Cold war

by esqban | created - 23 Apr 2021 | updated - 23 Apr 2021 | Public

Cold war movies

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1. North by Northwest (1959)

Approved | 136 min | Action, Adventure, Mystery

98 Metascore

A New York City advertising executive goes on the run after being mistaken for a government agent by a group of foreign spies, and falls for a woman whose loyalties he begins to doubt.

Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason, Jessie Royce Landis

Votes: 346,275 | Gross: $13.28M

2. On the Beach (1959)

Approved | 134 min | Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi

55 Metascore

After a global nuclear war, the residents of Australia must come to terms with the fact that all life will be destroyed in a matter of months.

Director: Stanley Kramer | Stars: Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Fred Astaire, Anthony Perkins

Votes: 14,418 | Gross: $11.00M

3. The Manchurian Candidate (1962)

PG-13 | 126 min | Drama, Thriller

94 Metascore

An American POW in the Korean War is brainwashed as an unwitting assassin for an international Communist conspiracy.

Director: John Frankenheimer | Stars: Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, Janet Leigh, Angela Lansbury

Votes: 79,838

4. Seven Days in May (1964)

Approved | 118 min | Drama, Thriller

73 Metascore

United States military leaders plot to overthrow the President because he supports a nuclear disarmament treaty and they fear a Soviet sneak attack.

Director: John Frankenheimer | Stars: Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Fredric March, Ava Gardner

Votes: 17,344 | Gross: $7.96M

5. Fail Safe (1964)

Approved | 112 min | Drama, Thriller

75 Metascore

A technical malfunction sends American planes to Moscow to deliver a nuclear attack. Can all-out war be averted?

Director: Sidney Lumet | Stars: Henry Fonda, Walter Matthau, Fritz Weaver, Dan O'Herlihy

Votes: 24,411

6. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)

PG | 95 min | Comedy, War

97 Metascore

An unhinged American general orders a bombing attack on the Soviet Union, triggering a path to nuclear holocaust that a war room full of politicians and generals frantically tries to stop.

Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, Keenan Wynn

Votes: 518,411 | Gross: $0.28M

7. The Bedford Incident (1965)

Approved | 102 min | Drama, Thriller

An American destroyer Captain is determined to confront a Soviet submarine caught violating territorial waters. Perhaps too determined.

Director: James B. Harris | Stars: Richard Widmark, Sidney Poitier, James MacArthur, Martin Balsam

Votes: 5,979

8. The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965)

Approved | 112 min | Drama, Thriller

Instead of coming in from the Cold War, British agent Alec Leamas chooses to face another mission.

Director: Martin Ritt | Stars: Richard Burton, Oskar Werner, Claire Bloom, Sam Wanamaker

Votes: 18,821

9. The Ipcress File (1965)

Passed | 109 min | Drama, Thriller

66 Metascore

In London, a wisecracking spy investigates the kidnapping and brainwashing of British scientists while dealing with the constraints of his agency's bureaucracy.

Director: Sidney J. Furie | Stars: Michael Caine, Nigel Green, Guy Doleman, Sue Lloyd

Votes: 17,590

10. Torn Curtain (1966)

PG | 128 min | Drama, Romance, Thriller

55 Metascore

An American scientist publicly defects to East Germany as part of a cloak and dagger mission to find the solution for a formula resin before planning an escape back to the West.

Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Paul Newman, Julie Andrews, Lila Kedrova, Hansjörg Felmy

Votes: 29,261

11. Funeral in Berlin (1966)

Not Rated | 102 min | Thriller

Sent to East Berlin to retrieve a Communist defector, British spy Harry Palmer suspects the situation is not what his superiors believe it to be.

Director: Guy Hamilton | Stars: Michael Caine, Oscar Homolka, Paul Hubschmid, Eva Renzi

Votes: 7,784

12. Topaz (1969)

M/PG | 143 min | Drama, Thriller

A French Intelligence Agent becomes embroiled in the Cold War politics first with uncovering the events leading up to the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, and then back to France to break up an international Russian spy ring.

Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Frederick Stafford, Dany Robin, John Vernon, Karin Dor

Votes: 19,561 | Gross: $8.37M

13. The Black Windmill (1974)

PG | 106 min | Action, Crime, Thriller

50 Metascore

A British agent's son is kidnapped and held for ransom.

Director: Don Siegel | Stars: Michael Caine, Donald Pleasence, Delphine Seyrig, Clive Revill

Votes: 3,348

14. The Osterman Weekend (1983)

R | 103 min | Action, Drama, Thriller

During the Cold War, a controversial television journalist is asked by the C.I.A. to persuade certain acquaintances, who are Soviet Agents of the Omega network, to defect.

Director: Sam Peckinpah | Stars: Rutger Hauer, John Hurt, Craig T. Nelson, Dennis Hopper

Votes: 9,420 | Gross: $6.49M

15. Red Dawn (1984)

PG-13 | 114 min | Action, Drama, Thriller

53 Metascore

It is the dawn of World War III. In the west mountains of America, a group of teenagers band together to defend their town, and their country, from invading Soviet forces.

Director: John Milius | Stars: Patrick Swayze, C. Thomas Howell, Lea Thompson, Charlie Sheen

Votes: 63,106 | Gross: $38.38M

16. Spies Like Us (1985)

PG | 102 min | Adventure, Comedy

22 Metascore

Two bumbling government employees think they are U.S. spies, only to discover that they are actually decoys for Nuclear War.

Director: John Landis | Stars: Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, Mark Stewart, Sean Daniel

Votes: 52,980 | Gross: $60.09M

17. The Falcon and the Snowman (1985)

R | 131 min | Biography, Crime, Drama

68 Metascore

The true story of a disillusioned military contractor employee and his drug pusher childhood friend who became walk-in spies for the Soviet Union.

Director: John Schlesinger | Stars: Timothy Hutton, Sean Penn, Pat Hingle, Joyce Van Patten

Votes: 12,695 | Gross: $17.10M

18. The Fourth Protocol (1987)

R | 119 min | Thriller

64 Metascore

John Preston is a British Agent with the task of preventing the Russians detonating a nuclear explosion next to an American base in the UK. The Russians are hoping this will shatter the "special relationship" between the two countries.

Director: John Mackenzie | Stars: Michael Caine, Pierce Brosnan, Ned Beatty, Joanna Cassidy

Votes: 10,995 | Gross: $12.42M

19. The Russia House (1990)

R | 123 min | Drama, Romance, Thriller

67 Metascore

A British publisher is sent a manuscript detailing Soviet Union nuclear missile capabilities. British Intelligence intercept it and recruit him to investigate the author's editor, a beautiful Russian woman he claims never to have met.

Director: Fred Schepisi | Stars: Sean Connery, Michelle Pfeiffer, Roy Scheider, James Fox

Votes: 17,546 | Gross: $23.00M

20. The Hunt for Red October (1990)

PG | 135 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller

58 Metascore

In November 1984, the Soviet Union's best submarine captain violates orders and heads for the U.S. in a new undetectable sub. The American CIA and military must quickly determine: Is he trying to defect or to start a war?

Director: John McTiernan | Stars: Sean Connery, Alec Baldwin, Scott Glenn, Sam Neill

Votes: 214,808 | Gross: $122.01M

21. Crimson Tide (1995)

R | 116 min | Action, Drama, Thriller

66 Metascore

On a U.S. nuclear missile sub, a young First Officer stages a mutiny to prevent his trigger happy Captain from launching his missiles before confirming his orders to do so.

Director: Tony Scott | Stars: Gene Hackman, Denzel Washington, Matt Craven, George Dzundza

Votes: 123,366 | Gross: $91.40M

22. Thirteen Days (2000)

PG-13 | 145 min | Drama, History, Thriller

67 Metascore

In October 1962, the Kennedy administration struggles to contain the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Director: Roger Donaldson | Stars: Kevin Costner, Bruce Greenwood, Shawn Driscoll, Drake Cook

Votes: 62,714 | Gross: $34.59M

23. K-19: The Widowmaker (2002)

PG-13 | 138 min | Drama, History, Thriller

58 Metascore

When Russia's first nuclear submarine malfunctions on its maiden voyage, the crew must race to save the ship and prevent a nuclear disaster.

