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A slightly less cliche fact about James Earl Jones: his film debut was Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove, where he plays the bombardier on the B-52[1]. [1]: https://ww

A slightly less cliche fact about James Earl Jones: his film debut was Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove, where he plays the bombardier on the B-52[1]. [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSbPqin3L6E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSbPqin3L6E

excalibur 2y ago
Just watched that for the first time like a week ago. Totally surreal seeing him as a young unknown actor in a smaller role.
serf 2y ago
"Hey, what about Major Kong?" a great movie with absolutely wholly innocent characters unknowingly contributing their own parts to the apocalypse -- I think about that a lot conceptually. Even the motivations of Gen. Ripper are 'innocent' -- he just happens to have become a delusional psychotic.
wisty 2y ago
The famous B52 cockpit - From wikipedia: > Lacking cooperation from the Pentagon in the making of the film, the set designers reconstructed the aircraft cockpit to the best of their ability by comparing the cockpit of a B-29 Superfortress and a single photograph of the cockpit of a B-52 and relating this to the geometry of the B-52's fuselage. The B-52 was state-of-the-art in the 1960s, and its cockpit was off-limits to the film crew. When some United States Air Force personnel were invited to view the reconstructed B-52 cockpit, they said that "it was absolutely correct, even to the little black box which was the CRM."[17] It was so accurate that Kubrick was concerned about whether Adam's team had carried out all its research legally.[17] Also IIRC it was the inspiration for the Situation Room. The President asked why Kubric could get a big room with all the screens to deal with a crisis, and he didn't have one.
- _yb2s 2y ago
  “Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room!”
  - nmg 2y ago
    "He'll see everything! ... He'll see the big board!"
- myrmidon 2y ago
  Conditional support for movie production (by the US military) is highly unethical in my view (even though, pragmatically speaking, it is likely a "good" investment of tax dollars...).
- sparky_z 2y ago
  Source for that last fact? I was curious which president, so I looked it up and the creation of the Situation Room was ordered by JFK who was assassinated before the movie was even released.
  - wisty 2y ago
    You're right, Reagan did ask where the war room was though, thinking it was real.

excalibur 2y ago

Just watched that for the first time like a week ago. Totally surreal seeing him as a young unknown actor in a smaller role.

serf 2y ago

"Hey, what about Major Kong?" a great movie with absolutely wholly innocent characters unknowingly contributing their own parts to the apocalypse -- I think about that a lot conceptually. Even the motivations of Gen. Ripper are 'innocent' -- he just happens to have become a delusional psychotic.

wisty 2y ago

The famous B52 cockpit - From wikipedia: > Lacking cooperation from the Pentagon in the making of the film, the set designers reconstructed the aircraft cockpit to the best of their ability by comparing the cockpit of a B-29 Superfortress and a single photograph of the cockpit of a B-52 and relating this to the geometry of the B-52's fuselage. The B-52 was state-of-the-art in the 1960s, and its cockpit was off-limits to the film crew. When some United States Air Force personnel were invited to view the reconstructed B-52 cockpit, they said that "it was absolutely correct, even to the little black box which was the CRM."[17] It was so accurate that Kubrick was concerned about whether Adam's team had carried out all its research legally.[17] Also IIRC it was the inspiration for the Situation Room. The President asked why Kubric could get a big room with all the screens to deal with a crisis, and he didn't have one.

_yb2s 2y ago
“Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room!”
- nmg 2y ago
  "He'll see everything! ... He'll see the big board!"
myrmidon 2y ago
Conditional support for movie production (by the US military) is highly unethical in my view (even though, pragmatically speaking, it is likely a "good" investment of tax dollars...).
sparky_z 2y ago
Source for that last fact? I was curious which president, so I looked it up and the creation of the Situation Room was ordered by JFK who was assassinated before the movie was even released.
- wisty 2y ago
  You're right, Reagan did ask where the war room was though, thinking it was real.