Cold war era movies and TV shows – page 2

List of cold war era movies

The Ipcress File (1965)
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 109 min.
Story: This espionage thriller represents a landmark in spy movies introducing the sly, dry intelligence agent Harry Palmer. The story, centers on Palmer's investigation into British Intelligence security. He's soon enmeshed in a world of ...
Style: atmospheric, enigmatic, suspenseful, suspense, exciting ...
Plot: cold war, espionage, spy, conspiracy, double agent, brainwashing, undercover, politics, british, investigation, political intrigue, secret agent ...
Time: 60s, 20th century
Place: albania, london, england, europe, scotland yard ...
Is relevant?
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965)
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 112 min.
Story: British agent Alec Leamas refuses to come in from the cold war during the 1960s, choosing to face another mission, which may prove to be his final one.
Style: political, black and white, suspense, grim, realistic ...
Plot: cold war, spy, espionage, berlin wall, british intelligence, iron curtain, double agent, spy thriller, literary, politics, great ending, secret agent ...
Time: 60s, year 1965, 20th century
Place: east germany, berlin germany, london, england, persia ...
Is relevant?
Funeral in Berlin (1966)
Genre: Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 102 min.
Story: Colonel Stok, a Soviet intelligence officer responsible for security at the Berlin Wall, appears to want to defect but the evidence is contradictory. Stok wants the British to handle his defection and asks for one of their agents, Harry Palmer, to ...
Style: political thriller, suspenseful, visually stunning, realistic, serious ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: cold war, espionage, berlin wall, spy, funeral, 007, cold war era, betrayal, chase, covert operation, murder, hotel ...
Time: year 1966, 1940s, 20th century
Place: berlin germany, germany, east germany, west berlin west germany, england ...
Is relevant?
 7.1
 120K
WarGames (1983)
Genre: Action, Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 114 min.
Story: High School student David Lightman (Matthew Broderick) has a talent for hacking. But while trying to hack into a computer system to play unreleased video games, he unwittingly taps into the Defense Department's war computer and initiates a ...
Style: tense, cyber, futuristic, suspenseful, political ...
Audience: teens, kids, family outing, teen drama
Plot: cold war, hacker, computer genius, computer hacker, computer, chess, computer cracker, nuclear threat, hacking, artificial intelligence, nuclear war, computer system ...
Time: 80s, 20th century, year 1983
Place: seattle, oregon, ussr, washington state, usa ...
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The Fourth Protocol (1987)
Genre: Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 119 min.
Story: Plan Aurora, led by Kim Philby is a plan that breaches the top-secret Fourth Protocol and turns the fears that shaped it into a living nightmare. A crack Soviet agent, placed under cover in a quiet English country town, begins to assemble a nuclear ...
Style: suspense, exciting, suspenseful, intense, serious ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: espionage, spy, politics, undercover, cold war, kgb, nuclear bomb, secret agent, conspiracy, closeted homosexual, chase, betrayal ...
Time: 80s, year 1987, 20th century
Place: russia, england, glasgow scotland, europe, london ...
Is relevant?
Three Days of the Condor (1975)
Genre: Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 117 min.
Story: A bookish CIA researcher finds all his co-workers dead, and must outwit those responsible until he figures out who he can really trust.
Style: political thriller, tense, suspense, atmospheric, suspenseful ...
Plot: conspiracy, espionage, cia, uncover truth, fighting the system, political conspiracy, life turned upside down, who to trust, hitman, manhunt, politics, photograph ...
Time: 70s, year 1975, 20th century
Place: new york, middle east, persia, usa, brooklyn new york city ...
Is relevant?
 8.1
 384K
The Deer Hunter (1978)
Genre: Drama, War
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 183 min.
Story: A group of working-class friends decides to enlist in the Army during the Vietnam War and finds it to be hellish chaos -- not the noble venture they imagined. Before they left, Steven married his pregnant girlfriend -- and Michael and Nick were in ...
Style: depressing, epic, psychological, emotional, harsh ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: vietnam war, russian roulette, hunting, anti war, suicide, friendship, small town, wedding, u.s. army, gambling, drunkenness, war crime ...
Time: 20th century, year 1978, post world war two, 60s
Place: vietnam, pennsylvania, pittsburgh, asia, usa ...
Is relevant?
Smiley's People (1982)
Genre: Drama, Mystery
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min.
TV show
Story: Called out of retirement to settle the affairs of a friend, Smiley finds his old organization, the Circus, so overwhelmed by political considerations that it doesn't want to know what happened. He begins to follow up the clues of his friends ...
