I don’t recall but (based on the Wikipedia overview) there are explicit mentions of the Soviet Union as the target/opponent in the strategical calculations that the computer is analyzing. They didn’t create a fake “Rastafarian Commie Communal Union (RCCU)” for the movie, or anything, unlike (for example) the old Mission: Impossible TV series.
Propaganda, yes. Mission to Moscow was made at the behest of FDR after Russia became our ally against the Nazis. I saw it once and found it fascinating. As I have limited tolerance for Robert Taylor, I have not seen Song of Russia, either. Nor was I able to make it through Days of Glory (1944), made in a similar vein.
Apologies for going off-topic here, but I have seen Soak the Rich (1936). Apart from a hilarious 10-minute performance by gravel-voiced Lionel Stander as a Stalin-hating anarchist who kidnaps the heroine, it’s virtually unwatchable, but it does feature a romantic lead who is a red.
Fascinating as an example of propaganda, yes. Laughable in any other respect, regardless of Roosevelt’s involvement.
Comrade X (1940) with Clark Gable and Hedy Lamarr is a fun little romp too.
Does Star Trek count? It’s not set during the Cold War, but it was made during it, and they made Chekov one of the bridge crew.
The OP mention Fail Safe, the few Soviets in the movie are not portrayed any more negatively than the Americans; mostly, everyone is portrayed as people caught in an unforgiving system.
My interpretation of the OP’s post is he’s referring to the Cold War era from the late 50’s to the early 70’s, especially given the movies mentioned. Opinions will differ, but IMHO, I see the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) and the end of the Vietnam Conflict as the beginning of the end of classic Cold War era.
I don’t know if this counts since it’s East Germany, but The Wicked Dreams of Paula Schultz was made in 1968 with some of the Hogan’s Heroes cast reprising their characters with different names.
Not American-made but definitely very popular in America. The James Bond film “The Spy Who Loved Me” features the Soviet version of MI6 shown in a highly sympathetic light and portrays both the British and Russian spies on equal footing, distrusting of each other but also highly competent and willing to work together. The ending has the Russians, Americans, and British working together to avert WW3. In addition, the later James Bond film “Octopussy” also shows the Soviets in a positive light, as when a rogue Soviet general attempts to start a war between the the two superpowers Russian secret service again help foil him along with James Bond and the Russians even award James Bond with a medal for his efforts in saving the Soviet Union from disaster.
Good examples, but I’d say the Bond films were Americanized long before Roger Moore’s heyday. Salisbury and Broccoli may have been British, but they were funded by United Artists in New York and Los Angeles, and it showed.
The G. I. Joe cartoons also sometimes showed American and Soviet special forces teaming up against COBRA terrorists. But I don’t know if that made it into any of the movies.
Jet Pilot and The Iron Petticoat may count, if you liked Janet Leigh and Katherine Hepburn as Soviet fighter pilots. Both are really remakes of Ninotchka, but with airplanes, so they’re good. Even though they both had horrible Russian accents.
And there was another one with the crews of Soviet, American (?), and British submarines uniting.
Ice Station Zebra? That’s a stretch.
No, not that - it was a Bond movie. The one with an underwater base, perhaps?
The Fourth War came out in 1990 so it was the tail end of the Cold War but I recall that it was somewhat sympathetic to the Russian soldiers in the film. Essentially, an American colonel and his Soviet counterpart start a personal feud – Roy Scheider is the American officer and he spends much of the movie sneaking across the border into Soviet territory to engage in acts of sabotage. Those two were the movie’s antagonists while the other soldiers on both sides seemed reluctant to engage in hostilities.
The Spy Who Loved Me.
2010: Odyssey Two from 1984 assumed that the Cold War was still going on, but the Russians were shown very sympathetically.
One, Two, Three from 1961 (starring Jimmy Cagney) was a comedy, but the Russians were shown somewhat sympathetically. I haven’t seen it since 1962, but the Wili summary seems to support my recollection.
If they were trigger-happy, they would have launched a counter-strike. I could argue that it was incompetent (but fortunate) of the general to not launch - although the single missile wasn’t going to knock out second strike capability, so it wasn’t an unreasonable risk for him to take.