Dr Strangelove

Coming as it did slap bang in the middle of the cold war and in the aftermath of JFK's assassination, Dr Strangelove would be remarkable simply for it's satirisation of the mania that was engrossing the world's politicians, but it's also a great film.

The story of a mad General who sends his bombers to destroy the USSR. Peter Sellers plays three roles, each of them the only people who can stop the bombing happening and prevent the Russians launching a doomsday device, which will kill all life on the planet.

Sellers appears as Group Captain Lionel Mandrake, the only person with access to the mad General, President Merkin Muffley, whose only hope is to calm down the Russian Premier and as the eponymous former Nazi, DR Strangelove. Strangelove seems to be the only one who recognises Mutually Assured Destruction to be a flawed peacemaker.

Incredibly, the US Air Force were supposed to assist with the film - until they read the script and realised that it wasn't quite as pro-bomb as they might have hoped!