Style: serious, realistic, suspenseful, thought provoking, clever ...
Audience: girls' night
Plot: espionage, cold war, spy, british intelligence, investigation, cold war era, assassination attempt, covert operation, working undercover, spy thriller, defector, prospector ...
Time: 20th century, 80s
Place: britain, london, england, united kingdom, hamburg germany ...
Is relevant?
An Englishman Abroad (1983)
Genre: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 61 min.
Story: Actress Coral Browne travels to Moscow, and meets a mysterious Englishman. Turns out he's the notorious spy, Guy Burgess. Based on a true story, with Ms. Browne playing herself.
Style: atmospheric, melancholic, intellectual, art house, period drama
Plot: cold war, spy, desertion, cold war era, character study, intimate, biopic, identity, moral ambiguity, regret, isolation, political intrigue ...
Time: 60s
Place: moscow russia, soviet union, london, ussr, russia
Is relevant?
The Kremlin Letter (1970)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min.
Story: A network of older spies from the West recruits a young intelligence officer with a photographic memory to accompany them on a mission inside Russia. They must recover a letter written by the CIA that promises American assistance to Russia if China ...
Style: neo noir, political thriller, visually stunning, tense, serious ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: spy, cold war, espionage, covert operation, spy thriller, cold war era, undercover agent, undercover, secret agent, manhunt, female impersonator, letter ...
Time: 60s
Place: russia, moscow russia, soviet union, china, asia ...
Is relevant?
 8.1
 28K
Fail Safe (1964)
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 112 min.
Story: Because of a technical defect an American bomber team mistakenly orders the destruction of Moscow. The President of the United States has but little time to prevent an atomic catastrophe from occurring. Director Sidney Lumet gives an atmospheric ...
Style: tense, political, political thriller, realistic, bleak ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: cold war, nuclear holocaust, nuclear war, politics, nuclear threat, u.s. air force, military, nuclear explosion, atomic bomb, bomber, nightmare, nuclear bomb ...
Time: 20th century, 60s, year 1967
Place: russia, new york, washington d.c., usa, moscow russia ...
Is relevant?
 6.2
 21K
Topaz (1969)
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 143 min.
Story: A French intelligence agent becomes embroiled in the Cold War politics first with uncovering the events leading up to the 1962 Cuban Missle Crisis, and then back to France to break up an international Russian spy ring.
Style: tense, suspense, suspenseful, psychological, retro ...
Plot: espionage, cold war, spy, betrayal, secret agent, cuban missile crisis, undercover, surveillance, conspiracy, politics, kgb, government agency ...
Time: 20th century, 60s, year 1962, year 1969
Place: cuba, france, paris france, copenhagen, new york ...
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 7.1
 55K
No Way Out (1987)
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Romance, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 114 min.
Story: Navy Lt. Tom Farrell meets a young woman, Susan Atwell , and they share a passionate fling. Farrell then finds out that his superior, Defense Secretary David Brice, is also romantically involved with Atwell. When the young woman turns up dead, ...
Style: neo noir, sexy, suspense, suspenseful, political thriller ...
Audience: girls' night
Plot: twists and turns, espionage, murder, conspiracy, cold war, investigation, sex scene, spy, undercover, love triangle, accidental killing, political corruption ...
Time: 80s, year 1987, 20th century
Place: washington d.c., pentagon, manila philippines, usa
Is relevant?
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
Genre: Comedy, War
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 95 min.
Story: After the insane General Jack D. Ripper initiates a nuclear strike on the Soviet Union, a war room full of politicians, generals and a Russian diplomat all frantically try to stop the nuclear strike.
Style: black comedy, dark comedy, cerebral, satirical, funny ...
Audience: chick flick
Plot: satire, cold war, military, nuclear war, nuclear threat, nuclear explosion, u.s. air force, nuclear holocaust, nuclear bomb, doomsday, anti war, absurdism ...
Time: 20th century, 60s, year 1942, 1930s
Place: soviet union, washington d.c., persia, united kingdom, england ...
Is relevant?
 6.1
 705
Amerika (1987)
Genre: Action, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 870 min.
TV show
Story: America has been bloodlessly taken over by the Soviet Union, leading to slave-labor camps for some, collaboration for others and rebellion for yet others.
Style: political thriller, tense, bleak, suspenseful
Plot: alternate history, cold war, dystopia, cold war era, resistance, occupation, oppression, totalitarianism, spy, president, u.s. president, propaganda ...
Is relevant?
 5.8
 214
Master Spy (1963)
Genre: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 70 min.
