THE END OF THE WORLD
The disintegration of the Soviet Union allowed us to take a step back from the brink of nuclear holocaust. I grew up during the Cold War, when the doomsday clock at one time showed one second to go. Alas, the present resident of the White House seems bent on scaring the hell out of us with threats and bluster about nuclear warfare. And on that cheerful note, here’s a post about End Of The World movies.
There are dozens of Armageddon movies and most of them are pretty bad. Mr. Movie has diligently cherry-picked the best ones just for you. 
The Bedford Incident (1971) has Richard Widmark as a gung-ho submarine commander tracking a Russian sub near the North Pole. Sidney Poitier and Martin Balsam add to a fine cast, but it’s James MacArthur whose misunderstanding of a simple order completes the circuit, and convinces us it would be all too easy to start the Last War.
In Testament (1983) the missiles have already flown and a small town in California awaits the certain end. Jane Alexander is the mother of a tightly knit family dealing with the apocalypse in this restrained and very moving film.
Likewise Stanley Kramer’s On The Beach (1959) details waiting for the end. Australia is the site, spared from the nuclear war only by its distance, but now awaiting inevitable death by radiation. Gregory Peck, Fred Astaire, Ava Gardner and Anthony Perkins head a dynamite cast. One plot line follows a last ditch effort to find other survivors in the world, but the main story involves the reactions of those facing the end.
Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) is quite simply one of the funniest films ever made. Peter Sellers (in multiple roles), George C Scott, Keenan Wynn, Sterling Hayden and Slim Pickens all add  
merriment to this laugh-out-loud classic. Stanley Kubrick paints with the broadest of brushes, and only when you stop laughing hours later do you realize the world has ended because of rampant stupidity. I have seen it many times; it’s always a scream and I always find something new. 
I’ve saved the worst for last. When Worlds Collide (1951) isn’t about nuclear disaster, but rather about another planet smashing into ours. The cheesy special effects don’t really travel well across 50+ years, and the cast consists of unknowns not about to get their big break. Scientists try to convince earth’s rulers to take this collision seriously and go about collecting a gene pool to send to another planet. Okay- but if you can manage to just sit back and let this one wash around you, it is fun.
All of the movies in this article are available on DVD. The subject matter is adult.