Summer schoolwork:...Cold War movie?

[Ashley*76]

For my AP United States History class I have been assigned the task of watching a Cold War era movie (among other things...trust me, it isn't the only thing I have to do....) and answer a few questions about it. "The purpose of this task is to present you with a major theme of this course - Does the United States need an

enemy? Are we a better nation when we have one? What are the benefits and what are the problems associated

with having an enemy?"

 

 

Here is the list I have to choose from, the ones in bold are ones that I've heard of or seen snippets of:

Spies Like Us

Red Dawn

The Hunt for Red October

Fail-Safe

Crimson Tide

Rocky IV

Rambo (First Blood Part Two)

Goldfinger

The Day the Earth Stood Still

The Day After (made for TV film)

The Good Shepherd

Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

Manchurian Canidate (black and white version)

 

 

 

I'm tempted to watch Red October simply because I only saw bits and pieces of it before, and the trailer for Crimson Tide looks good. Yes, I am partial to the Navy...the only one I'm really against is Goldfinger, and that's because I'm not much of a Bond fan. What do y'all think? Any one of these in your 'favorites' list?

[Jack's Son]

Ashley,

 

Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

Manchurian Canidate (black and white version)

 

Your last two choices are my suggestion, but only if you watch BOTH. You will get two different perspectives and a great education.

 

Enjoy the project......you CANNOT go wrong! :thumbsup:

[ehrentitle]

My personal favorite from this list is Dr. Strangelove, followed by Spies Like Us, Red Dawn and The Hunt for Red October. Maybe because of the element of humor in both Dr. Strangelove and the overboard humor in Spies Like Us....but that's how us GLG-20s roll!

[Jack's Son]

Another suggestion that is not on your list, but fits into the learning process is, Seven Days in May.

You should see this one for your personal enrichment, and to have a perception of our enemy for within. EXCELLENT MOVIE.

[ehrentitle]

Ashley,

 

Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

Manchurian Canidate (black and white version)

 

Your last two choices are my suggestion, but only if you watch BOTH. You will get two different perspectives and a great education.

 

Enjoy the project......you CANNOT go wrong! :thumbsup:

 

Actually if you were to watch two to compare, I'd recommend Doctor Strange Love and Fail Safe. Doctor Strange Love and Fail Safe came out in the same year 1964. Both cover the same topic a series of coincidental events leading up to an accidental thermonuclear first-strike attack against the Soviet Union by the US. But Doctor Strange Love was much more successful because it incorporated an element of humor into the movie.

[Jack's Son]

Actually if you were to watch two to compare, I'd recommend Doctor Strange Love and Fail Safe.

I understand your thinking, and you are correct if she stays within specific topic. My thought is to give her two different scenarios and let her bridge the gap.

[Teamski]

Anybody here remember the TV movie called World War III from 1982 with David Soul? I haven't seen it since it was out, but it was a pretty good movie if I recall. There were some great combat scenes between the US Army and the Soviets. Recommended for it's Cold War pop culture value!

 

-Ski

[DutchInfid3l]

My picks from your list...

 

Red Dawn

The Hunt for Red October (can't have enough Tim Curry)

Crimson Tide

Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

Has one of my all time favorite lines... "Gentlemen! You can't fight in here! This is the war room!"

[Teamski]

Anybody here remember the TV movie called World War III from 1982 with David Soul? I haven't seen it since it was out, but it was a pretty good movie if I recall. There were some great combat scenes between the US Army and the Soviets. Recommended for it's Cold War pop culture value!

 

-Ski

 

 

You can watch it here:

 

 

The US 172nd Infantry Bde against the best the Soviets can field in Alaska!

 

-Ski

[Ashley*76]

Enjoy the project......you CANNOT go wrong! :thumbsup:

 

 

I'm looking forward to it- a chance to watch plenty of movies and it is the easiest part of my summer work for her class! I'll probably end up watching most of the movies on the list, but I wanted to see if there were any that the members here preferred over the others. It sounds like there are a few favorites out of the list, seeing as the same few keep getting mentioned :thumbsup:

[Kurt Barickman]

Being a instructor of several history AP classes, if I were to show one of those movies it would definitely be Dr. Strangelove. The only issue I would have is that the students need to understand the context and some knowledge of the topic, enjoy!

 

Kurt Barickman

[Kurt Barickman]

Oh, by the way another one that I show is Atomic Cafe. It is another sarcastic treatment of the Cold War but the clips in it are actually US propaganda documentaries from the time period.

 

Kurt again

[Garandomatic]

SPies like us is hilarious. Not on the list, but I always liked The Big Lift.

