Good question: I just watched the same movie last night, for the umpteenth time. You'd still have to find a way to beat their shields, and when the nukes fail, start thinking about either a guerilla resistance, or some kind of biological warfare approach. As Dr. Forrester said after the nuclear strike failed, "We know now we can't beat their machines. We've got to beat them."
One possibility is showering the Martians with CBU artillery rounds (ICM-DP was the term), and hoping that as the shields flicker, some of the antiarmor rounds get through and cause some damage. Another is planting charges (maybe using artillery rounds or dumb bombs buried as land mines). Either a brave someone is waiting with a plunger, or there's some kind of motion sensor to set off the charge as the ship passes overhead-and it's within the shield, so that doesn't help (or both).
Though seeing NATO in Europe and Group of Soviet Forces in Germany and Central Group of Forces in Czechoslovakia fighting a common enemy would be good to see.
One major difference? In 1953, information was flowing to the DOD war room (you do know that scene) via radio, teletype, cable, and so on, and there was a time lag. In the 1980s, communications would be more advanced (do the Martians take the time to knock out communication satellites?), so finding out where the Martians have landed and how they are progressing flows faster.
