Highest-Rated Movies about 'Cold War', Sort by Popularity

The Firemen's Ball (1967), The Mouse That Roared (1959), When the Wind Blows (1986), Superman: Red Son (2020), Sputnik (2020), The Power of Nightmares (2004), Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964), The Fog of War (2003) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Cold War movies.

#16. The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)

Storyline: Travelling with mind-boggling speed, a gleaming unidentified flying object zooming in from the boundless deep space, penetrates the Earth's atmosphere, landing smoothly in Cold War-Washington, D.C. Encircled by large yet feeble military forces, the peaceful intergalactic ambassador, Klaatu, emerges from the mysterious vessel accompanied by the silently dangerous robot of incomprehensible power, Gort, only to witness firsthand the earthlings' hospitality. The sophisticated humanoid declares that he comes in peace; however, he needs to assemble the world's greatest minds to hear his merciful warning and a definitive ultimatum. Is Klaatu the messenger of humanity's doom?

Plot Keywords: alien, robot, scientist, single mother, son, powerful, inspiring ...

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#17. Cold War (2018)

Storyline: A passionate love story between two people of different backgrounds and temperaments, who are fatefully mismatched and yet condemned to each other. Set against the background of the Cold War in the 1950s in Poland, Berlin, Yugoslavia and Paris, the film depicts an impossible love story in impossible times.

Plot Keywords: musician, director, sultry, brooding, cool, passionate, poland ...

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#18. Lord of War (2005)

Storyline: This movie charts the rise and fall of Yuri Orlov, from his early days in the early 1980s in Little Odessa, selling guns to mobsters in his local neighborhood, through to his ascension through the decade of excess and indulgence into the early 1990s, where he forms a business partnership with an African warlord and his psychotic son. This movie also charts his relationship through the years with his younger brother, his marriage to a famous model, his relentless pursuit by a determined INTERPOL Agent and his inner demons that sway between his drive for success and the immorality of what he does.

Plot Keywords: arms dealer, model, brother, federal agent, dictator, general, brash ...

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#19. The Spy Who Came In from the Cold (1965)

Storyline: Alec Leamas (Richard Burton), a British spy, is sent to East Germany, supposedly to defect, but in fact to sow disinformation. As more plot turns appear, Leamas becomes more convinced that his own people see him as just a cog. His struggle back from dehumanization becomes the final focus of the story.

Plot Keywords: spy, drunk, intelligence officer, interrogator, jew, communist, bleak ...

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#20. Bridge of Spies (2015)

Storyline: In the cold war, a lawyer, James B. Donovan is recruited by the CIA and involved in an intense negotiation mission to release and exchange a CIA U-2 spy-plane pilot, Francis G. Powers. The pilot was arrested alive after his plane was shot down by the Soviet Union during a mission and stays in the company of a KGB intelligence officer, Rudolf Abel, who was arrested for espionage in the US.

Plot Keywords: pilot, spy, lawyer, cia agent, airy, brooding, dark ...

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#21. The Tamarind Seed (1974)

Storyline: On vacation from her job in the civil service, Judith Farrow (Julie Andrews) heads to the Caribbean where she befriends a debonair Russian named Feodor Sverdlov (Omar Sharif). The two quickly fall in love, but Judith's feelings are tested when Sverdlov is revealed to be a Russian agent eager to win her over to his cause. Back at home, Judith is instructed never to see him again, but can't shake the attachment, and soon finds that both of their lives are in danger.

Plot Keywords: civil servant, russian spy, undercover agent, tense, intricate, london, caribbean ...

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#22. The Hunt for Red October (1990)

Storyline: The Soviets create a new nuclear submarine that runs silent due to a revolutionary propulsion system. The Russian sub Captain defects. His goal is taking it to the U.S. to prevent the Russians from using the sub to cause nuclear war against the U.S.

Plot Keywords: cia agent, captain, military officer, doctor, cia analyst, saboteur, engaging ...

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#23. By Dawn's Early Light (1990)

Storyline: A nuclear warhead launched by Soviet insurgents protesting the waning Cold War destroys the Ukrainian city of Donetsk. The destruction sets off a race between American and Soviet politicians to prevent a nuclear holocaust. While the U.S. president (Martin Landau) feverishly works to keep the military and political machine from going into overdrive, various subordinates panic. When the president is believed to be killed in a helicopter crash, zealous advisers take over.

Plot Keywords: renegade, president, politician, cabinet minister, pilot, intense, incredible ...

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#24. The Bedford Incident (1965)

Storyline: Richard Widmark plays a hardened cold-warrior and captain of the American destroyer USS Bedford. Sidney Poitier is a reporter given permission to interview the captain during a routine patrol. Poitier gets more than he bargained for when the Bedford discovers a Soviet sub in the depths and the captain begins a relentless pursuit, pushing his crew to the breaking point. This one's grim tension to the end.—KC Hunt <khunt@eng.morgan.edu>

Plot Keywords: reporter, naval officer, commodore, seaman, captain, tense, chilling ...

