We had Dr Strangelove (released 29 Jan 1964) and the lesser-remembered Fail Safe (released 7 Oct 1964) (on cable a month or so ago), which were of the "Big Boom cuz of Screwup" genre.

We had Slap's Seven Days in May (released 12 Feb 1964), of the "Big Conspiracy" genre - timely as being released a few months after JFK was killed.

We also had the 7 Sep 1964 Daisy Ad, which played on fears that the Dr Strangelove and Fail Safe scenarios would actually play out. That is, if the electorate allowed "conspiratorial nutcases" (i.e., Goldwater et al) to assume the reins of power.

Such was 1964 Hollywood's normative view of the military (scarcely in its eyes a profession of arms at flag officer level). While I hated that view then and now, I admit to some addiction with the films themselves. But, I also appreciate The Battleship Potemkin .

More recently, we find another fan of "Seven Days" in a high place:

Pentagon Memo: Gates Sees Fallout From Troubled Ties With Pakistan

By ELISABETH BUMILLER
Published: January 23, 2010

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Nobody else in the Obama administration has been mired in Pakistan for as long as Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates. So on a trip here this past week to try to soothe the country’s growing rancor toward the United States, he served as a punching bag tested over a quarter-century.
.....
His final message delivered, he relaxed on the 14-hour trip home by watching “Seven Days in May,” the cold war-era film about an attempted military coup in the United States.
Too bad he didn't write a review for us.

Cheers

Mike