YMMV / The Last War (1961)

• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • This film deals with rising tensions between stand-ins for NATO and the Warsaw Pact which ultimately results in Mutually Assured Destruction. The next year in 1962, tensions between the two groups got dangerously high during the Cuban Missile Crisis to the point where grocery stores were picked clean by frantic shoppers and for three extremely tense days, the world waited with baited breath for either a peaceful outcome or 'the' end. Fortunately, the crisis ended on peaceful terms.
  • When the nuclear missiles are launched in the film, one is seen being launched from a submarine. During the missile crisis, Soviet submarines armed with nuclear torpedoes were major players in the Crisis; if one crossed into the U.S.-placed quarantine zone, the Americans would have full authorization to strike.
• Macekre: The American dub by Brenco cuts out 20 minutes of the film.
• Nightmare Fuel: The destruction of Tokyo in the final climax sequence. The nuclear explosion rendered the whole landscape into hellish landscape with lava covered the whole city. And then, a few shots of Moscow, New York, London and Paris completely obliterated by both sides.
• Tear Jerker:
  • Saeko and Takano saying their final goodbyes to each other over Morse Code radios once it becomes apparent that nuclear war is now inevitable, saying how much they love each other, how happy they've made each other, and their plans for their wedding should a miracle happen and war not occur. Seaeko spends most of the scene in tears and who could blame her?
  • One schoolchild's mother rushing to get to the school to collect her daughter while Tokyo dissolves into chaos. She ends up collapsing on the ground and dying from exhaustion. Her child ends up being the only one left at the school with the teacher once the missile hits.
  • Mokichi's heartbroken rant of despair once it hits him that no, things will not work themselves out; nuclear war WILL happen and it'll happen soon. During his rant, he mentions he has many things yet to see, chief among those being both his daughters getting married and giving him grandchildren, his son going off to college, the same one he never had a chance to attend, the realization that everything his wife and he have accomplished since the end of World War II was now all for nothing...
  • And then we have the destruction of all major world cities...Paris...Moscow...New York City...London...Tokyo...and many others.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: The climactic destruction of Tokyo, as realized by renowned SFX artist Eiji Tsuburaya, is both an awe-inspiring and terrifying sight to behold.

---