Compiled By Ewa Historian John Bond
Major 1960’s Movies, Books and Real Near Disasters Inspired By The Cold War Nuclear Bomb Threat
There have been many movies about nuclear war disasters but these were among the early ones that were very influential.
Many today may not remember the very high tensions of the Cold War era, including the Berlin Crisis of 1961 (4 June – 9 November 1961) and the Cuban Missile Crisis, (October 16–28, 1962). There was also the Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD) doctrine and the 1961 popularization of a plan to spend billions of dollars on a nationwide network of highly protective concrete-lined underground fallout shelters, capable of holding millions of people.
On the Beach is a 1959 American post-apocalyptic science fiction drama film directed by Stanley Kramer, that stars Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Fred Astaire, and Anthony Perkins. This black-and-white film is based on Nevil Shute's 1957 novel of the same name depicting the aftermath of a nuclear war. Unlike in the novel, no one is assigned blame for starting the war; the film hints that global annihilation may have arisen from an accident or misjudgment. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Beach_(1959_film)
Fail Safe is a 1964 Cold War thriller film directed by Sidney Lumet, based on the 1962 novel of the same name by Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler. The film portrays a fictional account of a nuclear crisis Cold War tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States that lead to an accidental thermonuclear first strike to bomb Moscow. The film features performances by actors Henry Fonda, Dan O'Herlihy, Walter Matthau and Frank Overton. Larry Hagman, Fritz Weaver, Dom DeLuise and Sorrell Booke appeared in the film. The United States Air Force declined to cooperate with the film's producers and a Convair B-58 Hustler was the film’s portrayed US nuclear bomber. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fail_Safe_(1964_film)
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, more commonly known as Dr. Strangelove, is a 1964 political satire black comedy film that satirizes the Cold War fears of a nuclear conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States. The film was directed, produced, and co-written by Stanley Kubrick, stars Peter Sellers and George C. Scott, and features Sterling Hayden, Keenan Wynn, and Slim Pickens. A first test screening of the film was scheduled for November 22, 1963, the day of the assassination of John F. Kennedy. The film was just weeks from its scheduled premiere, but because of the assassination, the release was delayed until late January 1964, as it was felt that the public was in no mood for such a film any sooner. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Strangelove
Fail Safe and Dr. Strangelove were both produced by Columbia Pictures in the period after the Cuban Missile Crisis, when people became much more sensitive to the threat of nuclear war. Strangelove director Stanley Kubrick, who adapted Peter George's 1958 novel Red Alert, insisted that the studio release his movie first (in January 1964). Fail Safe so closely resembled Red Alert that Kubrick and George filed a copyright infringement lawsuit. The case was settled out of court.
1965 The Bedford Incident – Features the Navy nuclear ASROC missile
The American destroyer USS Bedford (DLG-113) detects a Soviet submarine near the coast of Greenland. Although the U.S. and the Soviet Union are not at war, Captain Eric Finlander mercilessly harries his prey while civilian photojournalist Ben Munceford and NATO naval advisor Commodore Wolfgang Schrepke look on with mounting alarm. Finlander exploits the fact that the Russian sub has to surface periodically to replenish air and recharge batteries because it is not nuclear-powered; knowing full well it will make the Soviets more desperate.
A tired Ensign Ralston mistakes Finlander's remark as a command to "fire one." He launches an anti-submarine (ASROC) rocket which destroys the submarine. Sonar then detects four Soviet nuclear-armed torpedoes targeting the destroyer. Finlander initially gives basic orders to evade but then silently steps outside the bridge. Munceford follows frantically pleading with him to do something. But the captain has realised his actions have sealed the fate of everyone on board as the ship cannot evade the nuclear torpedoes. The film ends with still shots of various crewmen "melting" as if the celluloid film were burning as the Bedford and her crew are vaporised in an atomic blast. The film's final image is a mushroom cloud. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bedford_Incident
List of films about nuclear issues
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_about_nuclear_issues
List of apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction
