Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, starring Cillian Murphy in the title role and Matt Damon as Lt. Gen. Leslie Groves, is not the first time the life and career of “the father of the atomic bomb” (or the backstory of the Manhattan Project that Groves directed) has been depicted on screen.
Prior to Nolan’s film – which opened to a stellar $82.4 million domestically last weekend – several other feature films, documentaries, and television programs chronicled the rise and fall of theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, while other notable projects have explored the origins of the Nuclear Age that Oppenheimer helped usher in.
Here then are 14 other films, TV shows, and documentaries to stream once you’ve watched Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer.
The Beginning or the End (1947)
Where to Watch: YouTube
Gen. Groves (Brian Donlevy) and Dr. Oppenheimer (Hume Cronyn) in The Beginning or the End.
The very first movie about the development of the atomic bomb and J. Robert Oppenheimer’s role in it was released just two years after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This docudrama starred Hume Cronyn as Oppenheimer and Brian Donlevy as Groves. (Cronyn’s Oppenheimer is introduced in the film addressing the people of the 25th century!) There were two rival Oppenheimer movies in development at the time: The Beginning or the End at MGM and another project at Paramount that had Atlas Shrugged novelist Ayn Rand scripting. MGM prevailed but produced a stilted drama riddled with historical inaccuracies. Despite his concerns, Oppenheimer eventually allowed The Beginning or the End filmmakers to use his name rather than a pseudonym. The storied development of the movie was chronicled in Greg Mitchell’s book The Beginning or the End: How Hollywood―and America―Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.
Hiroshima (1953)
Where to Watch: YouTube TV, Prime Video, Apple TV+
Yumeji Tsukioka (left) in Hiroshima.
Director Hideo Sekigawa’s docudrama recreates America’s atomic bombing of the titular city and its harrowing aftermath from the Japanese perspective. It chronicles how the ordinary citizens of Hiroshima who survived the blast – including school teachers and young students – lived with its aftereffects, including leukemia and horrific scars. Actual Hiroshima survivors even appeared in the film as extras.
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
Where to Watch: Prime Video, Vudu
Director Stanley Kubrick’s classic black comedy about the Cold War shows what a precarious era it was. The plot of Dr. Strangelove is something like the Cuban Missile Crisis played for laughs but with an unhappy ending (depending on your point of view!). Comic genius Peter Sellers played several characters here, including the milquetoast President Merkin Muffley and the title character. The President and his hawkish military advisors (including George C. Scott) hunker down in the War Room to determine what they can do to avert global nuclear war… and how exactly to break the crisis to the Soviets. Muffley’s phone call to his Russian counterpart is still hysterical nearly 60 years later.
Fail-Safe (1964)
Where to Watch: Google Play, Vudu, fuboTV, Apple TV+, Prime Video
Director Sidney Lumet once said that the premise of his classic thriller is that “the machines are winning.” The plot is basically the same as Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove (also 1964) sans the laughs. The U.S. President (Henry Fonda) faces a grave decision when an American nuclear bomber unwittingly heads for the USSR to start World War III. The action the President must take to reestablish the balance between the two Cold War enemies is especially wrenching. Fail-Safe was remade as a live TV movie in 2000, starring and produced by George Clooney.
Ranking the Movies of Christopher Nolan
The Day After Trinity (1980)
Where to Watch: The Criterion Channel
This Oscar-nominated documentary – also known as The Day After Trinity: J. Robert Oppenheimer and the Atomic Bomb – remains one of the definitive screen accounts of the Manhattan Project and Oppenheimer’s later downfall thanks to its interviews with then-surviving Los Alamos physicists and archival footage of Oppenheimer and Groves among others.
Enola Gay: The Men, the Mission, the Atomic Bomb (1980)
Where to Watch: YouTube
This made-for-TV movie, released during the 35th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, follows the crew of the Enola Gay, the B-29 that dropped the world’s first atomic bomb. As such, it’s less about the Manhattan Project and those who developed the bomb (although General Leslie Groves appears here, played by veteran character actor Richard Herd). Dallas star Patrick Duffy plays Col. Paul Tibbetts, the pilot and commander of the Enola Gay, while, in a rare dramatic role, Billy Crystal portrays the plane’s radar specialist, Lt. Jake Beser.
Oppenheimer (1980)
Where to Watch: YouTube
Sam Waterston starred in Oppenheimer (1980).
BBC’s BAFTA-winning miniseries stars Law & Order’s Sam Waterston in the title role. It later aired in the US as part of PBS’ Masterpiece Theatre. Like Nolan’s film, Oppenheimer chronicles his role in directing the Los Alamos Laboratory and then his subsequent public humiliation and stripping of his security clearance by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. Biggs Darklighter himself, actor Garrick Hagon, plays Oppenheimer’s brother Frank in the miniseries.
The Atomic Cafe (1982)
Where to Watch: Kino Lorber’s YouTube
This cult classic documentary directed by Kevin Rafferty, Jayne Loader, and Pierce Rafferty compiled various archival sources – including Cold War propaganda, newsreels, government training films, and ads – to satirically recount the United States’ foray into the Nuclear Age. The Atomic Cafe is remembered as a critique of the Reagan administration’s offensive rather than defensive Cold War posturing. The film was named to the National Film Registry in 2016.
