Peter Seller’s doesn’t get enough good press. This is a look back at one of cinema’s great characters. Actually, it’s three of cinema’s great characters.
It should come as no surprise that I’m a huge fan of Dr. Strangelove (or how I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb). It’s a great movie and one of Kubrick’s finest works (after all, I am the resident Kubrick expert). For those of you who haven’t seen it, the film centers around a slightly insane general who decides to order a full-out attack against the Soviet Union during the height of the cold war. He believes this is necessary to protect our precious bodily fluids. The film centers around the struggle to stop the attack and prevent the end of the world. The film is set in 3 places: the Air Force base that ordered the attack, the war room of the Pentagon, and a B-52 bomber sent to bomb the Ruskies. The brilliant part, Peter Sellers has a role in all three.
Well, he was supposed to anyway. When the studio agreed to back the film, their condition was that Sellers play 4 major roles in the film. Those roles were set to be President Merkin Muffley, Dr. Strangelove (a former Nazi turned US scientist), Captain Lionel Mandrake (an officer from Britain working with General Ripper), and Major T.J Kong (the commander of the B-52). Unfortunately, Sellers never wanted to portray Kong because he felt uncomfortable doing the southern accent the part required. As luck would have it, he wound up spraining his ankle preventing him from working in the cockpit setting.
It makes sense the studio would want Sellers to play so many roles, a lot of the success of Lolita can be attributed to Seller’s work in that film. His ability to portray a range of characters and emotions is like no other. It is that ability that really sets his characters apart and makes this film special. President Muffley is a quiet, unassuming man. Always soft-spoken and willing to bend and appease those around him. Capt. Mandrake is an experienced group captain in Her Majesty’s Air Force, he’s the only one who can stop this attack from occurring and he tries his best to do what he can. Dr. Strangelove, however, is harder to define.
The doctor is a former Nazi, brought to the US to help run the government’s nuclear program and general defensive science policies. He is confined to a wheelchair and is forced to battle with parts of his body throughout the film. Frequently one of his arms takes on a mind of it’s own, still a Nazi, still trying to serve Hitler. In the film as the US is going toe-to-toe with the Russians, Dr. Strangelove has his own internal struggle against the Nazi parts of his body. To watch it is almost humorous but at the same time, strangely unsettling. From ripping a cigarette from his mouth, to trying to strangle him, the arm poses a struggle. Right as the movie comes to a climax, Dr. Strangelove is suddenly able to stand as he proclaims “Mein Fuhrer”.
Peter Sellers ability to portray this character range and bring a comedic element into this delightful and dark political satire really transforms the film and in many ways enhances it. This film has stood the test of time and remains probably the greatest political satire of all time. Would it have been everything it was without Seller’s stunning performance?