Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Almost Everything in “Dr. Strangelove” Was Based on Fact

newyorker.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 164 posts

Re: Almost Everything in “Dr. Strangelove” Was Based on Fact

#21

Post by JetSpiegel »

robterrell wrote: post #20
JetSpiegel wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Enemy of the State is a still a Michael Bay film though. A bit restrained, but still a bit too explosion-ey.

Nope. Tony Scott. But, I get what you mean. Still, it's got this thin film of political intrigue / thriller across the top that really holds the plot together. Bay would have skimmed that right off. Also, I'm not a fan of Tony Scott at all, but boy can cast the hell out of a movie. He's got great actors in every tiny role.

Sorry, they all looks the same to me. Those directors, I mean.

Bay did The Island, and it suffers from the same thing, it could have been awesome with other director.

Re: Almost Everything in “Dr. Strangelove” Was Based on Fact

#22

Post by arethuza »

dmpk2k wrote: post #7
EvanAnderson wrote: post #4

If this article piqued your interest definitely have a look at "The Dead Hand" ( http://www.amazon.com/The-Dead-Hand-Untold-Dangerous/dp/0307... ).

"The Dead Hand" combined with "Command and Control" ( http://www.amazon.com/Command-Control-Damascus-Accident-Illu... ) makes for very sobering reading. Put the two together, and it's a genuine miracle that nothing bad happened. Of course, we're not out of the woods... Both are excellent books, BTW, so I agree with the parent poster's recommendation.

Also "One Minute to Midnight: Kennedy, Khrushchev, and Castro on the Brink of Nuclear War" - which is pretty alarming even when we know how it all worked out:

http://www.amazon.com/One-Minute-Midnight-Kennedy-Khrushchev...

Re: Almost Everything in “Dr. Strangelove” Was Based on Fact

#23

Post by techrat »

acdha wrote: post #16

Both my wife and I somehow managed to avoid seeing Dr. Strangelove before this summer. While watching it, I was repeatedly struck by the same realization as in the article: for all the reputation as a wild farce, there was a rather disturbingly small gap between the film and history which has subsequently been publicly released – and Dr. Strangelove came out decades before we reached the point of having an astrologis…

Another film manages to do this and was nearly written off by the screenwriter for being too "Strangelovian" at times. Network.

Highly prescient film. Both Network and Strangelove are mandatory watches, IMHO.

Re: Almost Everything in “Dr. Strangelove” Was Based on Fact

#24

Post by arethuza »

What about General Power who, while head of SAC, said:

Restraint? Why are you so concerned with saving their lives? The whole idea is to kill the bastards. At the end of the war if there are two Americans and one Russian left alive, we win!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_S._Power

Re: Almost Everything in “Dr. Strangelove” Was Based on Fact

#25

Post by haukur »

acdha wrote: post #16

Both my wife and I somehow managed to avoid seeing Dr. Strangelove before this summer. While watching it, I was repeatedly struck by the same realization as in the article: for all the reputation as a wild farce, there was a rather disturbingly small gap between the film and history which has subsequently been publicly released – and Dr. Strangelove came out decades before we reached the point of having an astrologis…

> we reached the point of having an astrologist in the loop for international decisions.

I'm a little bit curious, did you mean to say astronomer or does the US government have an astrologist advisor?

Re: Almost Everything in “Dr. Strangelove” Was Based on Fact

#26

Post by arethuza »

haukur wrote: post #25
acdha wrote: post #16

Both my wife and I somehow managed to avoid seeing Dr. Strangelove before this summer. While watching it, I was repeatedly struck by the same realization as in the article: for all the reputation as a wild farce, there was a rather disturbingly small gap between the film and history which has subsequently been publicly released – and Dr. Strangelove came out decades before we reached the point of having an astrologis…

> we reached the point of having an astrologist in the loop for international decisions. I'm a little bit curious, did you mean to say astronomer or does the US government have an astrologist advisor?

