The Manhattan Project (1986)

Director: Marshall Brickman
Cast: Christopher Collet, Cynthia Nixon, Jill Eikenberry, John Lithgow, John Mahoney, Richard Jenkins, Robert Sean Leonard, Steve Blum

Synopsis:

Named after the World War II-era program, the plot revolves around a gifted high school student who decides to construct a nuclear bomb for a national science fair. The film’s underlying theme involves the Cold War of the 1980s when government secrecy and mutually assured destruction were key political and military issues.