Series/Themes: Comedy, From Page to Screen, Historical Themes, Political and Social Issues, Special Guests

Genre: Classics

Film Year: 1964

Locations: USA

Film Length: 95 min.

Director: Stanley Kubrick

Featuring: Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, James Earl Jones, Peter Bull.

Political satire abounds in this Cold War era, Oscar-nominated black comedy. Chaos ensues in the War Room when a paranoid, psychotic American general Jack D. Ripper launches an unstoppable nuclear strike on the Soviet Union after what he believes was a Soviet sneak fluoridation attack. Advised by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a Royal Air force officer, and former Nazi nuclear expert Dr. Strangelove, the President of the United States watches the situation escalate. A nuclear apocalypse seems inevitable because the bomb will trigger a Soviet secret weapon, a Doomsday Machine which will destroy all life on Earth. With Peter Sellers turning in a series of hilarious performances in a variety of roles, and an uncharacteristically over-the-top comic turn by George C. Scott, Stanley Kubrick’s irreverent comedy cuts to the core of the issues at the heart of Cold War. Discussion with Douglas Keeney, Simon Banner, Allen Lynch (U.Va.), and Barbara Perry (U.Va.)

Supported by the Library of Congress, The Miller Center, and Virginia Festival of the Book

Douglas Keeney will participate in a book signing following the screening and discussion, and copies of 15 Minutes: General Curtis Lemay and the Countdown to Nuclear Annihilation will be available for purchase.