MRQE Ranks: Best Cold War Movies

1

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

Cast: Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, Keenan Wynn, Slim Pickens

Director: Stanley Kubrick

Synopsis: In 1964, with the Cuban Missile Crisis fresh in viewers' minds, the Cold War at its frostiest, and the hydrogen bomb relatively new and frightening... [MORE]

2

The Third Man (1949)

Cast: Joseph Cotten, Valli, Orson Welles, Trevor Howard, Paul Hoerbiger

Director: Carol Reed

Synopsis: In this Cold War spy classic, Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten), a third-rate American pulp novelist, arrives in postwar Vienna, where he has been prom... [MORE]

3

The Manchurian Candidate (1962)

Cast: Laurence Harvey, Frank Sinatra, Angela Lansbury, James Gregory, Janet Leigh

Director: John Frankenheimer

Synopsis: An unusually tense and intelligent political thriller, The Manchurian Candidate was a film far ahead of its time. Its themes of thought control, po... [MORE]

4

Apocalypse Now (1979)

Cast: Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, Frederic Forrest, Larry Fishburne

Director: Francis Ford Coppola

Synopsis: One of a cluster of late-1970s films about the Vietnam War, Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now adapts the Joseph Conrad novella Heart of Darknes... [MORE]

5

Das Leben der Anderen (2006)

Cast: Martina Gedeck, Ulrich Mühe, Sebastian Koch, Ulrich Tukur, Thomas Thieme

Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck

Synopsis: A man who has devoted his life to ferreting out "dangerous" characters is thrown into a quandary when he investigates a man who poses no threat in ... [MORE]

6

Kiss Me Deadly (1955)

Cast: Ralph Meeker, Gaby Rodgers, Paul Stewart, Maxine Cooper, Albert Dekker

Director: Robert Aldrich

Synopsis: Regarded by many critics as the ultimate film noir, and by many more as the finest movie adaptation of a book by Mickey Spillane, Kiss Me De... [MORE]

7

The Iron Giant (1999)

Director: Brad Bird

Synopsis: A boy's best friend is his robot in this animated adventure from Brad Bird, best known for his TV work on such series as The Simpsons, King of the ... [MORE]

8

Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005)

Cast: David Strathairn, Patricia Clarkson, George Clooney, Jeff Daniels, Robert Downey Jr.

Director: George Clooney

Synopsis: George Clooney pays homage to one of the icons of American broadcast journalism, Edward R. Murrow, in this fact-based drama, which was Clooney's se... [MORE]

9

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)

Cast: Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Leonard Nimoy, Veronica Cartwright, Art Hindle

Director: Philip Kaufman

Synopsis: This remake of the 1956 horror classic Invasion of the Body Snatchers moves the action from small-town USA to 1970s San Francisco and replaces at l... [MORE]

10

The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)

Cast: Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal, Hugh Marlowe, Sam Jaffe, Billy Gray

Director: Robert Wise

Synopsis: All of Washington, D.C., is thrown into a panic when an extraterrestrial spacecraft lands near the White House. Out steps Klaatu (Michael Rennie, i... [MORE]

11

From Russia with Love (1963)

Cast: Sean Connery, Daniela Bianchi, Robert Shaw, Lotte Lenya, Pedro Armendáriz

Director: Terence Young

Writer: Ian Fleming

Synopsis: From Russia With Love, the second in the series of James Bond films, is the film that solidifies all the Bond film elements into a formula -- the a... [MORE]

12

The Hunt for Red October (1990)

Cast: Sean Connery, Alec Baldwin, Scott Glenn, Sam Neill, James Earl Jones

Director: John McTiernan

Synopsis: The first of several films based on Tom Clancy's "Jack Ryan" technothrillers, Hunt for Red October stars Alec Baldwin as eccentric CIA analyst Ryan... [MORE]

13

The Quiet American (2002)

Cast: Michael Caine, Brendan Fraser, Do Thi Hai Yen, Rade Serbedzija, Tzi Ma

Director: Phillip Noyce

Synopsis: Graham Greene's allegorical novel about America's role in the Vietnam conflict, and how it was perceived by the rest of the world, is brought to th... [MORE]

14

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)

Cast: Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, Mark Strong, Ciarán Hinds

Director: Tomas Alfredson

Synopsis: Let the Right One In director Tomas Alfredson takes the helm for this adaptation of John Le Carré's novel about an ex-British agent who emerges fro... [MORE]

15

Thirteen Days (2000)

Cast: Kevin Costner, Bruce Greenwood, Steven Culp, Dylan Baker, Henry Strozier

Director: Roger Donaldson

Synopsis: Director Roger Donaldson teams up with star Kevin Costner for another political thriller (after their 1987 pairing, No Way Out), only this time wit... [MORE]

16

WarGames (1983)

