Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Stanley Kubrick directs. Gilbert Taylor behind the camera. Laurie Johnson scores. Anthony Harvey cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United Kingdom, United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 1Shot for just $1.8M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
• 2Made its money back 5.3× over at the box office.
• 362 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
• 4International production across 2 countries: United Kingdom, United States of America.
• 5Directed by Stanley Kubrick, shot by Gilbert Taylor. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 6Original score by Laurie Johnson. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 7Editor Anthony Harvey shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 8Peter Sellers and George C. Scott and Sterling Hayden carry the top of the cast.
• 9Marketing tagline: "The hot-line suspense comedy.".
• 10IMDB entry: tt0057012 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 11Classified under 22 themes, including "usa president", "general", "cold war", "strategic air command".
• 12Released under 35 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography

Gilbert Taylor

Original score

Laurie Johnson

Editing

Anthony Harvey

Production design

Ken Adam

Makeup / hair

Stuart Freeborn

Runtime

95 min · 1h 35m

Aspect ratio (typical)

1.37:1 (Academy)

Status

Released

Budget

$1,800,000

Box office

$9,500,000

Return

528% of budget

Original language

EN

Certification (US)

PG

IMDB

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) ↗

Rotten Tomatoes

98% 🍅 Fresh

Metacritic

97/100

IMDB rating

8.3/10 · 549,187 votes

MPAA

PG

Also by

Stanley Kubrick

• 
  Paths of Glory

  1957 · ★ 8.3
• 
  A Clockwork Orange

  1971 · ★ 8.2
• 
  The Shining

  1980 · ★ 8.2
• 
  Full Metal Jacket

  1987 · ★ 8.1
• 
  Barry Lyndon

  1975 · ★ 8.0
• 
  2001: A Space Odyssey

  1968 · ★ 8.0

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  Hello Dimitri?

  Clip · Official
• 

  ▶
  This is the War Room!

  Clip · Official
• 

  ▶
  Original Trailer

  Trailer · Official
• 

  ▶
  Armando Iannucci on a new stage version of Dr Strangelove, starring Steve Coogan | BFI Q&A

  Featurette · Official
• 

  ▶
  Dr. Strangelove (1964) - The Doomsday Machine

  Clip · Official
• 

  ▶
  First 10 Minutes

  Clip · Official

Community reviews

What people are saying

• CRCulver2018-09-08
  ★ 9/10

  Stanley Kubrick's 1964 film <i>Dr.&nbsp;Strangelove</i> is a hilarious film about the nuclear annihilation of the human race. Its plot combines three strands that lead inevitably to this doomsday. In the first, an Air Force base commander (Sterling Hayden) goes insane and launches the go-code for his B52s to drop the bomb on their targets in Russia, while a British captain on an officer exchange program (Peter Sellers) tries to reason with him. In the second strand, we see the crew of a B52 commanded by the cowboyish Major Kong (Slim Pickens) as they prepare to drop the bomb. Finally, there are the scenes from the Pentagon war room, where the American president (again Peter Sellers) harangues a general (George&nbsp;C. Scott) about how this could have happened, until the mysterious German scientist Dr.&nbsp;Strangelove (Peter Sellers yet again) offers a solution. Originally meant to be a straightforward adaptation of a political thriller novel, <i>Dr.&nbsp;Strangelove</i> became a madcap comedy. The characters' sexual quirks, anti-Communist hysteria and nonchalance about the coming apocalypse and are exaggerated to the point of farce. No other Peter Sellers film shows off his range of talents so well: he segues effortlessly between Captain Mandrake, a nervous fellow with a British accident already antiquated at the time the film was made, the staid American politician President Merkin Muffley, and Dr. Strangelove, one of the Nazi scientists that the USA brought over after World War&nbsp;II. Filmgoers must have perceived this film somewhat differently, when the threat of nuclear annihilation felt very real. Contemporary audiences won't fully get how black this black comedy is. Nonetheless, this film remains perennially funny, and even after numerous viewings over the last 15 years or so I still laugh every time.

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• barrymost2019-11-13
  ★ 8/10

  A U.S. bomber plane is heading for Russia. Communications are unavailable. The Commie Russians have built a doomsday device. And, according to crazy, (wheelchair-bound?), ex-Nazi scientist, Dr. Strangelove, nuclear destruction is upon us all! Thanks to this eccentric comedy, I now have considerable respect for the talent of Peter Sellers. How he pulled off three totally different roles so convincingly is just beyond me. Especially his portrayal of the U.S. President; I could hardly believe that British Peter Sellers could do an American accent that naturally. This was apparently a very black comedy for its time, as the threat of nuclear war was really a thing when this was filmed. Offbeat, humorous script includes some eyebrow-raising, edgy dialogue and scenes. Would I recommend? Yes, to those with a open mind, or a taste for a truly bizarre kind of comedy.

