List of films about nuclear issues
Encyclopedia
This is a list of films about nuclear issues:
Documentary films
- Atomic Power (film)Atomic Power (film)Atomic Power is a 1946 short documentary film. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short....
- Deadly Deception: General Electric, Nuclear Weapons and Our EnvironmentDeadly Deception: General Electric, Nuclear Weapons and Our EnvironmentDeadly Deception: General Electric, Nuclear Weapons and Our Environment is a 1991 short documentary film directed by Debra Chasnoff. It won an Academy Award at the 64th Academy Awards in 1992 for Documentary Short Subject.-External links:*...
- Duck and CoverDuck and Cover (film)Duck and Cover is a civil defense film produced in 1951 by the United States federal government's civil defense branch shortly after the Soviet Union began nuclear testing. Written by Raymond J...
- Heavy Water: A Film for Chernobyl
- Hiroshima
- If You Love This PlanetIf You Love This PlanetIf You Love This Planet is a 1982 short documentary film recording a lecture given to SUNY Plattsburgh students by physician and anti-nuclear activist Dr. Helen Caldicott about the dangers posed by nuclear weapons. The movie was directed by Terri Nash and produced by Edward Le Lorrain for Studio...
- Into Eternity
- Nuclear Tipping PointNuclear Tipping PointNuclear Tipping Point is a 2010 documentary film produced by the Nuclear Threat Initiative. It features interviews with four American government officials who were in office during the Cold War period, but are now advocating for the elimination of nuclear weapons. They are: Henry Kissinger, George...
- Our Friend the AtomOur Friend the AtomOur Friend the Atom is a 1957 Walt Disney Productions film describing the benefits of atomic power. As well as being presented on the TV Show Disneyland, this film was also shown to almost all baby boomers in their public school auditoriums or their science classes and was instrumental in creating...
- Protect and SurviveProtect and SurviveProtect and Survive was a public information series on civil defence produced by the British government during the late 1970s and early 1980s. It was intended to inform British citizens on how to protect themselves during a nuclear attack, and consisted of a mixture of pamphlets, radio broadcasts,...
- Race for the BombRace for the BombDramatized documentary about the Manhattan Project, starting from the initial stages of scientific discovery that led to the creation of the atomic bomb, and ending with the beginning of the arms race....
- Radio BikiniRadio BikiniRadio Bikini is a 1988 American documentary film directed by Robert Stone. It was nominated for an Academy Award in 1988 for Best Documentary Feature....
- Silent StormSilent Storm (film)Silent Storm is an Australian documentary film. The documentary was directed and written by Australian documentary film maker Peter Butt.- Synopsis :...
- The Atomic CaféThe Atomic CafeThe Atomic Cafe is an American documentary film produced and directed by Jayne Loader, Kevin Rafferty, and Pierce Rafferty.-Synopsis:The film covers the beginnings of the era of nuclear warfare, created from a broad range of archival film from the 1940s, 1950s and early 1960s - including newsreel...
- The Day After TrinityThe Day After TrinityThe Day After Trinity is a 1980 documentary film directed and produced by Jon H. Else in association with KTEH public television in San Jose, California. The film tells the story of J...
- The Mushroom ClubThe Mushroom ClubThe Mushroom Club is a 2005 documentary short subject, directed by Steven Okazaki.The short film is about the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima and its effects on the residents of that city sixty years later....
- The Rainbow WarriorThe Rainbow Warrior (film)The Rainbow Warrior, sometimes called The Sinking of the Rainbow Warrior, is a 1992 television film starring Sam Neill and Jon Voight.-Plot summary:...
- The Return of Navajo BoyThe Return of Navajo BoyThe Return of Navajo Boy is an award-winning documentary film produced by Jeff Spitz and Bennie Klain about the Cly family, Navajo who have suffered health problems due to environmental contamination from uranium mining on tribal land in Monument Valley, Utah...
- Trinity and Beyond: The Atomic Bomb Movie
- White Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and NagasakiWhite Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and NagasakiWhite Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is an HBO documentary film that was directed and produced by Steven Okazaki and was released on August 6, 2007 on HBO, marking the 62nd anniversary of the first atomic bombing...
- The Atom Strikes!The Atom Strikes!The Atom Strikes is a document commissioned by the U.S. Army Signal Corps Pictoral Division shortly after the end of the Second World War. It documents the findings of a commission sent to Japan to assess the damage caused by the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.Opening with the blast of...
- Countdown to ZeroCountdown to ZeroCountdown to Zero is a documentary film released in 2010 which argues that the likelihood of the use of nuclear weapons has increased since the end of the Cold War due to terrorism, nuclear proliferation, theft of nuclear materials and weapons, and other factors.The documentary film was set for a...
