| Title | Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb |
| Studio | Columbia Pictures |
| Date Released | January 29, 1964 |
| Director | Stanley Kubrick |
| Actors | Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Slim Pickens |
| B-17 Film Guys | Unknown; presumably IGN flight crew |
| B-17 Filming Locations | B-17 filming over Greenland and/or Iceland |
B-17s Utilized
B-17G 44-85643 (F-BEEA)
The Movie...
This was a landmark film when released in 1964; it was a commentary on the Cold War times and took a not-sympathetic look at the modern military and political institutions that held the fate of the world, literally, in their hands.
For those uninitiated, it tells the story of a SAC base commander gone nutty who somehow manages to launch his group of B-52s on a mission to bomb the Soviet Union. There is much interplay between the U.S. president and his Soviet counterpart, seen from the war room ("No fighting in the war room!"), scenes of a lone surviving B-52 crew trying to desperately fulfill its duty, and the going-ons at the SAC base as the U.S. Army tries to regain control of the base. The movie does not have a happy ending. The title character is an ex-Nazi nut job advising the U.S. political and military leaders in the war room. Three of the main characters (U.S. president, Dr. Strangelove, and an RAF officer on loan to SAC) are played by actor Peter Sellers, then in his prime.
For the B-17 interested among us, no B-17s appear directly in the film. It is the only time (as far as this documenter can determine, anyways) that a B-17 was used solely as a cameraship for a film and does not appear in the resulting movie. For the scenes of the B-52 pressing home its low-level attack, a B-17 was used to film low level runs across what is believed to be Greenland. Later, a B-52 is superimposed on the shots for use in the completed film.
A French IGN B-17, F-BEEA (44-85643) was pressed into service. A short film included in one version of the Dr. Strangelove DVD shows scenes of the film makers putting F-BEEA to use, with the name of the film painted over the main entrance door on the aft fuselage.
The B-17 actually does makes an appearance in the film, but only as a shadow that appears in several of the B-52 shots. It's a mystery as to why the film makers left such an obvious disparity in the film; if you watch for it, the B-17 shadow can be a bit unnerving as it so does not match the B-52 flying above it. Perhaps it was done on purpose.
Wanted: specifics on the date and location of said filming, and/or the pilots and crew who flew the B-17 that shot the film. I have not seen the DVD short film so if anyone has and has more information about this, please let me know.
Anecdotal
- The late author Martin Caidin reports in his book Everything But the Flak and later Flying Forts that B-17G 44-83563 (N9563Z) was used to do the filming. And, around the time the film was made, this aircraft was owned by Columbia Pictures, the company that made Dr. Strangelove. It had been in the UK for the filming of The War Lover in the fall of 1961 but was back in the U.S. by early 1962. There is no question that F-BEEA was used for the filming of Dr. Strangelove based on the short film included in some DVD versions of the film. Other 'inaccuracies' pepper Caidin's books so a word to the wise.
Buy this Movie!
Links
Acknowledgements
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This screen capture shows one of the several scenes that shows the B-52 (model, anyways) pressing home its attack on the Soviet Union. The obvious shadow of B-17G F-BEEA is right there.
Another appearance of the B-17 cameraship in the film.
We could not not include a sceen capture of actor Slim Pickens as B-52 commander Maj. 'King' Kong.
Another screen capture showing a view of the B-52 tail on. It is apparent that the low altitude film was shot out of both sides of the B-17 (waist gun windows, probably) as well as through the nose glass.