# Dr. Strangelove: Do you know it? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 11, 2011, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-strangelove-do-you-know-it/571056 "2011-02-11T19:51:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-strangelove-do-you-know-it/571056/41 "2011-02-11T22:28:24Z")
Is it a classic? Of course, but that doesn’t automatically mean everyone who watches movies has seen it. I’ll bet a lot of people haven’t seen anything by Harold Lloyd, or Busby Berkely, for that matter. > [@Capitaine\_Zombie](#): > > Ask your girlfriend if she can name you another classic in black and white that isnt Casablanca. _To Kill a Mockingbird_? ---
**Author:** ![Corner\_Case](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/corner_case/32/234_2.png) [@Corner\_Case](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corner_Case)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-strangelove-do-you-know-it/571056/42 "2011-02-11T22:30:09Z")
I and a friend often quote lines to each other - to the annoyance of our respective wives. Now, to all of you who do know the movie and love it, I’ll tell you something else. If this thing turns out to be half as important as I figure it just might be, I’d say that you’re all in line for some important promotions and personal citations when this thing’s over with. And that goes for ever’ last one of you regardless of your race, color or your creed. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-strangelove-do-you-know-it/571056/43 "2011-02-11T22:46:39Z")
Of course it’s a classic. Hell, I even once started to adapt it to a musical, but someone else had already done so. Plus, I didn’t want to answer to the Coca-Cola Company for it. ---
**Author:** ![Renee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/renee/32/287_2.png) [@Renee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-strangelove-do-you-know-it/571056/44 "2011-02-11T22:49:52Z")
I’ve heard of “Dr. Strangelove” but I didn’t know it was a movie, just a phrase I’d heard, so I voted “don’t know it.” I’m 30. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-strangelove-do-you-know-it/571056/45 "2011-02-11T23:03:27Z")
It’s definitely a well-made film: everything comes together just right. **Voyager** , don’t forget the machine-gunners swarming past the sign stating “Peace Is Our Profession”. And no one’s mentioned yet that this was James Earl Jones’ film debut! Shoot, how many times have I told you fellers I don’t want no horsin’ around on the airplane? ---
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-strangelove-do-you-know-it/571056/46 "2011-02-11T23:15:25Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#): > > Of course it’s a classic. Hell, I even once started to adapt it to a musical, but someone else had already done so. > > Plus, I didn’t want to answer to the Coca-Cola Company for it. You keep your moral preversions to yourself. Another vote for classic. My parents took me to see it when I was very young (around 8, I think) and I found it hilarious. I introduced it to a friend of mine and it’s one that we never get tired of quoting back and forth - we could be working on his truck, he’ll need a wrench and I’ll hear “Feed me, Mandrake!” Got a copy as a birthday gift years ago, wonderful film. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-strangelove-do-you-know-it/571056/47 "2011-02-11T23:20:14Z")
I just glanced at this title again. I wonder if, twenty years from now, there will be a thread entitled “Pulp Fiction: Do you know it, motherfucker?”. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-strangelove-do-you-know-it/571056/48 "2011-02-11T23:30:02Z")
I also think that the movie is a bit more affecting for those of us who made it through the Cold War years as adults. Whether the movie represented any kind of real risk - the idea of the world being destroyed by _accident_ was a very common and visceral fear. ---
**Author:** ![Find\_Friends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@Find\_Friends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Find_Friends)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-strangelove-do-you-know-it/571056/49 "2011-02-11T23:45:57Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > It is the stated position of the United States Air Force that the safeguards in place would be sufficient to prevent the events depicted in this film. Say, didn’t they actually have a similar statement shown on the screen after the “Fail Safe” film? ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-strangelove-do-you-know-it/571056/50 "2011-02-11T23:56:18Z")
> [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > If it helps I’m 24. > > Dunno if it’s a generational thing. Well, without further data, like, “Do you know it?” or “Do you like it?”, your age doesn’t tell us much. . . 😃 I personally love it. ---
