Dr Strangelove premiered 40 years ago today, on January 29, 1964.
Besides being the greatest movie ever made, the timing and immediate circumstances of the release of Strangelove involved some weird Robert Anton Wilson Illuminatus synchronicities or conspiracies or something.
Anyway, the movie was originally supposed to have come out in December of 1963, but got bumped forward after the unpleasantness in Dallas. Indeed, they had scheduled a press preview of the movie on November 22, 1963. They had to cancel that.
Holy crap, but that's funny to me- forty years later. At the time, however, I can understand how that might have freaked people out, considering how big a freak out the country was already in right at the time. Hell, it was only a year after the Cuban missle crisis.
Famously, they also had to change a speech of Slim Pickens in the movie, the famous "survival kit contents check." Besides obvious survival supplies, their kits included nylons and prophylactics, among other luxury items. As Slim Pickens, a Texas cowboy, originally said, "Shoot, a fellow could have a pretty good weekend in Dallas with all that stuff." The released movie ended up saying "Vegas," but if you watch carefully you can see where his mouth is actually saying Dallas.
Dang, but I just can't get enough of this stuff. Even the minutiae of Strangelove is hilarious.
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