Movies
- Broken ArrowBroken Arrow (1996 film)Broken Arrow is a 1996 American action film directed by John Woo, written by Graham Yost, and starring John Travolta and Christian Slater. The original music score was composed by Hans Zimmer, and features guitarist Duane Eddy. It deals with the theft of an American nuclear weapon.The film received...
(1996) A film about two friends in the United States Air Force, who become bitter enemies after one of them steals two nuclear weapons and gives the U.S. Government an ultimatum: Either pay a very huge ransom, or he will destroy a major U.S. city. - By Dawn's Early LightBy Dawn's Early LightBy Dawn’s Early Light is an HBO Original Movie, aired in 1990 and set in 1991. It is based on the 1983 novel Trinity's Child, written by William Prochnau. The film is one of the last films to depict the events of a fictional World War III before the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the...
(HBO, 1990) -- About rogue Soviet military officials framing NATO for a nuclear attack in order to spark a full-blown nuclear war. - Countdown to Looking GlassCountdown to Looking GlassCountdown to Looking Glass is a Canadian made-for-television movie that premiered in the United States on HBO on 14 October 1984 and was also broadcast on CTV in Canada. The movie presents a fictional confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union over the Strait of Hormuz, the...
(HBO, 1984) -- A film that presents a simulated news broadcast about a nuclear war. - Crimson TideCrimson Tide (film)The film has uncredited additional writing by Quentin Tarantino, much of it being the pop-culture reference-laden dialogue.The U.S. Navy objected to many of the elements in the script — particularly the aspect of mutiny on board a U.S. naval vessel — and as such, the film was produced...
(1995) A suspenseful drama about a nuclear submarine, and the mutiny of its captain, regarding decisions on whether to launch a nuclear missile. - Damnation AlleyDamnation Alley (film)Damnation Alley is a 1977 film, directed by Jack Smight, loosely based on the novel of the same name by Roger Zelazny. The original music score was composed by Jerry Goldsmith.-Plot:...
(20th Century Fox, 1977) -- Surprise attack launched on the United States, and the subsequent efforts of a small band of survivors in California to reach another group of survivors in Albany, New York. - Dirty WarDirty War (film)Dirty War is a 2004 BBC, in association with HBO Films, made-for-TV movie thriller/drama about a terrorist attack on Central London, written by Lizzie Mickery and Daniel Percival. It was originally broadcast on BBC One on September 24, 2004, on HBO on January 24, 2005, and the first time on...
(BBC/HBO, 2004)--Follows the journey of a radioactive isotope into England, where it is ultimately turned into multiple dirty bombDirty bombA dirty bomb is a speculative radiological weapon that combines radioactive material with conventional explosives. The purpose of the weapon is to contaminate the area around the explosion with radioactive material, hence the attribute "dirty"....
s and denoted in central London. Meanwhile, the city of London conducts preparedness drills for a possible terrorist attack - Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the BombDr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the BombDr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, commonly known as Dr. Strangelove, is a 1964 black comedy film which satirizes the nuclear scare. It was directed, produced, and co-written by Stanley Kubrick, starring Peter Sellers and George C. Scott, and featuring Sterling...
(1964) -- A black comedyBlack comedyA black comedy, or dark comedy, is a comic work that employs black humor or gallows humor. The definition of black humor is problematic; it has been argued that it corresponds to the earlier concept of gallows humor; and that, as humor has been defined since Freud as a comedic act that anesthetizes...
film that satirizes the Cold War and the threat of nuclear warfare. - Fail-SafeFail-Safe (1964 film)Fail-Safe is a 1964 film directed by Sidney Lumet, based on the 1962 novel of the same name by Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler. It tells the story of a fictional Cold War nuclear crisis...
(1964) -- A film based on a novel of the same nameFail-Safe (novel)Fail-Safe is a novel by Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler, published in 1962.The popular and critically acclaimed novel was first adapted into a 1964 film of the same name directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Henry Fonda, Dan O'Herlihy, and Walter Matthau. In 2000, the novel was adapted again for...
about an American bomber crew and nuclear tensions. - Fail-Safe (CBS, 2000) -- A remake of the 1964 film.
- Godzilla (1954) - Atomic tests in the South PacificOceaniaOceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago...
awaken a giant, prehistoric monster that threatens to destroy JapanJapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. - K-19: The WidowmakerK-19: The WidowmakerK-19: The Widowmaker is a movie released on July 19, 2002, about the first of many disasters that befell the Soviet submarine of the same name. The film was directed by Kathryn Bigelow...