**Author:** ![Satchmo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/satchmo/32/4223_2.png) [@Satchmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satchmo)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2011, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-strangelove-do-you-know-it/571056/51 "2011-02-12T00:21:45Z")
All right men, Survival kit contents check. In them you’ll find: one forty-five caliber automatic; two boxes of ammunition; four days’ concentrated emergency rations; one drug issue containing antibiotics, morphine, vitamin pills, pep pills, sleeping pills, tranquilizer pills; one miniature combination Rooshian phrase book and Bible; one hundred dollars in rubles; one hundred dollars in gold; nine packs of chewing gum; one issue of prophylactics; three lipsticks; three pair of nylon stockings. Shoot, a fella’ could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff. I have to agree, Kubrick and Sellers and Pickens at their very best. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2011, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-strangelove-do-you-know-it/571056/52 "2011-02-12T00:29:03Z")
A side note…I worked with Slim Pickens about 15 years later. At that time, he had to have his script printed in 1 inch high letters so he could read it at all. Unless his vision was strikingly better ca. 1960, I suspect he had someone read the Strangelove script to him and he memorized it that way. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2011, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-strangelove-do-you-know-it/571056/53 "2011-02-12T00:38:11Z")
I never understood why Pickens’ line was originally “Shoot, a fella could have a pretty good weekend in Dallas with all that stuff.” Vegas is way funnier, and was Dallas a party town at the time? ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2011, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-strangelove-do-you-know-it/571056/54 "2011-02-12T00:45:37Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > It’s definitely a well-made film: everything comes together just right. > > **Voyager** , don’t forget the machine-gunners swarming past the sign stating “Peace Is Our Profession”. I hate to break this to you, but that **is** the motto of the Strategic Air Command. [Cite](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_Air_Command). ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2011, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-strangelove-do-you-know-it/571056/55 "2011-02-12T01:01:04Z")
I know. It’s still a great shot. ---
**Author:** ![Ronald\_C.Semone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cc9497/32.png) [@Ronald\_C.Semone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ronald_C.Semone)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2011, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-strangelove-do-you-know-it/571056/56 "2011-02-12T01:16:18Z")
I saw the movie when it first came out and I can remember leaving the movie theater and blinking my eyes in surprise that the town was still there. ---
**Author:** ![Satchmo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/satchmo/32/4223_2.png) [@Satchmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satchmo)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2011, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-strangelove-do-you-know-it/571056/57 "2011-02-12T01:16:18Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > I never understood why Pickens’ line was originally “Shoot, a fella could have a pretty good weekend in Dallas with all that stuff.” Vegas is way funnier, and was Dallas a party town at the time? I’ve always thought that it was originally Dallas because Major Kong was from Texas and he knew what you needed for a good time in Dallas. They changed it because of Kennedy’s killing. (though you probably already knew that) ---
**Author:** ![Moe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moe/32/2972_2.png) [@Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moe)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2011, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-strangelove-do-you-know-it/571056/58 "2011-02-12T01:21:25Z")
Way on the top of my list of best movies of all time. One of the rare movies that manages to be hilarious and frightening at the same time. ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2011, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-strangelove-do-you-know-it/571056/59 "2011-02-12T01:36:36Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > One professor-type friend of mine called the opening title sequence, where the tanker is refilling the bomber in flight, the sexiest scene in movies ever. > > Subtle…I doubt if it even caused the censors to wake up, but the scene shows a tanker slowly engaging with the bomber’s fuel input thru a long tube, staying connected for a while as it is lightly jostled, and as it gently disconnects, there is a little spurt of…leftover fuel. It’s a great scene. And then there’s the docking scene in _2001_. Kubrick apparently had a one-track mind. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2011, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-strangelove-do-you-know-it/571056/60 "2011-02-12T01:45:51Z")
I know of it’s significance, but never seen it. I’m rather surprised at the amount of love shown here, I would have taken the GF’s side…but around here, a thread about Blazing Saddles hits over 10 pages and makes the front page. Go figure. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-strangelove-do-you-know-it/571056.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-strangelove-do-you-know-it/571056.md?page=4)