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You probably know the scene in Stanley Kubrick’s “Dr. Strangelove”: Slim Pickens, playing the pilot of the B-52 that has been ordered to attack Russia by his bonkers commander, General Ripper, is reviewing the contents of the crew’s survival kit. It contains among other essential items $100 in gold, nylon stockings and “one issue of prophylactics.” At the end of the list he remarks, “Shoot, a fella could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff.”

If you look closely at Pickens’s lips, they seem to be framing something other than the word “Vegas.” Indeed they are: “Dallas.” The first critics’ screening of the new film had been scheduled for Nov. 22, 1963. Unfortunate timing, as it turned out. Kubrick re-dubbed the line, substituting the name of another city where gold, nylon stockings and prophylactics always come in handy. It is said that the original city remains intact in the French-subtitled version. Figurez-vous.

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– http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/03/opinion/sunday/a-bad-day-to-die.html?ref=todayspaper