Dr. Strangelove (1964)

As comedy films go, I can think of few more important than Stanley Kubrick's classic Cold War satire Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. In fact, I would go so far as to say that it's probably my favourite film of all time.

Released in January 1964, at a time when nuclear war had become a serious possibility, the film was loosely based on Peter George's 1958 novel Red Alert. The term 'loosely' is key here - the film is a black comedy, therefore dealing with the subject in a very different way to that of the novel. While the idea of nuclear war is terrifying, Dr. Strangelove is absolutely hilarious - so you find yourself laughing hysterically at something so scary.

What makes it so great? Well, first and foremost, the cast. One of the greatest comic actors of his generation, Peter Sellers is absolutely fantastic in his three major roles in Dr. Strangelove. Sellers was no stranger to taking on multiple roles within the one film; it was something he had previously done in The Mouse That Roared a few years earlier. Originally Kubrick wanted him to play four roles, but Sellers was convinced it would be too much work. In the end it was probably just as well, as it allowed him to play the three - Captain Mandrake, President Merkin Muffley and of course Dr. Strangelove himself - to perfection.

Captain Mandrake, the RAF officer, was reportedly the easiest of the three characters to play, as Sellers wasn't required to alter his own accent too much. He apparently based his performance as Mandrake on the way in which he used to mimic officers during his war service. President Merkin Muffley (a highly amusing name there) was played with an American Midwestern accent. Although Sellers originally aimed to play the role of the President for laughs, Kubrick advised him to play it straight, with the result that he is the serious character just about holding things together in the War Room.

The best character of all, however, is Dr. Strangelove. Sellers is absolutely outstanding in this role, and it is a performance guaranteed to leave you in stitches. Strangelove, a wheelchair-bound German nuclear scientist, is the President's scientific advisor. His ideas about the future of the world are, to put it mildly, unorthodox, and it is made clear from the start that he has Nazi sympathies. The way he unwittingly addresses the President as 'Mein Führer' is very comical, and even more hysterical is his struggle to suppress his Nazi salute reflex. This was completely improvised by Sellers, and if you look closely enough you can see Peter Bull (who plays the Soviet Ambassador, Alexei de Sadeski) trying desperately to hold back the laughter. It's interesting to note that Dr. Strangelove, despite being the title character, only appears in two scenes in the entire film - but it is probably these scenes that are the best remembered, and for me, it is one of Peter Sellers' finest performances.

I did mention the fact that there was a great cast, and although Peter Sellers pretty much makes the entire film, the other actors are also brilliant. As well as the aforementioned Peter Bull as the Soviet Ambassador, there is also Sterling Hayden as Brigadier General Jack D. Ripper (what a great name!), George C. Scott as General Turgidson (another great performance), and of course Slim Pickens as Major Kong, the character that Sellers was originally supposed to play in addition to his other three.

Dr. Strangelove is naturally an extremely quotable film. Who can forget Jack D. Ripper's paranoid obsession with "precious bodily fluids" or Dr. Strangelove's final exclamation as he emerges from his wheelchair: "Mein Führer, I can walk!" Another classic quote comes from Colonel 'Bat' Guano when Mandrake instructs him to shoot open the vending machine for change to use the payphone: "Okay, I'm gonna get your money for you. But if you don't get the President of the United States on that phone, you know what's gonna happen to you? You're gonna have to answer to the Coca-Cola company!"

Without doubt, Dr. Strangelove is one of the most important films in history, having been preserved in the United States National Film Registry on account of being "culturally significant" and frequently being proclaimed one of the greatest comedy films of all time, and indeed the greatest political satire of the century, according to the esteemed Roger Ebert.

My advice if you haven't seen this film would be to get out there and buy it as soon as possible, and admire true genius from all concerned - from Kubrick to Sellers and all the other cast members. You won't be disappointed. Oh, and just for the record, it's also got a 100% 'Fresh' rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Just in case you still needed convincing.