Dr Strangelove (or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb) is a satirical war movie released in 1964 and directed by Stanley Kubrick. The story follows the events after an insane American general triggers a path to nuclear holocaust that a War Room full of politicians and generals frantically tries to stop.
My favourite scene of the movie begins with the US President, played by Peter Sellers (one of three roles he plays in the film), about to call the President of the USSR in order to inform him that an American general gone mad has triggered an unstoppable nuclear missile heading directly for Russia.
What I love about this is that Dr Strangelove is full of intelligent and witty satire about war and yet it is also willing to go completely silly and have this outrageously funny call between the US president and the Russian president. The combination of sheer domestic mundanity of the conversation in contrast to the dire reason for the call and the imagery of the entire assembled war council is hysterical.
Highlights of the conversation include the strained politeness and extended confirmation of everyone being fine ("I'm coming through fine too, eh? Good, then. Well then as you say we're both coming through fine. Good. Well it's good that you're fine and I'm fine. I agree with you. It's great to be fine."), the constant repetition of the name Dmitri, and then finally rounding off the conversation with both parties being extremely sorry ("I'm sorry too, Dmitri. I'm very sorry. Alright! You're sorrier than I am! But I am sorry as well. I am as sorry as you are, Dmitri. Don't say that you are more sorry than I am, because I am capable of being just as sorry as you are. So we're both sorry, alright? Alright."). The fact that we only hear one side of the conversation makes everything all the better, as the responses in our imagination are much funnier than anything that could explicitly put to screen. Peter Sellers brilliantly plays every small moment of 'listening', hesitating and being 'interrupted' at exactly the right moments.
This comparison between script and the final scene shows just how much of the call Sellers improvises. His insertion of all the forced pleasantries between the two enemy nations makes the scene all the more memorable. Kubrick accentuates this beautifully - the decision to cut between Sellers' sublimely awkward performance, and the wide shots of the whole war table are comedic genius. It is incredibly easy to think of Stanley Kubrick as an intensely serious filmmaker given his filmography, which includes the likes of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Barry Lyndon, The Shining and A Clockwork Orange, but Dr Strangelove is a fantastic showcase for his talent for dark comedy which serves to complement his career-spanning exploration of anti-war themes.
Dr Strangelove's phone call might showcase one of the best comedic performances within a single scene of a film; Peter Seller's performance is absolutely perfect and might be my favourite moment of comedic improvisation in a movie.
Thank you for reading this article about my favourite movie scenes, you can check out my previous articles in this series on my blog.
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