Dr. Strangelove/YMMV

• Adaptation Displacement: The novel it's based on, Red Alert, has been all but consigned to the dustbin of history.
• Alternative Character Interpretation: Did Dr. Strangelove just regain the ability to walk or he had been faking the entire time?
• Awesome Music: The epic variation on "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" that plays over the bomber scenes.
• He Really Can Act: Not that Peter Sellers was ever seen as a bad actor but he manages to convincingly act three different roles to the point that some people had to be told that Mandrake, the President and Dr. Strangelove are played by the same actor.
• Ho Yay: President Merkin Muffley/Soviet Premier Dimitri. Dimitri even seems more hung up on the fact that Merkin doesn't consider him a friend than The End of the World as We Know It.
• It Was His Sled: World War III really does kick off. Originally this was a twist ending. But since the shot of Major Kong riding the bomb is so damn iconic, it's often the first thing people know about the film.
• Protagonist Title Fallacy: Dr. Strangelove doesn't even have ten minutes of screentime and could have easily been replaced by any random American scientist.
• Retroactive Recognition: Lt. Lothar Zogg is a young James Earl Jones in his big-screen debut.
• Signature Scene: Major Kong riding the bomb.
• Some Anvils Need to Be Dropped: A few Idiot Balls, some Poor Communication Kills and the world is bathed in atomic fire? If this wasn't a comedy, the audience would be crying over how easily such a situation could really come to pass.
• What an Idiot!: As Dr. Strangelove lampshades, arming a doomsday machine without revealing its existence to your enemies makes no sense. Ambassador Alexi De Sadeski doesn't disagree, only weakly justifying it as Premier Dimitri having a flair for the dramatic.

---

Back to Dr. Strangelove