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

dr-strangelove

Basic Film Information

  • Release date: January 29, 1964
  • Director: Stanley Kubrick
  • Writers: Stanley Kubrick (screenplay), Terry Southern (screenplay), Peter George (book and screenplay)
  • Actors: Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, Keenan Wynn, Slim Pickens, Tracy Reed

Synopsis

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, a political satire comedy, tells the story of a United States nuclear attack on Russia. The film follows three different locations which acted in isolation of each other: an air force base, the Pentagon, and a plane flying to bomb Russia. After many antics ensue, the planet ends in nuclear apocalypse.

Contemporary Reviews

  • The New York Times is the “most shattering sick joke [the writer] had ever come across.” The reviewer appreciated the film’s satire, but felt it partially discredited the American military.

Background and Interesting Facts 

  • The film was originally to conclude with a custard pie fight scene between the Russians and Americans, but the scene was removed after John F. Kennedy’s assassination because the president was hit by a pie.
  • The filming crew accidentally recorded a secret military base, while shooting footage over Greenland for the film. The plane was forced down and was thought to be spies from the Soviet Union.
  • Peter Sellers improvised the majority of his lines in the film.

Critical Analysis

Intimidation from government has led to many ultimately-failed whistleblowing attempts throughout twentieth century America. Within the current century, whistleblowing culture has evolved: the American public perceives whistleblowing and patriotism to be mutually exclusive. However, Group Captain Lionel Mandrake (Peter Sellers), a Royal Air Force officer in Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964), acted as a national security hero while remaining true to patriotic values. Captain Mandrake’s heroism should serve as a model to present-day decision makers because of his relentless attempts to serve his duties within a culture of fear.

Group Captain Lionel Mandrake was the lone independent and rationally thinking character on the military base set in Dr. Strangelove. Though he lacked authority as an outsider, Mandrake’s high rank and connections to Brigadier General Jack Ripper (Sterling Hayden) allowed for him to remain a character of high authority. While collecting radios to confiscate before the “attack” from the Soviet Union, he discovered that war was not occurring and life outside the base was normal. Mandrake immediately took this discovery to his superior officer, Brigadier General Jack Ripper. As all other military personnel on the base were preoccupied with defending it from the assumed-Russian invaders, Mandrake was the only character with knowledge of the attack and the potential to alert others.

Later in the film, multiple office scenes highlighting interactions and dialogue between Mandrake and Ripper show viewers that Mandrake is unlikely to successfully warn the United States government and world population. First, Mandrake is locked into a room with Ripper with no possible outside contact. Mandrake slowly realizes that the only potential way for a massive military attack to be prevented is by forcing Ripper to hand over the airplanes’ recall codes. However, Mandrake is challenged by Ripper’s rapid descent into insanity and is forced to fight the base’s invaders. Shortly after Ripper’s suicide, Mandrake manages to figure out the recall code by interpreting Ripper’s notes. Like many whistleblowers, Mandrake was the only individual in a position to communicate the discovery of the code.

Soon after the suicide, a military chief sent by the War Room reaches the room on base and interrogates Mandrake. However, from Mandrake’s point of view, the absurdity and insanity of others was just beginning. The soldier refuses to believe Mandrake’s claims, eventually allows him to make a phone call to the president, and appears to be more concerned over Coca-Cola response than the government’s. Mandrake tries his best to explain, and eventually manages to get through to the president. Despite his best efforts, it is too late. A proliferation of nuclear explosions occurs.

Mandrake followed the classic whistleblower progression throughout the film. He was the only character with knowledge of a near-apocalyptic situation, the only character with the ability to save humanity, and was routinely ignored by higher authority. Despite this lack of success and limited allegiance to direct orders from superior officers, Mandrake is one of the film’s true patriots. Though many characters acted in the way they best understood to help the country, Mandrake was one of the few who was forced to persevere through such a level of opposition. Additionally, Mandrake was only one of two “sane” characters acting to prevent the attack.

Government pressure preventing whistleblowers’ voice to be heard is a reoccurring theme in other real-life tragedies of the later twentieth century, including the Challenger disaster. In another high-pressure field, NASA and government contractors working to bring astronauts into space, engineers work in a comparable fear culture to what Mandrake worked in on the military base. Four engineers working to launch the Challenger were aware the “O” rings on the space shuttle would not survive a launch in freezing temperatures. Despite their best efforts to reason with their employer, others colleagues, the United States government, and NASA specialists, the engineers were viewed as if they were overreacting and just trying to delay the launch. Even after the Columbia disaster, the engineers were forced to remain quiet, continued to be ridiculed by their colleagues, and had to deal with the mental health repercussions caused by the tragedy. Beyond acting as whistleblowers about the Challenger disaster, the engineers acted as true patriots. Like Mandrake, they acted in the best interest of the United States, even when they were not supported at the time.

Society cannot view all whistleblowers with the honor they owe Mandrake and the Challenger engineers. The clear defining factor is if their actions aided or hurt the United States. Though an individual like Edward Snowden from Wikileaks acts as a whistleblower and felt his actions were an act of patriotism, he does not deserve the heroic honors that Mandrake and the Columbia engineers received. Snowden acted in ways that could cause potential harm to the country, while Mandrake’s whistleblowing could only provide benefits.

Fiction tragedies of whistleblowers like Captain Mandrake in Dr. Strangelove and the real-life tragedies of the engineers from the Columbia team are often looked down upon by the majority of society because of their seemingly unnecessary fear mongering in an already intense culture of fear. American citizens must look beyond the actions of whistleblower that cause harm; patriotic efforts of whistleblowing often outweigh the negatives. For the wellbeing of all humanity, Americans must realize and honor the patriotism surrounding whistleblowers.

Bibliography 

Crowther, Bosley. “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.” Review of Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, directed by Stanley Kubrick, The New York Times, 31 January 1964.

IMDb. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964). 2016. Web Article. 30 November 2016.

Ungerer, Tomi. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb Poster. Advertisement. Columbia Pictures. 1964. Web.