List of cultural references to Dr. Strangelove

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is a list of cultural references to the 1964 film Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.

Contents

  • The 1998 film Deep Impact discussed preparations for surviving a massive asteroid strike upon the Earth, and mineshafts are drafted into service for this reason, in an echo of the survival plan in Dr. Strangelove. Additionally, a lottery system is proposed for selection of candidates for survival, much like that proposed by Dr. Strangelove himself.
  • In the 1987 film, Raising Arizona, the initialisms "P.O.E." and "O.P.E." appear written on the back of a men's room door shortly after Gale and Evelle have escaped from prison.
  • The National Lampoon film Men In White features a character based on Dr. Strangelove called Dr. Strangemeister - wheelchair bound (when he wants to be), he conspires with aliens to abduct the Earth's population; and it is up to 2 garbagemen called Ed and Roy to stop this scheme.
  • Steve Buscemi's character Rockhound in Armageddon (1998) straddles a nuclear warhead much like the ending with Slim Pickens' character T. J. Kong does during the final scene, even saying in Armageddon "Like from that movie"
  • In the 1992 film Stay Tuned, Spike's (Jeffrey Jones' character) control center is modeled after the War Room. The homage comes complete with a Dr. Strangelove impersonator.
  • In Grosse Pointe Blank (1997) Martin, a hitman played by John Cusack is accused of being a psycho. His response, "Don't rush to judgment on something like that until all the facts are in." is an echo of Buck Turgidson's response to the same assertion made about General Ripper. "We-he-ell, uh, I'd like to hold off judgement on a thing like that, sir, until all the facts are in."
  • In The Mummy Returns, a log bridge falls into a ravine with several pygmies on it. One pygmie runs one way across the falling bridge to get off of it, and then runs back the other way. After realizing it can't escape, it straddles the log and waves its hand in the air like Major Kong atop the bomb.
  • The ending of the 2001 anime Metropolis seems to be a homage to the ending of Dr. Strangelove, depicting a montage of explosions with a similarly ironic soundtrack playing.

  • The popular television series The Simpsons contains several references to Dr. Strangelove. Here are only a few examples:
  • In the Italian version of Grey's Anatomy, Dr. Derek Sheppard is nicknamed Dottor Stranamore (Dr. Strangelove) (in the American version it's McDreamy)
  • On Mystery Science Theater 3000, Dr. Strangelove is one of many films regularly used as a source of "riffs" (as opposed to films that are only occasionally so used). A few examples:
  • During Cave Dwellers (Episode #301), when the character Thong seems to grow suspicious, Crow T. Robot (pretending to be Thong) declares, "I smell a rat, a big commie rat!" mimicking General Buck Turgidson. When the teacher in the short Cheating (from Episode #515) catches a student cheating, Tom Servo offers a similar imitation: "I smell a big commie rat!" Variations on the line are spoken during other episodes as well.
  • During Junior Rodeo Daredevils (From Episode #407), Crow mimicks part of Strangelove's post-apocalyptic plan (complete with spurious German accent): "Animals are to be bred und slaughtered!" This line also recurs during Operation Double 007 (Episode #508) and other episodes.
  • In a host segment during Mitchell (Episode #512), Gypsy, trying to figure out an escape plan, has a blackboard on which the the letter sequences "O.E.P.", "E.O.P.", and "P.O.E." appear, a reference to General Jack D. Ripper's three-letter recall code.
  • Near the end of Wild Wild World of Batwoman (Episode #515), following an explosion, Tom Servo sings a variation of Vera Lynn's "We'll Meet Again", which was played over Dr. Strangelove's closing sequence.
  • Strangelove's line "Mein Fuhrer, I can valk!" is used during The Atomic Brain (Episode #518), Village of the Giants (Episode #523), Danger: Diabolik (Episode #1013), and others.
  • When the titular dragon of The Sword and the Dragon appears, Servo imitates Strangelove, likening the dragon to the film's doomsday weapon: "The whole point of having a dragon iss to tell the vorld you have a dragon! Vhy did you keep it a zecret?!"
  • During Parts: The Clonus Horror (Episode #811), when a character played by Keenan Wynn approaches the runaway clone, Servo mimicks Wynn's Strangelove character, Colonel "Bat" Guano: "You one of them preverts?" (sic)
  • Early in The Horrors of Spider Island (Episode #1011), a curly-haired man with glasses is greeted by Servo as "Doctor Strangelove!"
  • The Saturday morning cartoon version of The Tick had a recurring character named "Doctor Strangepants." He was confined to a wheelchair, spoke with a pronounced German accent, and had a hair style very similar to Sellers in the movie. He was a science advisor for Mayor Blank, and was frequently seen in closed meetings with various civil leaders, advising them on how to deal with various threats to the city. Usually, these plans involve giant versions of regular objects.
  • Dr. Strangelove is quoted many times in the television show Angry Beavers.
  • In Animaniacs, the episode called Sir Yaksalot, Wakko takes out a War Room door and they look into the War Room. In the background, a cartoon-ized version of Dr. Strangelove sits, fighting down his right hand. (The entire "war room" sequence is itself a parody of the first Godzilla movie.)
  • In the Sealab 2021 episode "Red Dawn", Doctor Quinn rides a nuke he dropped on America, "The United States of Oppression," while screaming, "Nobody shucks my corn but me!"
  • In an episode of the animated series, Beast Wars, the Maximal Rattrap briefly rides a giant missile while exclaiming "yee-haw."
  • In the opening montage of Last Laugh '06 on Comedy Central, Lewis Black rides a missile and wears a cowboy hat in a reference to Major Kong

