History Trivia / DrStrangelove

* CreatorsOddball: The only full blown comedy in Stanley Kubrick's filmography, albeit a dark one. While ''Film/AClockworkOrange'' and ''Film/FullMetalJacket'' have comedic elements sprinkled in, they're both considered dramas. Also one of only three films of his currently not owned by Creator/WarnerBrothers. [[note]] The only ones that aren't are ''Fear and Desire'', which is in the public domain, this by Creator/ColumbiaPictures, and ''Film/Spartacus'' by Creator/{{Universal}}. Everything else until ''Film/AClockworkOrange'' was acquired by Warner Bros in the 80s and beginning with Orange spent the rest of his career exclusively at Warner. [[/note]]

* CreatorsOddball: The only full blown comedy in Stanley Kubrick's filmography, albeit a dark one. While ''Film/AClockworkOrange'' and ''Film/FullMetalJacket'' have comedic elements sprinkled in, they're both considered dramas. Also one of only three films of his currently not owned by Creator/WarnerBrothers. [[note]] The only ones that aren't are ''Fear and Desire'', which is in the public domain, this by Creator/ColumbiaPictures, and ''Sparticus'' by Creator/{{Universal}}. Everything else until ''Film/AClockworkOrange'' was acquired by Warner Bros in the 80s and beginning with Orange spent the rest of his career exclusively at Warner. [[/note]]

* HarpoDoesSomethingFunny: Many of the scenes with Peter Sellers were improvised, most famously the phone conversation with the Soviet premier and "Mein Führer, I can walk!" This is especially impressive when you consider this was a movie by Creator/StanleyKubrick, one of the most infamously controlling directors of all time.

** The half-Jewish Creator/PeterSellers plays a Nazi who still obviously follows their ideals.

** The end of the movie, where Strangelove stands up and yells ''"MEIN FÜHRER, I CAN WALK!"'' was actually an improv done by Peter Sellers, who got caught up in the moment, ''forgot that his character was paralyzed'', and accidentally stood up as he was about to deliver his response to the ongoing argument around him. Instead of cutting the scene, decided to do an improv, delivering the final, iconic line before the bombs fall and the credits roll.

* {{Trope Namer|s}}:
** TheBigBoard
** GeneralRipper

* IronyAsSheIsCast: Creator/SterlingHayden, who plays a paranoiac who fears communists, was himself an American Communist Party member at one time.

:While the dialogue from "The Lost Emperor", as scripted by Milligan, is as follows:

:...etc., etc. - repeated one or two times until Bluebottle, having thought about it too much, declares:

Though Milligan was credited eventually for the usage of "We'll Meet Again" over the closing credits (he was a fan of explosions), he has never been fully credited for his unintentional scripting of Sellers' improvised dialogue.

While the dialogue from "The Lost Emperor", as scripted by Milligan, is as follows:
-->'''Bluebottle:''' Eccles? How do you like being on guard?
-->'''Eccles:''' Fine, fine.
-->'''Bluebottle:''' Yes it is fine, I feel fine on guard.
-->'''Eccles:''' Yeah, so do I. I, I feel fine on guard.
-->'''Bluebottle:''' Yes, it is nice to feel fine, in't it Eccles?
-->'''Eccles:''' Yah.
-->'''Bluebottle:''' Yeah. Yes, it is fine.
-->''(After Some Time)''
-->'''Bluebottle:'''Yes it is good that we both, what is us, feeling fine, in't it?
-->'''Eccles:'''Yah, we both feel fine.
-->'''Bluebottle:'''Yes we are both...
-->'''Bluebottle & Eccles:'''Feeling fine.
...etc., etc. - repeated one or two times until Bluebottle, having thought about it too much, declares:

** The end of the movie, where Strangelove stands up and yells ''"MEIN FÜHRER, I CAN WALK!"'' was actually an improv done by Peter Sellers, who got caught up in the moment and accidentally stood up as he was about to deliver his response to the ongoing argument around him. Instead of cutting the scene, decided to do an improv, delivering the final, iconic line before the bombs fall and the credits roll.

** The song "Slim Pickens Does The Right Thing And Rides The Bomb To Hell" by Music/TheOffspring refers the RidingTheBomb scene in both its title and chorus.

* ReferencedBy: Pablo Ferro provided the titles in a style identical to the handwritten ones used in the film for the 1984 Music/TalkingHeads ConcertFilm, ''Film/StopMakingSense''.

** Slim Pickens acknowledged that his career surged like never before due to his involvement in this movie.

** The end of the movie, where Strangelove stands up and yells ''"MEIN FÜHRER, I CAN WALK!"'' was actually an improv done by Peter Sellers, who accidentally stood up and, instead of cutting the scene, decided to do an improv, delivering the final, iconic line before the bombs fall and the credits roll.

