Then of course, all the phallic and psychosexual references in the film, beginning with the opening "erotic" airborne refueling of a B-52, with "Try a Little Tenderness" playing in the background, probably add to why guys love Strangelove and women are turned off by it. (Insert obvious Tim Allen "cars are just an extension of your penis" routine here)

And then there's the nuclear explosion as the ultimate orgasm reference. Of course, one reason why my wife doesn't like Strangelove, is that it reminds her of the ultimate fear of nuclear war hanging over our heads, and the bad old days of the Cold War: "duck and cover" drills, air raid shelters, civil defense nightmares, and of course, the destruction of the planet. From my point of view, this is the awesome power of Strangelove: it allows us to see those fears, confront them, laugh at them, and therefore ease them. But I think for many people (and I suspect a big chunk of women), those fears are impossible to overcome--or merely dredging them to the surface is so painful, it's not worth it. Better to keep them locked up in the subconscious than expose them to the light of day.

Without opening up a feminist can of worms, I think it's reasonable to say that historically, men have had to wrestle with more demons--or at a minimum, very different demons--growing up than women--fear of failure, fear of losing one's manhood, fear of death or dismemberment on the battlefield or on the job (which is frequently used as a Freudian symbol of castration in the movies--Barry Lyndon losing his leg, Luke Skywalker losing a hand, etc.--there's those phallic references again!), fear of getting loved ones or family killed as a result of error or incompetence, etc., etc., These are ancient, primal fears, that have been with men since The Dawn of Man (oh wait, that's from a different Stanley Kubrick movie--never mind). And overcoming those fears, or at least controlling them, is essential to functioning as a man. And Dr. Strangelove is all about all of those fears--and more.

All of which are my take, off the top of my head, as to a few of the reasons why Dr. Strangelove is one of the great guy films of all time.