It enhances the fun to know that Sterling Hayden – General Jack D Ripper – was a victim of HUAC back in the day, so this role was a nice bit of revenge.
Dr. Strangelove has been one of my favourite movies ever since my militant atheist/skeptic days. The movie does, of course, deal with many themes, but not the least among them are the dangers of irrational beliefs (in conspiracy theories, weird obsessions with bodily fluids and the purity off “essence” etc. ). As I liked to point out back then, when Ripper tells Mandrake that he believes in an afterlife, everybody instantly gets why that’s bad news, even the accomodationists who otherwise refused to see any causal link between what religious fanatics believe and what religious fanatics do.
Of course practically every line from the movie is an immortal quote, but this one (from memory) has got to be one of the best ones ever (I seem to remember reading that Peter Sellers largely improvised the whole thing):
Now, Dmitry, you know how we always talked about the possibility of something going wrong with the bomb?
The bomb, Dmitry.
The hydrogen bomb.
Well, I’ll tell you what happened, one of our generals had a sort of… well, he went a little funny in the head. You know, just a little… funny, and he went and did a silly thing.
Well, I’ll tell you what he did, Dmitry he ordered his planes to attack your country.
Let me finish, Dmitry.
Let me finish, Dmitry.
Well, how do you think I feel about it?!
Of course the president in the movie seems like a beacon of wisdom by the current standards…
I recently got to see a stage play of it, with Steve Coogan taking on the Peter Sellers’ roles. it was quite good. You might be able to find it on National Theatre at Home, if it’s up there yet. I just saw it in April, so they might not have released it for streaming yet.
I’m almost afraid to look around in case there is a reason…
I actually watched this movie for the first time just a few months ago, despite its presence in the social milieu. So good.
So very good.
It enhances the fun to know that Sterling Hayden – General Jack D Ripper – was a victim of HUAC back in the day, so this role was a nice bit of revenge.
It does indeed!
Dr. Strangelove has been one of my favourite movies ever since my militant atheist/skeptic days. The movie does, of course, deal with many themes, but not the least among them are the dangers of irrational beliefs (in conspiracy theories, weird obsessions with bodily fluids and the purity off “essence” etc. ). As I liked to point out back then, when Ripper tells Mandrake that he believes in an afterlife, everybody instantly gets why that’s bad news, even the accomodationists who otherwise refused to see any causal link between what religious fanatics believe and what religious fanatics do.
Of course practically every line from the movie is an immortal quote, but this one (from memory) has got to be one of the best ones ever (I seem to remember reading that Peter Sellers largely improvised the whole thing):
Of course the president in the movie seems like a beacon of wisdom by the current standards…
I recently got to see a stage play of it, with Steve Coogan taking on the Peter Sellers’ roles. it was quite good. You might be able to find it on National Theatre at Home, if it’s up there yet. I just saw it in April, so they might not have released it for streaming yet.
I’ve performed that speech for myself I don’t know how many times. Also Strangelove’s exalted ravings at the end.