2. Dr Strangelove (1964)
Dr Strangelove, directed by Stanley Kubrick, is a very different film to Fail-Safe, which was delivered in the same year. Fail-Safe is dead serious, whereas Dr Strangelove takes more of a satirical approach. The two films were in conflict with each other over copyright (Strangelove was based on a book called Red Alert and the writer of Fail-Safe claimed it had plagiarised his book) until they came to a deal. Fail-Safe came out 8 months before Strangelove and received a luke warm box office. Dr Strangelove concerns a US Air Force general who orders a first strike against the Soviets. The film follows the US president and all of his staff's efforts to recall the bombers. Dr Strangelove ("He changed it from Merkwurdigeliebe"), despite its subject matter is a very amusing film, mainly because it takes a satirical approach to the Cold War. After the Joseph McCarthy era, this was a bold move on the part of Kubrick - tensions were very high in the Cold War and no-one had dared take the mickey before. One of the sacred cows torn to shreds was MAD - mutual assured destruction. As far as I understand it, having training in Political Science, this theory basically stated that if one side pummelled the other with nukes and destroyed them, that destroyed side would unleash a salvo that would inflict equal destruction on the other. Ultimately both sides would be destroyed. There would be no one nuke aimed tactically at a target and a nuke or two fired back in response, it would be nothing or a total holocaust. This helped to keep the peace between the Superpowers and they tested their muscle in small satellite conflicts such as Cuba, Vietnam and Nicaragua. The film also pokes fun at the plan the Americans had to build a massive underground shelter to house millions of people to repopulate the world after a nuclear assault. Widely critically acclaimed as one of the best comedies of all time, if not one of the best films straight out. Dr Strangelove really benefits from a stellar cast - including Peter Sellers starring in several roles in the film. You can enjoy it on one level as a straight comedy and on a deeper level as a Cold War political satire.