The War Movie Enemy Series: Soviets
The War Movie Enemy Series explores the "go to" bad guys for almost every war film ever made. From Nazis to corrupt African dictators, from the evil Soviet Empire to invading space aliens, these are the antagonists that make so many war films exciting.
Part 1 - Nazis
Part 2 - Soviets
Part 3 - Imperial Japan
Part 4 - Space Aliens
Part 5 - Terrorists
Part 6 - Dictators
Number two on the list of "go to" bad guys in war films is the Soviet Union, referred to by Reagan as the "evil empire." (Disclaimer: I have a Russian wife and don't actually believe this!) For the mid-part of the 20th century, which mostly comprised the Patriotic Era of War films, throughout the war films of the 1950s and 1960s, the United States was locked in a bitter Cold War against the Soviet Union, with the ever present threat of nuclear annihilation in the background. As enemies go, the Soviet Unions was the perfect foil, they were massive, strong, (purportedly) seeking the destruction of American values, and their lack of democratic rights made it easy to cast them as being against freedom and basic democratic values. For Hollywood, Soviets were easy, ready made bad guys for U.S. military heroes like Rambo to shoot up.
However, in hindsight, historians tell us the might of the Soviet Union was mostly bluster. Their economic power had never been very strong, and the ever-present dearth of free market materials made it difficult for the military to keep itself supplied. A country can have as many tanks as it wants, but if it can't keep them fueled, the tanks aren't much good. In retrospect, it appears the Soviet threat was - barring all the nuclear weapon stuff - a bit of a paper tiger. But don't tell that to Hollywood. Here we go, the best and worst war films that focused on the Soviet threat.
The Best!
One of the first films to deal with Communism (and thereby the Soviet threat) was the 1956 sci-fi classic, Invasion of the Body Snatchers. The film, which sees alien spores replace real people with alien birthed copies, is considered to be a large metaphor about the dangers of Communism (and the necessity of individuals to sacrifice themselves to the state). Whether it was intended as a Cold War allegory or not, the film remains suspenseful, scary, and highly entertaining. Beware the Pod People!
The Worst!
Clint Eastwood stars in this cringe-worthy early 1980s film, which is more action thriller than war film. The plot reads as something that could be fairly exciting if done right: Eastwood has to sneak into Russia and steal the Firefox, a brand new state of the art military jet. Unfortunately, the film sets the Russians up as the sort of easily beaten nemesis that necessarily makes the consequences of capture seem fairly weak. (This is the sort of film where Eastwood can punch a guy once and he instantly falls to the ground unconscious.) The film plays into the twin myths of the evil Soviet empire and the indestructible Soviet military in ways which are neither exciting or very realistic.
The Worst!
In War Games, teenage computer whiz starts playing war game simulations with a sophisticated (for its time) Pentagon computer over what constituted the Internet back then, and accidentally ends up starting a total nuclear exchange with the Russians (the computer didn't know it was just a game and threatened to attack Russia with nukes.) It was perhaps the first film to deal with "hacking" and consequently, it's poorly dated. Still, the Russians played the heavy in this film, albeit even if they were off screen and simply present as an amorphous force that would someday retaliate. A good film in its day, but one unfortunately wrecked beyond the point of appreciation by modern technology. (Click here for the Best and Worst Cold War Movies and here for the Best and Worst Nuclear War Movies.)
The Worst!
The number three worst war film of all time finds the Soviet Union invading the continental United States and fighting a group of high school students that transform into a guerrilla fighting force. It's actually a fairly entertaining concept, which could have produced a strong film. Unfortunately, this film chooses the weak easy option at each cinematic junction, resulting in a film of cheap disposable thrills that gets most of its momentum from its high-octane concept. If only the teenage characters in the film didn't wage war against the Russians with all the sophistication of a TV sitcom.
The Best!
This screwball comedy has Dan Ackroyd and Chevy Chase as two spies that manage to stumble their way into Soviet Russia where they end up participating in the launch of a Soviet nuclear strike against the United States. (It happens.) The film has great fun playing up the Cold War, with intensive paramilitary training for the films two aspiring spies, massive secret bases underneath drive-in movie theaters, sexy Russian operatives, and the ever present threat of nuclear destruction. The Cold War is played for laughs, and it turns out that the idea of imminent destruction by another super power is a source of considerable amusement. A classic war-time comedy.
The Worst!
The Rocky franchise is a sports movie. Not a war movies. So what's Rocky IV doing on this list? Well, it's on the list for the simple reason that at the height of the Cold War, the battle between these two boxers was a stand-in for the tension between the two super powers. The U.S. and the Soviet Union couldn't go head to head, but their proxies could do it for them. In the fourth iteration of the franchise, Rocky is forced to fight Drago, a Soviet super soldier birthed from secret technologies and the icy cold of the Siberian wastelands. This is actually an interesting film to watch if you want a view into how Americans viewed themselves vis a vis their Soviet counterparts in the 1980s. Americans considered the Soviet soldier to be tough and hard because of their spartan Soviet existence; they hadn't yet become weak and soft, bathing in the excess of so many material things like the West had. The Soviets were also considered to be highly technical, able to create super soldiers like Drago. Of course, while Drago was trained with scientists using cutting edge data and specially designed nutrient drinks, Rocky - the upstart American - trains by himself in the woods by chopping trees and pulling heavy sleds, thereby cementing his image as the American underdog.
