Top Cold War Movies & TV Shows

Cast

Keiju Kobayashi

Ken Tanaka

Yasuko Sawaguchi

Shin Takuma

The Return of Godzilla (1984)

7.2 337 votes

Genre: Action, Horror, Science Fiction

Country: Japan

Duration: 103 min.

Audience: PG

Story: After a fishing boat is attacked, the sole surviving crew member realizes it is none other than a resurrected Godzilla. However, efforts to bring the story to light are suppressed by the Japanese government amid growing political tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union, who are both willing to bomb Japan to stop the monster.

Plot: brother, soviet union, giant monster, cover-up, reporter, pop music, parasite, creature feature, ...

Time: cold war

Cast

Dominic Cooper

Johanna Wokalek

Leonie Benesch

Ben Mu00fcnchow

Spy City (2020) TV Show

7.1 86 votes

Genre: Drama, War

Country: Czech Republic, Germany

Seasons: 1

Episodes: 6

Audience: TV-MA

Story: After a defector is murdered, British agent Fielding Scott is assigned to track down a mole in his own ranks in 1961 Berlin. His investigation leads him into a deadly web of crime, betrayal and paranoia. Who can Scott trust in the city of spies?

Plot: berlin, germany, spy

Time: cold war, 1960s

Rocky IV (1985)

7.1 4.9K votes

Genre: Drama

Country: United States of America

Duration: 91 min.

Audience: PG-13

Story: Rocky Balboa holds the world heavyweight championship, but a new challenger has stepped forward: Drago, a six-foot-four, 261-pound fighter who has the backing of the Soviet Union. This time, Rocky's training regimen takes him to Siberia, where he prepares for a globally televised match in the heart of Moscow. But nothing can truly prepare him for what he's about to face – a fight to the finish, in which he must defend not only himself, but also the honor of his country!

Plot: dying and death, friendship, transporter, sports, loss of loved one, soviet union, boxer, kgb, ...

Time: cold war

Place: siberia

Cast

Richard Burton

Claire Bloom

Oskar Werner

Sam Wanamaker

The Spy Who Came In from the Cold (1965)

7.1 333 votes

Genre: Drama, Thriller

Country: United Kingdom

Duration: 112 min.

Audience: PG

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.

Plot: library, spy, grocer, iron curtain, cynicism, whiskey, atheist, tribunal, ...

Time: cold war

Cast

Henry Cavill

Armie Hammer

Alicia Vikander

Elizabeth Debicki

The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015)

7.1 6.9K votes

Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy

Country: United States of America

Duration: 116 min.

Audience: PG-13

Story: At the height of the Cold War, a mysterious criminal organization plans to use nuclear weapons and technology to upset the fragile balance of power between the United States and Soviet Union. CIA agent Napoleon Solo and KGB agent Illya Kuryakin are forced to put aside their hostilities and work together to stop the evildoers in their tracks. The duo's only lead is the daughter of a missing German scientist, whom they must find soon to prevent a global catastrophe.

Style: nostalgic

Plot: central intelligence agency (cia), spy, kgb, remake, buddy cop, russian spy, american spy

Time: cold war

Cast

Benedict Cumberbatch

Merab Ninidze

Rachel Brosnahan

Jessie Buckley

The Courier (2020)

7.0 1.4K votes

Genre: Drama, History, Thriller

Country: United Kingdom, United States of America

Duration: 112 min.

Audience: PG-13

Story: Cold War spy Greville Wynne and his Russian source try to put an end to the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Plot: central intelligence agency (cia), undercover, based on true story, mi6, british spy, russian spy

Time: cold war

Cast

Michael Caine

Nigel Green

Guy Doleman

Sue Lloyd

The Ipcress File (1965)

6.8 349 votes

Genre: Thriller

Country: United Kingdom

Duration: 109 min.

Audience: PG

Story: Sly and dry intelligence agent Harry Palmer is tasked with investigating British Intelligence security, and is soon enmeshed in a world of double-dealing, kidnap and murder when he finds a traitor operating at the heart of the secret service.

Plot: espionage, spy, james bond spoof, swinging 60s, harry palmer

Time: cold war

Place: england

Cast

Sasha Luss

Helen Mirren

Luke Evans

Cillian Murphy

Anna (2019)

6.7 3.0K votes

Genre: Action, Adventure, Thriller

Country: France, Guadaloupe

Duration: 119 min.

Audience: R

Story: Beneath Anna Poliatova's striking beauty lies a secret that will unleash her indelible strength and skill to become one of the world's most feared government assassins.

Plot: central intelligence agency (cia), paris, france, kgb, female assassin, lgbt, modeling, professional assassin, ...

Time: cold war, 1990s

Cast

Gary Oldman

Colin Firth

Tom Hardy

John Hurt

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)

6.6 2.9K votes

Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller

Country: Germany, United Kingdom

Duration: 127 min.

Audience: R

Story: George Smiley, the aging master spy of the Cold War and once heir apparent to Control, is brought back out of retirement to flush out a top level mole within the Circus. Smiley must travel back through his life and murky workings of the Circus to unravel the net spun by his nemesis Karla 'The Sandman' of the KGB and reveal the identity of the mole before he disappears.

