Dr. Strangelove reviewed and decoded in under 4 minutes

Dr. Strangelove reviewed and decoded in under 4 minutes

Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love The Bomb is a 1964 black comedy directed by Stanley Kubrick who co-wrote the script with Terry Southern and Peter George based on George's 1958 book called Red Alert. The film stars James Earl Jones, Keenan Wynn, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, and a ubiquitous Peter Sellers playing 3 characters: Group Captain Lionel Mandrake, President Merkin Muffley, and Dr.Strangelove.

A psychotic Army General named Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden) believes that the Soviets are fluoridating America's water supplies to pollute the nation's 'bodily fluids.' To stop this, he sends the 3-digit 'go-code' to one of the many American bombers patrolling Russia's skies 24/7. But the Soviets have a secret weapon of their own that's triggered to blow up the entire world in case of a nuclear attack; this weapon is called the Doomsday device! The only thing that can stop the U.S. bomber from triggering the Doomsday device is the 3-digit recall code. But there's 1 problem: the bomber's communication system is damaged and unable to receive the code. Thus, the Doomsday machine is set and the world can only pray and cross its fingers that the plane runs out of fuel before reaching its target!

Dr. Strangelove is a satirical look at the Cold War and those who man the 'switches.' The stereotypes in this great film from Jack D. Ripper to Dr. Strangelove himself seem over-the-top until you realize that there were--and still remain-- individuals equally, if not more, loony in key posts in our government who have their finger on 'the button.' Truth is really stranger than fiction. Everybody who loves this film have their own interpretation of it (Spoiler alert!) but I believe that the film is a metaphorical description of sexual intercourse as there seems to be parallels to Jack D. Ripper's description of fluoridated water and the Doomsday Machine that--like male ejaculation--can't be shut off once triggered; plus, there's only 1 woman in the whole movie and remember, nothing in any Kubrick film is there by accident!

In any case, this is-- technically speaking-- Stanley Kubrick's 2nd war film the 1st one being his 1957 anti war film Paths Of Glory. Can't say enough about Dr. Strangelove, Kubrick's tightest film by far. Oh, and the acting, particularly Peter Sellers, is simply awesome. This guy probably could have played all the film’s characters. I have this on DVD and it is crystal clear and I see no need to upgrade for a few extra pixels.

Scene analysis of 'Dr. Strangelove'

This is an analysis of the sexual themes in Stanley Kubrick's classic film 'Dr. Strangelove: Or, How I Stopped Worrying And Learned To Love The Bomb!' 

 This is a scene by scene plot analysis of 'Dr. Strangelove' with a few notes and references from Wikipedia and Web MD. Thanks for stopping by and please leave a comment:

DR. STRANGELOVE: Or, How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb

Title 2 (3:15-11:33) (7:42) Stop after Kong says “Let’s get this thing on the hump.”

The SAC at Burpleson Air Force Base has a large force of B-52 bombers airborne 24 hrs a day. Each bomber carries 40 megatons worth of nuclear explosives, equal to 16 times of all the explosives used by all of the armies in World War 2. Jack D. Ripper (Sterliing Hayden) puts the base on Condition Red and orders Mandrake to transmit Wing Attack Plan R  notifying all bombers to attack Russia. Ripper then orders Mandrake to impound all the radios on the base immediately.

My viewpoint

The Doomsday Device is activated by Jack D. Ripper who acts on his own without authorization from the President, retroactively shutting down the base and confiscating all of the radios on the base to cut off any incoming our outgoing communications; then, he orders his Captain, Lionel Mandrake (Peter Sellers) to transmit Plan R to all the bombers letting them know to be on standby. The only time the bombers receive Plan R is after America has already been attacked. And since no one on the base but Ripper has a radio, no one knows that he is actually lying about the Russian attack.

Wikipedia:

During periods of increased tension in the early 1960s, SAC kept part of its B-52 fleet airborne at all times, to allow an extremely fast retaliatory strike against the Soviet Union in the event of a surprise attack on the United States. This program continued until 1990 when the bomber wings were placed on quick reaction ground alert and were able to take off within a few minutes. SAC also maintained the National Emergency Airborne Command Post (NEACP, pronounced "kneecap"), also known as "Looking Glass," which consisted of several EC-135s, one of which was airborne at all times from 1961 through 1990. During the Cuban missile crisis the bombers were dispersed to several different airfields, and also were sometimes airborne. For example, some were sent to Wright Patterson, which normally didn't have B-52s

Title 5 (14:54-19:17) (4:23) Stop at “Fused control-burst at 12,000 feet."