(2002) -- Covers the Soviet submarine K-19 nuclear accident. - Miracle MileMiracle Mile (film)Miracle Mile is a 1988 apocalyptic thriller cult film written and directed by Steve De Jarnatt, and starring Anthony Edwards and Mare Winningham that takes place mostly in real time. It is named after the Miracle Mile neighborhood of Los Angeles, where most of the action takes place. The movie was...
(1988) -- A film about two lovers in Los AngelesLos Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
leading up to a nuclear war. - On the BeachOn the Beach (1959 film)On the Beach is a post-apocalyptic drama film based on Nevil Shute's 1957 novel of the same name. The film features Gregory Peck , Ava Gardner , Fred Astaire and Anthony Perkins...
, 1959 film depicting a gradually dying, post-apocalyptic world in Australia that remained after a nuclear Third World War. - On the BeachOn the Beach (2000 film)On the Beach is an apocalyptic television movie released in 2000, airing originally on Showtime. It is a remake of the 1959 film, and is based on the 1957 novel by Nevil Shute. It starred Armand Assante, Bryan Brown, and Rachel Ward...
(Showcase, 2000) -- A remake of the 1959 film. - Planet of the ApesPlanet of the Apes (1968 film)Planet of the Apes is a 1968 American science fiction film directed by Franklin J. Schaffner, based on the 1963 French novel La Planète des singes by Pierre Boulle. The film stars Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, Maurice Evans, James Whitmore, James Daly and Linda Harrison...
(1968) depicts Earth after being destroyed in a nuclear war. - SilkwoodSilkwoodSilkwood is a 1983 American drama film directed by Mike Nichols. The screenplay by Nora Ephron and Alice Arlen was inspired by the true-life story of Karen Silkwood, who died in a suspicious car accident while investigating alleged wrongdoing at the Kerr-McGee plutonium plant where she...
(1983) was inspired by the true-life story of Karen SilkwoodKaren SilkwoodKaren Gay Silkwood was an American labor union activist and chemical technician at the Kerr-McGee plant near Crescent, Oklahoma, United States. Silkwood's job was making plutonium pellets for nuclear reactor fuel rods...
, who died in a suspicious car accident while investigating alleged wrongdoing at the Kerr-McGeeKerr-McGeeThe Kerr-McGee Corporation, founded in 1929, was an energy company involved in the exploration and production of oil and gas. On June 23, 2006, Houston-based Anadarko Petroleum Corporation agreed to acquire Kerr-McGee in an all-cash transaction totaling $16.5 billion plus the assumption of $2.6...
plutoniumPlutoniumPlutonium is a transuranic radioactive chemical element with the chemical symbol Pu and atomic number 94. It is an actinide metal of silvery-gray appearance that tarnishes when exposed to air, forming a dull coating when oxidized. The element normally exhibits six allotropes and four oxidation...
plant where she worked. - Special BulletinSpecial BulletinSpecial Bulletin is an American made-for-TV movie first broadcast in 1983. It was an early collaboration between director Edward Zwick and writer Marshall Herskovitz, a team that would later produce such series as thirtysomething and My So-Called Life...
(1983) A very gripping NBC drama about some anti-nuke activists who ironically threaten to detonate a nuclear device in Charleston, South Carolina. - TestamentTestament (film)Testament is a drama film directed by Lynne Littman and starring Jane Alexander.The film tells the story of how one small suburban town near the San Francisco Bay Area slowly falls apart after a nuclear war destroys outside civilization....
(PBSPublic Broadcasting ServiceThe Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
, 1983) -- Depicts the after-effects of a nuclear war in a town near San Francisco, CaliforniaSan Francisco, CaliforniaSan Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
. - The Children's StoryThe Children's StoryThe Children's Story is a short story written by James Clavell in 1963 and published in 1981. It is also the title of a 1982 short film based upon the story. As of April 2010, this book is still in print.-Plot summary:...
(1982) short film, which originally aired on TV's Mobil Showcase, depicts the first day of indoctrination of an elementary school classroom by a new teacher, representing a totalitarian government that has taken over the United States. It is based on the 1960 short story of the same name by James ClavellJames ClavellJames Clavell, born Charles Edmund DuMaresq Clavell was an Australian-born, British novelist, screenwriter, director and World War II veteran and prisoner of war...
