Key points
Film info
Synopsis
My notes
FT 553 notes
Film info
Based on "Red Alert", book by Peter George, as a what-if melodrama. Kubrick, producer Harris giggling at rehearsal. Started over as black comedy.
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Synopsis
General Jack D. Ripper, obsessed with Communist plots and conserving precious bodily fluids, launches attack against Soviet Union. President tries to work with Dmitri, Buck Turgidson urges war. Doomsday Machine. Lionel Mandrake gets code, all but one plane receive. Plane gets through, drops bomb. Mine-shaft gap.
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My notes
- Names: Jack D. Ripper, Buck Turgidson - both tough-talking paranoics. President Muffley.
-- Sex. Ten women for every man. Refueling planes, prophylactic in military kit.
-- Absurd argument between President and Soviet premier. Constant one-upmanship.
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FT 553 notes (from 07/08/04)
-- Parodies March of Time, military speak, industrial speak. "Peace Is Our Profession". Parodies war films -- zooms in on instruments in plane. Auto-destruct mechanism blows itself up. Takes perceptions of earlier war.
-- Paranoia -- precious bodily fluids.
-- Absurdity of following orders (Bat Guano), Coke machine, mine-shaft gap.
-- Music used ironically. "When Johnny comes a-marching home," "Try a Little Tenderness (planes refueling), "We'll Meet Again".
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