Silly person. He was clearly referring to Patton Oswalt.
The story I remember reading about George C Scott and Kubrick is that Scott refused to play Turgidson as over-the-top cartoony as Kubrick wanted. So Kubrick asked him to try those performances in supposed practice takes… and then used those takes in the film. I think Scott was pretty pissed off. But, man, it makes for so many classic moments. I’m unsure if one of those is Scott’s tripping in the middle of a line or if that was just a random mistake they kept in, but that’s one of the bits I’ll always remember.
Also, the line “You can’t fight in here, this is the war room” is obviously one of the greatest lines of all time. I remember when I was a young Kubrick fan delighting over this and, for whatever reason, never hearing anyone else who wrote or talked about the film referring to it. I was convinced I had discovered a secret gem that no one else had. I’m sure it was just because the internet was a smaller, less navigable place in those days.
I think that’s one of the greatest pratfalls in cinema. Scott’s recovery is brilliant.
There’s a lot of competition for great lines in this movie. One I liked was less about the writing than the delivery:
“We’ve had a tiny problem with the bomb. The bomb, Dimitri. The hydrogen bomb.”
The President serves as Margaret Dumont in the War Room.
Not much to add here except that I agree with the sentiment that Dr Strangelove is fantastic movie. It doesnt hurt that I am a huge fan of Peter Sellers. He was simply incredible in this. His bit with fighting the Nazi salute still cracks me up.
Of course so many actors were great in this. Not a surprise when you have this good of a script but you still need the talent to pull it off and Dr. Strangelove definitely had talent behind it.
Listening to the Blank Check episode on this. Sims asks if Mandrake is “secretly” the funniest of Sellers’s performances in the film.
To me it’s obviously the funniest. Pretty much all of my favourite lines, and certainly all of my favourite mannerisms are from Mandrake.
I agree. Sellers as the president has some good lines and the German Kissinger-like Sellers advisor is funny, but Mandrake with his droll British manner is the best. His other characters are broad but Mandrake is sharp.
Yeah, definitely one of the best lines in the movie. Which is full of great lines.
I used to have “Well boys, I reckon this is it, nuclear combat toe-to-toe with the Ruskies” as my text message alert.
Before the internet, I convinced myself that I was the only person in existence who caught the joke in “You can’t fight in here, this is the war room!”