Retrospective: Dr. Strangelove (Patreon)

Kubrick spends much of his career launching an assault against the sunk cost fallacy. In 2001, HAL kills the crew of his ship in an attempt to operate as if his previous mistake wasn't a mistake. Dr. Strangelove is an hour and a half of the same, mostly via Buck Turgidson. Every character spends the movie terrified of losing their jobs ahead of the apocalypse. Turgidson is no except, but he takes it a step further; he spends the entire movie trying to justify his mistakes and their consequences. Once the B-52s have set out, Turgidson has to contend with the fact that his profession will destroy the entire world. From there on out, he's not performing damage control so much as damage extension: "no more than 10 to 20 million killed, tops. Depending on the breaks."

Stanley Kubrick does like a story about a malfunctioning system — or worse, about a system that functions exactly as it's supposed to. The American nuclear apparatus is operating just as it's meant to, as is the Ruskie Doomsday machine. The best laid plans of men go oft just right. President Muffley's horror at the war machine he's inherited doesn't help him in the slightest — and like most liberal heads of state, he's ultimately willing to let fascists guide the way if it secures his power, even if they're openly Seig Heil-ing in front of him. Guess we can't blame him. If I were Peter Sellers, I too would want to watch Peter Sellers fighting Peter Sellers' hand.