...how to do this...but I'll try and catch up quickly.
It is done. I have completed the task. Well. Once the final thought is expressed below, I will have completed it.
I spent the last year plus watching the entire
AFI Top 100 (10th Anniversary Edition) and talking about them here. I took 5 months off in 2015 to direct a couple of shows, then stopped earlier this year because I saw that this film was going to be showing on the big screen, and I figured the best way to wrap this up was to watch the final film in a theatre. So. That's what I did. Joining me in this were friends Craig and Margie, and we ran into Eric at the theatre.
Before I get started, I do have to describe the experience last night. I'd had a particularly shitty day yesterday, and was looking forward to the distraction this was to be. Arriving at the theatre later than I'd hoped, I was still pretty on edge when I stepped into our particular theatre, only to see that Ben Mankiewicz of TCM was already on the screen...giving the intro that I wanted to hear. EXCEPT. His lips were moving, but no sound was coming out. The tech let the film run for a good 6 minutes with no sound, then stopped it, and tried to start it over. Perfect. It was a lot of fun, because we got to riff a lot with the film showing, but it wasn't ideal. Except for me...it provided a moment to laugh at the ridiculousness of my day. And...in a strange way...it was a graphic example of the theme of the film...it was the perfectly absurd moment I needed, and I felt myself immediately, FINALLY, relax.
After much reporting of the problem, along with free popcorn and drinks for the 15 of us in the theatre, and 20 minutes later, they finally got it working. I will say one thing - Craig posited that a silent version of "Dr. Strangelove..." featuring Lionel Barrymore in the title role would be great. I agree. I think I got off a pretty good zinger when the theatre staff was taking orders from the patrons for their free popcorn and soda when I said, "...and two hard boiled eggs." Getting to use that one around Craig was particularly fun for me.
Anyway - the experience of sitting in the theatre was a good one, and I'm glad I opted to do this film this way, and glad I got to share the experience with the people I did.
On with the show.
Film 100
100. "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb." (AFI Rank #39)
For those of you that have followed along on this quest...FIRST...Thank.You. Second, you may know that Stanley Kubrick had 4 films he directed wind up on the list. While "
2001..." is generally regarded as his great masterpiece, I'm not so sure. This essay is going to be long. It's my last chance, and I'm going to touch on a lot of things I have been talking about during this project. I'm also going to gush about Stanley Kubrick. A lot. I'm also going to assume you know the premise of this film, and how it ends, as I'm going to discuss the ending. I'll put up a spoiler alert before I do.
Here goes.
It is hard, perhaps, to imagine how revolutionary a film like "Dr. Strangelove..." was in 1964. The United States had nearly gone toe to toe with the Russkies in the October of 1962, "duck and cover" was being taught to terrified children in schools, and we'd been through one war to stem the tide of communism, and were just firing up another one. The young President had just been assassinated. It was an era where the absurdity of it all may have been lost...and then this film hits, skewering the seriousness of all of it, and exposing it for the insanity that it was. Based on the book "Red Alert," this film and "
Fail-Safe" were made at the same time, both based on the book, one treating the subject seriously...and this one...not so much. How many of you have heard of "Fail-Safe?" It starred a bunch of super famous people, like Henry Fonda, Walter Matthau, Dan O'Herlihy, a young Larry Hagman and an even younger Dom DeLuise. It was directed by Sidney Lumet, the best director not named Alfred Hitchcock or Stanley Kubrick never to win the Academy Award. Yet, that film is largely forgotten. "Dr. Strangelove..."...well...that's a different story. By the way, you should watch "Fail-Safe." It's a tremendous film. It's hard to take it as seriously if you've seen this one, but it's a tremendous film. And the ending is horrifying. Just horrifying.
I digress.
It is no secret, if you've been reading along, that I love Stanley Kubrick. His mastery of the visual art of film is astonishing, but what he may not get enough credit for is his ability to bring actors to incredible performances. He had a deserved negative reputation for shooting far too many takes, but when one watches the performances his actors give, one has to stop and wonder if he wasn't on to something. Shelley Duvall may have been tortured during "
The Shining," and there's no justification for it, but wasn't she terrifying? Wasn't Nicholson? How great was Malcolm McDowell in "
A Clockwork Orange?" Vincent D'Onofrio in "
Full Metal Jacket?" Hell, Keir Dullea in the previously mentioned "2001..." is riveting, and I'd hardly call that an "actor's" film. Then, we get to this film. The performances in this film may be Kubrick's best, however.
