28 Dr. Strangelove Trivia Questions & Answers

Answer: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

The subtitle appears in the opening credits of the movie. Before I first saw the movie, I saw the preview which included several readings of the subtitle with an emphasis on the phrase "Love the Bomb". Does the movie make the case for loving the bomb? You be the judge.

Answer: Peter George

A former officer in the Royal Air Force, George was concerned that the United States and the Soviet Union would face each other down in nuclear conflict. Along with American satirist Terry Southern, he based the black-comedy screenplay on his deadly serious novel.

Answer: 3

Originally Peter Sellers was cast in 4 roles, but only played 3 (Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake, President Merkin Muffley, Dr. Strangelove) when he faced problems in trying to develop a Texas accent for Major T. J. 'King' Kong.

Answer: Peter Sellers

In addition to the title character, Peter Sellers played Group Captain Lionel Mandrake and President Muffley. This wasn't the first time he played three roles in a movie. Five years earlier he played three roles in "The Mouse That Roared", another classic but unusual movie.

James Earl Jones' role as the bombardier was his first credited role in a motion picture.

Answer: Columbia Pictures

Though Columbia has its name all over "Dr. Strangelove", the movie was acutally filmed at Shepperton Studios outside London, England. The late Peter Sellers was going through a divorce at the time of shooting and was unable to leave the country.

Answer: War Room

This quote is from President Merkin Muffley directed towards General 'Buck' Turgidson, and Ambassador de Sadesky.

Answer: George C. Scott

Scott's role as General Buck Turgidson may have been his first military role but certainly not his last, as he is best known for his role as the title character in the movie "Patton". In the war room in "Dr. Strangelove", he is in favor of a full scale attack on the Russians before they can strike back.

Answer: Stanley Kubrick

All the directors here left their mark on the motion picture industry. "Dr. Stranglove" happened to be one of the many gems left by the late Stanley Kubrick, whose own fear of nuclear war led him to work on this movie.

Answer: Two Hours to Doom

Based on Peter George's 'Two Hours to Doom', also known as 'Red Alert', and originally conceived as a tense thriller about the possibility of accidental war. But, Stanley Kubrick while working on the script realized that many scenes he had written were actually quite funny.

Answer: Jack D. Ripper

Sterling Hayden, who later went on to play Captain McCluskey in "The Godfather", plays General Ripper who decides on his on accord to send the planes at his command on an atomic bomb mission to targets inside Russia. He has the authority to counterattack in cases where the country's leaders in Washington have been incapacitated by a sneak attack, but he aims for a pre-emptive first strike. Unfortunately, he is also the only one who knows the code to recall the attack. As General Turgidson states in the first war room scene, "It's beginning to look like General Ripper has exceeded his authority."

Answer: Midair refueling

Establishing a sexual overtone to the movie, the opening sequence shows the refueling boom of a Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker making contact with a Boeing B-52 Stratofortress. The two aircraft stay mated until the end of the opening credits.

Answer: Dallas

Originally referred to Dallas instead of Las Vegas, but was overdubbed after President Kennedy's assassination in Dallas.

Answer: When Johnny Comes Marching Home

"When Johnny Comes Marching Home" is used it stir patriotism during the scenes where the B-52 is involved in the attack. It can also be thought of as the longing for home the airmen must be feeling during this time.

Answer: Burpleson Air Force Base

During the scenes in which base commander General Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden) and Group Captain Lionel Mandrake (Sellers) fight off army troops, a large aerial photo of what is supposed to be the air base is shown on the wall. That photo is actually of Heathrow Airport in London.

Barksdale (Boosier City, LA), Beale (Yuba County, CA) and Brooks (San Antoino, TX) are all real US Air Force bases.

Answer: Fall

When George C. Scott fell over in the War Room, it wasn't in the script, but Stanley Kubrick decided it was in character, and left it in.

Answer: Peter Sellers

Had Peter Sellers not suffered a broken leg during filming, he would have wound up playing four roles in "Dr. Strangelove". As it was, though, he relinquished the role to Slim Pickens. Kubrick remembered Pickens from his work in another movie and brought him onboard to play Kong.

Answer: Merkwurdigliebe

When Strangelove is talking about the doomsday device, Turgidson says, 'Strangelove. What is that, German?' The reply he receives is 'He changed his {name;} it was originally Merkwurdigliebe' -- which means Strangelove in German.

Answer: Doomsday Machine

The Doomsday Machine was supposed to deter a nuclear attack by creating a completely hopeless situation for the attacker. Unfortunately, while the device has already been activated, it has not yet been publicized which takes away its effectiveness as a deterrent. (It was going to be announced to the world the following Monday.) It can't be turned off which means that if the nuclear strike works, the population of Earth will be wiped out.

Answer: A flare gun

One of the most interesting edits in motion picture history, and one you have to be on your toes to catch, happens when Major Kong (Pickens) finishes reading off the list of items in the survival kit. His original line was, "A fella could have a pretty good weekend in Dallas with all that stuff." Because "Dr. Strangelove" was completed just after the Kennedy assassination, the word "Vegas" was dubbed in for "Dallas".

Answer: doomsday

Although wrong, slurpee machine would have been funnier. Maybe. This wish is expressed by Gen. 'Buck' Turgidson after the President and the Russian Ambassador have been discussing why the Russians developed their own doomsday machine.

Answer: The Coca-Cola Company

Mandrake needs to talk to the president in order to tell him the recall code which he believes he knows. The only working phone they can find is a pay phone but Mandrake doesn't have enough change to make the call. When he spots a nearby Coca-Cola vending machine and tells the colonel to shoot off the lock, the colonel warns him that the machine is private property and that if he doesn't get the president on the phone he'll have to answer to the Coca-Cola company.

Answer: custard pie

The custard pie scene was shot but Kubrick changed his mind on it because it was too farcical to fit in with the satirical nature of the rest of the film. Another reason for the cut might have been when President Muffley took a pie in the face and fell down, prompting Gen. Turgidson to cry, 'Gentlemen! Our gallant young president has just been struck down in his prime!' Written before J.F.K's assassination this line showed eerie similiarity to it, and the scene would have been cut anyway, or at least this line in particular.

Answer: OPE

OPE is an anagram of the first letters of "Purity of Essence", three words that General Ripper used in the communist conspiracy theories he proposes to Mandrake. They are also an anagram of the initials of "Peace on Earth" which Ripper doesn't actually say in the film but which Mandrake writes down while trying to figure out the code. By limiting the code to three letters, that means that there are only six codes to try rather than over 17,000 combinations of all 26 letters.

Answer: A missile complex

In one of the most famous scenes in motion picture history, Major Kong finds himself free-falling atop a multi-megaton hydrogen bomb destined to destroy a Soviet ICBM base. The crew, low on fuel and in desperate need of ditching, choose the first available target of opportunity to destroy. This act prompts the Soviet ambassador (Peter Bull) to set off the powerful Doomsday Device.

Answer: Terry Southern

Often the forgotten writer of 'Dr. Strangelove', Terry Southern is the person who gave us General Ripper's fixation with bodily fluids and Colonel 'Bat' Guano's certainty that Mandrake was a pervert of some sort.