[gwb123]

For my AP United States History class I have been assigned the task of watching a Cold War era movie (among other things...trust me, it isn't the only thing I have to do....) and answer a few questions about it. "The purpose of this task is to present you with a major theme of this course - Does the United States need an

enemy? Are we a better nation when we have one? What are the benefits and what are the problems associated

with having an enemy?"

Here is the list I have to choose from, the ones in bold are ones that I've heard of or seen snippets of:

Spies Like Us

Red Dawn

The Hunt for Red October

Fail-Safe

Crimson Tide

Rocky IV

Rambo (First Blood Part Two)

Goldfinger

The Day the Earth Stood Still

The Day After (made for TV film)

The Good Shepherd

Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

Manchurian Canidate (black and white version)

I'm tempted to watch Red October simply because I only saw bits and pieces of it before, and the trailer for Crimson Tide looks good. Yes, I am partial to the Navy...the only one I'm really against is Goldfinger, and that's because I'm not much of a Bond fan. What do y'all think? Any one of these in your 'favorites' list?

 

Keep in mind the Cold War ran for a long time... from the end of WWII to the fall of the Berlin Wall.

 

Both the movie industry and how the public viewed the confrontation over time.

 

The Day the Earth Stood Still is the Cold War veiled in Science Fiction. SciFi is often used for that purpose. Keep in mind that was back in the days of Hollywood blacklists... making a movie that directly challenged the government could ruin your career for years.

 

Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb on the other hand was satire of the 1960's. People had been living in fear of nuclear weapons for almost two decades, and Stanley Kubrick made a classic statement about paranoia combined with high tech. Its a common theme as Fail Safe and Crimson Tide basically did the same thing, only on a more serious level.

 

Another comedy of the time, not on your list, is The Russians are Coming! The Russians are Coming. A Russian sub beaches itself on the New England coast and the locals react in every manner imaginable.

 

The Day After shocked audiences with it's level of realism, including politicians. In the late 1970's there was a realization that a "survivable nuclear exchange" was a myth. Having it set in the Midwest just made it all the more chilling.

 

Rambo... more entertainment than anything intellectual.

 

Having said that I will watch Red Dawn from beginning to end every time. How can you not like a story about American partisans fighting against the Soviet and Cuban hordes that invaded their country? (If you think we have grown beyond that, there is a sequel planned with the unlikely event of North Korea launching an invasion.)

 

At the risk of sounding like one of your teachers, I'd suggest watching something you have not seen before. That way it is all fresh and new, and might lead you to some insights you may not of had before.

 

(I did a college paper on the symbolism used in "A Bridge Too Far".)

[Jack's Son]

SPies like us is hilarious. Not on the list ..............

HUMM....Which list is that!!

[patches]

That a good call Jack's Son made on Seven Days in May, a great movie from a great book in which a Air Force General ( Burt Lancaster) plans a Coup d'état because he feels the sitting President and the majority of his cabinet are weakings in their dealings with the commies, I would highly recomend it.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Days_in_May

[Third Herd]

Several episodes of the Twilight Zone are about the Cold War and how people at the time were reacting to it. There was a made for TV drama made at the time named Alas Babylon, you might find it on You tube, I can remember it from when it first aired.

Strategic Air Command

The Bedford Incident

The Mouse That Roared

Over the years I have seen several I can't remember the title, maybe look at lists of movies by year during the Cold War. I grew up with B-47's based just outside of town, Atlas missile silos outside of town and Nike Hercules anti-aircraft missiles in the area. Duck and Cover drills, fall out shelters and they even sold dog tags at school with your name and address and your parents name.

[teufelhunde.ret]

That a good call Jack's Son made on Seven Days in May, a great movie from a great book in which a Air Force General ( Burt Lancaster) plans a Coup d'état because he feels the sitting President and the majority of his cabinet are weakings in their dealings with the commies, I would highly recomend it.

Agree; and The Hunt for Red October, Fail-Safe and Manchurian Canidate.

[BEAST]

I think FAIL SAFE provides the best feeling of the Cold War as it mirrors many of the fears that Americans felt at the time. It is too bad that Hollywood never filmed one from the Soviets point of view. What would have been their response if a rogue pilot flew his Bear and bombed the west coast? DR. STRANGELOVE is a great comedy and would make a good follow-on to FAIL SAFE. IMHO, you would want to watch FAIL SAFE first, then DR. STRANGELOVE.