Drawing from a cast of talented character actors, Kubrick made every one of them resonate. Slim Freakin' Pickens is crazy good. And he's Slim Freakin' Pickens. Have you seen "
Blazing Saddles?" Doesn't he look like he's reading cue cards throughout that film? Here? He's so true, so honest as Major (King) Kong, that you wonder if Kubrick didn't tell him he was making a comedy. Wait. Kubrick didn't. And THERE is the genius. We get James Earl Jones not relying on being James Earl Jones. His moments of panic when he realizes the bomb bay doors won't open are desperately honest. Utilizing "negative function" official language, but showing the overwhelming fear in the moment...is genius. And that's a tiny little portion of this great big film.
The acting award for this film, in my opinion goes to George C. Scott. His Buck Turgidson is one of the great comedic performances...ever. Think about that. George C. Scott playing comedy, and playing it brilliantly. I've read stories as to how Kubrick got this, and somewhere I read that Kubrick asked Scott to always do "one more take, over the top" on every scene. He then took those takes and assembled the film with them. Whether or not that's true is subject to hazy memories, apparently, but the performance Scott gives doesn't make that rumor seem untrue. Hell, there's a scene where Scott is walking away, trips, rolls over, keeps going as if nothing happened, and finishes the scene. I'm guessing that NO ONE thought that take would be in the final cut, yet there it is. And that is all Kubrick. And Scott. And everyone who held it together long enough for the director to yell "cut." Look. I'll use this in my defense of Scott. He is doing the punchlines...while PETER FUCKING SELLERS is playing straight man. And that's more Kubrick.
Peter Sellers plays 3 roles in the film. He plays United States President Merkin Muffley (yup, that's his name), Group Captain Lionel Mandrake (more on this later), and the titular Dr. Strangelove. Of the three roles, only Strangelove is the punchline guy. The other two are most assuredly the straight man. Think about that. One of film's greatest comedians was playing straight man for 85% of this film. And it works. Brilliantly. Sellers plays foil to General Jack D. Ripper (yup, that's his name), played by Sterling Hayden, who modern viewers may recognize as Police Captain McCluskey, who is assassinated, along with Sollozzo, by Michael Corleone in the first "Godfather" film. Hayden is another actor more associated with drama, yet his unhinged performance here is...hysterical. And again...I'm going to credit Kubrick with a big assist on this one.
You know, it occurs to me that I've only been mentioning the actors, and not noting particularly specific things. OK. Here goes.
Watch George C. Scott when he takes the phone call where he learns that General Ripper has unleashed a nuclear attack on the USSR. His demeanor never shows what must be going on on the other end of the phone, but there's a moment where he slaps his belly. That slap, that acting choice, is sheer magnificence. We see all the energy that he is no doubt repressing physically release itself in that moment. You may think of it as just a funny thing the actor did. I don't. I see the process. I see the work. I see the genius.
Next, look at General Ripper in the extended scene where he is shot in close up on his face. We know he's crazy. We see it. Yet, it takes an excruciating amount of time for him to finally spew the words that assure us of that, when he finally discusses fluoridation of water as a communist plot, but until then Hayden is SO intense, SO serious that the payoff just slays us. Choices. It's an interminable set up...and the payoff is gold.
And then there's Sellers. I think his great acting chops are best flexed as Mandrake, but it ain't like he's slouching in the other roles. Next time you watch this film, I want you to watch Mandrake's face as he says "Oh, hell" during the phone call that General Ripper makes to inform him that the United States has been engaged by the USSR in nuclear war. The subtle flex of his brow, the way his eyes vacantly stare ahead. Again, this isn't an actor just winging it. These are choices being made, being executed, and being displayed for us to revel in. Top that off with the milquetoast Muffley, and the insanity of Strangelove...and well...damn. Just, damn.
Let's talk writing. Taking a book that was NOT funny and realizing that a satire was the best way to deal with it is vintage Kubrick. I've talked, I think, about Kubrick's ability to juxtapose inappropriate music over scenes before. If I haven't, think about the "Mickey Mouse Club Theme" at the end of "Full Metal Jacket," "Singin' in the Rain" over the rape scene in "A Clockwork Orange." These things show a director not afraid to turn one's expectations on their ear. "Dr. Strangelove..." feels like an entire film of that. Opening with a sequence that is only properly defined as "two airplanes having sex," this film just doesn't match with its subject. Yet, even when we get that it's a comedy...and we are ready to settle in and really laugh...Kubrick throws in a battle sequence shot with a hand held camera that is clearly the inspiration for more gritty war films like "
Saving Private Ryan." The battle sequence feels REAL. And it's absurd that it feels that way. Yet, here it is. These shifts in expectation, these zigs where others would have zagged are Kubrick at his best.
