I recently asked a few boomers IRL how X-Men: First Class would've gone over if played at cinemas during the Cold War (say by mischievous or curious time travelers). Special effects aside, I'd think it would subvert Cold War propaganda in that both the US and USSR are seen a more realistic, morally ambiguous people driven by ideology and fear rather than pure evil or as brainwashed servants of the state, and ultimately both were facing common enemies, and then both allied together making them both bad guys (though even then they weren't portrayed as evil). While neither country was portrayed as the "evil empire" neither was portrayed in such a way as to be seen as unquestionably wise & just (thus making their authority questionable), either. I was curious how much it would screw with people's heads back then, and if it would've inspired an ideological moral panic.
Unfortunately, almost no one I asked (who'd be old enough to say) saw the movie, but of the very few who did had very different views (much to my surprise), and I thought I'd sum it up and offer it here for others to add their insights and opinions. My question was how would it go in 1969 (after the Hayes code was pretty much over) and also 1960 before the Cuban missile crisis, though it ended up going into how it would be perceived in the 80s as well. Summed up:
1960: One claimed all hell would break loose in a time that even MAD magazine got visited by the Feds for mocking the government and even It's a Wonderful Life came under FBI scrutiny for having the villain being such a wealthy individual (and thus promoting Communist propaganda instead of Capitalist propaganda). Also, it's possible that Jupiter missiles in Turkey weren't public knowledge at the time as even JFK didn't know about it until advised during the Cuban missile crisis (and Charles is accused of being a spy in the movie after he asks about them).
OTOH, Dr. No came out in 1962 and showed plenty of skin and fairly competent women. Also, Hugh Hefner's Playboy Clubs and the Playboy Mansion was a popular icon in the 60s and James Bond is shown as having some kind of card or key for it in I think Diamonds are Forever. Thus the film may not have provoked a moral panic (at least on non ideological grounds) and been popular, and just may have been seen as a popcorn flick with epic special effects.
1969: Everyone agreed that in the political turmoil of the time that this would've generated A LOT of hand wringing and screaming over this film and it would even be labelled as outright Satanic, but would also be a blockbuster hit that catapulted all the stars into international fame (this was the ONLY thing everyone I asked agreed upon).
In addition to subverting Cold War propaganda, it showed women being in control of their sexuality (and controlling men through it) as well as having brains and competence (while the male audience could still appreciate the skin showed), and it would also tap the racial turmoil of the difference between MLK Jr. (Xavier) and Malcolm X (Magneto), which would help make this film a huge hit while at the same time scaring the crap out of plenty of others for the same reason. In short, the movie would likely generate intense discussion & debate from the Cold War to race relations and feminism (all huge topics of the day challenging the status quo), which is why it would be intensely huge but at the same time reviled (especially by TPTB). And by this time, not only was the Hayes code over with, but Star Trek was (much more subtly) questioning the social order on TV (including with the character Chekov) and James Bond movies sometimes had a similar feel.
1980s: One said the Cold War was losing steam and she cited many movies (such as War Games to The Day After and even some James Bond movies), and popular songs (like Sting's Russians) that were saying both sides needed to take a chill pill and relax. Russia seemed a little less evil and kids in American schools started questioning Cold War propaganda (I previously heard how American schools started to phase out the teaching of critical thinking skills in the early 80s, which a few believe was Reagan trying to stem kids from looking at American propaganda with the same critical eye as toward Russian propaganda, too). So she thinks it would've just been seen as another over the top popcorn flick (with epic special effects of course).
But a guy said the Cold War was still going strong even in the 80s and cited Ronald Reagan's "bear in the woods" ad, and all too many hit movies capitalized on it, such as the Rambo and Missing in Action films, Rocky IV, Red Dawn, and a bunch of others I can't recall. So it was still a big deal (either that or guys just liked seeing bad guys blown up and blown away and Commies were convenient bad guys at the time), and even though The Terminator had a similar spiel of an unknown enemy exploiting the Cold War to crush the world and its social order to take over, the movie never humanized the Soviets as the X-Men movie did. So he believes that even in the 80s it would generate an ideological moral panic, or at least screw with how people were used to thinking. (He also claimed that when he saw Terminator 2: Judgement Day in 1991 that he felt shocked over the line of the Russians being "our friends now" as it was almost too much to take in.)
Because I got such strong disagreement I thought I'd put the question out on this board and see if anyone else wanted to add their own thoughts on the matter. (And before anyone asks, I was born in October of 1982. And growing up a girl my exposure to the war games was very limited, though I do recall pretending to shoot at Russian invaders while playing with the neighborhood boys once or twice.) Thanks.