Cold War Films
March 16th, 2007
Last week’s article about Samantha Smith and Katya Lycheva generated a lot of feedback from our friends and readers. Many found the story of these child ambassadors inspiring and hopeful. Others found it hard to believe that a 10-year-old girl would ever write such a letter or even think about such topics as nuclear war. This led to a discussion of how American children viewed the Soviet Union in the 1980s. Why were American kids afraid of the USSR and of nuclear war? While there were many things that affected children during the Cold War, mass media was certainly a very strong influence.
Here’s a sample of some films that might cause a child to write things like “I have been worrying about Russia and the United States getting into a nuclear war” and “I would like to know why you want to conquer the world or at least our country.” [1] These are just a few of the many films produced during the Cold War that portrayed a Russian invasion of America.
Invasion U.S.A.
This 1952 film portrays a communist invasion of America. Here’s the original trailer for the film.
The Day After
ABC aired this made-for-TV film in November of 1983. The film portrays a Soviet nuclear attack on America and the aftermath of this attack. Here’s a clip from the film.
Red Dawn
A Hollywood blockbuster starring Patrick Swayze and Charlie Sheen. The film portrays a Soviet and Cuban/Latin American invasion of the United States in the late 1980s, igniting a world war. Here’s the trailer for Red Dawn.
Amerika
This 1987 ABC mini-series cost about $40 million to produce and was watched by 100 million people. [2] Amerika’s plot takes place in 1997 after 10 years of Soviet occupation of America. While the plot seems fairly frivolous, it gives an interesting look into how Americans felt about the Soviet Union in the 1980s.
Here is a commercial for Amerika
This clip from the mini-series shows a young American boy in a costume similar to that of a Soviet Young Pioneer. He is giving a speech about the new Amerika to a crowd saying,
“We are grateful to our Soviet brothers who saved the world from destruction, and we can now join them in a world of socialist brotherhood. Everyone will go to school, everyone will have a job, everyone will be equal. No one will exploit or be exploited, and all those who oppose this wonderful vision will be crushed.”
Link: Invasion U.S.A.
Link: The Day After
Link: Red Dawn
Link: Amerika
