Classic Movie Review Dr. Strangelove

Dr. Strangelove (1964) 

Directed by Stanley Kubrick 

Written by Terry Southern, Peter George, Stanley Kubrick 

Starring Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, Keenan Wynn, Slim Pickens 

Release Date January 29th, 1964 

Published July 24th, 2023 

Dr. Strangelove is very much a movie of its time. When it was released in 1964 it was a boiling mad, raging cauldron of immediate satire of world events currently in motion. Imagine something like Oliver Stone's W, w a film made and released while George W. Bush was still President, and you can get the sense of how timely Dr. Strangelove was in 1964. It's also far better than W which was a desperately bland attempted polemic. There was nothing bland about Dr. Strangelove in 1964. The film was bitter and biting, savaging the powerful in a fashion that genuinely set the leaders of the day on edge. 

Powerful leaders in military and government would have preferred that audiences in 1964 not know just how desperately unsafe our approach to nuclear weapons was at the time. They wanted us to be reassured that their leaders were well prepared, thoughtful, and of sound judgment. The reality, of course, was that the people in charge of our nuclear program were human beings just as potentially flawed and failing as anyone else. Dr. Strangelove takes the idea of egotistical, deeply flawed individuals in charge of world destroying technology to its most ugly and terrifying yet logical conclusion. 

The thought experiment was thus: What if one of our military leaders happened to come unglued and decided to end the world? What would it take to stop this military leader from causing the end of the world? Was it possible for one crazed lunatic in our leadership to end the world? The answer was a very uneasy, yes. The fact of the matter, though we were never blown up by nuclear weapons during the Cold War, it was always a possibility. All it took was a couple of bad breaks and one determined nut to bring about a global catastrophe. 

Dr. Strangelove exposes the absurdity of this idea, putting the idea in your head and forcing you to understand the stakes of a Cold War. Cold War has become synonymous with a period of time from Post World War 2 through the fall of the USSR in the early 1990s. But the real definition of a Cold War was simply a war that didn't involve fighting battles with troops and guns. It was a war of behind the scenes maneuvering and global chess. It was a balancing of big egos, bitter words and unrelenting suspicion. The only thing keeping us all alive was the desire among our leaders not to die. Had they come up with a solution that they could have comfortably survived, they might not have been so good at holding back the nukes. 

We look back on it now with a sort of wistful sigh of relief, as if we aren't still under threat of Nuclear annihilation. But, the fact is, Dr. Strangelove is actually still entirely relevant. Nuclear détente is still a thing. We still have a standing agreement with other countries capable of having nuclear weapons that we don't destroy each other but we all still could destroy each other. We just don't talk about nuclear weapons anymore aside from vague observations during Presidential election years when someone will allude to not wanting so and so to have the nuclear launch codes. 

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media

Classic Movie Review The Killers (1964)

The Killers (1964) 

Directed by Don Siegel 

Written by Gene L. Coon 

Starring Lee Marvin, John Cassavetes, Angie Dickinson, Ronald Reagan 

Release Date July 7th, 1964 

Published July 14th, 2023 

1964's The Killers shifts away from Ernest Hemingway's source material while maintaining a little of the framing device used in the 1946 version of The Killers from director Robert Siodmak. Director Don Siegel's biggest change however, came from beefing up the role of the titular Killers. Where Siodmak sidelines the killers after they've served their purpose, killing Burt Lancaster's Swede, Siodmak hired Lee Marvin and Clu Gulager to bring attention to these killers who also take on the role of the killers but also the role of the investigators, the role played by Edmond O'Brien in 1946. 

That's not the only change to the story of The Killers. Don Siegel's vision of The Killers has a new protagonist as well. Johnny North (John Cassavetes) is a race car driver who partially loses his sight following a racing accident. Desperate for work, he's working demolition derby's under a fake name when his former lover, Sheila Farr (Angie Dickinson), approaches him with an offer. Sheila's new lover, a gangster named Jack Browning (Ronald Reagan, yes THAT Ronald Reagan), needs a getaway driver for a heist he's pulling with a small crew. 

We know that Johnny agrees because by the time we see the heist coming together, in the modern timeline, Johnny is dead. While working as a shop teacher at a school for the blind, Johnny is approached by Charlie (Lee Marvin) and Lee (Clu Gulager), who kill him where he stands. Johnny seems to hardly react to his own death and his resignation in the face of life threatening danger and eventual death, haunts Charlie. Charlie becomes obsessed with knowing why Johnny was so willing to die at his hands? 

From here, Charlie, and a reluctant but loyal Lee, begin working backwards through the life of Johnny North to uncover Johnny's motivation while also, perhaps, seeking the whereabouts of the treasure that seemingly caused someone to hire Charlie and Lee to kill him. First on the interrogation list is Johnny's former partner and mechanic, played by Claude Akins in a haunting and soulful performance. Akins explains Johnny's relationship with Sheila and how he warned Johnny about her duplicitousness only to end up losing his friendship and his business partner. 