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• Filipe Manuel Neto2022-12-19
  ★ 10/10

  Sex and war in an extremely sarcastic and intelligent film. This film is one of the best of director Stanley Kubrick's career, and is also one of the most iconic and acidic satire that cinema has ever seen. Inspired by a tense novel that was published in the same period, and by the political and military events that were taking place at the time, the film shoots in all directions to give us the most absurd and ridiculous image of the rivalry between the USA and the Soviet Union. Despite everything, and all the points in favor, I don't think this film is a true comedy. To me, honestly, it didn't make me laugh, although I absorb and understand the acidic irony that is here. The script begins with a very serious incident that could be true (and the US even reviewed its military strategies in order to prevent something similar from happening in real life): after inventing, in his troubled mind, a crazy conspiracy theory according to which the Soviets are poisoning American drinking water, a crazed general initiates a pre-orchestrated military protocol designed to retaliate against a Russian attack with the full force of their nuclear arsenal. But with one detail: there was no Russian attack, which would make the Americans the aggressor country, and responsible for a holocaust of biblical proportions. Informed of this, the president meets with his generals and, in direct articulation with the Kremlin, tries by all means to prevent the worst. What's extraordinary about this film is the way it ridicules the sexual arousal that several characters have around nuclear war. For these characters, the end of the world, total war, is an absolute fetish, portrayed in almost erotic detail. The most obvious cases are Generals Ripper and Turgidson: each, in his own way, vehemently expressing the mental connection they make between sex and war. Whether by the way they speak and express themselves, or more implicitly, by holding phallic elements that are increasingly evident, they are men who are horny in war. In the same line of thought, the commander of the American aircraft, who becomes a cowboy on horseback in the bomb, as if this were an extension of his male phallus. And what about the character of Strangelove? His name says it all! He is a Nazi scientist in the service of the Americans, and the way he tries to contain his excitement in anticipation of the end of the world is evident, for example, in the idea he suggests of a bunker where the survivors, handpicked (the Nazi idea of the eugenics is very present here), would spend their time having sex to save the human race. This is one of the great films in the career of Peter Sellers, a British actor who is famous for comedy. I've seen several of his films, and I already know his ability to play more than one character in the same film. Here, he gives life to three of the main characters, always with the same quality and professionalism. He is so good that it was really difficult to recognize the actor. George C. Scott and Sterling Hayden are also to be congratulated for the work they did in this film, which was certainly one of the ones that most immortalized them as actors. The best technical aspect of the film is the cinematography. Kubrick used various techniques to convey his erotic-military message, such as the opening credits, where an in-flight refueling becomes a symbolic copulation. The camera framing was also thought out in detail, with strategically placed close-up scenes, some characters very well highlighted and others reduced to the smallest expression of themselves (the American president, who is portrayed as incompetent, like his army is able to control). The film is a true lesson in black-and-white cinematography. The sets and costumes are also excellent, and the attack on the air base is one of the best and most realistic combat scenes I've seen in a modern war film. The soundtrack, finally, is one of the most ironic there is, and it perfectly matches the tone of the film. Highlight, of course, for the opening and ending themes.

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• HA

  Hawk Films

  GB

• 

  Columbia Pictures

  US

Key crew

• ProducerStanley Kubrick
• ProducerVictor Lyndon
• Executive ProducerLeon Minoff
• EditorAnthony Harvey
• Production DesignKen Adam
• NovelPeter George
• Title DesignerPablo Ferro
• Art DirectionPeter Murton
• Makeup ArtistStuart Freeborn
• HairstylistBarbara Ritchie
• Production ManagerClifton Brandon
• Assistant DirectorEric Rattray
• ADR & DubbingJohn Aldred
• SoundJohn Cox
• Sound EditorLeslie Hodgson
• Special EffectsWally Veevers
• Special EffectsAlan Bryce
• Special EffectsArthur 'Weegee' Fellig
• Special EffectsGarth Inns
• Camera OperatorKelvin Pike
• Still PhotographerBob Penn
• Assistant EditorRay Lovejoy
• Key GripMichael Walter
• Visual Effects CameraJim Body

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• usa president
• general
• cold war
• strategic air command
• dark comedy
• nuclear missile
• satire
• black and white
• cynical
• war room
• bomber pilot
• nuclear weapons
• ex-nazi
• anti war
• doomsday device
• absurdism
• satirical
• hilarious
• audacious
• farcical
• sardonic
• everyone dies

Release history · US

When it landed

• Theatrical1964-01-29PG

Also known as

International titles

• Dr. StrangeloveUS
• Il dottor Stranamore, ovvero come imparai a non preoccuparmi e ad amare la bombaIT
• Dr StrangeloveGB
• Dr. InsólitoMX
• Docteur FolamourCA
• ¿Teléfono rojo? Volamos hacia MoscúES
• Doutor EstranhoamorPT
• 奇愛博士TW
• Доктор Стрейнджлав, или Как я научился не волноваться и полюбил атомную бомбуRU
• Dr. StrangeloveAD
• Dr. Divnoláska aneb Jak jsem se naucil nedelat si starosti a mít rád bombuCZ
• Tohtori Outolempi eli: Kuinka lakkasin olemasta huolissani ja opin rakastamaan pommiaFI
• Hakase no ijô na aijô: Matawa watashi wa ikani shite shinpai suru no wo yamete suibaku wo aisuru you ni natta kaJP
• Garip DoktorTR
• Il Dottor StranamoreIT