Director: Kathryn Bigelow | Stars: Harrison Ford, Sam Spruell, Peter Stebbings, Christian Camargo

Votes: 67,418 | Gross: $35.17M

24. The Sum of All Fears (2002)

PG-13 | 124 min | Action, Drama, Thriller

45 Metascore

CIA analyst Jack Ryan must stop the plans of a Neo-Nazi faction that threatens to induce a catastrophic conflict between the United States and Russia's President by detonating a nuclear weapon at a football game in Baltimore, Maryland.

Director: Phil Alden Robinson | Stars: Ben Affleck, Morgan Freeman, Ian Mongrain, Russell Bobbitt

Votes: 124,431 | Gross: $118.91M

25. Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005)

PG | 93 min | Biography, Drama, History

80 Metascore

Broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow looks to bring down Senator Joseph McCarthy.

Director: George Clooney | Stars: David Strathairn, George Clooney, Patricia Clarkson, Jeff Daniels

Votes: 101,314 | Gross: $31.56M

26. The Lives of Others (2006)

R | 137 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller

89 Metascore

In 1984 East Berlin, an agent of the secret police conducting surveillance on a writer and his lover finds himself becoming increasingly absorbed by their lives.

Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck | Stars: Ulrich Mühe, Martina Gedeck, Sebastian Koch, Ulrich Tukur

Votes: 410,603 | Gross: $11.29M

27. The Good Shepherd (2006)

R | 167 min | Drama, History, Thriller

61 Metascore

The tumultuous early history of the Central Intelligence Agency is viewed through the prism of one man's life.

Director: Robert De Niro | Stars: Matt Damon, Angelina Jolie, Robert De Niro, Alec Baldwin

Votes: 108,607 | Gross: $59.95M

28. Charlie Wilson's War (2007)

R | 102 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama

67 Metascore

A drama based on a Texas congressman Charlie Wilson's covert dealings in Afghanistan, where his efforts to assist rebels in their war with the Soviets have some unforeseen and long-reaching effects.

Director: Mike Nichols | Stars: Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams

Votes: 124,919 | Gross: $66.66M

29. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)

R | 127 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller

85 Metascore

In the bleak days of the Cold War, espionage veteran George Smiley is forced from semi-retirement to uncover a Soviet Agent within MI6.

Director: Tomas Alfredson | Stars: Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, Mark Strong

Votes: 212,556 | Gross: $24.15M

30. Bridge of Spies (2015)

PG-13 | 142 min | Drama, History, Thriller

81 Metascore

During the Cold War, an American lawyer is recruited to defend an arrested Soviet spy in court, and then help the CIA facilitate an exchange of the spy for the Soviet captured American U2 spy plane pilot, Francis Gary Powers.

Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Tom Hanks, Mark Rylance, Alan Alda, Amy Ryan

Votes: 327,812 | Gross: $72.31M

31. The Coldest Game (2019)

TV-MA | 102 min | History, Sport, Thriller

During 1962's Cuban missile crisis, a troubled math genius finds himself drafted to play in a U.S.-Soviet chess match -- and a deadly game of espionage.

Director: Lukasz Kosmicki | Stars: Bill Pullman, Lotte Verbeek, James Bloor, Robert Wieckiewicz

Votes: 12,552

32. The Courier (2020)

PG-13 | 112 min | Drama, History, Mystery

65 Metascore

Businessman Greville Wynne is asked by a Russian source to try to help put an end to the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Director: Dominic Cooke | Stars: Benedict Cumberbatch, Merab Ninidze, Rachel Brosnahan, Vladimir Chuprikov

Votes: 73,660 | Gross: $6.61M



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