Line #120 Characters/DrStrangelove


1	[[foldercontrol]]
2
3	!!Burpelson Air Force Base
4
5	[[folder:General Jack D. Ripper]]
6	!!General Jack D. Ripper
7	!!!'''Played By:''' Creator/SterlingHayden
8
9	The crazed general who triggers the whole plot out of a paranoid frenzy.
10	----
11	* AdaptationNameChange: His novel counterpart was named General Quinten.
12	* BigBad: Is the man trying to trigger nuclear war.
13	* CompensatingForSomething: You know a man has issues when he compensates for TheLoinsSleepTonight by starting World War III.
14	* ConspiracyTheorist: Ripper believes that the Communists are behind a vast international conspiracy to sap all Americans of their "precious bodily fluids", and is convinced that they are achieving this by putting fluoride into the drinking water.
15	* DrivenToSuicide: Ripper's fate. He does it because he is not sure he could trust himself not to give up the code to call The Wing back if he is given "[[EnhancedInterrogationTechniques a pretty good working over]]."
16	* EvilIsPetty: He is planning to blow up the world because he blames the Russians for ruining his sexual performance.
17	* FourStarBadass: Is he crazy? Certainly. Is it badass to keep a belt-fed machine gun in a golf bag? Definitely.
18	* GeneralRipper: The TropeNamer.
19	* HaveIMentionedIAmSexuallyActiveToday: While outlining to Mandrake his theory about fluridation, he takes care to stress he still sleeps with women. He just "denies" them his essence.
20	* IDidWhatIHadToDo: Before kicking the bucket, Ripper remarks that he knows he'll have to answer in the afterlife for what he did and that he thinks he can.
21	* ImproperlyParanoid: He triggers WorldWarIII because, in a movie where Communist Russia literally has dastardly plans afoot (ex. the Doomsday Machine), he ''still'' jumps on the most brain-dead silly conspiracy theory of all as the reason to champion such a thing.
22	* InsaneTrollLogic: His whole reasoning is one whole bout of insanity caused by him feeling impotent during sex. He blames said impotence on a international communist conspiracy to steal and impurify the American people's "precious bodily fluids" by putting fluoride into the water.
23	* TheLoinsSleepTonight: His whole motivation for going rouge and ending the world is that he was unable to perform during sexual intercourse and subsequently convinced himself that a vast communist conspiracy was somehow the reason.
24	* MadnessMantra: "Purity Of Essence", "Peace On Earth".
25	* ManipulativeBastard: Manipulates the army to effectively launch World War III under the nose of the President.
26	* MaskOfSanity: He was able to convince everybody into thinking he wasn't down the rabbit hole, and speaks about his mad schemes in a perfectly calm voice.
27	** Funnily enough, most characters who fall into the GeneralRipper trope tend to be such violent rage-bags it strains credibility for them to have ever gotten to such a high rank. The TropeNamer, on the other hand, is [[Main/UnbuiltTrope calm, cool and collected]] for most of the film, to the point that he's been cleared for a psych evaluation to be given potential clearance to order a nuclear strike. He remains completely in control even after ordering a preemptive nuclear strike, and the sheer depths of his madness don't become clear until he gives Mandrake a MotiveRant: Which even then he has to be lightly goaded into giving.
28	* NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist: He claims to believe in what's best for America, but he had no proper reasons to attack the Russians, and it's clear that was interested in the glory more than anything.
29	* PunnyName: His name is clearly based on UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper.
30	* SoftSpokenSadist: As mentioned above he never raises his voice even when he's talking about his nuclear war plans.
31	* SparedByTheAdaptation: In the novelization, General Ripper escapes from Burpleson on his private plane rather than commit suicide.
32	* TestosteronePoisoning: An '''extremely''' dark example, actually pretty close to the original meaning of the term: in her book ''Missile Envy'', Helen Caldicott coins the term 'testosterone poisoning' to mock men insecure about their masculinity who were driven by it to perpetuate the nuclear arms race. Ripper is an exaggerated example of this idea, played for both drama and BlackComedy; he ''destroys the world'' because he can no longer get it up during sex. The movie in general plays on the ridiculously phallic and [[FreudWasRight Freudian]] aspects of the conflict, even playing porn music over scenes of bomber airplanes refueling.
