From: Amara Graps (amara@amara.com)
Date: Wed Mar 12 2003 - 07:01:28 MST
MMB:
>Frankly, I don't think General Buck Turgidson would let a little lack of
>tail stop him from doing his duty. Kubrick had it righter than Arstophanes,
>for my money.
[...]
>PS: Clue for those in need: General Buck Turgidson was the SAC-War Room
>officer played to the hilt by George C. Scott in _Doctor Strangelove, or
>How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb_; I suppose that's harder
>to get performance rights for than anything Arstophanes wrote. Hmm. I
>wonder...
I adore this movie...! It might have a universal appeal that
cuts across cultural boundaries too. Once I encouraged this
movie to be chosen for a movie party of a group of friends from
Max Planck- no one else had seen the movie, and as we watched
the film, they laughed as hard as I was laughing (and I've seen
it six or more times by now). I think the nationalities that day
were Norwegian, German, Australian, Greek, Italian, American (me).
Did you know that Kubrick filmed a full scene of a War Room pie fight,
that was later cut from the final movie? I wish it would have made
it in. Here are some cut views of the pie fight scene. Great stuff.
... General Turgidson emerges completely creamed out, and
Dr. Merkwurdigichliebe, aka Dr. Strangelove, emerges cream-free.
http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Underground/9798/piefight.htm
"Meanwhile, parallel to the pie-fight sequence, another sequence is
occurring. At about the time that the first pie is thrown, Dr.
Strangelove raises himself from his wheelchair. Then, looking rather
wild-eyed, he shouts, "Mein Fuhrer, I can valk!" He takes a
triumphant step forward and pitches flat on his face. He immediately
tries to regain the wheelchair, snaking his way across the floor,
which is so highly polished and slippery that the wheelchair scoots
out of reach as soon as Strangelove touches it. We intercut between
the pie fight and Strangelove's snakelike movements -- reach and
scoot, reach and scoot -- which suggest a curious, macabre pas de
deux. When the chair finally reaches the wall, it shoots sideways
across the floor and comes to a stop ten feet away, hopelessly out
of reach. Strangelove, exhausted and dejected, pulls himself up so
that he is sitting on the floor, his back against the wall at the
far end of the War Room. He stares for a moment at the surreal
activity occurring there, the pie fight appearing like a distant,
blurry, white blizzard. The camera moves in on Strangelove as he
gazes, expressionless now, at the distant fray. Then, unobserved by
him, his right hand slowly rises, moves to the inner pocket of his
jacket and, with considerable stealth, withdraws a German Luger
pistol and moves the barrel toward his right temple. The hand
holding the pistol is seized at the last minute by the free hand and
both grapple for its control. The hand grasping the wrist prevails
and is able to deflect the pistol's aim so that when it goes off
with a tremendous roar, it misses the temple. The explosion
reverberates with such volume that the pie fight freezes. A tableau,
of white and ghostly aspect: Strangelove stares for a moment before
realizing that he has gained the upper hand. "Gentlemen," he calls
out to them. "Enough of these childish games. Vee hab vork to do.
Azzemble here pleeze!" For a moment, no one moves. Then a solitary
figure breaks rank: It is General Turgidson, who walks across the
room to the wheelchair and pushes it over to the stricken
Strangelove. "May I help you into your chair, Doctor?" he asks. He
begins wheeling Strangelove across the War Room floor, which is now
about half a foot deep in custard pie. They move slowly until they
reach the president and the Russian ambassador who are sitting
crosslegged, facing each other, building a sandcastle. "What in Sam
Hill --" mutters General Turgidson. "Ach," says Strangelove. "I
think their minds have snapped under the strain. Perhaps they will
have to be institutionalized."
As they near the pie-covered formation of generals and admirals,
General Turgidson announces gravely: "Well, boys, it looks like the
future of this great land of ours is going to be in the hands of
people like Dr. Strangelove here. So let's hear three for the good
doctor!" And as he pushes off again, the eerie formation raise their
voices in a thin, apparition-like lamentation: "Hip, hip, hooray,
hip, hip, hooray!" followed by Vera Lynn's rendition of "We'll Meet
Again." The camera is up and back in a dramatic long shot as General
Turgidson moves across the War Room floor in a metaphorical visual
marriage of Mad Scientist and United States Military. The End. "
-- ******************************************************************** Amara Graps, PhD email: amara@amara.com Computational Physics vita: ftp://ftp.amara.com/pub/resume.txt Multiplex Answers URL: http://www.amara.com/ ******************************************************************** "Gentlemen- We must not allow a Mine Shaft Gap!" -- General Turgidson in Doctor Strangelove
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