Story: Boris Turganev (Murray) is a Russian scientist who has absconded from a Communist prison in an attempt to achieve a better life working for the British. As Boris struggles to make his superiors believe he is there to work and not to spy for the ...
Style: tension, suspense, political thriller, period piece, independent film ...
Plot: spy, espionage, cold war, cold war era, mistrust, double agent, suspicion, desertion, undercover, paranoia, betrayal, conspiracy ...
Time: 60s
Is relevant?
 5.2
 345
Secret Weapons (1985)
Genre: Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 96 min.
Story: Hamilton plays a young Russian girl recruited to be a sex spy, seducing men and catching them in compromising situations so they can be blackmailed. The problems start when she falls in love with one of her targets, and must figure out how to avoid ...
Style: suspense, tension, political thriller
Plot: spy, female assassin, cold war, female spy, blackmail, surveillance, espionage, seduction, cold war era, undercover, deception, sexploitation ...
Time: 80s
Place: soviet union, moscow russia, usa
Is relevant?
Bunker: Project 12 (2016)
Genre: Action, Adventure, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: Spain
Duration: 97 min.
Story: At the height of the Cold War, Russia was working on a secret scientific mission, which, if successful, would have changed the course of history. The mission, "Project 12," was ultimately deemed too dangerous to continue and the scientists ...
Style: tense, captivating, disturbing, tension, mysterious ...
Plot: cold war, betrayal, bunker, cold war era, conspiracy, secret project, experiment, weapons, struggle for survival, warrior, human experiment, soldier ...
Place: russia
Is relevant?
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 8.4
 764K
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Genre: Drama, Mystery, War
Country: USA
Duration: 147 min.
Story: At the height of the Vietnam war, Captain Benjamin Willard is sent on a dangerous mission that, officially, "does not exist, nor will it ever exist." His goal is to locate - and eliminate - a mysterious Green Beret Colonel named Walter ...
Style: bleak, psychological, cult classic, surreal, sexy ...
Audience: date night, adult
Plot: vietnam war, jungle, insanity, anti war, military, army, secret mission, violence, mission, soldier, violent, river ...
Time: 20th century, year 1979, 60s, year 1969
Place: vietnam, cambodia, southeast asia, asia, the philippines ...
Is relevant?
 5.9
 31K
Firefox (1982)
Genre: Action, Adventure, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 136 min.
Story: The Soviets have developed a revolutionary new jet fighter, called "Firefox". Naturally, the British are worried that the jet will be used as a first-strike weapon, as rumours say that the jet is indetectable on radar. They send ex-Vietnam ...
Style: suspense, exciting, suspenseful, funny, cult classic ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: cold war, spy, fighter plane, behind enemy lines, fighter pilot, chase, espionage, aerial combat, fighter jet, aviation, military, scientist ...
Time: 80s, year 1982
Place: soviet union, russia, moscow russia, england, vietnam ...
Is relevant?
 6.4
 56K
Spies Like Us (1985)
Genre: Adventure, Comedy
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min.
Story: Two bumbling government employees think they are U.S. spies, only to discover that they are actually decoys for Nuclear War.
Style: parody, humorous, spoof, funny, suspense ...
Audience: boys' night, kids
Plot: cold war, espionage, kgb, spy, secret agent, cia agent, chase, farce, race against time, mistaken identity, buddy, satire ...
Time: 80s, 20th century
Place: afghanistan, asia, soviet union, middle east, pakistan ...
Is relevant?
The Whistle Blower (1986)
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 100 min.
Story: A war veteran tries to investigate the murder of his son who was working as a Russian translator for the British intelligence service during the Cold War. He meets a web of deception and paranoia that seems impenetrable...
Style: political thriller, political, realistic, serious, tense ...
Plot: spy, cold war, espionage, whistleblower, british intelligence, paranoia, murder, covert operation, cold war era, russian spy, revenge, traitor ...
Time: year 1986, 20th century, 80s
Place: england, london, europe
Is relevant?
Full Metal Jacket (1987)
Genre: Drama, War
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 116 min.
Story: A pragmatic U.S. Marine observes the dehumanizing effects the U.S.-Vietnam War has on his fellow recruits from their brutal boot camp training to the bloody street fighting in Hue.
Style: clever, suspense, visually stunning, bleak, psychological ...
Audience: manly, boys' night, adult
Plot: vietnam war, military, war, soldier, anti war, suicide, basic training, boot camp, violence, sniper, military life, brutality ...
Time: 20th century, year 1967, year 1968, year 1987, 60s ...
Place: vietnam, persia, america, asia, south carolina ...
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 7.2
 8K
23 (1998)
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Country: Germany
Duration: 99 min.
