Ever since the advent of the A-bomb, the threat of nuclear confrontation has remained a terrifying reality. And for just as long, that fear has been a potent point of fear and paranoia to build a movie around.
With the upcoming release ofChristopher Nolan’s highly-anticipated dramaOppenheimer, starring Cillian Murphy as the father of the atomic bomb, it feels appropriate to look back and revisit some films that deal with a parallel theme. Here are fifteen movies about the threat of nuclear war.
Related:How Christopher Nolan Recreated Oppenheimer’s Nuclear Bomb Explosion Without CGI
15Battle Beneath the Earth
Battlefield Beneath the Earthis alaughably-bad B-moviefrom the 60s with an incredibly ridiculous plot (even by 1960s sci-fi standards).
The film revolves around scientist Arnold Kramer, who believes a rogue Chinese general is using advanced burrowing machines to tunnel through the earth and plant atomic bombs under major U.S. cities. His mad ravings eventually land him in a literal mental asylum. But Navy Commander Jonathon Shaw thinks Kramer is onto something and has him released. Together the two men produce enough evidence to suggest the Chinese army is currently burrowing under Hawaii, leading to a battle….beneath the earth.
14Deterrence
Critic-turned-filmmaker Rod Lurie made his directorial debut with the 1999 political thrillerDeterrence,starring Kevin Pollack, Sean Astin, and Timothy Hutton.It’s a low-budget, single-setting thrillerthat’s equally thought-provoking and engaging.
Set in the “near future” of 2008, the film centers around President Walter Emerson (Kevin Pollack), who is on a campaign trail in Colorado when news breaks that Iraq has invaded Kuwait. Iraq’s leader, Uday Hussain, claims to have nuclear weapons, and is threatening to attack the U.S. if they don’t withdraw forces. With a snowstorm raging, President Emerson and his team are forced to take shelter in a small diner, which becomes an impromptu situation room where they navigate the incredibly delicate situation.
13Twilight’s Last Gleaming
Robert Aldrich’s forgotten 1977 political thrillerTwilight’s Last Gleamingstars Burt Lancaster as General Lawrence Dell, a rogue Air Force general who escapes a military prison and takes over a nuclear missile silo in Montana, threatening to start World War III unless the President (Charles Durning) goes on national television and reveals the contents of a damning piece of top-secret intelligence. President Stevens must grapple with the consequences of both outcomes: nuclear war, or a potential domestic uprising.
WhileTwilight’s Last Gleamingdidn’t achieve significant commercial success upon its release, it hasgained a cult following over the yearsfor its thought-provoking story and powerful performances, especially from Burt Lancaster.
12The Bedford Incident
In 1964, James B. Harris was best known for producing three well-received Stanley Kubrick films:The Killing, Paths of Glory,andLolita.With the Cold War ongoing at the time, both he and Kubrick wanted to make surrounding the fear of nuclear war. Kubrick purchased the rights to Peter George’s novelRed Alert, which the auteur would go on to adapt intoDr. Strangelove.
Harris was originally on board as a produce onStrangelove, but he and Kubrick disagreed over the film’s tone; Kubrick envisioned it as a pitch-black political satire, but Harris wanted to make a serious-minded drama more in line with the source material.
Due to creative differences, Harris parted ways with the project. But he maintained a desire to make his own nuclear-confrontation movie. Two years later,The Bedford Incident- Harris’ answer toDr. Strangelove- was released into theaters.
The movie takes place almost entirely on the USS Bedford, a Navy destroyer tasked with monitoring the North Atlantic Ocean for USSR activity. When the ship detects a Soviet submarine, Capt. Finlander (Richard Widmark) becomes obsessed with provoking the opposing commander, Alexi Vostrikov (Eric Portman) into a confrontation.Sidney Poitier starsas Ben Munceford, a photojournalist aboard the ship who inadvertently finds himself in the center of a conflict that could turn nuclear at any second.
AlthoughDr. Strangeloveis the better-known film,The Bedford Incidentis nevertheless worth seeking out. It’s claustrophobic and engaging, and continues to hold up to this day.
11By Dawn’s Early Light
Jack Sholder’sBy Dawn’s Early Lightis a political thriller that imagines a world on the brink of World War III.The HBO originalfeatures a notable ensemble cast that features Powers Boothe, James Earl Jones, Rip Torn, Rebecca De Mornay, and Martin Landau.
