Dr. Strangelove (Special Edition)

I grew up during the Cold War with the Soviet Union (an era whose mindset this film is a product of). I remember my parents' makeshift "bomb shelter" (LOL) in our basement and periodic "test" marches from our school to the local bank vault (our nearest designated "fallout shelter"). But you don't have to have lived through that to enjoy this film. Kubrick brilliantly juxtaposed clinical realism and uproarious satire in a manner which has never been matched. The cast (not to mention the "cast-against-type") in this film is beyond compare. You'd be hard-pressed to find *any* actor in this film who wasn't superb in it, even if their roles were ridiculous or minor. George C. Scott is s-o-o-o perfect in this film, it's hard to believe that Kubrick basically used all of his *outakes" in the film instead of what Scott considered his "serious" performances. Sterling Hayden, particularly as Kubrick filmed him from down low, with a phallic cigar dramatically projecting from his mouth, is almost sympathetic in his portrayal as the deranged General Ripper. Peter Sellers is phenomenal in his multiple roles, to the point you don't even perceive you are seeing the same actor as different characters. His ad-libbing was renowned and if you watch carefully, you can see several background actors losing it in scenes as Sellers goes off on an unexpected tangent. Slim Pickens is my personal favorite--taking off his flight helmet to put on his cowboy hat "when things get tough" and arguably being given the best and most iconic scene in the entire film at the end. There is hardly a second of this film without some subtle (or not so subtle) sexual reference--whether it is the name of a character, or a geographic location or a visual cue or whatever, that makes "Dr. Stangelove" a statement on what's really behind all the power-mongering and one-upsmanship of global conflict. I know people who were disturbed by this film--ostensibly because it made light of nuclear warfare, but really because they saw themselves or others they knew reflected in the characterizations... Anyhow--best sets (courtesy of Ken Adams, who later worked on many James Bond films) which even convinced Ronald Reagan they were real, best B-52 traveling mattes, best technical jargon (particularly as spoken by James Earl Jones). And how ironic that ultimately fluoridation of drinking water (as opposed to topical application by a dentist or with toothpaste) has been shown in many worldwide studies to be ineffective in preventing tooth decay...

lots of extras, good price point.

As advertised. A definite classic that makes me laugh every time I watch it.

This movie is a total trip. Came out before I was born, so some context I did not understand when I watched it the first or even second time, but I get it now. The 4K is incredible, this movie is in black and white and 4K makes it so sharp. The only sad thing for me is, once I understood what the movie was really about, I looked to see when it came out and discovered nothing much has changed in the years in between. Still, a good watch.

