U.S. Air Force Colonel Jack Ripper goes completely and utterly mad, and sends his bomber wing to destroy the U.S.S.R. He suspects that the communists are conspiring to pollute the "precious bodily fluids" of the American people. The U.S. president meets with his advisors, where the Soviet ambassador tells him that if the U.S.S.R. is hit by nuclear weapons, it will trigger a "Doomsday Machine" which will destroy all plant and animal life on Earth. Peter Sellers portrays the three men who might avert this tragedy: British Group Captain Lionel Mandrake, the only person with access to the demented Gen. Ripper; U.S. President Merkin Muffley, whose best attempts to divert disaster depend on placating a drunken Soviet Permier and the former Nazi genius Dr. Strangelove, who concludes that "such a device would not be a practical deterrent for reasons which at this moment must be all too obvious". I did enjoy the directing of this film, but I think what ruined it for me was that I didn't "get" the ending. SPOILERS I understood everything up to where the pilot is dropped with the bomb. The last shot in the war room through me off with Dr. Stranglove, the Soviet Ambassater, the President, etc. END OF SPOILERS My favorite character was probably Gen. 'Buck' Turgidson portrayed by George C. Scott
