Kubrick does it again!! Want to vote on what I should watch next? Click here! www.patreon.com/jamesvscinema "Lethal Weapon" dropping Friday! Enjoy the day :)

"Gentlemen. You can't fight in here. This is the War Room!" might be one of my favorite lines in any movie

“Peace is our Profession” wasn’t made up for this movie, that was the motto of The Strategic Air Command.

You have no idea how scared we were as kids in the 50's and 60's that the Russians were going to drop the bomb. It's no joke that we had drills at school to hide under our desks or in a center hallway to avoid getting vaporized. It was absolutely terrifying and that fact that Kubrick had the vision to put our fears into a comedy in 1964 was incredibly groundbreaking.

"Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the war room!" 🤣 😂 This movie is hilarious.. a Kubrick gem.

The fact that Peter Sellers played 3 characters in this film is amazing

It’s crazy to see how young James Earl Jones is in this movie. This is such a great classic.

Peter Sellars got his ambition to play multiple characters from his admiration of Alec Guiness, who plays 9 characters in the British comedy Kind Hearts and Coronets. If you want to watch a film that has no connection with Strangelove, except that it is a surprisingly dark comedy with a great actor giving a virtuoso performance in multiple roles then I recommend that. And Guiness and Sellers acted together in another wonderful dark comedy, from the same studio (Ealing Studios) called The Ladykillers. (And there, with all due respect to the Coens, you have to go for the original, definitely not the Coen Brothers remake).

"Gee, I wish WE had one of those Doomsday Machines, Janesy." George C. Scott is so great in this.

Kubrick's Cold War masterpiece! Peter Sellers' performances were absolutely BRILLIANT!

You need to watch this movie like 5 times to get everything. It really is just such a good movie. The next Kubrick movie you should watch is "Paths of Glory." Not everyone has seen it, but it is quite good and I think you will like it.

Love this film. One of the funniest dark comedies of all time. Peter Sellers is absolute genius in this. And George C. Scott's comedy chops are on spot on. Not sure I've ever seen Scott do any other comedies.

That ending with “We’ll Meet Again” and the footage of nukes gives me chills

This is my favorite Kubrick movie. I know a lot of people say 2001 Space Odyssey is their favorite, but this is my favorite from him. This has the best showcase of one of Kubrick's strongest characteristics, one of cinema's most unique, his BITTER HUMOR. It's like Kubrick was indicting and condemning humanity's propensity to do stupid things with humor. He's making fun of humanity's stupid nuclear weapons race and war in general but instead of portraying the misery of only a handful of charaters as most "human stupidity" films do, in this film, he humorously showed how the entire civilization can be obliterated by human stupidity at a very grand scale. This is probably his most misanthropic attack against humanity's idiocy, even more so than what's narrated in A Clockwork Orange.

Fun fact: Major T.J. "King" Kong (the pilot who rides the bomb) was originally going to be played by Peter Sellers (in addition to his three other roles!), but a sprained ankle made it too difficult for Sellers to walk around the cramped set of the bomber plane, so the role went instead to the veteran character actor (and former Texas rodeo clown) Slim Pickens.

The depiction of the procedure in the airplane was so accurate that the FBI questioned Kubrick on where he got that information from.

The movie Fail Safe with Henry Fonda came out the same year and is a tense drama that is the flip side of this and also worth a watch .

I wrote an entire paper about the cinematography in the war room scenes when I was in college because I love this film so much. I'm loving the recent movie choices so much for your reactions!

James , "diabolically sharp" is the perfect two word description of this film.

Sterling Hayden. What a perfect delivery of an absolutely insane line with a totally straight face. And Slim Pickens delivery on the quintessential scene - epic. He stored the cowboy hat in a special safe, not just the code safe, but it's own safe (also lined with nudey pics). Peter Sellers plays three roles: RAF officer, The President and, of course, Dr. Strangelove - brilliant. Peter used to be in a radio group "The Goon Show" which pre-dates and heavily influenced Monty Python and his fingerprints are all over the script.

"Death smiles at everyone, and all a man can do is smile back." - Marcus Aurelius, Roman emperor

I audited a film appreciate class in college and this was one of the films we studied. There are *TONS* of sexual allusions in this film, which relate to the idea of war as a reaction to men's insecurity of their masculinity/sexual performance. For example, the idea of precious bodily fluids being the impetus for starting nuclear war. The names of most of the main characters have sexual connotations (Buck Turgidson, an erect penis is "turgid" -- the ineffectual (impotent) president is named Merkin Muffley, a "merkin" is a female pubic wig -- Dr. "Strangelove", etc). The "serious" discussion of the male sexual fantasy plot of ensuring a huge female to male ratio (with only the most attractive females) being used to repopulate mankind. Even the opening shots of the planes being refueled are symbolic of sexual intercourse. One of the greatest film satires ever--really demonstrates the insanity of war.