Race for the Bomb (1987)
Where to Watch: YouTube
This TV miniseries also dramatizes the Manhattan Project and features Tom Rack as Robert Oppenheimer, Maury Chaykin as Leslie Groves, Michael Ironside as Werner Heisenberg and Leslie Nielsen as Lewis Strauss. Yes, Leslie Nielsen of Naked Gun fame is playing the same role Robert Downey Jr. plays in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer!
Day One (1989)
Where to Watch: Not currently available to stream; Amazon (DVD only)
David Strathairn as Oppenheimer in Day One.
This Emmy-winning made-for-TV movie stars Brian Dennehy as General Groves and David Strathairn as Oppenheimer. Like Nolan’s Oppenheimer and most other films on this list, Day One depicts the Manhattan Project, including the tensions between its military personnel and civilian scientists, many of whom had Communist ties. In a perhaps unintentional nod to the first Oppenheimer film, the supporting cast includes Hume Cronyn, who portrayed Oppenheimer in 1947’s The Beginning or the End. Day One was released the same year as a rival Manhattan Project film, Fat Man and Little Boy. David Strathairn later played Oppenheimer again in the 2009 PBS docudrama The Trials of J. Robert Oppenheimer.
Fat Man and Little Boy (1989)
Where to Watch: Vudu, Prime Video, Apple TV+, Google Play, Pluto TV
Paul Newman as Groves and Dwight Schultz as Oppenheimer in Fat Man and Little Boy.
Director Roland Joffe’s drama was Hollywood’s first major big screen account of the Manhattan Project since 1947’s The Beginning or the End. Paul Newman plays General Groves opposite Dwight Schultz as Oppenheimer. (Schultz was best known at the time for playing “Howlin’ Mad” Murdock on The A-Team.) Like Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, Fat Man and Little Boy (the code names for the two atomic bombs) recreates the behind-the-scenes drama at Los Alamos as scientists race against time to develop an atom bomb before the Nazis. And like Nolan’s film, Joffe’s picture also touches on Oppenheimer’s affair with mistress Jean Tatlock (Natasha Richardson, played in Oppenheimer by Florence Pugh). Fat Man and Little Boy includes a composite character named Michael Merriman (John Cusack) whose gruesome death following exposure to radiation was inspired by two real-life scientists (they perished after the Manhattan Project, however). Although clearly meant to be a prestige awards contender at the time, Fat Man and Little Boy was panned by critics and received no Oscar nominations.
Infinity (1996)
Where to Watch: YouTube TV, Prime Video, Tubi, Pluto TV, The Roku Channel
Matthew Broderick as Richard Feynman in Infinity.
Although not directly about Oppenheimer, this tearjerker is a biopic of Manhattan Project physicist Richard Feynman, played in Nolan’s film by Jack Quaid. Feynman, the only member of the Los Alamos team to witness the Trinity blast with unshielded eyes, is depicted here by Matthew Broderick, who also directed and co-produced the film in a true labor of love. (His mom, Patricia Broderick, wrote the script.) Infinity dramatizes the tragic love story between Richard Feynman and his first wife Arline (Patricia Arquette), who died of tuberulosis a month before the Trinity test detonation. Infinity remains the only feature film Matthew Broderick ever directed.
Copenhagen (2002)
Where to Watch: Prime Video (depending on region)
Daniel Craig and Stephen Rea in Copenhagen.
This British telepic adapts Michael Frayn’s Tony-winning play of the same name. Set in 1941, it documents a meeting in Copenhagen between physicists Niels Bohr (Stephen Rea) and Werner Heisenberg (a pre-Bond Daniel Craig) wherein the latter’s affiliation with the Nazis’ nuclear program are explored. Nobel winner Bohr was portrayed in Nolan’s Oppenheimer by Kenneth Branagh while Heisenberg was played by Matthias Schweighöfer.
Manhattan (2014)
Where to Watch: Prime Video, The Roku Channel, Apple TV+, Plex, Tubi
Daniel London (R) as Oppenheimer in the TV series Manhattan.
While J. Robert Oppenheimer (played by Daniel London) is only a recurring character here, this short-lived series (it ran for just two seasons on WGN America) instead centers on a host of fictional characters in its dramatization of the goings-on at Los Alamos. This allows Manhattan to explore the interpersonal relationships between characters without necessarily violating historical accuracy. The ensemble cast of the critically acclaimed series includes familiar faces such as David Harbour, Rachel Brosnahan, Harry Lloyd, Neve Campbell, Olivia Williams, Daniel Stern, Peter Stormare, William Petersen, and Richard Schiff.
For more on Nolan’s film, read IGN’s rave Oppenheimer review, learn why Oppenheimer was censored in India, discover how Nolan recreated the atom bomb test without CGI, and find out whether Nolan’s Oppenheimer is historically accurate.
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