No Fighting in the War Room or Dr. Strangelove and the Nuclear Threat (Video 2004) Poster

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7/10
A tad one-sided but very compelling--putting "Dr. Strangelove" in context.
planktonrules13 March 2011
This is the first of four documentaries included on the bonus DVD for "Dr. Strangelove". Included are lots of clips from the film, various interviews (including, surprisingly, Robert McNamara), production stills and never before seen footage.

The documentary begins with a discussion of the context for the film. A discussion with McNamara in particular explaining the Berlin Crisis, Mutually Assured Destruction and the like occurs--which is excellent for younger viewers in order to put the feature in context. Then, others join in the discussion as clips for the film are interspersed. While it is a 'making of' film, it's much more of a film about the stupidity of nuclear war than anything else. During the documentary, various views are given ranging from Bob Woodward's sentiments that none of the White House staff he's known would actively pursue nuclear war versus Spike Lee's view that the Bush administration is about that irresponsible. It's a very interesting discussion that, unfortunately, represents only those on the left or center--making it a bit one-sided and incomplete. Still, it is compelling and very interesting.

By the way, it's sad watching Roger Ebert in this film as you can see and hear that he's already showing some of the early effects of his chemotherapy to his salivary glands. As he continues to recover, we can only wish him the best.
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8/10
Nifty documentary
Woodyanders8 August 2017
Warning: Spoilers
This 30-minute documentary provides a wealth of fascinating information about the fear and paranoia caused by the Cold War that reigned supreme in the 1960's. "Dr. Strangelove" is aptly described as a metaphor for the reality of its time in which the people in power were worried about Russia spreading its wings over other parts of the world. Spike Lee notes that the Bush administration were every bit as dangerous in their incompetence as the people in the movie and fondly remembers ducking under desks during drills held back in grade school. Robert McNamara discusses at length the concept of deterrence while Bob Woodward admits that an all-out attack has a certain crazy logic to it. Moreover, we also learn that there's really no such thing as acceptable losses, "Dr. Strangelove" started out as a serious thriller, and the legendary climactic pie fight was indeed filmed, but ultimately cut from the picture because it quite simply didn't work. Sadly, as Roger Ebert points out "Dr. Strangelove" still remains relevant even today. Worth a watch.
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10/10
A must see for fans of the movie (and everyone else)
MichaelByTheSea5 March 2022
It would be a mistake to see Kubrick's black and white 1964 classic as outdated and irrelevant. I just watched this following the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the release of a telephone conversation between Trump and John Daly in which Trump brags about telling his "friend" Putin that if he invaded Ukraine "we're hitting Moscow".

With that in mind, it makes this fascinating documentary as timely now as when the movie and documentary came out. It's a balanced mix of movie clips, interviews, old animation, and frightening video of actual atomic bomb explosions.

Trivia not covered by the documentary: Kubrick tricked George C. Scott into doing some over the top "practice" scenes for comic effect. Scott agreed, but didn't want that approach in the film and refused to do it that way during the actual filming. But Kubrick secretly recorded Scott's practice scenes and included them in the movie.

Scott was furious and vowed that he would never work with Kubrick again.

See the movie and see the documentary. It doesn't matter in which order (although I recommend seeing the movie first).
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