Our Daily Trailer: DR. STRANGELOVE (1964)

It’s been interesting listen to people react to Chris Morris’ Four Lions all week as we’ve been traveling across America promoting it. The movie it most gets compared to? Dr. Strangelove, Stanley Kubrick’s classic Cold War satire. I don’t think the films have very much in common at all - except maybe a willingness to poke fun at something people find really, really serious.

Hearing Strangelove mentioned over and over again has made me want to rewatch the movie, which in turn has sent me looking for the trailer. Here’s an interesting trailer - it’s technically spoilery, it’s weirdly cut and it’s got that mid-60s forced quirkiness that’s kind of cute in retrospect but I imagine must have been grating at the time.

What’s weird is how hard it is to watch the first part with all the fast cuts; today’s audiences deal with quick cuts much better than audiences of 1964, and that almost made me nauseous. Also interesting: the trailer shows Slim Pickens moments away from hitting the ground, really spoiling the end of the movie (sort of; that bit is mostly without context).

What do you think of the trailer? A quick note: I’m not sure if this was the original trailer or two trailers mashed together. Advise in the comments.