 

One other recommendation that I would make that is a non-military movie is Cagney's ONE, TWO, THREE. It is a Billy Wilder film based in West Germany. From IMDb:

 

"In his last starring film, James Cagney plays Coca-Cola executive C.R. MacNamara. Assigned to manage Coke's West Berlin office, MacNamara dreams of being transferred to London, and to do this he must curry favor with his Atlanta-based boss, Hazeltine Thus, MacNamara agrees to look after Hazeltine's dizzy, impulsive daughter, Scarlett, during her visit to Germany. Weeks pass, and on the eve of Hazeltine's visit to West Berlin, Scarlett announces that she's gotten married. Even worse, her husband is a hygienically challenged East Berlin Communist named Otto Piffl. The crafty MacNamara arranges for Piffl to be arrested by the East Berlin police and to have the marriage annulled, only to discover that Scarlett is pregnant. In rapid-fire "one, two, three" fashion, MacNamara must arrange for Piffl to be released by the Communists and successfully pass off the scrungy, doggedly anti-capitalist Piffl as an acceptable husband for Scarlett. MacNamara must accomplish this in less than 12 hours, all the while trying to mollify his wife, who has learned of his affair with busty secretary Ingeborg. Seldom pausing for breath, Billy Wilders film is a crackling, mile-a-minute farce, taking satiric scatter shots at Coca-Cola, the Cold War (the film is set in the months just before the erection of the Berlin Wall), Russian red tape, Communist and capitalist hypocrisy, Southern bigotry, the German "war guilt," rock music, and even Cagney 's own movie image. Not all the gags are in the best of taste, and most of the one-liners have dated rather badly, but Cagneys mesmerizing performance holds the whole affair together."

[Garandomatic]

The list that the original poster gave that The Big Lift is not on. Spies Like Us is on that list. Stuck a period in there to separate ideas.

 

HUMM....Which list is that!!

[MasonK]

For my AP United States History class I have been assigned the task of watching a Cold War era movie (among other things...trust me, it isn't the only thing I have to do....) and answer a few questions about it. "The purpose of this task is to present you with a major theme of this course - Does the United States need an

enemy? Are we a better nation when we have one? What are the benefits and what are the problems associated

with having an enemy?"

Here is the list I have to choose from, the ones in bold are ones that I've heard of or seen snippets of:

Spies Like Us

Red Dawn

The Hunt for Red October

Fail-Safe

Crimson Tide

Rocky IV

Rambo (First Blood Part Two)

Goldfinger

The Day the Earth Stood Still

The Day After (made for TV film)

The Good Shepherd

Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

Manchurian Canidate (black and white version)

I'm tempted to watch Red October simply because I only saw bits and pieces of it before, and the trailer for Crimson Tide looks good. Yes, I am partial to the Navy...the only one I'm really against is Goldfinger, and that's because I'm not much of a Bond fan. What do y'all think? Any one of these in your 'favorites' list?

 

 

Wow, this is for a class? These are films I enjoyed watching as a kid and still enjoy watching today! I wish a teacher would have given this to me as homework when I was in school. We had to watch Grapes of Wrath and A Streetcar Named Desire…Although, I also had to watch 12 Angry Men, which is now one of my favorite films.

 

All , for the most part, are great films in their own respect. If I had to choose 3 films out of that list which would present some good responses to the questions asked, they'd be as follows:

 

1.Dr Strangelove (Mein Fuhrer, I can walk!) - Definitely would provide some compelling answers to the questions, especially the first question.

2.Red October - Seeing as your partial to the Navy, this may be your best choice as you'll have more of an appreciation for the film and probably have more fun answering the questions.

3.The Day After/Red Dawn - Tie for these two as they show the extreme "what if's" during the Cold War, although Red Dawn may be a little embellished, but then again maybe not? Wolverines!

 

After you've watched your selection for your class, watch Spies Like Us - It's just an awesome movie with Chevy Chase and Dan Aykroyd when they were both at the top as comedians.

 

A couple movies not on the list that may be worth mentioning:

 

Watchmen - Shows an alternate reality where superheroes win the Vietnam War, however despite this, the clock is counting down to an all out nuclear war between the US and the Soviet Union. There is a spin at the end, which would definitely provide some good answers to the questions you have been asked. The film is OK, however the book (graphic novel) is much better.

 

War Games - A movie ahead of it's time that poses the question; What happens when artificial intelligence is given too much power?

[Jack's Son]

The list that the original poster gave that The Big Lift is not on. Spies Like Us is on that list. Stuck a period in there to separate ideas.

:thumbsup: I appreciate the help!

[Third Herd]

On The Beach (1959)

[Jack's Son]

On The Beach (1959)

That's another good one!

[patches]

Here,s another one dealing with cold war Germany, it was very good Film Noir type movie, though I hav,nt seen it in years and years, I do remember Buddy Epsen charactor M/Sgt. Eddie McColloch

was a 4th Infantry Division Combat Infantry Vet he had the IVY Division as a Combat patch along with the CIB of course.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_People_(film)

 

Here a still, Peck was an MP officer 5th Army vet both Epsen and Pecks charactors were in U.S. Army Europe.