(Flash Fiction piece prompted by Carrot Ranch. Theme: The Edge, for this theme I wrote a piece that’s about the original title of a classic dark comedy from 1964, the title of which is revealed at the end. Link below.)
https://carrotranch.com/2018/01/25/january-25-flash-fiction-challenge/
Terry looked over the screenplay he was co-writing and hoped that the alteration he made would be acceptable. He went to the director.
“There’s something about the script I think should change,” Terry said.
“Which part?”
“The title.”
“The title? What’s wrong with Edge of Doom?”
“Well, it’s a bit clichéd.”
“But it matches the theme perfectly!” the director asserted.
“True, but I was thinking of something a little more imaginative.” Terry handed over the rewritten script.
The director looked at the title page. “Seriously?” he laughed. “Who’s going to want to watch a movie called Dr. Strangelove“?
Robert Kirkendall 
I can feel for the director — titles are hard to write! The best scene was Slim Pickens riding the missile. Creative take on the prompt, Robert!
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Thank you, Charli! Took me a while to figure out what to do with the theme, but then I remembered the original title of Dr. Strangelove (one of my favorites!). I almost wrote about U2's guitarist. 😀
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Hang on to that U2’s guitarist idea as I’d like to read that one, too!
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You got it! 👍
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I liked this Robert, good they changed the title…
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Thank you, Michael! Strangelove was originally going to be a thriller, but the more Kubrick worked on the script, the funnier it became. And once Terry Southern was brought on to cowrite, it crossed over into absurdist black comedy. One of my favorites.
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Pretty funny, but I actually never watched that movie exactly for that reason. I could not get past the title…
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The title is an odd juxtaposition of thee different things.
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Yes, I remember reading it somewhere…
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Yee-haw!
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“Shoot, a fella could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff.”
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😀 “Mein Führer! I can walk!”
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Just saw it again recently. Amazing how many little details you only notice after repeated viewings.
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Clearly, I need to again as well. This time around, we’ll be able to expose our children. Wonder what they’ll think?
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Hopefully they’ll appreciate the brilliance of Peter Sellers, the genius film making of Stanley Kubrick, and the power of laughter even in the grimmest of scenarios.
Now I want children so I can share with them my favorite movies.
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