Dr. Strangelove

Trivia: Kubrick originally wanted to make this a serious drama. During the screenwriting process he was confronted again and again with situations that were completely truthful and serious, yet he was afraid and audience would laugh at how absurd it is. Such as general Turgeson referring to general Ripper's sending an entire bomb wing to obliterate Russia as "Overextending his authority". He eventually figured out that the only way to write it would be as a comedy.

RJR99SS

Trivia: "Dr. Strangelove's" release in the United States was delayed due to the assassination of President Kennedy. The movie reflects this in an unusual and nearly undetectable dub job. After going over the contents of the survival kits on board the B-52, Major Kong is heard to say "A fella could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff." "Vegas" was dubbed in for "Dallas", which Major Kong actually says, after the assassination.

Trivia: The centerfold model in the playboy magazine that Major Kong is reading is General Turgidson's "secretary", Miss Scott.

RJR99SS

Trivia: The shot where General Turgidson slips, falls, rolls and gets back onto his feet was unplanned. George C. Scott was so seamless in keeping in dialog that Kubrick decided to keep the shot as is.

Trivia: The airport in the aerial photograph of "Burpleson Air Force Base" is none other than Heathrow.

Trivia: The interior of the B-52 bomber was apparently so accurate that the defense department demanded to know where Kubrick got that information. He apparently had seen photos of it from a British magazine.

RJR99SS

Trivia: Peter Sellers was suppose to also play the role of Major Kong. Depending on what story you read because Mr. Sellers either A) could not master a Texan accent or B) broke his leg, Stanley Kubrick brought in Slim Pickens to play the role of Major Kong.

Trivia: The ending was originally going to show a pie fight the War Room. Hence you see a long table that contains numerous pies. The scene was filmed but then cut from the final print. Stanley Kubrick decided not to let the black comedy devolve into a slapstick ending.

Trivia: Stanley Kubrick often used the combination of number '114' in his work. The name of the message decoder in this film is CRM-114.

Trivia: In later interviews, Stanley Kubrick revealed that George C. Scott did not want to portray General Buck Turgidson as a campy character in the film; he very much wanted to play Turgidson straight and serious (just as Kubrick had originally envisioned the entire film). Kubrick agreed and filmed Scott playing the role straight, but only on the condition that Scott rehearse the role as over-the-top camp. Scott agreed to camp it up in rehearsal only if the cameras weren't rolling, and Kubrick assured him they weren't rolling. However, Kubrick lied and filmed the campy rehearsals, as well, which were used in the finished film. As a result Scott refused to work with Kubrick again.

Charles Austin Miller

Trivia: The glove that Peter Sellers wore for Dr Strangelove actually belonged to Stanley Kubrick, who used it (and the other in the pair) to safely handle and move studio lights, which could become very hot.

Trivia: The scene with Peter Sellers and Sterling Hayden was all adlibbed. Only Hayden had learned his lines, but Sellers did not and all his lines were made up on the spot. One only has to look at Hayden's face that he has no idea what is coming next.

bobmcdow4984

Dr. Strangelove mistake picture

Other mistake: When Col. Bat Guano shoots the Coke machine and it squirts him in the face, he's holding his head too high. You can see that he first gets the spray on the chin and then he ducks down to take it full in the face. (01:09:50)

More mistakes in Dr. Strangelove

Major T. J."King" Kong: Well, boys, we got three engines out, we got more holes in us than a horse trader's mule, the radio is gone and we're leaking fuel and if we was flying any lower why we'd need sleigh bells on this thing... But we got one little budge on them Rooskies. At this height why they might harpoon us but they dang sure ain't gonna spot us on no radar screen!

More quotes from Dr. Strangelove

Question: Was there any significance besides comedy to the very last scene of the movie where Dr. Strangelove stands and proclaims "Mein Fuhrer. I Can Walk." It was pretty funny as is, but I wondered if there was some sort of allusion or other intention to that line.

Answer: Peter Sellers improvised it. During that scene if you watch the actor playing the Russian character you can see him trying not to laugh at Seller's performance.

More questions & answers from Dr. Strangelove

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