33	[[/folder]]
34
35	[[folder:Group Captain Lionel Mandrake]]
36	!!Group Captain Lionel Mandrake
37	!!!'''Played By:''' Creator/PeterSellers
38
39	The British Group Captain who cottons on to Ripper's insanity and tries to get the situation under control.
40	----
41	* AdaptationNameChange: He was Major Paul Howard in ''Red Alert.''
42	* CloudcuckoolandersMinder: He puts in a great effort to be empathetic and relate to Ripper so he can get the code out of him, but you can see on his face as he listens to just how insane the general is, he is ''terrified.''
43	* CryLaughing: At one point, he tearfully laughs once he realizes Ripper has well and truly given up his sanity over conspiracy theories about fluoridated water.
44	* DeadpanSnarker: Mandrake, as the OnlySaneMan, gets designated snarker status for this film.
45	* {{Expy}}: Sellers is doing an imitation of Creator/TrevorHoward in his performance here.
46	* INeedToGoIronMyDog: He offers a literal Lame Excuse:
47	-->"I'd love to come, Jack, but you see, the thing is, the string's... Gone out... In my leg!"
48	* OnlySaneMan
49	* ShellShockedVeteran: A [=WW2=] fighter pilot who was shot down before he has the chance to see much action, spending the rest of the war in a Japanese prison camp where he was tortured ForTheEvulz.
50	[[/folder]]
51
52	[[folder:Col. "Bat" Guano]]
53	!!Col. "Bat" Guano
54	!!!'''Played By:''' Creator/KeenanWynn
55
56	An officer involved in the attack on Burpelson Air Force Base. He doesn't care why he's there, he's going to carry out his orders exactly as given to him.
57	----
58	* AdaptationNameChange: He was Lt Col. Andrew Mackenzie in ''Red Alert.''
59	* CombatPragmatist: Col. Bat Guano is right for not going into combat with loose change in his pocket; apart from the [[SoMuchForStealth risk of it rattling]], a nearby explosion's shockwave could suddenly turn that pocket change into shrapnel embedded in his body.
60	* TheComicallySerious: There's no joy in anything he says and does but this makes him hilarious.
61	-->"Ok, but you'll have to answer to the Coca-Cola corporation."
62	* LawfulStupid: He initially refuses to let Mandrake break into a vending machine to get the change he needs to call the President even though the latter is trying to ''prevent a nuclear holocaust''. Even after giving in, Guano sternly insists he will "have to answer to the Coca-Cola company".
63	* {{Malaproper}}: Bat Guano gets it all wrong, even on a verbal level.
64	-->'''Bat Guano:''' I think you're a deviated ''prevert''. Gen. Ripper found out about your ''preversion'' and that you're organizing some kind of mutiny of ''preverts''. If you try any of your ''preversions'' in there, I'll blow your head off.
65	* UnfortunateName: Literally means "bat shit."
66	[[/folder]]
67
68	!!The War Room
69
70	[[folder:President Merkin Muffley]]
71	!!President Merkin Muffley
72	!!!'''Played By:''' Creator/PeterSellers
73
74	The milquetoast President of the United States who tries to get control of the situation.
75	----
76	* {{Expy}}: His appearance and flat Midwestern accent were deliberately meant to invoke former Presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson.
77	* MeaningfulName: He's a pussy: wimpy and a bit soft-spoken.
78	* NamedByTheAdaptation: His counterpart in ''Red Alert'' was nameless.
79	* OurPresidentsAreDifferent: He's a mixture of President Personable and President Focus Group
80	* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: He angrily shoots down General Turgidson's gung ho desires, preferring a more diplomatic solution to the problem.
81	[[/folder]]
82
83	[[folder:Dr. Strangelove]]
84	!!Dr. Strangelove
85	!!!'''Played By:''' Creator/PeterSellers
86
87	The titular, thinly-veiled Ex-Nazi scientist and authority on the H-bomb. He is called to the war room to advise on the consequences of any of the bombs being successfully dropped.