The Film: Kubrick's best film? Tough to say. 2001, A Clockwork Orange, and Spartacus are pretty darned good. One of the best dark comedies of the 20th Century? Easily. Probably the single best. Consistently, some times uproariously funny, "Dr. Strangelove" is an indisputable classic. It expertly weaves the paranoia and fear of the period with phenomenal comedic performances, to both funny and chilling effect. Peter Sellers is absolutely stunning in this film, as is George C. Scott. The nuclear farce escalates and escalates throughout the 90 minute run-time, ultimately culminating in... well, I won't spoil it. Simply put, this is one of those films everyone should see before they die. The Blu-Ray: This is a tough disc to review. The movie is so incredibly good that it might be blinding to the flaws in the presentation. And flaws there are. The first one that will strike anyone who's seen this film before on home video is that this film is not presented in the 1.33:1 "academy ratio." Instead, it is cropped to a 1.66:1 ratio which is very close to today's widescreen TVs, with *very* slender black bars on the sides. Now, I'm as big a fan of widescreen images as the next guy. But I'm an even bigger fan of seeing everything the director intended me to see, i.e. the original aspect ratio of a piece of film. Apparently, when Sr. Strangelove was transferred to laserdisc, Kubrick told Criterion that the film is supposed to switch from 1.33:1 to 1.66:1 aspect ratios, depending on scene. In the war room, for instance, the lighting above and some binders below the 1.66:1 frame were intended to be seen. Since this disc is fixed at 1.66:1, the image never opens up to show us this information. Is it story critical? No. But it could have been present, given the existence of other Blu-Ray discs that switch aspect ratios on the fly. It's too bad that it wasn't done here. Another potentially problematic aspect of this transfer is video noise. I am a big proponent of film grain being presented realistically in a HD image. I don't want it scrubbed away by excessive "noise reduction." But this image strains my tolerance. Static backdrops and human faces positively swim with noise, much of which looks more "digital" than true "analog" film grain. I truly wonder whether a projected film print would have this kind of noise. Again, some sort of happy medium should have been achieved. OK, bad news out of the way, I can still say that this is a highly watchable transfer. Blacks are much more solid than the previous DVD, and detail in some scenes is good (but not great). For a 45 year-old b&w presentation, this looks pretty good. It's not at the level of the recent "Casablanca" or "Seventh Seal" Blu-Rays, but it certainly holds its own. Audio is presented in a 5.1 channel mix, as well as the original mono. The surround mix is pleasant, splitting some of the info (such as gunshots or airplane noise) out into the rear surrounds. Extras are mostly carried over from the most recent DVD edition, with one new documentary included, and the film trailer tragically absent. It was a GREAT trailer, very 60's modern and cool. Really sad and kind of inexplicable that it was left out. The docs are presented in 480p, which is kind of lame. The "commentary" is a combination text overlay/video interview trivia track. Unfortunately, the text overlays pretty much half of the screen, making it tough to catch important parts of the film. The videos are interesting enough, but they talk over some key parts of the film, and some of the truly outstanding performances are obscured. Overall, the track is more irritating that it's worth, and I would have preferred a new 1080p documentary to it. ************ If you don't already own this, buy it. Just buy. Don't think. It's amazing, and an absolute must-own. Any of the above issues will not really matter to someone who doesn't own another edition. This one will do just fine. If you do already have the more recent DVD edition, this is a tough recommendation. The picture quality is certainly better. There is more detail, better black levels, and fewer artifacts such as jagged edges and edge enhancement. But you're going to get a cropped image that may not square well (so to speak) with your recollection of the film you've seen before. And you'll be missing out on the classic trailer, in exchange for yet another superfluous documentary. So it's not really an upgrade. It's more of a lateral move from the DVD. I still give the disc 4 stars. The film is 5-star material all the way. The BD presentation has some serious flaws, but it still is highly watchable and has a fair amount of value.

Great movie, arrived well packaged and in perfect condition.

Es una película que he visto un montón de veces y cada vez aprecias algo nuevo: ¡magistral!

"Dr Strangelove" ("Dr. Fantástico" no Brasil) é uma comédia de humor negro de 1964, que explora o clima de medo ao comunismo nos Estados Unidos durante a Guerra Fria e a possibilidade de a tensão militar entre os EUA e a União Soviética escalar para um conflito nuclear. Neste clássico do cinema dirigido por Stanley Kubrick, um brigadeiro enlouquecido da Força Aérea ordena um ataque à União Soviética. Na Sala de Guerra no Pentágono, o presidente dos Estados Unidos - reunido com seus comandantes militares, na companhia do seu assessor para assuntos estratégicos (o Dr. Fantástico, um ex-nazista alemão paraplégico), o embaixador soviético, e em contato telefônico com o premier russo - tenta interromper a missão dos bombardeiros antes que seja tarde. O filme conta com um ótimo elenco, que inclui Peter Sellers em três papéis (capitão Mandrake da RAF, presidente dos Estados Unidos e Dr. Fantástico), além de George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden (o brigadeiro enlouquecido), James Earl Jones e Slim Pickens. Na minha opinião, o ponto alto do filme acontece quando, diante da possibilidade do extermínio da vida na Terra pelo conflito nuclear iminente, o Dr. Fantástico desenvolve um projeto para a sobrevivência de pessoas, plantas e animais em cavernas profundas, para o qual os voluntários humanos seriam selecionados a partir de critérios eugenistas. Passados sessenta anos do seu lançamento, Dr. Fantástico volta a ser atual no momento em que potências ascendentes desafiam a preponderância do Ocidente no cenário internacional e conflitos regionais, na Ucrânia e no Oriente Médio, têm a possibilidade de se aprofundar e engolfar o mundo.

Bonne qualité en bluray noire et blanc acheter en occasion car difficile à trouver à avoir dans sa collection

Great movie. Stanley Kubrick never disappoints. This movie is well worth purchasing on blu ray.

Classic movie at a bargain price "Yee-Haw"