10 Vitriolic Films Built On Biting Satire
3. Dr Strangelove
The Cold War was an antagonistic and often frightening time for everyone involved. Specifically, the fear of being blown up by a nuclear bomb at any moment was constantly on the minds of many. Despite this worry, there were still those who took on the task of conveying the funny side of the whole business.
Stanley Kubrick did just that with Dr Strangelove in 1964, a simple yet hilarious slam dunk on the nuclear arms race alongside the policy of MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction). We mainly follow a collection of American officials as they deliberate over whether to launch a nuclear strike. By implementing many real-life preparations for atomic warfare, it makes its satirical targets clear.
From here, the film takes the very real prospect of nuclear annihilation and turns it into a comedy of mad men endlessly bickering in the war room. Dr Strangelove is just plain silly through much of its runtime; even its scrapped ending originally involved the war room devolving into a pie fight.
In the end, Dr Strangelove professes that it's the men at the top of the armed forces who are the truly insane ones through their exaggerated personalities and wacky dialogue. The highlight is undoubtedly Peter Sellers, who plays three very different roles with equally hilarious abandon.