The Day After
"Provocative! Apocalyptic! Gut-wrenching!" - The Hollywood Reporter
The countdown has begun! Against the real-life backdrop of the US deployment of WMDs in Europe during the escalating cold war, this "dramatically involving [and] agonizingly graphic film" (The Hollywood Reporter) about nuclear holocaust detonated a direct hit into the heartland of America. Starring Jason Robards, JoBeth Williams, Steven Guttenberg, John Cullum and John Lithgow, this controversial, potent drama" (Leonard Maltin) remains "one of the most talked-about programs in history" (Newsweek)!
When cold-war tensions reach the ultimate boiling point, the inhabitants of a small town in Kansas learn - along with the rest of America - that they have less than 30 minutes before 300 Soviet warheads begin to appear overhead! Can anyone survive this ultimate nightmare... or the nuclear winter that is sure to follow?
Member Reviews
Truly Horrific... - Rachy007
I watched this as a child and remember feeling afraid but, being a child I didn't fully understand the extent of the message. As an adult, my experience was far more chilling. This movie is so scary... I know I'd rather die than survive a nuclear detonantion. The aftermath would be far worse than trying to exist in a the mess that would remain. I actually appreciated that there is no happy ending. That is profoundly the point. I found the severe depth of loss and human suffering is exactly what we should come to expect if ever this comes to pass. There are no "winners" in war especially one that involves nuclear power. It made me consider present times and international relations with North Korea and Iran.
This would be a good appetizer to "The Road" or, "The Book Of Eli"
As you get a terrorfying glimpse of a historical catastrophic event that leaves the world undone.A TV movie of its time - duggie
This starts off with some generic tv situations, crosscutting (sigh) between a doctor giving a lesson to students, army dudes in a helicopter, and a nuclear family getting by. I wanted them all to die, and I think the movie would have been better if they did, and then followed the one or two people who survived. But no, nukes go off and pretty much everyone survives for the length of the movie, although many will certainly die of radiation poisoning afterward.
The movie also overdoes some related disasters as if a nuke wasn't enough. There is a kid who looks at the blast and suffers flash blindness for days. There is an electromagnetic pulse that destroys all electronics, including all cars and radios. Isn't the horrible destruction of a nuke enough?Bleak but Memorable - Hattori_Gonzo
This movie was originally released in 1983, when I was 8 years old. I wasn't allowed to watch it because it would "give me nightmares".
22 years later, I finally get to see it. It gave me nightmares.
A fantastic first half filled with dread and a big payoff with the detonation of Russian nuclear weapons in Kansas, but plagued by a second half that seemed to stretch on way too long.
A must-see film, in my opinion, simply because it is one of the most talked about events in television history.
Member Reviews
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Truly Horrific... - Rachy007
I watched this as a child and remember feeling afraid but, being a child I didn't fully understand the extent of the message. As an adult, my experience was far more chilling. This movie is so scary... I know I'd rather die than survive a nuclear detonantion. ...A TV movie of its time - duggie
This starts off with some generic tv situations, crosscutting (sigh) between a doctor giving a lesson to students, army dudes in a helicopter, and a nuclear family getting by. I wanted them all to die, and I think the movie would have been better if they did, ...Bleak but Memorable - Hattori_Gonzo
This movie was originally released in 1983, when I was 8 years old. I wasn't allowed to watch it because it would "give me nightmares".
22 years later, I finally get to see it. It gave me nightmares.
A fantastic first half filled with dread ...