Reagan got advice from an astrologer:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Quigley

Re: Almost Everything in “Dr. Strangelove” Was Based on Fact

#27

Post by adrianhoward »

haukur wrote: post #25
acdha wrote: post #16

Both my wife and I somehow managed to avoid seeing Dr. Strangelove before this summer. While watching it, I was repeatedly struck by the same realization as in the article: for all the reputation as a wild farce, there was a rather disturbingly small gap between the film and history which has subsequently been publicly released – and Dr. Strangelove came out decades before we reached the point of having an astrologis…

> we reached the point of having an astrologist in the loop for international decisions. I'm a little bit curious, did you mean to say astronomer or does the US government have an astrologist advisor?

Meet Joan Quigley. White House astrologer to the Reagan White House. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Quigley

Re: Almost Everything in “Dr. Strangelove” Was Based on Fact

#28

Post by philwelch »

bane wrote: post #18
cstross wrote: post #8

Young folks today just don't believe how downright surreal (and scary) the cold war was to live through. Look, just read this wikipedia entry about the British Blue Peacock nuclear device, and boggle: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Peacock Yes. It's a chicken-heated atomic landmine. Not a joke: it was a Real Thing. And so was this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davy_Crockett_%28nuclear_device... The M-29 Davy Crock…

I grew up right at the tail-end of it, the 1984 Red Dawn was a perfectly reasonable scenario. Whenever I think the hysteria was completely insane I think back to my parents and grandparents and some of the truly bizarre notions that happened during their youth: duck and cover, public bomb shelter drills, etc. People actually paid significant parts of their yearly salary to build, stock and maintain nuclear bomb shelt…

That emergency food supply would feed a family of four for a year, that's not "multiple years" of emergency food if you actually have a family of four. If you have a family of six it won't even last one year.

Emergency food supplies are also useful for things like earthquakes and other natural disasters where you might have to stay put for awhile but you won't be able to make it to the grocery store either. You might need a week of food instead of a year, but if you don't have one and your neighbor does you'd probably be grateful if he shares.

Alternatively, you could just eat it and reduce your food expenses to less than $84 a month.

Re: Almost Everything in “Dr. Strangelove” Was Based on Fact

#29

Post by cpursley »

I toured Stalin's secret bunker this summer in Moscow where USSR'S top generals held up during the entire Cuban Missile Crisis. This bunker was the control center for the Soviet's nuclear arsenal at the time. According to the guide, the top leaders debated back and forth whether to preemptively strike the United States.

The entire thing was surreal - complete with a freighting nuclear attack simulation (America strikes first, of course) that included clips from Dr. Strangelove, genuine nuclear launch terminals and original bunker sirens going off. It was emotionally heavy realizing how close the end actually was.

If you're ever in Moscow, go take the Bunker42 tour: http://www.bunker42.com/index.php?lang=en

Re: Almost Everything in “Dr. Strangelove” Was Based on Fact

#30

Post by philwelch »

HillRat wrote: post #17
cstross wrote: post #8

Young folks today just don't believe how downright surreal (and scary) the cold war was to live through. Look, just read this wikipedia entry about the British Blue Peacock nuclear device, and boggle: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Peacock Yes. It's a chicken-heated atomic landmine. Not a joke: it was a Real Thing. And so was this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davy_Crockett_%28nuclear_device... The M-29 Davy Crock…

My father commanded a heavy weapons company on the Fulda Gap that included M-29s. Despite the fact that the Davy Crockett was very patently a suicide machine, the military did not explain to its soldiers that the warheads' radius of effect was larger than the gun's maximum range. However, since the gun operators were chosen from the most academically-accomplished of the enlisted ranks[1], they figured it out pretty f…

It seems a little troubling that the Turkish military was supposed to be the pivotal factor in World War III. Was there any particular reason for that, other than Turkey being right next to Russia and the Crimea? What if the Soviets went after Turkey first?
Post reply on HN