Your Favorite Cold War Movie
 

Red Dawn was on last night, and I have to admit - that movie is one of my guilty pleasures. sure, i know it is cheesy, but being a child of the 70's and 80's it made sense. i remember sitting in school learning how the Russians had nukes that could hit a specific window in a specific building. i remember my teacher coming back with photos of the divided Germany.

People who were younger than about 10 years old in 1990 cannot even fathom the weight that the cold war had on previous generations. Unfortunately, for them - that means they don't understand the wholesome goodness of a group of teenagers whipping shit out of the commies.

what are your favorite Cold War movies?

Failsafe

and of course, Dr. Strangelove.

I may have some others to report later.

The Day After with Steve Guttenberg and John Lithgow. I haven't seen this movie in years...gotta find a copy!

Likewise wolf, Dr. Strangelove
"Gentlemen! You can't fight in here this is the War Room!!"
"A commie, in here!? Mr. President, he'll see everything! He'll see the big board!!"

Fail-Safe

End of thread.

The Day the Earth Stood Still...

Spies Like Us

"Soulfinger!"

Hunt For Red October, and all of the early James Bond films. Firefox. Spies Like Us.

Any of the stuff featuring the foreboding, monolithic East with its snow and dim lighting and big black weapons of war with the red star on them vs. the scrappy, morally superior, witty West, where every country got along because we had to keep the Soviets from nuking us all. Plus, we had spies. Spies are cool. And the aircraft! We used to discuss fighter planes like kids today trade...what, Pokemon?

Ahh the halcyon days before the "America is to blame for everything" crowd's balls dropped, and the media started paying attention to them.

I just had a flashback. A jetfighter computer game called "Falcon" had just come out, and one of the three maps you could fight over was the Persian Gulf. I remember thinking, "Why the hell would we have a war here? Who gives a shit about these people? Do they even have planes newer than MiG-21s?"

Are you serious?

I think I remember hearing at the time that Paul McCartney was aware of the movie "Spies Like Us," and liked the story so much, he asked if he could write the song for it. If true, it amazes me that he liked the story. I can't remember the plot at all. I only remember one scene, at the end, when missles are being launched, one guy (Chevy Chase?) and the other guy, (was it Dan Akroyd?) went into pup tents with Soviet chicks so they could have sex one last time before the end of the world. Then they somehow hacked the missles so they wouldn't end the world.

that movie was hilarious. not Dr Strangelove hilarious, but definitely Dan Akroyd hilarious.

I'll have to rent it from the dollar video store to see it again.

doctor. doctor. doctor. doctor. doctor. doctor. doctor aaaaand doctor.

Red Dawn
Firefox
Hunt for Red October

I played the crap out of falcon gold series. another one was top gun.

DING DING we have a winner!

but honourable mentions go to The Day After (I live in Lawrence, afterall); and The Manchurian Candidate (original Frankie baby version).

The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming

The Mouse That Roared

Russkies... please don't laugh.

Also any James Bond movie that featured West v. Russia.

You and Cowhead are pals, or did I miss a name change somewhere along the line?

Nope, don't know cowhead -- at least I don't think I do -- but we do hail from the same pasture. Small world.

I was just noting your user title, which essentially translates as "Cowheadville"...

Yeah, I was wondering when someone was going to pickup on that -- had to give it away in this thread tho'. I also always found the city of Vacaville in CA an interesting usage of 'Spanglais'... parlez Usted ingles?.

edit: and oh yeah, there was also the Spanish explorer Cabeza de Vaca:
http://www.english.swt.edu/CSS/alvar1CDV.HTML

Poor kid -- I don't know what his parents were thinking... :headshake

Ok, since you all blew through the stop sign above, I'll don my lemming suit and vote for Manchurian Candidate. Yes, Frankie Baby, haven't seen the remake. Maybe someday. Denzel Washington is a fine actor, and he features in another good movie in this genre, Crimson Tide.

ahem,

Yes?

The chair recogizes the appendages three. You have the floor, sirs. No offense intended of course.

Three Days of the Condor. I remember seeing it in Israel and being searched before entering the theatre. The search really added to the paranoia factor of the movie.

Here is the script.

I watched that on TV when I was in college. There was a thunderstorm the night of the broadcast that came in quickly, with very little warning, and announced it's presence by producing a lightning bolt that struck the science building which was next to my dormatory.

The building survived, but one sorority girl melted down, as she beleived that the "big one" had just hit.

It was pretty hilarious.

I actually thought Countdown to Looking Glass was a much better movie, with a more realistic scenario. It was made for HBO and didn't get a lot of attention.

I also saw Threads (sometimes referred to as "The British Day After" and When the Wind Blows which is a very poignant cartoon.

In the vein of Dr. Strangelove, I also am a fan of By the Dawn's Early Light which I may have a copy of somewhere in the massive pile of video tapes.

The original Manchurian Candidate is another favorite, as is From Russian with Love.

One that wasn't quite as distinguished was S*P*I*E*S (Donald Sutherland and Elliot Gould were so good in M*A*S*H they have to be really great in a campy spy movie with a really bad script).

I also count the two James Coburn "Flint" movies as kind of cold war flicks, even there was only a brief walk-on by actual Russians in the second one.

See, I told you there would be more.

I will have to go with "Top Secret" with Val Kilmer.

That and "Flight of the Navigator."

Forgot Wargames.

Oh!!! And Colossus: The Forbin Project

Welcome to the cellar Hemlock.

Big movie fan? If you are, you'll have plenty of company here.

I just found "Flight of the Navigator" Hemlock in the walmart bariagin bin.. i about pissed myself, seeing as how I had just found "Short Ciruit" earlier.

go ahead and shoot me for shopping at walmart the devil store, i could care less

hey, i bought my beer there last night....hehehe, and i still feel pretty good! (no ma. i'm not flying today.)

I loved the book. In fact, the reason I never sat through the entire movie was that the book was so good I didn't want to see it ruined. There is so much in that book describing the characters' feelings that it could not work as well on the screen.

BTW, I was thinking about this movie and then thought about some other end of the world films and realized that Charlton Heston has been in two apocalyptic movies, The Omega Man and Planet of the Apes.

On New Year's 2000, a bunch of friends and I stayed up all night watching apocalyptic movies. Both of those were in the stack.

I was sublty trying to draw attention to my sig line, one of my favorite quotes fronm Dr. Strangelove (unheimlichlieber). It is the end of the rambling psychotic suicide note left by Major Jack D. Ripper.

"I'm not sure what that last part means, Mr. President."

"I'll tell you what it means, it means he's a raving lunatic."

"I think we should reserve judgement until all the fact are in, sir"

Oh god. We have the floors. ohh it hurts. :)

What about this one?

OK here are a few great cold war movies:

"Ice station Zebra." It doesn't get colder than the north pole.

"A midnight Clear" Winter in Germany WWII. Inadequate clothing compounded by hunger, fatigue. Pretty chilly.

"The Pianist" Although parts of the movie took place in the summer there was a scene towards the end where it was winter and the hero was hiding in an unheated abandonded house. I'd say it was cold–ish.

There was also a movie with Lee Marvin and a lot of snow I think it was the Korean war, I can't remember the title.

There was also "gorky park" with a super–annuated lee marvin, most of which revolved around skating and other winter time activities, but that wasn't really during a war so much as during that period of tension between the US and Soviet Russia before the wall came down.

heh