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Dr. Strangelove

Isn't it true that art imitates life? Never is this so true as in the art world of American film media. In one form or another, every aspect of American culture has been depicted in film since it hit the "big screen" in the first quarter of the last century. Particularly since the 1960s, American film has examined undercurrents of the eras. Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, familiarly known as simply Dr. Strangelove, is an especially potent, albeit satirical, look at the American fear of nuclear war following the Cuban Missile Crisis in the 1960s.

The movie takes place in the early 1960s during the Cold War. An insane US Air Force General, Jack Ripper, obsessed by his fears of "the communist conspiracy," orders the B-52 long range bombers under his command to launch a nuclear attack on the Soviet Union. Only General Ripper has the code that will recall the bombers. Once the bombers are on their way, he seals off his base and refuses all communication, including telephone calls from the Secretary of the Air Force, and from the President of the US.

During the meat of the movie, desperate, yet hilarious, scenes depict the US Strategic Air Command (SAC) and National Command Authorities (NCA) frantically trying to get Ripper's renegade B-52 recalled, with no success. The B-52, commanded by actor Slim Pickens, will only respond to the correct failsafe codes, of which SAC and NCA leaders are ignorant - owing to General Ripper's plot. In the end, the US President even offers to let the Soviets take out New York City, without recourse, as quid pro quo for what is about to happen to Moscow. So, in an ironic Cold War-era twist, the US and Soviet leaders end up on the "same side," trying to avert nuclear holocaust.

Nevertheless, the B-52 presses on, and finally is at bombs away. The famous last scene depicts the pilot (Slim Pickens) straddling the falling bomb, whipping it with

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Dr. Strangelove. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 09:24, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1688707.html