It might be difficult to find the funny in nuclear war. But Stanley Kubrick did, and now, his deeply satirical 1964 classic has been named the greatest dark comedy of all time.
Earlier this week,Entertainment Weekly published its list of the best dark comedies, ranking Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb No. 1.
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View this post on Instagram"Overflowing with powerhouse performances from Sterling Hayden, George C. Scott, and, of course, Peter Sellers (in no less than three roles: President Muffley, Capt. Lionel Mandrake, and Dr. Strangelove himself), the movie’s humor works because it isn’t apparent to those who inhabit it," EW writes.
About a maniacal U.S. Air Force Brigadier General (named Jack D. Ripper, naturally) who orders a nuclear bomb to be dropped on the Soviet Union without authorization from his superiors, the film is a hoot today. But in the 1960s? Try polarizing, at best.
When the film wasn’t being hailed as a brilliant, visionary, or a biting comical take on the absurdity of Cold War nuclear annihilation, it was being criticized as a “dangerous,” “a shattering sick joke,” and an “evil thing about an evil thing.” Audiences, however, applauded the cynicism and pitch-black humor, and flocked to theaters to the cha-ching of nearly $10 million against a $2 million budget.
Adapted from the thriller novel Red Alert, by Peter George, Dr. Strangelove flips the narrative on its axis, “exposing [the military-industrial complex’s] hypocrisies and insecurities in a beautifully dark way,” Far Out Magazine writes. Initially approaching the film as a serious take on nuclear war, Kubrick soon realized the magic was in the farce.
“It occurred to me that I was approaching the project in the wrong way,” Kubrick said in a 1970 interview. “The only way to tell the story was as a black comedy or, better, a nightmare comedy, where the things you laugh at most are really the heart of the paradoxical postures that make a nuclear war possible.”
Today, Dr. Strangelove is widely considered not just the best dark comedy, but one of the best films ever made. According to Deep Focus Review, the success of Kubrick’s doomsday comedy rewarded the director with the artistic freedom we see in his later films, like 2001: A Space Odyssey and Eyes Wide Shut.
Dr. Strangelove is available to rent or buy at Prime Video.
Related: Box Office Smash Ranked No. 2 ‘Greatest Film of the Century’ Took 36 Years to Launch
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