The Day After
The Day After is an American television film that first aired on November 20, 1983, on the ABC television network. The film postulates a fictional war between the NATO forces and the Warsaw Pact over Germany that rapidly escalates into a full-scale nuclear exchange between the United States and the Soviet Union. The action itself focuses on the residents of Lawrence, Kansas, Kansas City, Missouri, and several family farms near American missile silos.[1] The cast includes JoBeth Williams, Steve Guttenberg, John Cullum, Jason Robards, and John Lithgow. The film was written by Edward Hume, produced by Robert Papazian, and directed by Nicholas Meyer.
"Russell Oakes" redirects here. For the Australian dramatist, see Russell J. Oakes.The Day After
Drama
Disaster
Science fiction
David Raksin
Virgil Thomson (Theme for "The River")
United States
English
Robert Papazian (producer)
Stephanie Austin (associate producer)
William Paul Dornisch
Robert Florio
126 minutes
ABC
November 20, 1983
More than 100 million people, in nearly 39 million households, watched the film during its initial broadcast.[2][3][4] With a 46 rating and a 62% share of the viewing audience during the initial broadcast, the film was the seventh-highest-rated non-sports show until then, and in 2009 it set a record as the highest-rated television film in US history.[4]
The film was broadcast on Soviet state television in 1987,[5] during the negotiations on Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. The producers demanded the Russian translation conform to the original script and the broadcast not be interrupted by commentary.[6]
Plot[edit]
Dr. Russell Oakes works at a hospital in Kansas City, Missouri, and spends time with his family over his daughter Marilyn's decision to move away. In Harrisonville, Missouri, 40 miles (64 km) southeast of Kansas City, farmer Jim Dahlberg and family hold a wedding dress rehearsal for their eldest daughter, Denise, and Bruce, a student at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas. The young couple is more interested in sex, with family drama when Denise's younger sister steals her birth control, and when Jim catches Denise sneaking home the following morning. Airman First Class Billy McCoy is stationed at a Minuteman launch site in Sweetsage, Missouri, 20 miles (32 km) east of Kansas City. Next to the site, the Hendrys carry out farm chores and mind their children.
Elsewhere in the world, tensions rise between the United States and Soviet Union due to a Warsaw Pact buildup right outside West Germany, including the dispatch of nuclear weapons and a blockade of West Berlin. McCoy is recalled from his wife and infant daughter at Whiteman Air Force Base near Sedalia, Missouri after the US issues an ultimatum demanding that the blockade disband by evening. When the Soviets ignore America's demands, armed conflict breaks out over the course of the next few days; the American public's attempts to continue life as normal become increasingly strained as news of the war and rumors of nuclear strikes in Europe emerge. Ultimately, the superpowers fire nuclear ICBMs at each other; the film deliberately avoids specifying who shot first. The Soviets disable electronics and communications across the country with a NEMP before striking American military bases, then infrastructural and economic centers. Marilyn and Bruce, as well as Billy's wife and son, are incinerated. The Hendrys, having initially ignored the crisis, never make it out of their yard. A nuclear detonation flash-blinds young Danny Dahlberg when he looks at it. While stuck on the freeway after the NEMP hits, Dr. Oakes witnesses two detonations, one over a military base and the other explosion directly over Kansas City. He walks to Lawrence, takes charge, and begins treating patients. Klein, who had hitchhiked as far as Harrisonville, finds the Dahlberg home and begs for refuge in the family's basement.
Oakes receives fallout reports by shortwave from Joe Huxley at the science building. The situation is dismal: travel outdoors is fatal, yet patients continue to come as resources dwindle. Huxley tries to contact other survivors, with no response. Delirious after days in the basement shelter and unable to remember her fiancé's face, Denise runs outside. Klein retrieves her, but they both get exposed to the thick radioactive dust and dead animals on the land. McCoy heads towards Sedalia until he hears from passing refugees that it and its environs have been obliterated. He befriends a mute man and travels to the hospital in Lawrence, where he dies of radiation poisoning. Oakes bonds with Nurse Nancy Bauer, who later dies of meningitis, and converses with an overdue pregnant woman who pleads with him to tell her she is wrong to be hopeless.
The U.S. President announces a ceasefire with the Soviets, promises relief, and stresses liberty, democracy, and American leadership, set to the devastation that the war caused. Attempts at military aid and infrastructural redevelopment prove fruitless, and summary executions become commonplace. Jim is eventually killed by squatters, while Denise, Klein, and Oakes are wasting away from radiation sickness. Returning to Kansas City to see his old home one last time, Oakes finds squatters there and attempts to drive them off, but is instead offered food. Oakes collapses and weeps, and one of the squatters comforts him. The film ends with an overlying audio clip of Huxley's voice on the radio as the screen fades to black, asking if anybody can still hear him, only to be met with silence until the credits, as a Morse code signal transmits a single message to the viewer: M-A-D.
Most versions of The Day After include a textual ending disclaimer just before the end credits, stating that the film is fictional and that the real-life outcome of a nuclear war would be much worse than the events portrayed onscreen.
The Day After won two Emmy Awards and received 10 other Emmy nominations.[34]
Emmy Awards won:
Emmy Award nominations: