The First 12 Minutes of Dr. Strangelove

It is probably abnormal and inappropriate for me to be posting about a film that we have seen so little of, and therefore it is impossible for me to make any actual informed comments on the film because we have seen less than 15% of it, but there were a couple of things that I noticed and I figure I should post them before I forget them, and before they become irrelevant and fade into oblivion.

The first thing, I noticed most about the movie so far were the opening credits. First, the statement by the Air Force which set the tone of the movie because of its seriousness but also ridiculousness at the same time. But the thing that was most pressing about the opening credits, was the title sequence, first that it said that it was a fictional story not based on true events at least 3 or 4 times. Also, the way the title sequence was arranged was very interesting and inventive and I know that it has received notice in the past. The way that certain things were very large, like last names, the letters DR., and a few other random things were thrown in there and it was quite interesting how certain things were very small, like the subtitle of the movie: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, was very small.

The reason this title sequence struck me was two fold, one was because of its original nature and it is something that you rarely take note of to this extent, and second, because I know that this title sequence is famous. The graphic title designer is Pablo Ferro, and although he is famous for doing some of the greatest title sequences of all time, you may not have heard his name. I probably would not have either, but last year I just happened to be watching ReelzChannel and they had a short piece on Pablo Ferro because two men have created a quasi-animated documentary that uses interviews, animation, and other things to tell about the life of Pablo Ferro, as a animator, director, and actor. Having seen this, and in the clip, Dr. Strangelove was mentioned, I paid careful attention to the sequence.

If you can think of other famous title sequences, I wouldn't be surprised if you found that he did them as well, as for example, he did A Clockwork Orange and Beetlejuice, as well as hundreds more. Now, this may not interest any of you and bore you all to death, but I just found it interesting because I had seen the story about him and heard of the forthcoming documentary. I found the link to the video and the movie website and I will post them below, hopefully they both work.

Video:

ReelzChannel Movie News | Movie Trailers

I know last time Mr. Bennett had trouble watching the video so here is the link to the ReelzChannel clip so you can watch it from their website directly. (Hint: I don't think it will play on school computers, only at home.)

ReelzChannel Clip Link: http://www.reelzchannel.com/trailer-clips/38215/whats-your-title

Movie Website: http://www.pablothemovie.com/

Also, I mentioned that their were two things that I found interesting beyond just the story of the film because the story has not been expanded enough beyond that Plan R is really bad and people can't believe that it will be used unless "Washington has already been bombed." The way that movie has started, and the way it seems to be progressing, reminds me of the book Catch-22 by Joseph Heller, which I thought was brilliant and if you haven't read I would suggest it, but the situations and the satire of the movie, seem to somewhat match Heller's style. But I could be wrong because we haven't seen enough, but in Catch-22 there were similar circumstances where the characters went along with utterly ridiculous things, in ridiculous ways.

But back to my original point, the one thing that I found of note in the movie. I'm not sure if everyone caught it but the General sitting behind the desk at the beginning of the film (the guy the played Dix in Asphalt Jungle), his name was Jack D. Ripper, not exactly the most subtle name.

Now this could have just been make a joke but when a character's name is Jack D. Ripper or Jack the Ripper, modeled after an infamous killer, you would probably assume that it was done on purpose and that it is possible that this character could be a sadist, unfeeling human being, like the killer who shares his name.

I saw the movie Red Eye which was released in 2005 starring Cillian Murphy and Rachel McAdams, before Dr. Strangelove, but in that film, a good but not great film, the main character's name, who was a killer was named Jack Rippner, again a very symbolic name. Also, much of that action took place on a place so maybe their is a correlation between a 1964 satire and a 2005 action-horror movie. (Sarcasm)

But in that film, and I assume in this, when a character is named something symbolic and obvious it probably plays into the character's personality and their ideas about life and possibly in this case about killing and dehumanization. Who knows? But I can already tell that I will like this movie despite seeing so little.