The Life and Death of Peter Sellers

Another big media event on tonight (one I hope to get to see eventually) is the (Time-Warner-owned) HBO premiere of "The Life and Death of Peter Sellers". This biopic, co-produced by HBO Films and BBC Films, looks like a good 'un. It's got Geoffrey Rush playing the brilliant Sellers. As a kid I loved Sellers' "Pink Panther" films, and I even recall getting a kick out of his Goon Show sketches (with Spike Milligan, Michael Bentine, and Harry Secombe), which were already well old by the time I was growing up, but which were tremendously influential to British comedy. But I suppose my favorite Sellers outing has to be Stanley Kubrick's "Dr. Strangelove". Back in August I had the privilege of introducing a screening of "Dr. Strangelove" at Rochester's Dryden Theatre, part of the George Eastman House. Here's what I had to say about Sellers' performance(s).

Practically from the start, Sellers was a shoo-in for "Strangelove."  Columbia Pictures, who had financed "Lolita" and was now bankrolling Kubrick's new project, was pressing for Sellers to play a major role.  Thankfully Kubrick, notorious for his desire to control every aspect of his films, concurred ­ to the extent that he found not just one role for Sellers, nor two roles, as Sellers had played in "Lolita," but three: President Merkin Muffley, the nasally Leader of the Free World; Group Captain Lionel Mandrake, a Royal Air Force officer on secondment to US Strategic Air Command (Motto: "Peace is Our Profession."); and of course, the not-quite-so-former Nazi scientific advisor to the President, Dr. Strangelove.

Certainly the rest of the cast also performs excellently , and this is one of those films where everyone is on top form. George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, and Keenan Wynn, all play their senior officer roles to perfection.  Slim Pickens, as the B-52 bomber pilot, is unforgettable - his final scene is perhaps the signature for the film.  And look out for a young James Earl Jones as a B-52 crew member.  But ultimately, of course, when it comes to the acting, it's Sellers' film.

There are so many choice moments in this film, so many absolutely wonderful lines.  If this film is a favorite of yours, I won't bore you with repeating them; and if you're seeing it for the first time, I won't spoil them.   But I think I can tell you that my favorite bit is the confrontation between the Peter Sellers's Group Captain Mandrake - ever the rational, stiff upper lip RAF officer ­ and Brigadier Gen. Jack D. Ripper, the American base commander, who's lost his mind - this is where the "precious bodily fluids" line crops up, you might have heard of even if you haven't seen the film.