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#25. Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey (1994)

Storyline: A documentary about the amazing life of Leon Theremin, inventor of the theremin, the electronic musical instrument so beloved of 50s sci-fi movie music. Theremin amazed America with his instrument until his kidnapping by Soviet agents in the mid-30s. Upon his release from a labor camp, he worked on surveillance devices for the KGB. Almost 60 years later , he is brought back to America for a touching reunion with his friends and colleagues.—Erik Gregersen <erik@astro.as.utexas.edu>

Plot Keywords: inventor, musician, scientist, performer, fascinating, creative, quirky ...

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#26. From Russia with Love (1963)

Storyline: James Bond 007 is on the search for a Russian decoding machine, known as "Lektor". Bond needs to find this machine, before the evil S.P.E.C.T.R.E. organization discovers it. While being romantically linked with Russian girl, Tatiana Romanova, Bond sneaks his way around Istanbul, while each S.P.E.C.T.R.E. Agent tries to pick him off, including the over powering Donald "Red" Grant and ex K.G.B. Agent Rosa Klebb, who knows all of the tricks in the book, and even possesses an incredible poison tipped shoe.

Plot Keywords: james bond, spy, russian, pretty woman, assassin, criminal, cheeky ...

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#27. This Ain't California (2012)

Storyline: This Ain't California is a celebration of the lust for life, a contemporary documentary trip into the world of roller boarding in the German Democratic Republic. A coming-of-age tale of three teenagers and their passionate love for a sport on the crumbling tarmac of the streets in the German Democratic Republic, which was considered very ill-fitting. The punk fairy tale is a story of the subversive powers of fun in that part of Germany, which had lost touch with its citizens. The film follows its three heroes from their childhood in the seventies through their teenage rebellion in the eighties, ending in the last summer of their life in the German Democratic Republic in 1989, when their life changed forever, and follows them to 2011.—Anonymous

Plot Keywords: teen boy, skater, confident, creative, berlin, west germany, defiance ...

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#28. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015)

Storyline: In the 1960s with the Cold War in play, CIA agent Napoleon Solo successfully helps Gaby Teller defect to West Germany despite the intimidating opposition of KGB agent Illya Kuryakin. Later, all three unexpectedly find themselves working together in a joint mission to stop a private criminal organization from using Gaby's father's scientific expertise to construct their own nuclear bomb. Through clenched teeth and stylish poise, all three must find a way to cooperate for the sake of world peace, even as they each pursue their own agendas.

Plot Keywords: cia agent, kgb agent, daughter, scientist, villain, president, charming ...

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#29. The Tunnel (2001)

Storyline: It's 1922; somewhere in Australia. When a Native Australian man is accused of murdering a white woman, three white men (The Fanatic, The Follower and The Veteran) are given the mission of capturing him with the help of an experienced Native Australian (The Tracker). So they start their quest in the outback, not knowing that their inner wrestles against and for racism will be more dangerous that the actual hunting for the accused.—Bruno Benton

Plot Keywords: swimmer, friend, sister, police officer, little boy, young woman, frightening ...

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#30. Free to Rock (2017)

Storyline: FREE TO ROCK is a 60 minute documentary film directed by 4 time Emmy winning filmmaker Jim Brown and narrated by Kiefer Sutherland. Ten years in the making, the film explores the soft power of Rock & Roll to affect social change behind the Iron Curtain between the years 1955 and 1991, and how it contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union and to ending the Cold War. Rock & Roll sounded the "chimes of freedom" in the hearts and minds of Iron Curtain youth. Inspiring its youth to demand freedom to listen, play and record rock music, to enjoy basic human rights and freedom from oppressive communist rule. The story follows the key political, musical and activist players in this real-life drama as the KGB cracked down hard with arrests, beatings, death threats and imprisonment. Thousands of underground rock bands with millions of passionate supporters inspire and fuel independence movements that eventually cause the Soviet communist system to implode without blood shed or civil war. Interviews and performance subjects include: Presidents Carter, Gorbachev and Vike-Freiberga, NATO Deputy Secretary General Vershbow, KGB General Kalugin, diplomats, historians and journalists, along with Elvis Presley, Beatles, Billy Joel, Metallica, Scorpions, Beach Boys, Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, and the WALL in Berlin concert; plus the Iron Curtain rockers who braved the long struggle with the Kremlin and KGB. The film is produced in collaboration with the Grammy Museum, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and the Stas Namin Center of Moscow, with support from the U.S. Government's National Endowment of the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts, both US Government arts agencies.

Plot Keywords: rocker, activist, political activist, musician, engaging, fascinating, cold war ...

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