Cast: Matthew Broderick, Dabney Coleman, Ally Sheedy, John Wood, Barry Corbin

Director: John Badham

Synopsis: Once more, a wise-guy teenager tries to prove he's smarter than any adult-and nearly destroys the whole world in the process-in WarGames. Computer-... [MORE]

17

X-Men: First Class (2011)

Cast: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Kevin Bacon, Caleb Landry Jones, Nicholas Hoult

Director: Matthew Vaughn

Synopsis: Set in the era before Professor Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr became mortal enemies as Professor X and Magneto, respectively, director Matthew ... [MORE]

18

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)

Cast: Harrison Ford, Shia LaBeouf, Karen Allen, Cate Blanchett, John Hurt

Director: Steven Spielberg

Synopsis: Everyone's favorite archeologist adventurer dusts off his hat and trusty whip for yet another globetrotting trek as Indiana Jones returns to the bi... [MORE]

19

Miracle (2004)

Cast: Kurt Russell, Patricia Clarkson, Noah Emmerich, Sean McCann, Kenneth Welsh

Director: Gavin O'Connor

Synopsis: Gavin O'Connor directs the sports drama Miracle, based on the true story of the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid. Kurt Russell stars as hockey c... [MORE]

20

Watchmen (2009)

Cast: Billy Crudup, Jackie Earle Haley, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Malin Akerman, Matthew Goode

Director: Zack Snyder

Synopsis: 300's Zack Snyder brings Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' critically acclaimed comic book Watchmen to the big screen, courtesy of DC Comics and Warner ... [MORE]

21

Shutter Island (2010)

Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Michelle Williams, Max von Sydow

Director: Martin Scorsese

Synopsis: Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio team up for a fourth time for this adaptation of Shutter Island, a novel by Dennis Lehane (Mystic River). The... [MORE]

22

Top Gun (1986)

Cast: Tom Cruise, Kelly McGillis, Anthony Edwards, Val Kilmer, Tom Skerritt

Director: Tony Scott

Synopsis: Devil-may-care navy pilot Pete Mitchell (Tom Cruise) is sent to Miramar Naval Air Station for advanced training. Here he vies with Tom Kasansky (Va... [MORE]

23

The Good Shepherd (2006)

Cast: Matt Damon, Angelina Jolie, Alec Baldwin, Tammy Blanchard, Billy Crudup

Director: Robert De Niro

Synopsis: One man bears witness to the secret history of America during the Cold War in this drama directed by celebrated actor Robert De Niro. In 1939, Edwa... [MORE]

24

Buffalo Soldiers (2001)

Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Ed Harris, Scott Glenn, Anna Paquin, Elizabeth McGovern

Director: Gregor Jordan

Synopsis: Australian director Gregor Jordan makes his sophomore effort with this tale about crooked U.S. soldiers based in Germany during the waning days of ... [MORE]

25

Rambo III (1988)

Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Richard Crenna, Marc de Jonge, Kurtwood Smith, Spiros Focas

Director: Peter MacDonald

Synopsis: The third entry in the ultra-macho Rambo action movie series finds muscle-bound warrior John Rambo (co-writer and star Sylvester Stallone) refusing... [MORE]

26

Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985)

Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Richard Crenna, Charles Napier, Steven Berkoff, Julia Nickson

Director: George Pan Cosmatos

Synopsis: The dark-horse box-office hit First Blood spawned this even more successful sequel in which Sylvester Stallone, reprising his role as ex-Green Bere... [MORE]

27

Big Miracle (2012)

Cast: John Krasinski, Drew Barrymore, Kristen Bell, Ted Danson, Dermot Mulroney

Director: Ken Kwapis

Synopsis: When a family of grey whales becomes trapped in the Arctic Circle, a Greenpeace volunteer and a small-town reporter go to extraordinary lengths to ... [MORE]

28

Blast from the Past (1999)

Cast: Brendan Fraser, Alicia Silverstone, Christopher Walken, Sissy Spacek, Dave Foley

Director: Hugh Wilson

Synopsis: In 1962, Calvin Webber (Christopher Walken) was a brilliant but somewhat paranoid scientist living with his Donna Reed-esque wife, Helen (Sissy Spa... [MORE]

29

Rocky IV (1985)

Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Dolph Lundgren, Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers

Director: Sylvester Stallone

Synopsis: The third sequel to Sylvester Stallone's boxing blockbuster combines the ringside sports melodrama of the previous installments with the Cold War p... [MORE]

30

Red Dawn (1984)

Cast: Patrick Swayze, C. Thomas Howell, Ron O'Neal, Lea Thompson, Jennifer Grey

Director: John Milius

Synopsis: Set at an indeterminate point in the future, this drama with an overt anti-communist message begins as an ostensible war movie: Russian and Cuban f... [MORE]

31

Spies Like Us (1985)

Cast: Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, Steve Forrest, Donna Dixon, Bruce Davison

Director: John Landis

Synopsis: Director John Landis helmed this Cold War farce starring Dan Aykroyd and Chevy Chase as Austin Millbarge and Emmett Fitz-Hume -- two loser misfits ... [MORE]