Story: The movie's plot is based on the true story of a group of young computer hackers from Hannover, Germany. In the late 1980s the orphaned Karl Koch invests his heritage in a flat and a home computer. At first he dials up to bulletin boards to ...
Style: mind bending, psychological, cyber, surreal, political ...
Plot: espionage, computer, hacker, cold war, computer genius, hacking, nuclear power plant, computer hacker, geek, conspiracy, computer science, drug addiction ...
Time: 80s, year 1985, year 1986
Place: west berlin west germany, soviet union, german democratic republic, europe, berlin germany ...
Is relevant?
K-19: The Widowmaker (2002)
Genre: Drama, History, Thriller, War
Country: USA, UK, Germany, Canada
Duration: 138 min.
Story: When Russia's first nuclear submarine malfunctions on its maiden voyage, the crew must race to save the ship and prevent a nuclear disaster.
Style: suspense, suspenseful, realistic, intense, harsh ...
Audience: manly, boys' night
Plot: cold war, submarine, navy, nuclear submarine, radiation, courage, underwater, radiation sickness, nuclear, radioactivity, sea, sea disaster ...
Time: 60s, year 1989, year 2002, 20th century, 80s ...
Place: soviet union, nova scotia, russia, moscow russia, atlantic ocean ...
Is relevant?
 6.9
 7K
Farewell (2009)
Genre: Drama, Romance, Thriller
Country: France
Duration: 113 min.
Story: Engaging, emotional and riveting, FAREWELL is an intricate and highly intelligent thriller pulled from the pages of history— about an ordinary man thrust into the biggest theft of Soviet information of the Cold War. Ronald Reagan called this piece ...
Style: realistic, serious, tense, suspenseful, political ...
Plot: cold war, espionage, iron curtain, undercover, double agent, danger, betrayal, state affairs, dishonesty, working undercover, kgb, father son relationship ...
Time: year 2009, 80s, 20th century
Place: soviet union, france, russia, ussr
Is relevant?
 6.7
 219K
Atomic Blonde (2017)
Genre: Action, Thriller
Country: USA, Sweden, Hungary
Duration: 115 min.
Story: An undercover MI6 agent is sent to Berlin during the Cold War to investigate the murder of a fellow agent and recover a missing list of double agents.
Style: sexy, surprise ending, exciting, suspense, harsh ...
Audience: chick flick, adult
Plot: spy, cold war, female spy, assassin, female killer, lgbt, female assassin, female agent, female warrior, rogue agent, lesbian, secret agent ...
Time: year 2017, 2010s, year 1989, 80s, 20th century ...
Place: berlin germany, east berlin, germany, eastern europe, german democratic republic ...
Is relevant?
 7.0
 6K
Jack Strong (2014)
Genre: Biography, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Poland
Duration: 128 min.
Story: A spy thriller telling a historically based story of a man who alone dares to challenge Soviets being in the middle of the communistic system himself. Planning the maneuvers of Warsaw Pact forces he discovers that the American plans of nuclear ...
Style: captivating, realistic, serious, suspenseful, exciting ...
Plot: spy, martial law, state affairs, undercover, politics, government agency, political unrest, dishonesty, iron curtain, cold war, chase, danger ...
Time: 20th century, 80s, 70s, 90s, 60s
Place: poland, europe, soviet union, warsaw poland, ussr
Is relevant?
Apocalypse of Ice (2020)
Genre: Adventure, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min.
Story: Already in the throes of a viral pandemic, a massive polar vortex threatens to cover nearly all of Earth in ice. When it's discovered the only chance of survival from the cold is a 100-mile temperate zone near the equator, a virologist, with ...
Style: apocalyptic, futuristic, captivating, visually appealing, tense ...
Plot: disaster, pandemic, cold weather, virus, storm, survival, cold war era, deadly virus, one man army, one against many, post apocalyptic, evacuation ...
Is relevant?
The Mongolian Conspiracy (2018)
Genre: Crime, Thriller
Country: Mexico
Duration: 100 min.
Story: 1963, the Soviet Union intercepts a rumor that China pretends to assassinate the president of the US in his visit to Mexico. Filiberto Garcia, a local policeman, has 72 hours to investigate the Mongolian Conspiracy. Damn International Intrigue!
Style: tense, neo noir, political thriller, crime thriller, captivating ...
Plot: assassination, cold war, conspiracy, intrigue, political unrest, political intrigue, political corruption, race against time, cold war era, political conspiracy, international relations, wartime ...
Time: 60s
Place: latin america, mexico city
Is relevant?
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