Dang! Part 1: Dr. Strangelove



WHAT A WAY TO GO! RIDE 'EM SLIM! RIDE 'EM!
Credit: Hawk Films, Columbia Pictures

                                        
                                         Dang! Part 1: Dr. Strangelove

                                                            by

                                                               Jay Agan

      It's a Friday evening in the late 60s, I get in the celler & flip through our whopping 3 (count em!) channels on our older second set when I stumble on something on ch 10 (WBNS). I see this B52 bomber backed up by somber music winging its way over & through fields of icebergs & stop to watch.

      Seems the bomb bay doors won't swing open & this "cowboy" goes down, sits on the nose of an "A-bomb" & starts fiddling with some faulty, sparking "electronics" in the "ceiling".

      Some tense moments in the cockpit as target is sighted then back to the "cowboy". He must have got the doors working because they swing open & OUT with the bomb he goes. I couldn't believe what I was seeing! He's still straddling the bomb, holding on with one hand, waving his hat with the other & yahooing like he's riding a bucking bronc. ALL THE WAY DOWN! Then Ka-stinking-BOOM! Break to commercial. What the ..... ?



Got this one from Motifake.com. Check em out!


      I go upstairs for something to drink. I must have had this spooked look on my face as Dad asks, "what's wrong?"

      "I just saw a cowboy ride an atom bomb to the ground!"

      "You're watching Dr. Strangelove."

      It was strange all right! I hadn't seen anything that wierd since I'd seen Goldfinger get sucked out of the plane.

      I go back & finish the show in all seriousness (I was too young to appreciate satire.) & sat through the armageddon planning. That surreal ending montage with Vera Lynn & co. singing We'll Meet Again accompanied by mushroom cloud footage spooked me a bit as well.

      Though the "red scare" was long over by then, the "cold war" was in full swing. At that moment, young as I was, I didn't find those scenes at all funny. Years later (Now having the film in my collection.) I now appreciate the films' wit & humor. But then .....

      Those scenes will always haunt me. At least now, for the laughs.

                                         Article copyright © 4-12-2011 Jay Agan

Major Kong rides the bomb. You Tube link here.

Dr. Strangelove trailer. You Tube link here.

Dr. Strangelove ending scene. You Tube link here.

Previous Strangelove article here.

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