Ripper announces on the PA that the Russians are planning to invade the base and he orders all soldiers to shoot first and ask questions later. Back on the bomber commanded by Major Kong sets the CRM discriminator on the plane’s radio that will prevent any radio transmission that’s not preceded by the correct 3 letter prefix.


Title 7 (19:52—26:01) (6:09) Stop at “Far beyond the point I would have imagined possible.”

Captain Mandrake accidentally turns on one of the radios and realizes that America is not under attack and that Ripper lied. Ripper locks himself and Mandrake in his office. Meanwhile at the Pentagon, US President Merkin Muffley receives the news from Colonel Turgidson (George C. Scott) that 34 B-52 bombers are enroute to drop nuclear bombs on targets inside of Russia.

My viewpoint

The Doomsday Device is under the command of 1 man now that the only person who knows the 3 letter code is Jack D. Ripper. Not even the President can interfere with the planes. Now the Doomsday Device is set and as we will see in the following scenes, all attempts to stop it will fail.

Title 13 (40:43—45:29) (4:46) Stop at “A device which will destroy all human and animal life on Earth.”

President Muffley phones the Soviet President Dmitri Kissov who tells the President that if the American Planes attack Russia they will set off the Doomsday Device which will destroy all human and animal life on Earth.

My viewpoint

The Doomsday Machine or Device corresponds to the plane under Major Kong’s command. Nothing will be able to stop it from carrying out its mission.

Title 15 (49:57—52:44) (2:47) Stop when Turgidson says “Gee, I wish we had one of them Doomsday machines!”

The US Director of Weapons Research and Development, Dr. Strangelove, explains how the Doomsday Machine works.

My viewpoint

You notice Soviet Ambassador Alexei De Sadeski’s says that the Doomsday device is “nothing a sane man would do.” He is referring to both the Doomsday Machine and to Jack D. Ripper who is not sane, also. Finally, we get to see the movie’s namesake, the Director of Weapons Research and Development, Dr. Strangelove who is a former Nazi patterned after a conglomeration of Nazi Scientists who were brought to America under a protection program called Operation Paperclip for employment after World War II. The most well-known of these Nazi scientists is former SS member Werner Von Braun who invented the Saturn V Rocket for NASA where he worked for decades. When Strangelove explains the machine notice the parallel between the machine and Ripper with the statement “Because of the automatic and irrevocable decision-making process which rules out human meddling..” Jack D. Ripper rules human meddling out of his mission by getting Mandrake to confiscate all of the radios and having all the planes to adjust their radios to only receive messages that had the special 3 letter code.

Title 16 (54:03—1:01:53) (6:50) Stop after Ripper kills himself

The soldiers at Burpelson shoot it out with the US Army but they are outmatched and surrender. Ripper knows that the government will torture him for the code and he commits suicide.

My viewpoint

This is the 1st attempt to stop the Doomsday device that was triggered by Ripper’s belief that Russia is polluting America’s water supply with fluoride, a theory he became aware of “during the act of love, a profound sense of fatigue, a feeling of emptiness.” This statement is also a key to understanding the true meaning of the phrase “purity of essence” and why this phrase is the code to “withdrawing” the bombers. The bombers in this film are symbols for the male reproductive organs and the target is the female reproductive organ, in this case it is referred to as the Doomsday Machine, a machine that once triggered is irreversible. When Ripper admits to enjoying women but denying them his essence he is describing coitus interruptus and if you look at the bombers as penises the ‘recall code’ is the equivalent of pulling out. But, with Ripper, who represents the ‘head’ or consciousness, is killed, there is no intelligent agent to keep the planes from emptying their in loads Russia.

Title 18 (1:01:50—1:05:25) (3:35) Stop at “Give me full power!”

The bomber heading for Russia survives a missile strike and continues towards its destination.