"Peace is Our Profession" was the actual motto of Strategic Air Command.

I been waiting for this one for a long time. This is in my all time top ten!

You're right on with the Monty Python reference. The Python troupe was highly influenced by Peter Sellers and the Goon Show.

I came to adulthood during the height of the Cold War. Absolute blinding existential dread was the sea we all swam in. Everyone, even kids, knew that there were a million ways the equilibrium of terror that kept nukes from flying could be disrupted. Every time the evening news talked about rising tensions between the US and the USSR, the whole thing overwhelmed you (or at least it overwhelmed me) with a feeling of certain, unavoidable, and imminent doom. I have no idea how many nights I went to bed positive that the world would be dead before I woke up. On the playground at recess we split our time between playing Six Million Dollar Man and discussing whether it would be better to be vaporized in the first blast or try to live through the aftermath (most little kids came down on the side of instant death). And as horrible as all that was, we got used to it because human beings can get used to anything. The insanity depicted in this film was just a slice of life. Young people today have their own reasons for existential dread so I'm not trying to say we had it worse because I don't think we did; there's no comforting way to contemplate the end of human life. I guess the simple fact is that we were always going to commit suicide somehow. Christ I'm glad I never had kids.

One of my favorite movies of all time. Still holds up amazingly well. Kubrick was a genius. You can't fight in here, this is the war room!

As other responders have noted, the movie "Fail Safe" is definitely one you should see, showing the darker side of nuclear conflict. Starring Henry Fonda...("12 Angry Men")...I have to say that seeing it when I was a youngster really scared the sh#t out of me.

"Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the war room!"

George C. Scott's performance is crazy brilliant in this. Unfortunately, it was obtained through rather manipulative means by the director. Scott was a bit too subtle in his performance, so Kubrick asked him to give him a few takes in every scene that were outlandish, ridiculous, or just plain silly. Kubrick assured him these were just explorative and wouldn't necessarily be used. Given Kubrick's propensity for MANY takes, Scott must have not noticed what Kubrick was doing. Kubrick edited most of the silly takes of Scott's scenes together to make the final film. Scott found out about it at the screening of the movie. He was FURIOUS. Having said that, it's fucking awesome.

Gentlemen, you can't fight in here. This is the war room! Glad you're ticking off all the classiques James

The scene goes by very quick but if you guys pause at 6:32 you'll see a young James Earl Jones as Lt. Zogg in the pilot crew! This was his acting debut.

Peter Sellers was a comedic genius. The first time I watched this years ago I didn't pay attention to the opening or closing credits. I had no idea it was Sellers playing the president.

One of the greatest lines in cinema history - "Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War room!!"

Shout out to James Earl Jones being in the movie as a pilot. One of his earliest roles

"YAAAAAAAAAA HOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!" God dang this movie is A: Brilliant in it's self-awareness and B: just chock full of iconic scenes and quotes. Love love love this film.

James I gotta say, thank you man. The whole community that you’ve built with this channel is amazing. It gives hope to those who don’t have it. I don’t have many friends to discuss films or really anything with, and doing it by proxy with you through the comments has been very helpful. Keep it up man, and I hope you have a good holiday season.

James, have you seen Kubrick's 1957 movie, "Paths of Glory"? You might like it, "When Truffaut famously said that it was impossible to make an anti-war movie, because action argues in favor of itself, he could not have been thinking of "Paths of Glory," and no wonder: Because of its harsh portrait of the French army, the film was banned in France until 1975."

“No fighting in the war room!” One of my all time favorite lines. This movie is just absolutely brilliant.

I’m sure somebody else already stated this but “Pease is our Profession” was the motto of the Strategic Air Command

Saw a doc recently about Eddie Murphy... he cited this movie and Peter Sellers doing several roles so perfectly as his inspiration for playing multiple, completely different roles in his movies...

What you really need to compare and contrast is this film with the movie "Fail-Safe" both movies were scheduled to be released at the same time, and after a law suit, Kubrick won. Fail-Safe is an ultra-serious flick starring Henry Fonda. I own copies of both & I think I prefer Fail-Safe a bit more. It's deadly serious with no comic relief. I really think you should check it out.

The film is, among everything else that has been said, a masterpiece of sexual innuendos. The opening shot of the fuel plane in the air is made to look like two planes having sex. General Ripper can't accept that he can no longer perform in bedroom so instead he makes up a crazy idea of Russians poluting their fluids and starts a war. In the end the global genocide gets the nazi in the room so happy that his dead arm springs back to life and then he literally stands up. It's amazing.