* TroubledProduction: First, while shooting aerial footagenover Grenland, the crew accidentally caught a secret US military base on camera. Their plane was forced to land and they were suspected of being Soviet spies.

* SelfPlagiarism: It is well-known that Peter Sellers improvised much of his dialogue through the film, under Kubrick's supervision. During his one-sided, strangely mindless telephone conversation with Premier Kissoff, he seemed to have dipped into his memory of dialogue originally scripted by SpikeMilligan for an episode of ''Radio/TheGoonShow'' in which they both appeared at the start of their careers: [[http://thegoonshow.net/scripts_show.asp?title=s06e03_the_lost_emperor "The Lost Emperor"]], in their respective roles as the gormless idiot Eccles (Milligan) and neurotic boy scout Bluebottle (Sellers). Sellers' conversation with Kissoff begins:

* CreatorsOddball: The only full blown comedy in Stanley Kubrick's filmography, albeit a dark one. While ''Film/AClockworkOrange'' and ''Film/FullMetalJacket'' have comedic elements sprinkled in, they're both considered dramas.

* ExecutiveMeddling: The geniuses at Columbia Pictures were for some reason under the impression that the only reason ''Film/{{Lolita}}'' was a success was the gimmick of Peter Sellers playing multiple roles. They would only greenlight ''Dr. Strangelove'' on the condition that Kubrick agree to cast Sellers in ''at least'' four roles. This is especially strange since in ''Film/{{Lolita}}'', Sellers does not actually play multiple roles. He plays a single character who briefly pretends to be someone else. On the other hand, [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools it certainly didn't hurt the film and Peter Sellers playing three roles is one of the most acclaimed parts of the film.]]

* ExecutiveMeddling: The geniuses at Columbia Pictures were for some reason under the impression that the only reason ''Film/{{Lolita}}'' was a success was the gimmick of Peter Sellers playing multiple roles. They would only greenlight ''Dr. Strangelove'' on the condition that Kubrick agree to cast Sellers in ''at least'' four roles. On the other hand, [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools it certainly didn't hurt the film.]]
** Especially strange since in ''Film/{{Lolita}}'', Sellers does not actually play multiple roles. He plays a single character who briefly pretends to be someone else.

** The original ending was to have everyone in the war room end up in a pie fight (don't ask). The President would be knocked down from the impact of the pie [[PieInTheFace hitting him]], with Gen. Turgidson saying "Gentlemen! Our gallant young president has been struck down in his prime!" Despite it being filmed before the assassination... (That wasn't why the scene was deleted, though -- they just [[{{Corpsing}} couldn't film it with the necessary "gravity."]])

* ExecutiveMeddling: The geniuses at Columbia Pictures were for some reason under the impression that the only reason ''Film/{{Lolita}}'' was a success was the gimmick of Peter Sellers playing multiple roles. They would only greenlight ''Dr. Strangelove'' on the condition that Kubrick agree to cast Sellers in ''at least'' four roles. On the other hand, [[Adminstrivia/TropesAreTools can you say it HURT the film at all?]]

* ExecutiveMeddling: The geniuses at Columbia Pictures were for some reason under the impression that the only reason ''Film/{{Lolita}}'' was a success was the gimmick of Peter Sellers playing multiple roles. They would only greenlight ''Dr. Strangelove'' on the condition that Kubrick agree to cast Sellers in ''at least'' four roles.

** A slight variant with Creator/GeorgeCScott. While Creator/StanleyKubrick wanted the character of Turgidson to be completely ridiculous, Scott wasn't comfortable playing the role that way and wanted him to be a tragic character instead...in a ''comedy''. Kubrick got what he knew the film needed by telling Scott to [[LargeHam ham it up]] for "practice takes" before the "real" takes, and used all the "practice" takes in the final film. Scott was not happy, and vowed never to work with Kubrick again, although he did concede that the director's ruse was [[ActuallyPrettyFunny cleverly done]].

** A slight variant with Creator/GeorgeCScott. Creator/StanleyKubrick wanted his character to be completely ridiculous, but Scott wasn't comfortable playing the role that way and wanted the character to be a tragic character instead...in a ''comedy''. Kubrick got what he knew the film needed by telling Scott to [[LargeHam ham it up]] for "practice takes" before the "real" takes, and used all the "practice" takes in the final film. Scott was not happy, and vowed never to work with Kubrick again, although he did concede that the director's ruse was [[ActuallyPrettyFunny cleverly done]].