88	----
89	* ANaziByAnyOtherName: His hand does the Hitler salute, and his idea of selecting people with the right qualities to live underground is an obvious allusion to Nazi eugenics.
90	* AmbiguouslyEvil: Strangelove spends all his screen time acting as [[EvilIsHammy cartoonishly evil]] as possible, and has a Nazi past to boot, but he never ''does'' anything all that evil while onscreen (although his obsessive planning of a suspiciously fascist bunker system to survive the war and obvious glee to see that humanity is going to be destroyed, and the fact that this joy is enough to make him ''walk again''...).
91	* BewareTheSillyOnes: Mentally ill? Check. Constantly battling his own hand? Check. A genius ex-Nazi you want to mess with? Heck no.
92	* BoomerangBigot: He's barely able to hide his nostalgia for the time of Nazism even though as a paraplegic, the Nazis would've killed him, assuming he hasn't just been faking it for the Americans.
93	* CanonForeigner: He has no counterpart in ''Red Alert.''
94	* CoolShades: Dr. Strangelove's teashades.
95	* DoctorVonTurncoat: Keeping in line with the film's satire of the UsefulNotes/ColdWar, Strangelove is a Nazi scientist who was hired as President Muffley's scientific advisor in the hopes that his skills would give America an upper hand against the Soviet Union, much like many Operation Paperclip scientists. Unlike many Operation Paperclip scientists, however, his Nazi origins and attitudes are a lot more flagrant. Furthermore, it turns out that Strangelove is more "mad" than "scientist" and is more than happy to revel in the aftermath of a nuclear war if it means being able to establish a Fourth Reich.
96	* EvilHand: Famously has one, which seems to act on his violent Nazi subconscious; it does Nazi salutes and hilariously grapples with him throughout the movie, even punching him in the face and trying to choke him at one point. The portrayal was so influential that the real-life condition [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_hand_syndrome "alien hand syndrome"]] is also known as "Dr. Strangelove Syndrome".
97	* EvilLaugh: Dr. Strangelove has a broken way of laughing on occasion that sits comfortably between Un-Evil and just plain Evil.
98	* FourEyesZeroSoul: A sadistic, sociopathic Nazi with shaded spectacles.
99	* GeniusCripple: Is confined to a wheelchair for unclear reasons, although he regains the ability to walk seconds before the world ended.
100	* GoodSmokingEvilSmoking: Has a prominent cigarette clenched firmly in his teeth in his first scene. Is '''not''' a good guy.
101	* HerrDoctor: Strangelove is an ex-Nazi MadScientist who became a U.S. operative after the war, with a comically thick German accent. He has trouble shaking his old ways, such that at one point he accidentally addresses the President as "Mein Fuehrer" before correcting himself to "Mr. President." With elements of MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate.
102	* RedRightHand: His black leather gloved hand.
103	* MadScientist: The dear doctor is a ShoutOut to Rotwang from ''Film/{{Metropolis}}'' and classical {{Stock Character}}s.
104	* NaturalizedName: His birth name was "Merkwürdigliebe", [[note]] [[BilingualBonus German for 'strange love']] [[/note]] but he changed it when he became an American citizen.
105	* NoHistoricalFiguresWereHarmed: A ''nasty'' caricature of Herman Kahn, a famously pro-nuclear war scientist and irl creator of the 'doomsday device'. Also closely resembles a fellow ex-Nazi, the rocket scientist Wehrner Von Braun, and pro nuclear war amoral scientists involved in the development of the H Bomb, Edward Teller and John Von Neumann.
106	** Creator/ArthurCClarke, who knew both Creator/StanleyKubrick and Wernher von Braun, reported that Kubrick once asked him to "tell Wernher I wasn't getting at him." Clarke adds, "I never did because, firstly, I didn't believe him, and secondly, even if Stanley wasn't, Peter Sellers certainly was."