I love how you never see him, but indirectly, through the telephone conversation, you can exactly picture Dmitry in your mind!

This is my favorite movie. When I was growing up in the 60s and 70s it was shown on TV every year on ABC. I always made sure to watch it. I love that you liked it! I enjoyed watching your reactions!

The moment of you discovering where a sample came from, is exactly why I love showing people movies and watching KZfaq reactions, to see people make those connections between the arts they already love, to this new piece that predates it, is just wonderful. The way art is as a whole, all connected, makes everything that much more impactful, to me. For example my good friend listens to alot of metal, and just like rap and hip hop, a good amount of metal artists will sample soundclips from movies, so when I'm showing him a movie or a clip from a show, he can see where those parts of the song came from, he doesn't watch to many movies or shows, so he wouldn't know where they came from otherwise, I showed him One Flew Over the Cookoos Nest, and he recognized a line from a metal song during out viewing, and that connection just pushed his interest in the film up just a good amount, it was like he discovered a missing piece to the puzzle of his appreciation.

By the early 60s it was just becoming apparent to the general public that "duck and cover" was a bunch of BS. So Kubrick managed to encapsulate just how absurd it all was that our leaders would think war was a thing they'd be able to control, and they'd "procedure" us all right into extinction. My Dad worked at SAC on bombers for most of his career and this was a favorite of his. We'd ask him if this was they way the crews would act in that situation because it was hard to believe and he'd basically just look at us and say: Enjoy life, kiddos. If you REALLY want to make yourself nuts, go and research how many times it almost went down by accident.

This year is 13 years in the US Army and the commentary on the military mindset is still dead-on. Timeless.

Every youtuber who reviews this movie after I have asked for it gets my subscription. I'm a man of my word. +1 subscriber.

I couldn't click on this video fast enough. So glad you're continuing your journey into Kubrick's filmography. Keep up the great work man!

I believe that this and another movie with similar themes got the US military quite worried, and they spent some time reviewing procedures to try to tighten things up and make sure this couldn't happen. Apparently, security around nuclear weapons often used to be pretty poor!

"Mein Führer, I can walk" is the best last line delivered in any movie. And I'm ready to die on that hill.

“Being There” is another Peter Sellers masterpiece

Even with the very real possibility of a nuclear war on the horizon, you will still have to answer to the Coca Cola Company for breaking a vending machine.

I heard that Strangelove wasn't supposed to stand up at the end, but Sellers quickly improvised and came up with "Mein Führer! I can walk!" on the spot.

Kubrick told George c Scott to just have fun with the first take of each of his parts, calling them "practice" takes, then having him do his lines very seriously, but Kubrick intentionally used the "practice" takes. Scott was livid when he saw the movie.

Kubrick? Pressed play fast af boi.

21:27 Gotta admit, that's a pretty badass way to go!

Great video. My father joined Strategic Air Command in 1952 as a 2nd Lieutenant and retired as a full Colonel in 1969. His boss there until 1957 was General Curtis Lemay known as Bombs Away Lemay. Lemay spent many evenings at our dinner table and fishing with my father in a local stream. Peace is our Profession was indeed their motto. My father's and Lemay's favorite film of all time? Doctor Strangelove.

I saw this in a film class my second to last semester of college a few years ago, late 2017, I think. Had one last elective of anything I needed to take, and I'm glad I took that class, because I was fortunate enough to have some cool conversations and see some older, classic movies I don't know that I would've ever noticed otherwise (at least until much later). This movie is ridiculously sharp and witty, and yet also very subtle that you'll miss some of its humor and commentary if you're not actively paying attention. It was timely too, considering how this movie came out not even a year and a half after the Cuban Missile Crisis.

I used to fly in B-52 bombers. The opening sequence shows a B-52 performing air refueling. You notice that the refueling boom pops out at the end, which is not standard. It is known as an emergency breakaway (which you can actually watch happening).

Also of note is the movie "Fail-Safe", directed by Sidney Lumet (the director behind 12 Angry Men). It's basically the serious version of this movie and the studio behind Dr. Strangelove actually sued so it would come out after Kubrick's movie. I'm simplifying a bit, but I always find it interesting how dirty film studios would behave.

This is one of my favorite movies, loved your analysis at the end

Just so you know, that was Vera Lynn singing at the end. She's British and was loved by the British troops during WW2. Listen to the lyrics; "We'll meet again, some SUNNY day". Irony abounds...