My viewpoint

This is the 2nd attempt to stop the Doomsday Machine a.k.a. the 34 bombers headed for Russia. Russian missiles shoot down 4 bombers. Major Kong’s plane is badly damaged but survives.


Title 19 (1:05:27—1:07:43) (2:16) Stop at “All right, Charlie, I’ve been wasting too much time on you.”

Mandrake figures out the recall code from a recurring phrase Ripper had doodled on a piece of paper

My viewpoint

The recall code “purity of essence” in this film is a sexual metaphor for the act of coitus interruptus or what’s better known as the pull-out method. Earlier when Mandrake asked Ripper about his theory of Russia polluting our water supply, Ripper told Mandrake that he became aware his essence during the physical act of love, “a profound sense of fatigue” and a feeling of emptiness. This analogy fits perfectly when you look at the recall code (or pull out code) as another way of saying coitus interruptus or pulling it out before climaxing or ejaculation or, in this case, dropping the bomb. And you notice also that the so called Doomsday machine cannot be stopped once started. This means that one who loses himself in the act of lovemaking is totally committed and follows through to completion or total emptiness. But Ripper told Mandrake that he learned how to enjoy women without giving them his essence or allowing himself to ejaculate. In other words, he learned how to deactivate the Doomsday machine by using a ‘recall code’  or pulling out before his sex drive went to autopilot. The bombers are phallus’s or penises competing for one woman. A woman can only take 1 penis at a time which explains why only 1 bomber makes it to the drop point or climax which is what happens as a result of the Doomsday device being activated. This analogy of many penises or men competing for 1 woman also explains the fact that there is only 1 woman in this entire film. So, in a nutshell, the Doomsday Machine is a sexual metaphor for the involuntary forces that take place during the act of sex between a man and a woman and the recall code is coitus interruptus or the act of pulling out. The damaged radio is the inability to think rationally or to pull out during the act of ejaculation and the chain reaction of bombs going off is a metaphor for a woman having multiple orgasms. I say this because the bomber only drops 1 nuke, typical of males, and the Doomsday Machine responds to this “bombing” with multiple eruptions.

Wikipedia

Coitus interruptus, also known as the rejected sexual intercourse, withdrawal or pull-out method, is a method of birth control in which a man, during sexual intercourse, withdraws his penis from a woman's vagina prior to orgasm (and ejaculation), and then directs his ejaculate (semen) away from the vagina in an effort to avoid insemination.

Title 22 (1:13:14—1:19:11) (5:57) Stop at “Give me a heading on that just as soon as you get it worked out.”

The recall call works and 30 of the 34 planes turn back. At first it was assumed that 4 planes were hit by missiles but 1 of those planes, the plane under the command of Major Kong, survived and is still heading towards Russia. But the hit the plane took from the missile damaged it badly and it’s leaking fuel and won’t make it to its primary target. Instead, it selects a closer target.

My viewpoint

Again, the Doomsday machine defies any attempts to reverse it. Its radio is damaged and unable to receive the recall code. This is the disconnection of the body from the mind’s conscious ability to control the act of sex as represented by Ripper’s suicide earlier in the film. Also, still looking at this from the standpoint of sex, the plane is running out of gas or in a humanistic sense, getting tired and unable to reach its primary target and selecting a “closer” target, in other words, premature ejaculation. I know this sounds strange but what is this film’s namesake—Strangelove? And every metaphor I’ve used in this presentation lines up perfectly with the clips I’ve compared them to.

Title 25 (1:21:58—1:27:45) (5:47) Stop after bomb explodes.

The bomber’s bomb doors are stuck and Major goes down into the bomb bay to open them. He crimps some wires together in the bomb door’s circuit box and the bomb doors open and he rides the bomb out of the bay and down to its target. The nuclear bomb sends a giant mushroom up above the clouds.

My viewpoint

Again, something comes up to prevent the bomber from dropping its payload but fails. The bomb doors, damaged by the missile earlier, are stuck and Major Kong has to open them manually. In the sexual context of this presentation, the stuck doors are the inability to ejaculate due to fatigue. Remember, the plane is running out of fuel. Major Kong getting the doors to open and riding the missile (you notice that the "Bomb" is between Kong's legs? The bomb is a penis) like a rodeo cowboy into its target .

Title 28 (1:32:58—end)

The Doomsday Device sets off many explosions all over the world.