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media 

Movie Review Mary Poppins

Mary Poppins (1964) 

Directed by Robert Stevenson

Written by Bill Walsh, Don DaGradi 

Starring Julie Andrews, Dick Van Dyke, David Tomlinson, Glynis Johns 

Release Date September 24th, 1964 

Published December 20th, 2018

Mary Poppins was my first love at the movies. I fell head over heels in love with Julie Andrews at just 7 years old. It wasn’t just Julie Andrews though, it was Dick Van Dyke, who, for a 7 year old, was the single funniest human being on the planet. His silly accent, mocked by many for years, was an absolute wonder to a child. His penguin dance in Mary Poppins was the first big laugh I can remember from my childhood, the first time I laughed so hard that I remember the moment. 

With the sequel, Mary Poppins Returns, now in theaters nationwide, now is perhaps the appropriate time for me to express my undying dedication to the original Mary Poppins from 1964. For years, when I was working on my snobby critic credentials, I pretended that Mary Poppins was beneath me, a trifle only for children. I pretended that I didn’t know the words to every song and that the movie didn’t make me happier than any movie ever, aside from maybe, Legally Blonde. 

That, however, was the posing of an immature man-child, afraid that his macho credibility would be questioned if he admitted he loved what he loved. Now, I am an adult and I’m more secure with myself, and not worried about such nonsense. Now, I can fully express that Mary Poppins is adorable and deserves to be remembered not just as a great kids film, but as a genuine motion picture classic. It helps a little that the sequel is nearly as good as the original. 

Mary Poppins (1964) stars Julie Andrews as the mischievous yet proper Governess, Mary Poppins. Mary has floated down from some magical place in the clouds to take the position as caretaker to the uproarious Banks’ children, Michael and Jane (Matthew Garber and Karen Dotrice), whose nanny, played by acting legend Elsa Lanchester, has just quit. Michael and Jane aren’t troublemakers, per se, but with their fastidious father, George (David Tomlinson), always at work and their mother, Winifred (Glynis Johns), always off on her causes, they like to seek attention. 

Mary Poppins appears and has just the solution for Michael and Jane’s rambunctious behavior, a series of adventures that include Mary’s good friend, and Banks’ family Chimney Sweep, Burt (Dick Van Dyke). Burt is also a one man band and a chalk artist and a kite salesman, all of which play minor roles throughout this remarkable plot. Together, our foursome sing songs and dance with animated penguins and generally have a blast, until George’s job at the bank is threatened and the family faces ruin. 

It’s almost impossible to believe that this was Julie Andrews first big screen starring role, she’s a movie star from the first moment. That likely has to do with her background on Broadway and in musical theater but regardless, she is a movie star of the highest order in Mary Poppins. Her command of a scene, her effortless charisma and her spirited yet proper English singing style is infectious. Even when slightly imperious in her self-satisfaction, she remains an utter delight. 

History has not been kind to the performance of Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins. For years, snobs of many sorts, myself included, have poked fun at Van Dyke’s ludicrous Cockney accent. Looking at it through the prism of my childhood however, that accent becomes part of Van Dyke’s charm. He sounds funny, he makes goofy faces and for a child of 6 or 7 years old, there are few things as funny as an adult acting like a big goof with a funny voice. 

For me, Van Dyke’s performance recalls the laughs at all cost approach of Donald O’Connor in Singing in the Rain. Like O’Connor, Van Dyke’s performance is a physical marvel and while Van Dyke can’t dance like O’Connor he can throw himself into a physical gag with similar caution to the wind style. Van Dyke also shares a similar goofball charm with O’Connor and it makes his performance memorably adorable in Mary Poppins. 

The unsung hero of Mary Poppins however, is the brilliant David Tomlinson. George Banks is not an easy role. He has to love his family but be distant, he has to come off as a believable father who is also obsessed with work and with money. He has to border on cruel in some scenes but not so much that he can’t win us back to his side in the end. Tomlinson nails every bit of George Banks and his final scenes are some of my favorite memories of Mary Poppins with a hole in his bowler and his collar askew, finally ready to go fly a kite. 

Mary Poppins was directed by Disney regular Robert Stevenson and while he is not a celebrated director, his work for Disney has endured and, in the 1960’s, he defined the Disney formula with Mary Poppins, Bedknobs & Broomsticks and Herbie the Lovebug. Stevenson’s light touch and adherence to the wholesome, Walt Disney ethos, really work to create something wonderful in Mary Poppins. Some might find the Disney factory approach stifling but Stevenson turned it into movie magic that has lasted to this day. 

Of course, Stevenson is greatly overshadowed by Walt Disney himself, the producer of each of the films that Stevenson directed. Disney set the course for the movies made under his umbrella and Mary Poppins is perhaps his one, true, live action masterpiece. Other Disney live action features like That Darn Cat and most assuredly, Bedknobs & Broomsticks, would try to capture the same magic but they don’t rise to the level of enchantment that is Mary Poppins, a truly one of a kind work in the Disney canon. 

One of a kind until now anyway, with the release of Mary Poppins Returns in theaters now.