107	** His ridiculous and implied BlindIdiotTranslation name change to sound more Americanised is especially reminiscient of Von Neumann; a Hungarian born margittai Neumann János, which he changed to the German Johann von Neumann, then John von Neumann in America, insisting he be referred to as 'Johnny'. [[note]] Technically, his birth name was actually just Neumann János, which Germanised would just be John Neumann. The noble prefix margittai, meaning 'of Marghita' (a town in Romania that the Neumanns weren't from; it was chosen because of John's mother, Margaret), was added to his name when his father was ennobled when he was nine. He rendered this in German as 'Johann Von Neumann', a noble particle meaning 'John of Neumann' (which isn't even a real place). [[/note]]
108	* ScaryShinyGlasses: As funny as Strangeglove is, his menacingly glinting shaded glasses are just one part of his character that makes him also something of a figure of [[NightmareFuel nightmare]].
109	* SecondaryCharacterTitle: He's the title character, but he's definitely not the main character.
110	* ThrowingOffTheDisability: Rather [[RuleOfFunny inexplicably]] regains the ability to walk at the end of the movie [[note]] In real life, Peter Seller forgot his character was supposed to be paraplegic and stood up, before [[ThrowItIn ad-libbing]] to cover it. [[/note]]
111
112	[[/folder]]
113
114	[[folder:General Buck Turgidson]]
115	!!General Buck Turgidson
116	!!!'''Played By:''' Creator/GeorgeCScott
117
118	An arrogant, bombastic general. He is called to the war room to help figure out how to call off the attack, or deal with the consequences.
119	----
120	* AdaptationNameChange: His counterpart in ''Red Alert'' was named General Franklin.
121	* AllMenArePerverts: Is an adulterer and is subtly excited about the idea that the underground society could see the abandonment of monogamy.
122	* ColonelKilgore: General Turgidson is letting his inner five-year-old who plays with army men out. His over-the-top enthusiasm shows he gets a hell of a kick out of a war he is supposed to prevent.
123	* ExplainExplainOhCrap: When asked if the final bomber has a chance to reach its target, he becomes more and more animated in his describing how well trained, determined American service men could get the job done. His pride in the idea becomes gleeful, until he suddenly realizes what it means if they succeed.
124	* GeneralRipper: Plays this straight with his loud desire to see Communism wiped from the map, not caring for the massive loss of life that could result from nuclear war.
125	* {{Jerkass}}: He's an arrogant, stubborn, belligerent warmonger.
126	* ProperlyParanoid: He rightly suspects the ambassador of having a camera.
127	[[/folder]]
128
129	[[folder:Ambassador Alexi De Sadeski]]
130	!!Ambassador Alexi De Sadeski
131	!!!'''Played By:''' Peter Bull
132
133	The Soviet Ambassador. He is called to the War Room and briefed on the situation to act as a mediator between the US and USSR.
134	----
135	* AdaptationNameChange: The corresponding character in ''Red Alert'' was named Zorubin.
136	* AssInAmbassador: Insults an officer who offers him a Jamaican cigar, and abuses the President's trust to take pictures of TheWarRoom.
137	* EveryoneHasStandards: Despite being a jerk to his American hosts, he's horrified when he learns of the Doomsday Machine and what will happen when it's triggered.
138	* HypocriticalHumor: When offered a Jamaican cigar, he refuses since he doesn't support imperialist stooges...''after'' helping himself to the food and putting in a specific request for fresh fish. He also asked for a Cuban cigar, which was a client state of the USSR.
139	[[/folder]]
140
141	!!The Leper Colony B-52 Bomber
142
143	[[folder:Major T. J. "King" Kong]]
144	!!Major T.J. "King" Kong
145	!!!'''Played By:''' Creator/SlimPickens
146
147	Pilot and commander of the B-52 bomber that is determined to make it to their target and avenge the supposed destruction of the USA.
148	----
149	* AdaptationNameChange: From the novel's Captain Clint Brown.
150	* AgeLift: Clint Brown in the novel is 26, rather than being middle-aged as Kong is.
