One would think that it would be very difficult to sell a film whose premise is that everybody in it and indeed everybody in the whole world dies; some quickly, others slowly and horribly. However, in producing a film about nuclear war, the drama seems to be in finding out how the characters deal with their impending doom, and, when done well, such a film can be a powerful one indeed. But there is usually another raison d’etre for a nuclear war film, which is to convince the audience that fighting a nuclear war would be a bad thing, to be avoided at all cost. Some of this takes on a kind of partisan, political tone, which is why there were so many films of this type during the 1980s, when President Reagan was actually trying to win the Cold War. The irony—and great blessing—is that the scenarios presented in these films never happened. The threat of global annihilation by thermonuclear weapons has lifted, at least for the time being. Even in this era of terrorism, which might at some point involve the use of weapons of mass destruction, this is something to be thankful for.