The Best Nuclear War Films

[william]

Scrolling through this thread I'm pretty sure the various movies that YouTube has made unavailable can be found on other streaming services like Prime and others.

 

[DEFCON Warning System]

This is the first part of the 1979 film First Strike Written by Fleming B. Fuller in partnership with the US Department of Defense. This first segment of the film shows a scenario in which Russia performs a surprise first strike utilizing several nuclear submarines off the west coast followed by ICBMs. All footage in the film is of real military personnel performing the exact tasks and procedures that would've taken place during a nuclear attack at the time.

If I remember correctly, First Strike is a propaganda piece designed to try and sell the US on a defence system.

The first part posits a near impossible scenario where the United States is caught completely off guard in a Pearl Harbour-type attack by Russia. Completely unrealistic.

That said, it is fun to watch. I watch it every few weeks.

 

[william]

Seven Days in May (1964)​

Seven Days in May is a 1964 American political thriller about a military–political cabal's planned takeover of the United States government in reaction to the president's negotiation of a disarmament treaty with the Soviet Union. The film, starring Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Fredric March, and Ava Gardner, was directed by John Frankenheimer from a screenplay written by Rod Serling and based on the novel of the same name by Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey, II, published in September 1962.

Excellent acting IMO