The Radiation Wave of Cinema
Based off of a piece of trivia on IMDb, this list serves as a chronicle of a peculiar breed of films centered around issues relating to nuclear weaponry, energy, & terrorism made across the 1980s. Also included are a handful of similar films made prior to this cycle.
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- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsToshirô MifuneTakashi ShimuraMinoru ChiakiAn aging Japanese industrialist becomes so fearful of nuclear war that it begins to take a toll on his life and family.
- DirectorNicholas MeyerStarsJason RobardsJoBeth WilliamsSteve GuttenbergThe effects of a devastating nuclear holocaust on small-town residents of eastern Kansas.
- DirectorFrank PerryStarsJane ConnellWilliam DanielsJames FrawleyStaff and students at a rural school react to a warning of an imminent nuclear attack, not knowing whether it is real or a mistake.
- DirectorMike NicholsStarsMeryl StreepKurt RussellCherA worker at a plutonium processing plant is purposefully contaminated, psychologically tortured and possibly murdered to prevent her from exposing worker safety violations at the plant.
- DirectorPeter WatkinsStarsMichael AspelPeter GrahamDave BaldwinA docudrama depicting a hypothetical nuclear attack on Britain.
- DirectorLynne LittmanStarsJane AlexanderWilliam DevaneRossie HarrisThe life of a suburban American family is scarred after a nuclear attack.
- DirectorJames BridgesStarsJane FondaJack LemmonMichael DouglasA reporter finds what appears to be a cover-up of safety hazards at a nuclear power plant.
- DirectorMick JacksonStarsKaren MeagherReece DinsdaleDavid BrierlyThe effects of a nuclear holocaust on the working class city of Sheffield, England and the eventual long-term effects of nuclear war on civilization.
- DirectorJohn BadhamStarsMatthew BroderickAlly SheedyJohn WoodA young man finds a back door into a military central computer in which reality is confused with game-playing, possibly starting World War III.
- DirectorJayne LoaderKevin RaffertyPierce RaffertyStarsPaul TibbetsHarry S. TrumanW.H.P. BlandyDisturbing collection of 1940s and 1950s United States government-issued propaganda films designed to reassure Americans that the atomic bomb was not a threat to their safety.
- DirectorMarshall BrickmanStarsJohn LithgowChristopher ColletRichard CouncilA high school prodigy builds an atomic bomb with stolen plutonium to win the 45th National Science Fair and expose a nuclear weapons lab posing as a nuclear medical research facility in Ithaca, NY.
- DirectorEdward ZwickStarsEd FlandersKathryn WalkerRoxanne HartA TV reporter and cameraman are taken hostage on a tugboat while covering a workers strike. The demands of the hostage-takers are to collect all the nuclear detonators in the Charleston, SC area so they may be detonated at sea. They threaten to detonate a nuclear device of their own if their demand isn't met.
- DirectorBruce MylesMichael PattinsonStarsColin FrielsJack ThompsonDonald PleasenceA second generation cameraman in Australia finds evidence that his father had filmed a nuclear test that allowed aboriginies to be exposed to and killed by radiation. He begins a search for a secret that if true, his government has already killed people to keep quiet.
- DirectorMori MasakiStarsIssei MiyazakiCatherine BattistoneYoshie ShimamuraA powerful statement against war, Barefoot Gen is a disturbing story about the effect of the atomic bomb on a boy's life and the lives of the Japanese people.
- DirectorJimmy T. MurakamiStarsPeggy AshcroftJohn MillsRobin HoustonA naive elderly British rural couple survive the initial onslaught of a nuclear war.
- DirectorKonstantin LopushanskiyStarsRolan BykovIosif RyklinViktor MikhaylovIn the aftermath of nuclear holocaust, a group of intellectuals crave to find hope in the pale and colorless new world. Among them, a history teacher tries to contact via letters his missing son.
- DirectorDavid GladwellStarsJulie ChristieChristopher GuardLeonie MellingerSet in a bleak future where roving gangs of children terrorize city streets, and reality is often an illusion.
- DirectorIan BarryStarsSteve BisleyArna-Maria WinchesterRoss ThompsonA holidaying couple is pursued by the thugs of a nearby nuclear storage facility's boss, who is intent on covering up an accidental leak.
- DirectorSteve De JarnattStarsAnthony EdwardsMare WinninghamJohn AgarA young man hears a chance phone call telling him that a nuclear war has started and missiles will hit his city in 70 minutes.
- DirectorToshio HirataStarsIssei MiyazakiMasaki KôdaKei NakamuraThree years after the Hiroshima bombing, a teenager helps a group of orphans to survive and find their new life.
- DirectorFred BarzykStarsScott GlennMichael MurphyHelen ShaverDramatic doomsday scenario in which the Cold War fully escalates. The story is told through a live news report that follows the apocalyptic world-ending nuclear exchange between the U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsSachiko MuraseRichard GereHisashi IgawaThree generations' responses to the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.
- DirectorShôhei ImamuraStarsYoshiko TanakaKazuo KitamuraEtsuko IchiharaThe story of the aftermath of the Hiroshima bombing, based on Masuji Ibuse's novel.
- DirectorPiotr SzulkinStarsJerzy StuhrKrystyna JandaKalina JedrusikA man searches for survival after nuclear war forces people into an underground bunker. The inhabitants await rescue while their refuge decays around them.
- DirectorCarl ColpaertStarsTony MarkesRainbow DolanKenneth McCabeOn a post-apocalyptic Earth, an angel descends to help the survivors.