151	* AmericansAreCowboys: Major Kong, who wears a cowboy hat on duty, speaks with a Texan accent, and, of course, rides the bomb. Also, his actor, Slim Pickens, started his career as a rodeo performer and played plenty of cowboys.
152	* {{Determinator}}: Major Kong and the rest of the crew of ''The Leper Colony''. Despite taking damage from an exploding missile, they successfully bomb one of their targets.
153	* DiesDifferentlyInAdaptation: Captain Brown dies of his injuries from one of several missile attacks on the ''Alabama Angel,'' rather than ride the bomb into thermonuclear oblivion as Kong does.
154	* AFatherToHisMen: In his RousingSpeech, he tells his bomber crew that they all deserve citations and promotions "regardless of your race, color, or your creed".
155	* TheFriendlyTexan: Major: T.J. "King" Kong, who wears his cowboy hat proudly. He cements his status as the Friendly Texan after reading through the contents of the survival kit, after which he notes cheerfully:
156	-->'''Major Kong:''' Shoot, a fella' could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff.
157	* DoNotGoGentle: Ordinarily, any man who finds himself falling to his death while on top of a nuclear bomb would probably be screaming in terror in his final moments. Major Kong, on the other hand, waves his hat and yodels with excitement as he and the bomb plummet towards the surface of Russia.
158	* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: He orders his men to perform every check available to insure that the Plan R order is genuine. Only after exhausting everything does he proceed to have the orders carried out.
159	* RidingTheBomb: The TropeCodifier himself: after one of the nuclear bombs drops with him seated on it, he decides to use what little time he has left to celebrate, waving his hat around and cheering as he rides the bomb to his death.
160	* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: He has no idea his “success” would mean the end of all life on Earth.
161	* UnwittingPawn: He and his crew have no idea they’re being used by a howling-mad general to start World War 3.
162
163	[[/folder]]
164
165	!!Ancillary Characters
166
167	[[folder:Soviet Premier Dimitri Kissov]]
168	!!Soviet Premier Dimitri Kissov
169
170	The president of the USSR. He is called to help call off the nuclear war.
171	----
172	* TheGhost: No actor plays him and his lines are only implied by Muffley's side of the phone calls.
173	* HeWhoMustNotBeSeen: The Soviet premier. Not only not seen, but not heard either. Sellers does a [[Creator/BobNewhart Newhart]]-style telephone gag where, though you only hear President Merkin's side of the conversation, it's pretty clear what "Dmitri" is saying.
174	-->'''Merkin:''' I'm sorry too, Dmitri. I'm very sorry.... All right, you're sorrier than I am. But I am sorry as well... I am as sorry as you are, Dmitri. Don't say that you're more sorry than I am because I am capable of being just as sorry as you are. So we're both sorry, all right? ...All right.
175	* SkewedPriorities: When Muffley calls to warn him of the impending attack. Kissov seems more deeply concerned that Muffley doesn't like him as a friend and would rather spend time chatting with him socially. Justified by the fact that he's drunk.
176	* TheGhost: No actor plays him and his lines are only implied by Muffley's side of the phone calls.
177	* TooDumbToLive: He activates the doomsday device ''before'' it is announced publicly that they have one. Dr. Strangelove points out that a doomsday deterrence doesn't work if ''you don't tell anybody about it.''
178	* VodkaDrunkenski: As the ambassador points out before the call, the premier is relaxing at his residence and will also be sloshed out his mind by that time of night.
179	[[/folder]]
180
181	[[folder:Miss Scott]]
182	!!Miss Scott
183	!!!'''Played By:''' Tracy Reed
184
185	General Turgidson's secretary and mistress.
186	----
187	* FlatCharacter: She clearly only exists to be MsFanservice considering she only gets one scene.
188	* MsFanservice: Her appearance is pretty attractive.
189	* SexySecretary: She's Turgidson's secretary who's also having an affair with him, and spends her entire screentime in a bikini.
190	* TheSmurfettePrinciple: She's only female character in the entire movie.
191	[[/folder]]

Context Characters / DrStrangelove