After rogue Soviet militants overtake a nuclear missile silo in Turkey and launch an attack on the USSR, the Soviet automated defense systems - believing that a NATO nation is responsible - launches a retaliatory missile at the United States. If the U.S. responds in kind, it could lead to all-out nuclear war, where there are no victors - only death.
The movie is fast-moving and nail-biting, and features some incredible performances all around; James Earl Jones was even nominated for an Emmy.
The Dead Zone, David Cronenberg’sadaptation of Stephen King’s sci-fi novelof the same name, stars Christopher Walken as Johnny Smith, a schoolteacher who emerges from a five-year coma with psychic abilities known as “the dead zone,” which gives him the powers to foresee someone’s past, present, or future just by touching them.
After shaking hands with charismatic politician Greg Stillson (Martin Sheen) at a campaign rally, Johnny has a vision of the future where Stillson, acting as the U.S. President, launches a preemptive nuclear strike against the USSR, triggering a world-ending war. Given what he now knows, Smith must figure out a way to prevent the future he witnessed from ever happening.
John Badham’s ’80s sci-fi classicWarGamesstars Matthew Broderick as David Lightman, a young hacker who, while looking for some computer games to pass the time, unwittingly accesses a U.S. military supercomputer programmed to play out nuclear war simulations, codenamed WOPR (War Operation Plan Response). Unbeknownst to Lightman, WOPR is cannot differentiate reality from simulation, and is transmitting their interactions as legitimate Soviet maneuvers, indirectly bringing the U.S. closer and closer to WWIII.
WarGamesis a lot of fun, even if its depiction of a nuclear confrontation is broadly absurd. (Then again, what else would you expect from a family-orientedsci-fi action movie from the ’80s?) But when it comes to the often dour and bleak “nuclear war” film subgenre, it’s an oasis of light-hearted fun.
8Crimson Tide
Tony Scott’s submarine thrillerCrimson Tidewas loosely inspired by actual events that unfolded during the Cuban Missile Crisis. The plot revolves around the crew of the USS Alabama, a nuclear submarine equipped with ballistic missiles. Captain Frank Ramsey (Gene Hackman) leads the small crew of men - including second-in-command Ron Hunter (Denzel Washington) - on a mission to post-Soviet Russia after Radchenko, an ultra-nationalist rebel, secures access to the country’s nuclear munitions.
Tensions rise between Ramsey and Hunter after they receive orders to launch missiles against the Russian base where Radchenko is holed up. As Ramsey prepares for the launch, they receive a second emergency communication, but in the process are attacked by enemy combatants. Their comms are destroyed as a result, leaving the second message incomplete. Ramsey wants to proceed with the mission, which would almost certainly ensure nuclear war. Hunter, on the other hand, thinks otherwise.
Crimson Tide’s claustrophobic setting really ratchets up the intensity of an already-nail-biting scenario. It’s whip-fast, edge-of-your-seat filmmaking that makes you feel like the fate of the world is really on the line.
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7K-19: Widowmaker
Directed by Kathryn Bigelow,K-19: The Widowmakeris a historical dramastarring Harrison Fordas Captain Alexei Vostrikov, captain of the K-19, the Soviet Union’s first-ever ballistic missile nuclear submarine. After the sub’s reactor suffers a malfunction during its maiden voyage, Vostrikov and his crew must race against time to prevent a Chernobyl-level disaster - one that has the potential to start a nuclear war between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.
Despite some shaky Russian accents and the occasional departure for historical truth (the submarine, for example, was actually nicknamed “Hiroshima” following the nuclear malfunction - not Widowmaker),K-19is nevertheless an enjoyably tense film, featuring some standout performances from Harrison Ford, Liam Neeson, and Peter Sarsgaard.
6The Sum of All Fears
Phil Alden Robinson’s spy thrillerThe Sum of All Fears, an adaptation of Tom Clancy’s novel of the same name, seesBen Affleck taking on the roleof Jack Ryan, a part previously inhabited by was Alec Baldwin and Harrison Ford. The film follows a younger Ryan as he attempts to stop Austrian neo-nazi Richard Dressler (Alan Bates) from detonating a nuclear bomb that would trigger a war between Russia and the U.S., leaving a united fascist Europe to rule the world.
Although the film makes some significant changes from the novel (the terrorists were originally conceived as Arab, not right-wing extremists) and features some pretty glaring factual inaccuracies (as pointed out by Clancy himself on the film’s commentary track),The Sun of All Fearsis still a worthy addition to theever-growing Jack Ryan cannon.
