Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb

At the height of the Cold War, US Air Force Brigadier General Jack D. Ripper orders his executive officer, RAF Group Captain Lionel Mandrake to lock down their base and issue their bombers - already in the air as part of a standard, proactive defensive patrol - with instructions to unleash their nuclear payloads on Russia. However, Mandrake quickly deduces that, contrary to appearances, neither America nor her allies are under attack: Ripper has has become deranged, believing the Soviet Union is actively polluting Americans' "precious bodily fluids".

It is only just after 3 am in Washington DC when news of Ripper's actions arrives. President Merkin Muffley convenes a meeting of his top advisors and military staff in the Pentagon in an attempt to take control of the situation. A mild-mannered man, Muffley is keen to explore all options towards stopping the attack, but time is fast running out and options are limited: some of the chiefs of staff, notably General Turgidson, see it as the perfect chance to take the first strike against the Soviets and bring the war to a head. Instead, the President summons Soviet ambassador Alexei de Sadesky in order to contact his own premier, reasoning that they will need to alert the Russian military to the incoming bombers' presence and targets, so they can be destroyed before dropping their bombs.

Events take a further sombre turn when de Sadesky informs the Americans that the USSR has recently deployed an entirely automated 'doomsday machine', which cannot be switched off or countermanded, that will deploy its own nuclear payloads with sufficient power to exterminate all human and animal life on Earth for almost 100 years in the event of an attack on his country.

It seems that the only remaining hope is that Mandrake can convince Ripper to share with him the top secret order-countermanding code that only he knows - and the clock is ticking ever faster.