The Worst!
Russkies is sort of like ET, but with Soviets instead of aliens. The basic premises is mostly the same. Local group of imaginative bike riding kids find a Soviet soldier, they take him home and hide him, introduce him to their world, before eventually the world of the adults crashes into them, and they learn the Soviet - now their friend - has to go back to his own kind. (In the film, the Soviet soldier was accidentally stranded by the Russian Navy during a covert exercise on American soil. The sailor then hid out in the tree fort used by the film's child leads, thus leading to the introduction of the pint-sized protagonists.)
The Worst!
Stallone again, attacking more Russians. This time though, Stallone's John Rambo finds himself in Afghanistan, about fourteen years before U.S. troops would invade following the 9/11 attacks. The third in the Rambo franchise is set in the 1980s, which means the ultimately unsuccessful Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, where Rambo joins with the mujahideen to fight against the Russians. The Russians are portrayed as blood thirsty, cruel, and deserving of obliteration, which Rambo brings to them without any backup or support, because that's the type of guy he is. Hilariously, the film was dedicated by the filmmakers to the heroic freedom fighters in Afghanistan (who would later become the nuclei of the Taliban). Ahh, the perspective that's sometimes added by a couple of decades.
The Best!
In this rare submarine war movie, Sean Connery plays a Soviet sub captain in a game of cat and mouse with CIA analyst Alec Baldwin, the first movie star to play the role of Jack Ryan that eventually went to Harrison Ford and later Ben Affleck. The was also the first war film where the Soviet threat began to increasingly look as if it could be tamed.
The Best!
The Americans, currently on its third season on F/X, comes in the tradition of The Sopranos or The Wire, it's a smart, well produced, intelligent series that features two undercover Soviet sleeper agents as the story's two leads. Each episode the husband and wife do their best to thwart America during the 1980s, the series' plot matching real-life headlines from the Reagan administration. The characters are so carefully done that even as Americans, we root for them to be successful and be able to destroy our country! They are unapologetic Communists that view and reflect a different understanding of America. This is also a show that keeps you on the edge of your seat, with the audience left wondering each episode if this is the moment that they'll be found out and everything will come undone.
Part 1 - Nazis
Part 2 - Soviets
Part 3 - Imperial Japan
Part 4 - Space Aliens
Part 5 - Terrorists
Part 6 - Dictators
Number two on the list of "go to" bad guys in war films is the Soviet Union, referred to by Reagan as the "evil empire." (Disclaimer: I have a Russian wife and don't actually believe this!) For the mid-part of the 20th century, which mostly comprised the Patriotic Era of War films, throughout the war films of the 1950s and 1960s, the United States was locked in a bitter Cold War against the Soviet Union, with the ever present threat of nuclear annihilation in the background. As enemies go, the Soviet Unions was the perfect foil, they were massive, strong, (purportedly) seeking the destruction of American values, and their lack of democratic rights made it easy to cast them as being against freedom and basic democratic values. For Hollywood, Soviets were easy, ready made bad guys for U.S. military heroes like Rambo to shoot up.
However, in hindsight, historians tell us the might of the Soviet Union was mostly bluster. Their economic power had never been very strong, and the ever-present dearth of free market materials made it difficult for the military to keep itself supplied. A country can have as many tanks as it wants, but if it can't keep them fueled, the tanks aren't much good. In retrospect, it appears the Soviet threat was - barring all the nuclear weapon stuff - a bit of a paper tiger. But don't tell that to Hollywood. Here we go, the best and worst war films that focused on the Soviet threat.
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1. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
The Best!
One of the first films to deal with Communism (and thereby the Soviet threat) was the 1956 sci-fi classic, Invasion of the Body Snatchers. The film, which sees alien spores replace real people with alien birthed copies, is considered to be a large metaphor about the dangers of Communism (and the necessity of individuals to sacrifice themselves to the state). Whether it was intended as a Cold War allegory or not, the film remains suspenseful, scary, and highly entertaining. Beware the Pod People!
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2. Firefox (1982)
The Worst!
Clint Eastwood stars in this cringe-worthy early 1980s film, which is more action thriller than war film. The plot reads as something that could be fairly exciting if done right: Eastwood has to sneak into Russia and steal the Firefox, a brand new state of the art military jet. Unfortunately, the film sets the Russians up as the sort of easily beaten nemesis that necessarily makes the consequences of capture seem fairly weak. (This is the sort of film where Eastwood can punch a guy once and he instantly falls to the ground unconscious.) The film plays into the twin myths of the evil Soviet empire and the indestructible Soviet military in ways which are neither exciting or very realistic.
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3. War Games (1983)
The Worst!