Love the swipe Kubrick makes at the US using former Nazi scientists. Such a brilliant movie

I'll connect a couple dots for you since you mentioned Monty Python in this. I think Kubrick really absorbed British humor after he disowned Hollywood after making Spartacus, moved to England and spent the rest of his life there. The British really have a way of casually tossing off some truly dark witticisms that are brilliantly funny if they doesn't sucker-punch you too hard and I wouldn't doubt that Kubrick really responded to that. Peter Sellers (bad mustache guy, president and strangelove himself) is more internationally known for the Pink Panther movies and the film Being There, but he rose to prominence with the British radio comedy group the Goon Show, which was a direct influence on Monty Python. In fact, the guy in Life of Brian who was trying to pontificate to the group of Brian's followers, but just walked away when they left him is another Goon Show member, Spike Milligan, who principally wrote their material. Anyway, Kubrick really got along with Sellers when they first worked together on Lolita, the first film Kubrick did in England and the one before Dr. Strangelove. He liked Sellers' improvisational abilities as a comic, so he made his part in Lolita bigger and then particularly modeled Strangelove as a vehicle for Sellers to play four different parts, but it wound up being only three. I'd say why, but someone else probably already did and I'm rambling too much. F'in factoids!

The bit in which Dr. Strangelove stands up was entirely improvised

On the wall of the Strategic Air Command and every SAC emblem everywhere was the phrase, "Peace . . . Is Our Profession". The official ellipses fill-in was "and the destruction of all who threaten it". Unofficially, the self-proclaimed logo was "Peace is Our Profession; War is Just a Hobby". I know from where I speak. I began my first tour in Bldg 500, SAC HQ, was working as the TSCO for the Command Historian. I worked at HQ SAC from December 1979 to August 1995 when I was not assigned overseas (from 1982-1983 working in the Headquarters, Royal Saudi Air Force in Riyadh, SA and 1987-1990 in Headquarters United States European Command in Stuttgart-Vaihingen, West Germany -- now just Germany).

The ending was most likely a suggestion of a friend and co star from a radio series called The Goons of Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan , as Kubrick did not know how to end the movie. Spike was known for his dark and weird humor.

So the thing with the cold war - my dad talks about being convinced he would die either in Vietnam or in a nuclear war, which could happen at any time. For any reason - or no reason at all. We came down to literally a single vote against starting a nuclear war during the cuban missile crisis - from a guy in a submarine who was being hit with depth charges at the time. And then there's our Paperclip Man. And I LOVE ('love') the relevance of the Precious Bodily Fluids conspiracy. Flourination and Vaccines and Soy Products... it's all the same conspiracy and swap out the words.

I just literally watch this , was thinking James should review this ! Thank you for this upload !!

always love your videos, no matter the movie we’re watching the vibes are immaculate

Kubrick actually got in trouble with the US government because he was able to so perfectly re-create the interior and operation of a B-52. The original title was "How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb", but he also got in trouble about that; due to this coming out during the height of the Cold War intensity, right after the Bay of Pigs failure.

Check out Being There (1979) starring Peter Sellers in his second to last role. Absolutely spectacular film and as much as I'm a Kubrick fan, Hal Ashby's masterpiece is my personal favorite film. Thank you for your consideration and reactions - top notch!

One of the greatest films of all time, and I'm so glad you reacted how you did. Thank you 🤘

This guy must be a blast in movie theaters. Definitely loves to hear himself talk.🤣🤣

Funny you should mention Fallout. The original developers of the Fallout series credit Dr. Strangelove as a highly influential to the core concepts and world design of the game.

I love this dark-as-hell comedy. Also the amount of movie lore this film has around it is so much fun as well. The fact that the U.S. built a war room like the one in the film after the incoming president at the time who saw the film asked to see the real thing. 😅 The general who was obsessed with keeping his essence pure was based on an actual person. Stuff like that. Another good one in the books James. Thank you sir.

”Mein Führer, I can walk!” I experienced massive chills when the bombs went off and ”we’ll meet again” started playing. I’m kind of proud of humanity that we haven’t blown ourselves up (yet)

You've mentioned doing a technical essay in a few reaction videos. I'm anxiously looking forward to that with clips from various movies. Its the technical commentary you give is my favorite part of your reaction videos.

I'm waiting for the musical to come out. Slim Pickens was in Blazing Saddles and in millions of Westerns. Peter Sellers best movie, played five roles. Sellers also played Chauncey Gardner in Being There... The drum playing as the B-52's heading toward Russia. Like maybe one of biggest anti-war statements ever and the MAD concept: Mutual Assured Destruction...