32

The Russians Are Coming the Russians Are Coming (1966)

Cast: Carl Reiner, Alan Arkin, Eva Marie Saint, Jonathan Winters

Director: Norman Jewison

Synopsis: Just because The Russians are Coming, the Russians are Coming was vastly overrated by contemporary critics does not make it any less amusing. The s... [MORE]

33

No Way Out (1987)

Cast: Kevin Costner, Gene Hackman, Sean Young, Will Patton, Howard Duff

Director: Roger Donaldson

Synopsis: No Way Out is told in flashback as Naval officer Tom Farrell (Kevin Costner) is grilled by his superiors regarding a recent "unpleasantness." While... [MORE]

34

The Ugly American (1963)

Cast: Marlon Brando, Eiji Okada, Sandra Church, Pat Hingle, Arthur Hill

Director: George Englund

Synopsis: Taken from a best-selling book, this is an uneven, politically tinged drama by George Englund that does not really follow the book that closely. Ma... [MORE]

35

The Damned (1963)

Cast: Macdonald Carey, Shirley Anne Field, Viveca Lindfors, Alexander Knox, Oliver Reed

Director: Joseph Losey

Synopsis: Joseph Losey directed this unusual science fiction effort, which has won a small but fervent cult following. Simon Wells (MacDonald Carey) is an Am... [MORE]

36

The Bedford Incident (1965)

Cast: Richard Widmark, Sidney Poitier, James MacArthur, Martin Balsam, Wally Cox

Director: James B. Harris

Synopsis: The Bedford Incident was an attempt by Columbia Pictures -- which had previously made Dr. Strangelove and released Fail-Safe -- to tap the well of ... [MORE]

37

Torn Curtain (1966)

Cast: Paul Newman, Julie Andrews, Lila Kedrova, Hansjorg Felmy

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Synopsis: A double agent has to contend with enemies on both sides of the political fence as well as the woman he loves in this thriller directed by Alfred H... [MORE]

38

Invasion U.S.A. (1985)

Cast: Chuck Norris, Richard Lynch, Melissa Prophet, Alexander Zale, Dehl Berti

Director: Joseph Zito

39

Ice Station Zebra (1968)

Cast: Rock Hudson, Ernest Borgnine, Patrick McGoohan, Jim Brown, Tony Bill

Director: John Sturges

Synopsis: A top-secret Soviet spy satellite -- using stolen Western technology -- malfunctions and then goes into a descent that lands it near an isolated Ar... [MORE]

40

The Odessa File (1974)

Cast: Jon Voight, Maximilian Schell, Maria Schell, Mary Tamm, Derek Jacobi

Director: Ronald Neame

Synopsis: The Odessa File is set in Hamburg in the winter of 1963. Jon Voight plays Peter Miller, a German reporter who is investigating the whereabouts of m... [MORE]

42

The Ipcress File (1965)

Cast: Michael Caine, Nigel Green, Guy Doleman, Sue Lloyd, Gordon Jackson

Director: Sidney J. Furie

Synopsis: Michael Caine made his first appearance as novelist Len Deighton's bespectacled British-spy Harry Palmer in The Ipcress File. Palmer has no real lo... [MORE]

43

The Russians Are Coming the Russians Are Coming (1966)

Cast: Carl Reiner, Alan Arkin, Eva Marie Saint, Jonathan Winters

Director: Norman Jewison

Synopsis: Just because The Russians are Coming, the Russians are Coming was vastly overrated by contemporary critics does not make it any less amusing. The s... [MORE]

44

Heartbreak Ridge (1986)

Cast: Clint Eastwood, Marsha Mason, Everett McGill, Moses Gunn, Eileen Heckart

Director: Clint Eastwood

Synopsis: Having spent much of his directorial career emulating Don Siegel and John Ford, Clint Eastwood borrows a page from the catalogue of Sam Fuller in H... [MORE]

45

The 49th Man (1953)

Cast: John Ireland, Richard Denning, Robert C. Foulk, Suzanne Dalbert, Mike Connors

Director: Fred F. Sears

Synopsis: U.S. security agent John Ireland suspects that someone is smuggling atomic devices into America. When he makes his report, Ireland is assured by hi... [MORE]

46

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965)

Cast: Richard Burton, Claire Bloom, Oskar Werner, Cyril Cusack, Peter Van Eyck

Director: Martin Ritt

Synopsis: Based on the novel by John Le Carre, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold stars Richard Burton as a dispirited, end-of-tether British secret agent. He... [MORE]

47

The Atomic Cafe (1982)

Director: Jayne Loader, Kevin Rafferty, Pierce Rafferty

Synopsis: The Atomic Cafe is a sometimes hilarious, sometimes sobering collection of film clips taken from American propaganda films of the 1950s. The thrust... [MORE]