# Cold War Movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 26, 2008, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-war-movies/450678 "2008-05-26T20:03:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2008, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-war-movies/450678/1 "2008-05-26T20:03:14Z")
In the vidstore where I work, I’ve instituted a series of monthly features. This month it’s Midnight Movies; recent features have been anything from Documentaries to Tough Broads. Next month we’re doing Cold War Movies. Rather than tax my lazy brain, I thought that this month I’d turn to youse folks to make up my list for me. I need about a hundred, ideally, to fill out the feature section. Have at it please. List any cold war movie you can think of, mainstream to obscure. (I’m leaving it intentionally vague because in these sections vague is OK; I included _Thelma and Louise_ and _Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid_ in the Love on the Lam feature.) ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2008, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-war-movies/450678/2 "2008-05-26T20:10:11Z")
May I suggest that, whatever else you put out there, [The Steel Helmet](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044072/) needs to be in the list? I’d also suggest [The Birds](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056869/), and [Them!](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047573/), too. On the lighter side, two Cary Grant vehicles that I enjoy: [Operation Petticoat](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053143/), and [Father Goose](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058092/). But the only movie I’ll try to insist you put on the list of those I’ve suggested is The Steel Helmet. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2008, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-war-movies/450678/3 "2008-05-26T20:10:49Z")
\*Ice Station Zebra \* is my favorite, but more action-y than you may want. _The Hunt for Red October._ John Wayne in _Jet Pilot_. Anything made from a John LeCarre novel (_The Spy Who_ …) James Bond in _From Russia With Love_ But most of all, try _The Russians are Coming, the Russians are Coming!_ ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2008, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-war-movies/450678/4 "2008-05-26T20:12:08Z")
Red Dawn The Day After On the Beach All the James Bond Movies with Russian bad guys Rocky II (or whatever the one is where he fights the Russian boxer) Hunt for the Red October The Manchurian Candidate ---
**Author:** ![Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d9b06d/32.png) [@Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boozahol_Squid_P.I)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2008, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-war-movies/450678/5 "2008-05-26T20:13:18Z")
Can I possibly be first in with [Strangelove?](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057012/) ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2008, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-war-movies/450678/6 "2008-05-26T20:15:11Z")
_Fail Safe._ It would make a good double feature with _Dr. Strangelove_. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2008, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-war-movies/450678/7 "2008-05-26T20:17:55Z")
_The Third Man_ Would you be able to get copies of the BBC _Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy_? _Threads_ - although the war isn’t particularly cold at this point, or similarly _When the wind blows?_ ---
**Author:** ![Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d9b06d/32.png) [@Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boozahol_Squid_P.I)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2008, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-war-movies/450678/8 "2008-05-26T20:19:16Z")
[QUOTE=Simplicio] Rocky II (or whatever the one is where he fights the Russian boxer) [/QUOTE] Rocky IV is where Ivan Drago ‘will bury you.’ Oh! And WarGames, too. Can’t leave that out. ---
**Author:** ![Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alive_At_Both_Ends)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2008, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-war-movies/450678/9 "2008-05-26T20:19:28Z")
[QUOTE=Simplicio] The Day After On the Beach [/QUOTE] Do these count as Cold War movies? Their premise is that the war has turned _hot_. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2008, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-war-movies/450678/10 "2008-05-26T20:21:16Z")
Don’t forget **The Good Shepherd** , an excellent movie set during the Cold War! Also, the other good ‘Good’ movie released around the same time, **The Good German** , is set right at the very beginning of the Cold War. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2008, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-war-movies/450678/11 "2008-05-26T20:23:52Z")
It’s a pseudo-documentary but _The War Game_ is scarily good. _The Ipcress File_ ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2008, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-war-movies/450678/12 "2008-05-26T20:24:45Z")
My Son John Letter to Brezhnev The Front ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2008, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-war-movies/450678/13 "2008-05-26T20:26:51Z")
[QUOTE=OtakuLoki] I’d also suggest [The Birds](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056869/), and [Them!](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047573/), too. [/quote] Huh? 😕 **The Birds** is only about the Cold War if you think the Soviets had feathers – it’s pointedly mysterious and does not refer to any political events. Same for **Them!** ; I know it’s glibly fashonable to call it a reaction to the atomic bomb (but _not_ the Cold War), but it’s really no different from any any other monster movie, before or since. > [@](#): > > On the lighter side, two Cary Grant vehicles that I enjoy: [Operation Petticoat](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053143/), and [Father Goose](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058092/). Both of which were set during WWII, not the Cold War. :rolleyes: Maybe they were produced during the Cold War, but you could include thousands of films in that category. A good choice i **[Thirteen Days](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0146309/)**, a tense retelling of the Cuban missile crisis. **Matinee** makes some explidit connections between horror and the Cuban missile crisis, though that’s only part of the film. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2008, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-war-movies/450678/14 "2008-05-26T20:31:13Z")
I think \*Night People \* is a good example of a Cold War film. Gregory Peck, set in 1950s Berlin. And _The Big Lift_ starring Montgomery Clift. Another Cold War view of Berlin, this time during the Berlin Airlift. No idea if either of these are out on DVD. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2008, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-war-movies/450678/15 "2008-05-26T20:32:00Z")
I’d be interested in the cold war parallels in _The Birds_, too, **OtakuLuki**. I get that it’s not a straightforward movie, but I always interpreted it as a movie about Freudian sexual repression. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2008, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-war-movies/450678/16 "2008-05-26T20:52:46Z")
Awesome suggestions, keep them coming. ---
**Author:** ![jimmmy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@jimmmy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimmmy)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2008, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-war-movies/450678/17 "2008-05-26T21:05:05Z")
Not mentioned on this great list yet [Moscow on the Hudson](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087747/) [Seven Days in May](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058576/) [Confessions of a Dangerous Mind](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0270288/) ---
**Author:** ![ming\_the\_merciless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/58956e/32.png) [@ming\_the\_merciless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ming_the_merciless)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2008, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-war-movies/450678/18 "2008-05-26T21:07:04Z")
Gorky park ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2008, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-war-movies/450678/19 "2008-05-26T21:08:06Z")
I’m thinking of doing a little subsection on Nuclear Holocaust/Day After movies. Suggest some of those too! ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2008, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-war-movies/450678/20 "2008-05-26T21:09:14Z")
Michael Caine, [Funeral in Berlin.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060437/) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-war-movies/450678.md?page=2)