Such a great movie, good commentary, Sellers & C, Scott were awesome... 'The Ladykillers' would be a fantastic choice for a future Peter Sellers reaction, it truly is a great film, old but great...

The closing scene of the movie, "Mein Furer! I can walk!!" - one of my favorite lines in the movie, up there with "Gentlemen. You can't fight in here. This is the War Room!" Peter Sellers played 3 parts, the President, the British office with the moustache and Doctor Strangelove

In my opinion this is the peak of Kubrick's achievements. He started as a photographer for magazines. At the mid-60s juncture of his career, "Spartacus" was his only film in color, and there's something about black & white as a component of aesthetic that he *MASTERED*. There wasn't a more sumptuous visual feast that he could cook up after "Dr. Strangelove", so detailed, so atmospheric, so foreboding. In terms of storytelling he had also crafted his most mature examination of the world, but by paradox he did so through the most immature characters imaginable. This is what the end of Earth's civilization would look like. Not conjecture; just fact. Kubrick wisely didn't waste his remaining career trying to jump the bar he set for himself. Instead he switched to color and built his style from scratch. From "2001 A Space Odyssey" onward you see him explore ... you see him play with filmmaking, with the existence of art and story and commercial appeal mingling together. He did so with absolute confidence because (as "Dr. Strangelove" proved) he was already the best and didn't have to prove anything. I also hold a special place in my heart for anything that can make me laugh so hard I fart.

This movie pairs well with The Bed Sitting Room; a another dark absurd comedy about nuclear annihilation, my favorite description of it is people in post apocalyptic England deal with the end of the world in the most British way possible. If you loved dr strangelove & Monty python you need to see The Bed Sitting Room

Oh man, this movie is so awesome. Great documentary about an iron-willed man who does what needs to be done even in the face of extreme adversity! ;)

Awesome reaction James

"Peace is our Profession" was the official motto of SAC (Strategic Air Command. The unofficial motto was "Nuke 'em 'till the glow, then shoot 'em in the dark".

Such a Cold War classic. Having lived through much of the Cold War, this movie resonates. It’s our worst nightmare come to life in all its absurdity. Sadly, it still applies and most folks these days don’t even realize that there is a curtain and a big bad Wizard behind it. Peter Sellers plays three parts in this and Slim Pickens will always be remembered for his ride on the bomb. “Peace Is Our Profession” was the actual motto of SAC. In college, I majored in Soviet Studies, and we routinely discussed things like CEP, Throw weight and casualties in megadeaths. The whole thing was insane. Check out “Failsafe,” “By Dawn’s Early Light,” “Threads,” and “The Day After.” You will never take North Korea seriously again. The policy at this time was MAD: Mutually Assured Destruction, if you attack us, we’ll attack you and everyone dies.

I was 7 when this film came out. I probably first saw it when I was 12 or 13. This was the reality of what we knew could happen at any time for my entire life up to about 1989, at which point things felt a little calmer. Now, instead of incinerating the planet directly, we are just going to let it burn up from too much CO2 in Earth's bodily fluids, but what can you do?

"If it's accurate." Fun fact: The inside layout of B-52s was secret at the time, and Kubrick did a good enough job replicating it that the DoD investigated how he did it. Some of the stuff Kubrick did is just mindblowing when you think about it. Nothing moreso than 2001 pre-dating the actual moon landing.

This movie is great on so many levels. There's a reason this movie is considered an all time classic.

YES! I'm so glad you did this brilliant film. It's indeed very dark and terrifying and yet I couldn't stop laughing when I first saw it either because of the complete absurdity of it all. Also, the guy who played three different characters (the British officer, the President, and the "ex" nazi scientist) is British comedian legend Peter Sellers--a true master of character acting and comedy

I still love that Sellers plays 3 characters in this, and does so to perfection.

i am a film student and love learning from what you do. You have an interesting, and; singular perspective, thank you; for all you do

For reasons of security the crew were not allowed inside an actual B-52 and Kubrick only had photos to figure things out. When US Air Force people saw the set they were shocked at it's accuracy so it must be pretty spot on.

Welp, now that you've seen Peter Sellers might as well put The Pink Panther on your list (1963).

You know, there is a deleted scene. You wonder why there is this big buffet in the war room? They shot a big cake fight in the war room, which is probably the most hilarious thing ever. Didn't make it into the movie though because everyone was so caked you couldn't tell anymore what was going on.

One of my favorite all-time movies...great cast, George C Scott was outstanding! This movie's original release date was November 22, 1963....which was immediately postponed after Kennedy was killed. I believe it was finally released in Feb 1964.

At the end he told everyone to stay hydrated. Was that a reference to our precious bodily fluids? 🙂