of sex by other means" without much room for interpretation. The opening refueling scene of two bombers "coupling", Mandrake attempting "preversion" with a vending machine coin return slot, the not-even-veiled [[IntercourseWithYou sexual references]] that drive the madness of General Ripper and the very meaningful names of the two warmongerings (him and Turgidson) who push against the peaceful one (Merkin Muffley). Near the end there is yet another MoodDissonance when the characters are happily planning a postnuclear scenario where the male to female ratio would land them with their own [[AdamAndEvePlot harems to repopulate the world]].

* DyingMomentOfAwesome: [[RidingTheBomb Riding a nuke]] all the way to the target, whooping and hollaring like a cowboy all the way down is about as awesome as a death gets! It's one of the most memorable (and parodied) scenes in the film.

** Note that Mandrake had been constantly warning that guy that he'd have to answer to the President or whoever and end up in some demeaning job if he keeps getting in Mandrake's way- it could have been a DeadpanSnarker

** The target for the bomber is Laputa. La puta is Spanish for "the whore". Doubles as a ShoutOut to ''GulliversTravels''

* [[ActingForTwo Acting For Three:]] PeterSellers as Captain Mandrake, President Merkin Muffley and Dr. Strangelove.
** And it was meant to be 4 but he was injured and was unable to do "King" Kong.

* NotSoDifferent: The Americans and Soviets: it's not at all clear which side is meant to be the good guys, they both indulge in highly morally questionable behaviour (The Soviets build a DoomsdayDevice which is bad enough, only to compound things by not telling the Americans about it, while the American Plan R is simply a manual DoomsdayDevice that's also designed to fail deadly, and they're using an obvious Nazi as a science advisor). Each side is just as scheming or conniving or manipulative as the other, constantly harping on about various "gaps" (missile, doomsday, mineshaft, etc), and even after causing TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt they just can't take a step back, look at themselves and wonder how much of this is their own fault.

* ThrowItIn: 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 EvilHand'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. [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome And Sellers got to ad-lib.]]

* VisualInnuendo: 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.

** And it was meant to be 4 but he was injured and was unable to do "King" Kong.
* AluminiumChristmasTrees / TruthInTelevision: Ripper's paranoia about [[WaterSourceTampering water fluoridation]].

* ApocalypseHow: "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 ninety-six years!"

* BombersOnTheScreen: The primary purpose of TheBigBoard.

* DoUntoOthersBeforeTheyDoUntoUs: Ripper claims he's giving the US the best kind of head start he can.

* DyingMomentOfAwesome: [[RidingTheBomb Riding a nuke]] all the way to the target, whooping and hollaring like a cowboy all the way down is about as awesome as a death gets! It's one of the most memorable (and parodied) scenes in the film.

* EnforcedMethodActing:

** Also, [[GeorgeCScott 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 [[LargeHam Large Hams]] ever but also causing Scott to swear he'd never work with Kubrick again.

* FailsafeFailure: The Doomsday Machine is deliberately Fail Deadly. Otherwise it wouldn't be much of a Doomsday Machine, as Strangelove [[LampshadeHanging points out]]. Unfortunately it didn't occur to the Soviets to tell anyone about the device well after it became operational, rendering it a complete liability as Strangelove once again points out.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: 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 JackTheRipper mutilated women's sexual organs), Merkin Muffley (speaking of {{country matters}}), etc. etc. See VisualInnuendo below, also.

* HypocriticalHumor:

* LampshadeHanging: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]]: It was impossible to launch a wing of B-52s on an irrevocable mission, and the movie acknowledges this, not to [[ShownTheirWork show their work]] but to calm potential hysterical moviegoers down.

* MadnessMantra: "Purity Of Essence", for GeneralRipper.

* MeaningfulName: 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.

** And President [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merkin Merkin]] [[http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=muff Muffley]] is a [[spoiler:pussy]].

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed:

* NotSoDifferent: The Americans and Soviets: it's not at all clear which side is meant to be the good guys, they both indulge in highly morally questionable behaviour (The Soviets build a DoomsdayDevice which is bad enough, only to compound things by not telling the Americans about it, while the American Plan R is simply a manual DoomsdayDevice that's also designed to fail deadly, and they're using an obvious Nazi as a science advisor). Each side is just as scheming or conniving or manipulative as the other, constantly harping on about various "gaps" (missile, doomsday, mineshaft, etc), and even after causing TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt they just can't take a step back, look at themselves and wonder how much of this is their own fault.

* OhCrap:

* TheOneThingIDontHateAboutYou:

** Actually, while he looks and speaks like a LooneyTunes character, everything he says is coldly rational. See his Doomsday Device analysis quoted above.

* PoorCommunicationKills: Mandrake has problems reaching the president to recall the bombers, he finds a PayPhone but has not enough pocket change and a brief [[SeparatedByACommonLanguage issue with british vs american terms]]. Finally one of the bombers cannot be recalled via the OverrideCommand because its communication system has been destroyed. Armaggedon ensues. And of course the Soviets didn't tell the world about their DoomsdayDevice because their premier "loves surprises".

-->'''Turgidson''' : Perhaps it might be better, Mr. President, if you were more concerned with the American People than with your image in the history books.

* StupidestThingIveEverHeard: Pronounced by Major Kong during his initial incredulous reaction when the crew recieves the go ahead codes for "Plan R"

* {{Understatement}}:

* VodkaDrunkenski:

* TheWarRoom: A very influential Ur-example. A huge, elaborate set designed by Creator/KenAdam.