The Day After

Did You Know?

• The film used clips from the 1979 Air Force documentary First Strike.
• The producers required that the Russian translation for the Soviet broadcast conform to the original script and not be interrupted by commentary.
• Director Nicholas Meyer stated in 2023 that he had tried to get a global version of the movie made but no streamers were interested.

Plot

Dr. Russell Oakes works at a Kansas City hospital as his daughter Marilyn prepares to move away. Farmer Jim Dahlberg holds a wedding rehearsal for his eldest daughter Denise in Harrisonville. Airman Billy McCoy serves at a Minuteman launch site near Sweetsage, one of 150 silos in western Missouri. Background reports describe a Soviet buildup on the East German border.

East Germany blockades West Berlin; the U.S. issues an ultimatum and places forces on alert. NATO attempts to break the blockade at Helmstedt-Marienborn. Warsaw Pact MiGs hit Würzburg, and Moscow is evacuated. At the University of Kansas, word spreads that the Soviets have invaded West Germany.

Pre-med student Stephen Klein decides to hitchhike to Joplin. Denise's fiancé Bruce Gallatin witnesses panic buying as both sides attack naval targets in the Persian Gulf. Jim prepares his cellar as a bomb shelter. The Emergency Broadcast System is activated.

NATO airbursts three nuclear warheads over Soviet troops; a Soviet device destroys NATO headquarters in Brussels. U.S. Air Force personnel receive notification of 300 incoming ICBMs. People watch hundreds of ICBMs launch. The film shows NATO used nuclear weapons first but leaves unclear who launched the major attack.

Production

ABC Motion Picture Division President Brandon Stoddard conceived the film after watching The China Syndrome. He asked Stu Samuels to develop a script; Samuels created the title The Day After to emphasize the aftermath of nuclear war. Edward Hume was commissioned to write the script in 1981. ABC was concerned about graphic content on a family-oriented channel.

Hume researched nuclear war extensively and went through several drafts before ABC approved the plot and characters. The original script was set more around Kansas City, which was not bombed, though Whiteman Air Force Base was, causing shock waves and survivors staggering into town. The story originally included a small Kansas town called "Hampton" instead of Lawrence. Hume and producer Robert Papazian scouted locations in Kansas City and met with officials from the Kansas film commission and tourist offices.

They chose between Warrensburg, Missouri, and Lawrence, Kansas. Warrensburg was near Whiteman Air Force Base; Lawrence was near Kansas City and offered a university, hospital, sports venues, farms, and flat countryside. Lawrence was also considered the "geographic center" of the United States. Local residents urged ABC to change the town name to Lawrence.

Reception

Before the film aired, John Cullum addressed the audience, warning that the content would be graphic and disturbing, and urged parents to view it alongside their children to facilitate conversations about nuclear war. ABC and its local stations set up toll-free hotlines staffed with counselors. After the nuclear attack scenes, no commercials were shown. A live debate followed on Viewpoint, hosted by Ted Koppel, with panelists including Carl Sagan, Henry Kissinger, Elie Wiesel, Robert McNamara, Brent Scowcroft, and William F. Buckley Jr. Sagan spoke against nuclear proliferation, while Buckley defended nuclear deterrence.

Sagan compared the arms race to two enemies in a gasoline-filled room, one with nine thousand matches and the other with seven thousand, each worried about who had more. The film made the covers of Time, Newsweek, U.S. News & World Report, and TV Guide. Critics were split, with some accusing it of sensationalism and others finding it too restrained, though its special effects and realistic depiction earned praise. It received twelve Emmy nominations and won two.

Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide rated it "way above average" until all TV-film reviews were removed from the publication. The broadcast drew 38.5 million households, roughly 100 million viewers, a record for a made-for-TV movie. Producers Sales Organization released it theatrically worldwide, including in the Eastern Bloc, China, North Korea, and Cuba, with six extra minutes of footage not in the TV version. Because those markets don't sell commercials, the company lost an undisclosed amount of revenue. Embassy Home Entertainment later put the international cut on tape.