My viewpoint

In response to the bomber, or the male, dropping the bomb or, in the context of this presentation, climaxing, the Doomsday bomb reciprocates Kong's bomb by setting off multiple bombs or orgasms engulfing the world in flames.

The sex in 'Dr. Strangelove'

Here, I'll examine the sexual themes in Stanley Kubrick's film 'Dr. Strangelove'

I am not a historian on the Cold War; I'm just a guy who loves movies and this analysis is my way of showing respect and appreciation to Kubrick and his collaborators for making this film. Thanks for stopping by:

There is a correlation between Jack D. Ripper ordering the bomber to nuke Russia, coitus or sexual intercourse, and the Doomsday Machine, described as a machine that can’t be shut off once triggered. Once Ripper sends the go-code to the 843rd Bomb Wing for the bombs to be dropped on Russian targets, every attempt to stop the bombers fails. In other words, the Doomsday Machine is 1) the Russian device itself; 2) a metaphor for Jack D. Ripper’s commitment to bombing Russia; and 3) sexual intercourse and the point of ejaculation and loss of control. Ripper explains it to Mandrake this way: 

“Women sense my power, and they seek the life essence. I do not avoid women, Mandrake. But I do deny them my essence.”

Denying women his essence means that during the act of sex, he pulls out prior to the moment of ejaculation or, in keeping this idea in the context of the bombers heading towards Russia, Ripper sends the recall code to the bombers carrying his essence which are the bombs themselves. This explains the fact that he commits suicide before being captured by the Army. Because in order for the bombers to drop their "loads," there can be no interference from the mind (he kills himself fearing he’d give up the recall code under torture) which also explains why none the radios in all of the bombers can receive messages. At a certain point in the act of sex, the mind shuts off which is why the radio on Major Kong’s plane gets damaged. The fact that all of the planes except for this one plane gets recalled is also an analogy of fertilization. (Web MD):

“The average ejaculation contains about 150 million sperm, but the majority of them will prove unfit for travel. Only 1 will actually penetrate."

This analogy can’t be ignored given the offbeat nature of the plot. Everything in this film is calculated and nothing in it is random. And remember also Ripper comparing the loss of his essence with a “profound sense of fatigue,” and compare this with the plane running out of fuel or becoming “fatigued” and unable to reach its target. Major Kong going down into the bomb bay to ‘manually’ fix the damaged doors is masturbation within the sexual context I use here. 

Chronology Of The Doomsday Machine

• Jack D. Ripper perceives that America is under attack by Russia
• He orders Mandrake to confiscate all of the radios on the base
• Ripper orders Mandrake to send the 3 digit standby code to 843rd bomb wing. 
• Major Kong double checks and confirms the code. He assumes the worst, that Russia’s already made a sneak attack on Washington
• Major Kong initiates the attack profile which involves setting the plane’s radio system to a 3 letter code prefix to protect communications between the bomber and base command. The only person who knows the 3 letter code prefix and can communicate with the bombers is Jack D. Ripper
• Ripper calls General Buck Turgidson to tell him that the 843rd bomb wing has been put under alert and that the planes are not able to get radio contact with base commander. Ripper, then, launches a preemptive attack on Russia.
• The US Army lay siege to the command base and overwhelms its security force. Fearing that he will give up the 3 letter code under torture, Ripper commits suicide with a gunshot to the head
• First, Russia hits the plane with a missile that hits but only succeeds in damaging the bomb door. Actually, the missile served to make stopping the bombing even more difficult by damaging the plane’s communication system
• Next, Mandrake figures out the 3 letter prefix to communicate with the bomber but with the communication system on the blink, that’s now impossible
• Next, even though the plane is low on fuel and unable to make it to its primary target, there’s just enough fuel to make it to a closer ICBM target
• Next, Major Kong goes down into the bomb bay to get the doors to open. The doors were damaged by the missile. He crimps a couple of wires and the doors open directly over the target

The sequence of events initiated by Jack D. Ripper ordering the planes to bomb the Soviets; Russia’s Doomsday Machine; the sexual act of ejaculation that the bombing of Russia represents—  All three of these elements illustrate processes that cannot be stopped until they are completed, thus, all 3 are the Doomsday Machine.