(Stanley Kubrick, US/UK 1964, 95 min., DCP)
What’s so funny about mutually assured destruction? A lot, it turns out. In director Stanley Kubrick’s triumphant black comedy, a frantic group of US political and military leaders must deescalate a possible nuclear war with the Soviet Union. Sterling Hayden stars as an American general who is convinced that a Russian plot tainting the drinking water has diluted his sexual potency. To rectify this, he recommends a nuclear strike. Peter Sellers (celebrating his 100th birthday this year) shines in three roles: the President, a British Captain, and the infamous title character. George C. Scott, Slim Pickens, and James Earl Jones co-star. In the hands of Kubrick and co-screenwriter Terry Southern, our nuclear nightmare becomes a pitch-perfect balance of comedy, commentary, and Cold War terrors.