Plot: london, england, budapest, hungary, espionage, spy, traitor, kgb, ...

Time: cold war, 1970s

Cast

Paul Newman

Julie Andrews

Lila Kedrova

Hansju00f6rg Felmy

Torn Curtain (1966)

6.6 665 votes

Genre: Thriller

Country: United States of America

Duration: 127 min.

Audience: PG

Story: During the Cold War, an American scientist appears to defect to East Germany as part of a cloak and dagger mission to find the formula for a resin solution—but the plan goes awry when his fiancee, unaware of his motivation, follows him across the border.

Plot: east germany

Time: cold war

Cast

Harrison Ford

Liam Neeson

Peter Sarsgaard

Joss Ackland

K-19: The Widowmaker (2002)

6.6 1.2K votes

Genre: Drama, History, Mystery

Country: Canada, Germany

Duration: 138 min.

Audience: PG-13

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.

Plot: submarine, soviet union, based on true story, north atlantic, nuclear, woman director, nuclear submarine

Time: cold war, 1960s

Cast

Tom Hanks

Julia Roberts

Philip Seymour Hoffman

Amy Adams

Charlie Wilson's War (2007)

6.5 1.7K votes

Genre: Comedy, Drama, History

Country: Germany, United States of America

Duration: 102 min.

Audience: R

Story: A Texas congressman sets a series of events in motion when he conspires with a CIA operative to aid Afghan mujahideen rebels fighting the Soviets.

Plot: central intelligence agency (cia), helicopter, washington dc, usa, congress, alcohol, refugee camp, rocket launcher, ...

Time: cold war, 1980s

Place: cairo, jerusalem, pakistan

Cast

Rolf Lassgu00e5rd

Anders Mossling

Niklas Engdahl

Ku0119stutis Jaku0161tas

Whiskey on the Rocks (2024) TV Show

6.5 34 votes

Genre: Comedy, Drama, War

Country: Sweden, United States of America

Seasons: 1

Episodes: 6

Audience: TV-MA

Story: In the middle of the Cold War, a Soviet submarine runs aground outside Karlskrona and suddenly Sweden finds itself at the center of events. Prime Minister Thorbjörn Fälldin tries to resolve the conflict and avoid a world war between two nuclear powers while struggling with a wise foreign minister and a belligerent commander-in-chief.

Style: satirical

Plot: submarine, biography, satire, based on true story, dramedy, based on real person

Time: cold war

Atomic Blonde (2017)

6.4 6.7K votes

Genre: Action, Thriller

Country: Germany, Hungary

Duration: 115 min.

Audience: R

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.

Plot: berlin, germany, undercover agent, undercover, spy, stasi, bisexuality, vodka, ...

Time: cold war

Place: germany

Cast

Bruce Willis

Richard Gere

Sidney Poitier

Diane Venora

The Jackal (1997)

6.4 2.2K votes

Genre: Action, Crime, Thriller

Country: United States of America

Duration: 124 min.

Audience: R

Story: Hired by a powerful member of the Russian mafia to avenge an FBI sting that left his brother dead, a psychopathic hitman known only as The Jackal proves an elusive target for the people charged with the task of bringing him down: a deputy FBI director, a Russian MVK Major, and a jailed IRA terrorist who can recognize him.

Plot: showdown, hitman, politics, bratva (russian mafia), fbi, montreal, canada, revenge, ...

Time: cold war

Cast

Miguel Nunes

Victoria Guerra

Joana Ribeiro

Gonu00e7alo Waddington

Glória (2021) TV Show

6.4 38 votes

Genre: Drama

Country: Portugal, United Kingdom

Seasons: 1

Episodes: 10

Audience: TV-MA

Story: A small town in Portugal becomes engulfed in a web of political intrigue when a young engineer is recruited as a KGB spy in this historical thriller.

Plot: spy, mission, historical, political

Time: cold war, 1960s

Place: portugal

Cast

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Jim Belushi

Peter Boyle

Ed O'Ross

Red Heat (1988)

6.2 1.6K votes

Genre: Action, Crime

Country: United States of America, Netherlands

Duration: 104 min.

Audience: R

Story: A tough Russian policeman is forced to partner up with a cocky Chicago police detective when he is sent to Chicago to apprehend a Georgian drug lord who killed his partner and fled the country.

Plot: drug dealer, martial arts, police brutality, showdown, street gang, police, soviet union, investigation, ...

Time: cold war

Cast

Vin Diesel

Asia Argento

Marton Csokas

Samuel L. Jackson

xXx (2002)

6.0 5.0K votes

Genre: Action, Adventure, Crime

Country: United States of America

Duration: 124 min.

Audience: PG-13

Story: Xander Cage is your standard adrenaline junkie with no fear and a lousy attitude. When the US Government "recruits" him to go on a mission, he's not exactly thrilled. His mission: to gather information on an organization that may just be planning the destruction of the world, led by the nihilistic Yorgi.

Plot: mission, biological weapon, sports car, prague, czech republic, nsa agent, adrenaline junkie, thrill seeker

Time: cold war