  • In the Terry Pratchett book Jingo, during an argument between various leaders of the Ankh-Morpork army one member pleads, "Gentlemen, no fighting please. This is, after all, a council of war."
  • The cover of the March 11, 2006 issue of The Economist depicts American president George W. Bush dressed in cowboy gear riding a nuclear bomb down to the earth while starring in a movie called "Dr. Strangedeal or: How I learned to stop worrying and love my friend's bomb". [1] The cover served to parody Bush's 2006 deal to look the other way as India develops nuclear weapons.
  • The The Ultimates Hardcover edition has a chapter titled: "How I learned to love the Hulk", an obvious reference to the title of Doctor Strangelove.

  • The scene of nuke-riding was presented in the intro of computer game Nuclear War, made by New World Computing in 1989. The person who is riding the bomb is apparently dressed in cowboy outfit and is waving a cowboy hat.

  • The video for Muse's Time Is Running Out features military men and women sitting in a war room planning the destruction of the world around a table identical to the one in Dr. Strangelove as the band sings in the centre of the table.
  • The band Local H has a song on their 1998 album "Pack Up the Cats" entitled "Hit The Skids Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying And Love The Rock", which is a parody, or perhaps tribute to the film.
  • The band Depeche Mode has a song called Strangelove, although aside from the title, ties to the movie are minimal, if any.
  • The video for Graham Coxon's Spectacular bears startling similarities to the poster for the film, especially with the giant formation of B-52s.[2]
  • The Hawkwind song "Damnation Alley" features the line "Thankyou Dr Strangelove, for going Doo Lally and leaving me the heritage of Damnation Alley"
  • Uruguayan surf-rock band, "The Supersónicos", recorded an album called "Dr. Strangesurf" in a clear reference to the movie.

  • In Dr. Strangelove, the CRM-114 is the nomenclature of the Strategic Air Command encryption/decryption device aboard the B-52 Stratofortress (and also a frequent in-joke used by Kubrick in his other films). This has been referenced:
    • In the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Business as Usual", the characters make reference to a powerful Breen weapon called the 'CRM-114'.
    • In Kubrick's film A Clockwork Orange the serum which is given to the main character during the so-called "Ludovico treatment" is called 'Serum 114'.
    • In the first scene of Back to the Future, Marty McFly switches an amplifier with the words 'CRM-114' printed on it.
    • The CRM114 Discriminator is the name of a data stream analyzer (SPAM filter), which achieves very high accuracy based on a "learning" algorithm.
    • In the 2005 film Fun with Dick and Jane a financial transaction form is referred to as a 'CRM-114'.

  • The film inspired the nickname "Dr. Strangeglove" for Boston Red Sox slugger Dick Stuart, a first baseman notorious for fielding his position poorly.

Advanced Search
Included Web Search Engines


Safe Search

close

Top Matching Results

Occasionally Search.com will highlight specialized results that are based on the context of your query. Examples of specialized results include specific links to news, images, or video.

Top Matching Results may highlight information from other Search.com pages, content from the CNET Network of sites, or third party content. The listings are based purely on relevance. Search.com does not receive payment for listings in this section but our partners that provide this data may get paid for listing these products.

Sponsored Links

This section contains paid listings which have been purchased by companies that want to have their sites appear for specific search terms and related content. These listings are administered, sorted and maintained by a third party and are not endorsed by Search.com.

Search Results

Search.com sends your search query to several search engines at one time and integrates the results into one list which has been sorted by relevance using Search.com's proprietary algorithm. You can customize the list of search engines included in your metasearch from the preferences.

The search engines that are used in your metasearch may allow companies to pay to have their Web sites included within the results. To view the Paid Inclusion policy for a specific search engine, please visit their Web site. Search.com does not accept payment or share revenue with any search engine partner for listings in this section.