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  #11  
Old 11-02-2006, 11:21 AM
SoloAJ SoloAJ is offline
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Default Re: Help me out with Dr. Strangelove...

See, it is responses like this in conversation that made me expect so much. Half of you quoted the movie...and they are funny parts...but they weren't laugh out loud funny. They are just kinda subversive giggling funny....

And like I said, I fully admit that I know little of the time period, so it is hard for me to understand the satire. I realize there was an arms race and all that, but I think knowing only the basics makes it hard....


Again, I see that it is a well made film...and the acting is really good...maybe I do just need more viewings to rank it higher....::shrug::. It isn't like I dislike it...I just don't see the huge deal yet....
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  #12  
Old 11-02-2006, 11:40 AM
KOTLP KOTLP is offline
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Default Re: Help me out with Dr. Strangelove...

Try reading this.
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  #13  
Old 11-02-2006, 11:43 AM
pryor15 pryor15 is offline
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Default Re: Help me out with Dr. Strangelove...

Solo,

from imdb:

Gen. Ripper's belief that putting fluoride in water was a Communist plot to poison Americans is not made up; it was a conspiracy theory believed in so fervently by many in right-wing political circles in the US all through the 1950s and 1960s that many conservative organizations demanded that any local officials who advocated fluoridation of water supplies be charged with treason.

Gen. Buck Turgidson (George C. Scott) was patterned after Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Curtis LeMay, who was renowned for his extreme anti-Communist views and who once stated that he would not be afraid to start a nuclear war with the Soviet Union if he was elected President.

The U.S. government dismissed Stanley Kubrick's scenario of an accidental nuclear war as being too far-fetched. However, one scene caught their attention and was shown at a session of Congress: the scene where Group Captain Mandrake (Peter Sellers) is trying to get through to the Pentagon with the code to recall the bombers, and can't because he doesn't have enough change for the pay phone. Congress said it raised legitimate questions about whether crucial information could find its way to the right people during a nuclear crisis.

100 films entry from OOT
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  #14  
Old 11-02-2006, 11:46 AM
MrMon MrMon is offline
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Default Re: Help me out with Dr. Strangelove...

Humor is about context, and without it, it just isn't funny. Plus, this is black comedy, which is even more about context.

I think one of the funniest movies in the last 20 years is "Heathers", but I've recommended the film to lots of people who hand it back after watching it and say I'm one sick guy. They didn't find it funny at all. Again, context.

To get Dr. Strangelove, you're going to need to find someone to explain every reference, and even then, it's not going to make as much sense as to someone very familiar with the period. In that sense, it isn't very good, it doesn't travel well like "Some Like It Hot", made 5 years earlier, where the humor is more timeless and less topical. But for those who get the joke, there are few better comedies.
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  #15  
Old 11-02-2006, 12:11 PM
SoloAJ SoloAJ is offline
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Default Re: Help me out with Dr. Strangelove...

All right, well the last few posts definitely helped me understand it a little better...both the context itself and why I was missing the connection.

I shall be rereading all of these links in a bit...but they definitely help out a bit....

I shall, of course, be rewatching the movie again in a while...but at first glance it just seemed like a good movie, but not the best....I shall learn with time I hope [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]
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  #16  
Old 11-02-2006, 12:45 PM
danzasmack danzasmack is offline
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Default Re: Help me out with Dr. Strangelove...

This movie is like Eddie Van Halen vs. jimi hendrix. Jimi being this film, Eddie being new films.

The problem with movies like this is that people WANT to like it. It may not be for you. I understand you want to watch it several times so you can "get" the movie. I did the same. I "get it" now, and enjoyed it. But if it was on TV i wouldn't get all excited and leave it on. The genre, in particular, has evolved a lot and i find more modern films a bit more entertaining.
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  #17  
Old 11-02-2006, 01:21 PM
HDPM HDPM is offline
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Default Re: Context?

What more context do you need than what is going on in the world right now? Imagine some Jihadis in the War Room with the American general who thought he saw satan in a cloud over Mogadishu or whatever the hell he thought. Add all their sexual hangups. Add a nuclear conflagration. Humor ensues. Timeless.
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  #18  
Old 11-02-2006, 02:11 PM
troymclur troymclur is offline
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Default Re: Context?

Also remember how bad Comedies age. The fact that it's not just relevent today, but still funny 40 years later is remarkable. Also, try and count how many phallic symbols and sexual references there are in the movie. Your counter will implode after 45 minutes.
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  #19  
Old 11-02-2006, 02:38 PM
SoloAJ SoloAJ is offline
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Default Re: Context?

[ QUOTE ]
Also remember how bad Comedies age. The fact that it's not just relevent today, but still funny 40 years later is remarkable. Also, try and count how many phallic symbols and sexual references there are in the movie. Your counter will implode after 45 minutes.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'd like to note that somehow I missed all this while watching. After the movie and through reading stuff...I read this was a huge theme.

I guess watching it for all of the comedy stuff and trying to figure out contextual stuff made me somehow miss this. I'm already expecting to like this movie better on subsequent viewings.
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  #20  
Old 11-02-2006, 03:52 PM
esad esad is offline
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Default Re: Context?

This is a movie that bets better with repeated viewings. There are some many points of subtle satire in each scene that I think many of them are hard to pick up on a first viewing. Wait a year and then watch it again. You'll pick up much more then you did the first time.
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