Poster © Columbia Pictures Corporation. Shown at reduced size for review and commentary.
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GenreComedy & War
RatedPG
Runtime1 hr 35 mins
ReleasedJanuary 29, 1964
StreamingSee Where to Watch
DirectorStanley Kubrick
StarringPeter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden
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Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
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| Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb's Details | |
| Genre | Comedy & War |
| Rated | PG |
| Released | 01/29/1964 |
| Streaming | See Where to Watch on this page. |
| Running Time | 1 hr 35 mins |
| Budget | $1.8M (reported) |
| Box Office | Updated daily from Box Office Mojo. See the numbers below. |
| Based On | Red Alert by Peter George |
| Country | United Kingdom, United States |
| Language | English |
| Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb's Interests | |
| General | The War Room, the Big Board, B-52s, red phones, recall codes, purity of essence. |
| Music | Laurie Johnson. The bomber scenes march along to 'When Johnny Comes Marching Home'. |
| Movies | Fail Safe (1964). Same year, same nightmare, zero jokes. |
| Television | Veep. Powerful people in a room, panicking, but make it funny. |
| Heroes | Group Captain Mandrake. The calmest man in the movie, and nobody listens to him. |
| Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb's Crew | |
| Director | Stanley Kubrick |
| Writers | Stanley Kubrick, Terry Southern, Peter George |
| Producers | Stanley Kubrick |
| Cinematography | Gilbert Taylor |
| Music | Laurie Johnson |
| Edited By | Anthony Harvey |
| Production | Columbia Pictures Corporation, Hawk Films, Polaris Productions |
| Distributed By | Columbia Pictures Corporation |
Kubrick’s B-52 is basically a toy plane in front of a moving backdrop, and the bomber scenes drag compared to everything on the ground. Small price. Stanley Kubrick took the scariest idea of his time, one general deciding to start a nuclear war on his own, and played it completely straight, which is exactly why it’s so funny. Peter Sellers plays three people and every one of them is a different kind of brilliant. George C. Scott as Buck Turgidson is a human cartoon who never once winks at the camera. Sterling Hayden’s paranoid rant about the water supply is still hilarious decades later. It runs 95 minutes and doesn’t waste one. Critics and audiences agree on this one, and a 97 on Metacritic backs them up. A 9.5 because satire doesn’t get sharper than this. $537 says the next time your family argues at dinner, you tell them they can’t fight in here because this is the War Room.
What works: Peter Sellers in three roles, George C. Scott’s wild general, and a deadpan script that makes nuclear panic hilarious.
What doesn’t: The bomber scenes drag compared to the War Room, and the model plane effects look dated today.
Who it’s for: Anyone who likes dark comedy, politics or Kubrick, and anyone who thinks old movies can’t be funny.
Spoilers
One plane gets through, and Major Kong rides the bomb down like a rodeo bull. The Doomsday Machine goes off, Dr. Strangelove rises out of his wheelchair, and the world ends to a sweet old song.
General Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden) runs an American air base, and he has decided, all by himself, that it is time to bomb the Soviet Union. He sends his B-52s off, seals the base and locks himself in his office with a polite British exchange officer, Group Captain Mandrake (Peter Sellers). Up in one bomber, Major Kong (Slim Pickens) is ready to go. In the War Room, the President (Sellers again), General Buck Turgidson (George C. Scott) and a strange German scientist (Sellers a third time) scramble to call the planes back. Stanley Kubrick turns nuclear panic into pitch-black comedy. Ninety-four minutes, one very big button.
Anyone who knows the recall code. Please, no fighting in the War Room.
Group Captain Lionel Mandrakephoto: Photograph by Allan Warren; Derivative by Keraunoscopia, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
General Buck Turgidsonphoto: unknown photographer -, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Brigadier General Jack D. Ripperphoto: Affiliated Magazines, New York/ Photographer not credited, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
| Peter Sellers | Group Captain Lionel Mandrake |
| George C. Scott | General Buck Turgidson |
| Sterling Hayden | Brigadier General Jack D. Ripper |
| Keenan Wynn | Colonel "Bat" Guano |
| Jack Creley | Mr. Staines |
| Slim Pickens | Major T. J. "King" Kong |
| Peter Bull | Soviet Ambassador Alexei de Sadeski |
| James Earl Jones | First Lieutenant Lothar Zogg |
| Tracy Reed | Miss Scott |
| Shane Rimmer | Capt. Ace Owens |
- (cur | prev) 14:30, 17 October 2026 DataBot +360 Numbers refreshed: Worldwide box office $9.8M; Domestic box office $9.4M; Profit / loss (est.) +$2.2M; Rotten Tomatoes 97%; box office chart updated; Rotten Tomatoes critics 97% (145 reviews); Metacritic 97 / 100; IMDb users 8.3 / 10 (555,912 votes); movie.guru score 9.7.
- (cur | prev) 12:00, 17 October 2026 DataBot +2,000 Profile created from Wikipedia and Box Office Mojo: cast, crew, release dates, budget, official trailer.