. - The China SyndromeThe China SyndromeThe China Syndrome is a 1979 American thriller film that tells the story of a reporter and cameraman who discover safety coverups at a nuclear power plant. It stars Jane Fonda, Jack Lemmon, Michael Douglas, Scott Brady, James Hampton, Peter Donat, Richard Herd, and Wilford Brimley.The film was...
has been described as a "gripping 1979 drama about the dangers of nuclear power" which had an extra impact when the real-life accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear plantThree Mile Island accidentThe Three Mile Island accident was a core meltdown in Unit 2 of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania near Harrisburg, United States in 1979....
occurred several weeks after the film opened. Jane FondaJane FondaJane Fonda is an American actress, writer, political activist, former fashion model, and fitness guru. She rose to fame in the 1960s with films such as Barbarella and Cat Ballou. She has won two Academy Awards and received several other movie awards and nominations during more than 50 years as an...
plays a TV reporter who witnesses a near-meltdownNuclear meltdownNuclear meltdown is an informal term for a severe nuclear reactor accident that results in core damage from overheating. The term is not officially defined by the International Atomic Energy Agency or by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission...
(the "China syndromeChina SyndromeThe term China syndrome describes a nuclear reactor operations accident characterized by the severe meltdown of the core components of the reactor, which then burn through the containment vessel and the housing building, then notionally through the crust and body of the Earth until reaching...
" of the title) at a local nuclear plant, which was averted by a quick-thinking engineer, played by Jack LemmonJack LemmonJohn Uhler "Jack" Lemmon III was an American actor and musician. He starred in more than 60 films including Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, Mister Roberts , Days of Wine and Roses, The Great Race, Irma la Douce, The Odd Couple, Save the Tiger John Uhler "Jack" Lemmon III (February 8, 1925June...
. The plot suggests that corporate greed and cost-cutting "have led to potentially deadly faults in the plant's construction". - The Day AfterThe Day AfterThe Day After is a 1983 American television movie which aired on November 20, 1983, on the ABC television network. It was seen by more than 100 million people during its initial broadcast....
(1983) -- This made-for-television-movie by ABCAmerican Broadcasting CompanyThe American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
that depicts the consequences of a nuclear war in Lawrence, KansasLawrence, KansasLawrence is the sixth largest city in the U.S. State of Kansas and the county seat of Douglas County. Located in northeastern Kansas, Lawrence is the anchor city of the Lawrence, Kansas, Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Douglas County...
and the surrounding area. - The Manhattan Project (1986) -- Though not about a nuclear war, it was seen as a cautionary tale.
- The SacrificeThe SacrificeThe Sacrifice is a 1986 film, and the final film by Russian film director Andrei Tarkovsky, who died shortly after completing it.-Synopsis:...
(Sweden, 1986) -- A philosophical drama about nuclear war. - The Sum of All Fears (film)The Sum of All Fears (film)The Sum of All Fears is a 2002 American action film/political thriller directed by Phil Alden Robinson and based on the novel The Sum of All Fears by Tom Clancy...
(2002) -- A tale of terrorists' attempts to cause a nuclear war between the U.S. and Russia. - The War GameThe War GameThe War Game is a 1965 television documentary-style drama depicting the effects of nuclear war on Britain. Written, directed, and produced by Peter Watkins for the BBC's The Wednesday Play anthology series, it caused dismay within the BBC and in government and was withdrawn from television...
(BBC, 1965) -- Depicts the effects of a nuclear war in Britain following a conventional war that escalates to nuclear war. - Threads (BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, 1984) -- A film that is set in the British city of SheffieldSheffieldSheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
and shows the long-term results of a nuclear war on the surrounding area. - Under SiegeUnder SiegeUnder Siege is a 1992 American action film directed by Andrew Davis and starring Steven Seagal as a former Navy SEAL who must stop a group of mercenaries, led by Tommy Lee Jones and Gary Busey, on a U.S. Navy battleship...
(1992) Movie about arms dealers who take over a U.S. Navy battleship, and attempt to sell the ship's nuclear-tipped Tomahawk Cruise Missiles on the black market. - WarGamesWarGamesWarGames is a 1983 American Cold War suspense/science-fiction film written by Lawrence Lasker and Walter F. Parkes and directed by John Badham. The film stars Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy....
(1983) -- About a young computer hackerHacker (computer security)In computer security and everyday language, a hacker is someone who breaks into computers and computer networks. Hackers may be motivated by a multitude of reasons, including profit, protest, or because of the challenge...
that accidentally hacks into a defense computer and risks starting a nuclear war. - When the Wind Blows (1986) -- An animated film about an elderly British couple in a post-nuclear war world.
See also
- List of books about nuclear issues
- List of nuclear holocaust fiction
- List of songs about nuclear war and weapons
- Environmental issues in film and television
- Nuclear weapons in popular cultureNuclear weapons in popular cultureSince their public debut in August 1945, nuclear weapons and their potential effects have been a recurring motif in popular culture, to the extent that the decades of the Cold War are often referred to as the "atomic age."-Images of nuclear weapons:...