Wait. I was going to talk writing. STUFFED with memorable lines, this script crackles with dark, black, dark satire. When President Muffley realizes that he's staring into the abyss of nuclear war, and when questioning General Turgidson about it, stating that he was under the understanding that he "was the only one authorized to use nuclear weapons." General Turgidson's response is a killer: "That's right, sir, you are the only person authorized to do so. And although I...uh...hate to judge before all the facts are in...it's beginning to look like...uh...General Ripper exceeded his authority." I'm sorry, but if that's not funny to you, nothing is. It's perfect corporate speak. It's perfect blame-shifting. It's perfectly absurd. It's only one example of the jewel that is this script. I mentioned Mandrake before. The names used in this film are also...brilliant writing. Merkin Muffley. Buck Turgidson. Major Kong. General Jack D. Ripper. Dr. Strangelove. Soviet Premier Kissoff. Ambassador Alexei de Sadesky. I haven't mentioned Major "Bat" Guano. Then...Mandrake. The bible talks of the mandrake plant as being a cure for sterility, or erectile disfunction. Other uses include hallucination and a cure for arthritis. I think the sterility cure was what the authors were getting after...but this is the most subtle of the names. The film is like a Marx Brothers farce with the names...and yet all the characters are deadly serious. And THAT'S what makes them so funny.
I told you I'd get wordy on this.
Other Kubrick genius moments: the black and white film includes a war room table covered in green felt, like a poker table, so the actors would assimilate a "game" feel into their performances. Taking the most heinous and awful moment of the film, when the bomb drops on the USSR, and making it hilarious by having Slim Pickens ride it to its destination. You know this scene. You've seen it referenced in a hundred different places, including "
The Simpsons." Think about this scene. Watch it. It is silent. Not an ambient sound, except for Slim Pickens' hootin' and hollerin'. That silence is deafening. Kubrick doesn't want us to forget how desperately serious that moment is...but he's making us laugh at it, anyway.
That leads into something else. Sound design. Ride in an airplane sometime, and tell me that Kubrick didn't fully capture the din whenever he shows the interior of the B-52 bomber in this film. Other directors may have viewed it as a distraction. For Kubrick? It's a detail, necessary to the plot, and always present. I mentioned the silence of the climax sequence. Listen to the empty echo of the war room when it's presented in wide angle. Think about the use of Vera Lynn's "We'll Meet Again" during the montage of nuclear annihilation Kubrick gets sound. He relishes it. We are better film viewers for his attention.
Wait. I didn't say "spoiler." Fuck it. You know how this one ends.
Visually, I want you to study this film, also. The opening shot featuring a human, with Peter Sellers hidden behind a wall of computer printout...that alone is genius. I mentioned the long closeup on General Ripper as he gnaws on a cigar explaining why the world has to die. The battle sequence is stunning. The War Room set is mesmerizing. This film is a visual treat. It's an auditory treat. It's a writing treat. It's an acting treat.
I'm beginning to think you might understand why I saved it for last.
This...may be...a perfect film. And it's the best way I know how to wrap this series. I wanted a laugh at the end, but having watched so much great film doing this, I see this film, now, as a culmination of all the best aspects of all that came before, be they silent films, westerns, science fiction, war, comedy, romance (that's a stretch), drama, epic, crime story, film noir, what have you. This film shows what's best in all of them. And its maker was one of the best at what he did. I saved this for last for different reasons, but I now realize that this film is...it. It is just...it.
I mentioned that I saw this with Craig, Margie and Eric. Craig's take when asked "why this film?" was "Because it is a DARK, DARK comedy, and I love it." Margie commented that she "Loved the silly way in which it treated a serious subject." Eric echoed my thoughts on the "perfect film" on Facebook the next day, but I didn't ask him after the film. Shame on me.
So.
There it is. I've watched and written about 100 films. I feel richer for the experience. I hope you enjoyed my meanderings. I sure did.
Oh. Roger Ebert. Yeah.
Here he is on "Dr. Strangelove..." You know, I just realized, I didn't comment on Sellers' signature role in this, Dr. Strangelove. Roger does. Read his thoughts, they are better than mine. Roger and I were in lockstep again. I really loved reading his reviews after I'd written mine. Gonna miss that.
Oh well.
We'll meet again. Don't know how. Don't know when. But...I know we'll meet again some sunny day.
Thank you. I've got one more post on this quest, but this is it. Thanks for being part of it.