In War Games, teenage computer whiz starts playing war game simulations with a sophisticated (for its time) Pentagon computer over what constituted the Internet back then, and accidentally ends up starting a total nuclear exchange with the Russians (the computer didn't know it was just a game and threatened to attack Russia with nukes.) It was perhaps the first film to deal with "hacking" and consequently, it's poorly dated. Still, the Russians played the heavy in this film, albeit even if they were off screen and simply present as an amorphous force that would someday retaliate. A good film in its day, but one unfortunately wrecked beyond the point of appreciation by modern technology. (Click here for the Best and Worst Cold War Movies and here for the Best and Worst Nuclear War Movies.)
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4. Red Dawn (1984)
The Worst!
The number three worst war film of all time finds the Soviet Union invading the continental United States and fighting a group of high school students that transform into a guerrilla fighting force. It's actually a fairly entertaining concept, which could have produced a strong film. Unfortunately, this film chooses the weak easy option at each cinematic junction, resulting in a film of cheap disposable thrills that gets most of its momentum from its high-octane concept. If only the teenage characters in the film didn't wage war against the Russians with all the sophistication of a TV sitcom.
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5. Spies Like Us (1985)
The Best!
This screwball comedy has Dan Ackroyd and Chevy Chase as two spies that manage to stumble their way into Soviet Russia where they end up participating in the launch of a Soviet nuclear strike against the United States. (It happens.) The film has great fun playing up the Cold War, with intensive paramilitary training for the films two aspiring spies, massive secret bases underneath drive-in movie theaters, sexy Russian operatives, and the ever present threat of nuclear destruction. The Cold War is played for laughs, and it turns out that the idea of imminent destruction by another super power is a source of considerable amusement. A classic war-time comedy.
){kind=link}
6. Rocky IV (1985)
The Worst!
The Rocky franchise is a sports movie. Not a war movies. So what's Rocky IV doing on this list? Well, it's on the list for the simple reason that at the height of the Cold War, the battle between these two boxers was a stand-in for the tension between the two super powers. The U.S. and the Soviet Union couldn't go head to head, but their proxies could do it for them. In the fourth iteration of the franchise, Rocky is forced to fight Drago, a Soviet super soldier birthed from secret technologies and the icy cold of the Siberian wastelands. This is actually an interesting film to watch if you want a view into how Americans viewed themselves vis a vis their Soviet counterparts in the 1980s. Americans considered the Soviet soldier to be tough and hard because of their spartan Soviet existence; they hadn't yet become weak and soft, bathing in the excess of so many material things like the West had. The Soviets were also considered to be highly technical, able to create super soldiers like Drago. Of course, while Drago was trained with scientists using cutting edge data and specially designed nutrient drinks, Rocky - the upstart American - trains by himself in the woods by chopping trees and pulling heavy sleds, thereby cementing his image as the American underdog.
){kind=link}
7. Russkies (1987)
The Worst!
Russkies is sort of like ET, but with Soviets instead of aliens. The basic premises is mostly the same. Local group of imaginative bike riding kids find a Soviet soldier, they take him home and hide him, introduce him to their world, before eventually the world of the adults crashes into them, and they learn the Soviet - now their friend - has to go back to his own kind. (In the film, the Soviet soldier was accidentally stranded by the Russian Navy during a covert exercise on American soil. The sailor then hid out in the tree fort used by the film's child leads, thus leading to the introduction of the pint-sized protagonists.)
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8. Rambo III (1988)
The Worst!
Stallone again, attacking more Russians. This time though, Stallone's John Rambo finds himself in Afghanistan, about fourteen years before U.S. troops would invade following the 9/11 attacks. The third in the Rambo franchise is set in the 1980s, which means the ultimately unsuccessful Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, where Rambo joins with the mujahideen to fight against the Russians. The Russians are portrayed as blood thirsty, cruel, and deserving of obliteration, which Rambo brings to them without any backup or support, because that's the type of guy he is. Hilariously, the film was dedicated by the filmmakers to the heroic freedom fighters in Afghanistan (who would later become the nuclei of the Taliban). Ahh, the perspective that's sometimes added by a couple of decades.
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9. Hunt for Red October (1990)
The Best!
In this rare submarine war movie, Sean Connery plays a Soviet sub captain in a game of cat and mouse with CIA analyst Alec Baldwin, the first movie star to play the role of Jack Ryan that eventually went to Harrison Ford and later Ben Affleck. The was also the first war film where the Soviet threat began to increasingly look as if it could be tamed.
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10. The Americans (2013 - Present)
The Best!
The Americans, currently on its third season on F/X, comes in the tradition of The Sopranos or The Wire, it's a smart, well produced, intelligent series that features two undercover Soviet sleeper agents as the story's two leads. Each episode the husband and wife do their best to thwart America during the 1980s, the series' plot matching real-life headlines from the Reagan administration. The characters are so carefully done that even as Americans, we root for them to be successful and be able to destroy our country! They are unapologetic Communists that view and reflect a different understanding of America. This is also a show that keeps you on the edge of your seat, with the audience left wondering each episode if this is the moment that they'll be found out and everything will come undone.
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