I didn't see 'The Day After' until I was about 18 because my parents wouldn't let me see it when it first ran on TV (I was about 13 at that time). In between, I saw the other, far more graphic 'nuclear' movie - Threads - in the UK, and while that one was largely superior to 'The Day After' in terms of stark realism, 'The Day After' still has a lot of positives to be said about it. There are actually quite a few similarities to 'Threads'.
'The Day After' begins in Lawrence, KS, on the border with Kansas City, Missouri and the state line. Lawrence is home to the U of Kansas, while Kansas City also has a USAF base nearby and more than 125 ICBM missile silos extending along the state border southward. The movie follows primarily one family - the Dahlbergs, whose oldest daughter, Denise, is preparing for her upcoming wedding. This was not unlike 'Threads' which also followed two characters who were about to be married, and both their families. However, in 'The Day After' we only see Denise's fiancé a few times; no mention is made of his family. The other character this movie follows is Dr. Oakes (Jason Robards), chief of surgery at the small U of Kansas hospital, along with RN Nancy Bauer (JoBeth Williams of 'Poltergeist').
Similar to the storyline of 'Threads', problems begin when the aggressive USSR sends tanks & troops to the border of West Berlin. The Russians then decide to march right into West Germany, and at one point they deploy a nuclear missile against a West German city. This is followed by the apparent evacuation of Moscow (likely planning that NATO will counterattack with nuclear weapons?). Most of the characters go about their lives not paying much attention to the overseas trouble, but some, like the Dahlbergs, start constructing makeshift fallout shelters in their basements. Others start hitchhiking out of town. Things quickly escalate when Russian ships strike an American one in the Persian Gulf. The Americans strike back by sinking a Russian ship, and then air burst a series of low-yield nuclear weapons over advancing Soviet troops in West Germany. Now the B-52 bombers are deployed, and the U.S. President quickly starts direct communication with the Soviet Premier. However, the Russian ploy to buy time is revealed when a Soviet ICBM hits NATO regional military headquarters in western Europe. Then the order to launch the ICBMs at the USSR comes, and one at a time, the missile silos along the state line unleash their deadly weaponry. Civilians who see the missiles don't think much of it until senior officers of the USAF, from a command aircraft, track more than 300 Soviet ICBMs headed for the United States! The air-raid sirens sound around Kansas City & Lawrence, and panic breaks out! People are clawing & trampling each other in their fight for survival. Minutes later the electromagnetic pulse knocks out electrical systems - from car batteries & clocks to lighting in an O.R during closure of a patient. Dr. Oakes is on the freeway when he sees the bright flash of the first ICBM hit Kansas City, and then the horrible mushroom cloud rising over the downtown area - 'as if the sun exploded'. People close to the blast site die immediately, but others are subjected to the deadly threat of radioactive fallout, long after the fires are out. Now, the Dahlbergs, Dr. Oakes, and others must try to survive in a world of radioactivity, scant electricity, disease, and an extreme shortage of safe food and water.
Considering that the filmmakers had to use their own special effects for some of the attack footage, they did reasonably well. The 2 mushroom clouds appearing over Kansas City appeared fairly realistic, and the explosions & waves of fire - some of which appears to be Defense Department footage - were also quite realistic. While I considered the attack scenes of 'Threads' to be more realistic, the filmmakers have done a respectable job here. Director Nicholas Meyer (Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan and Star Trek 6: The Undiscovered Country) has kept things fairly well-paced. It moves at a pace comparable to 'Threads' and the crisis that prompted the attack - Soviet invasion of western Europe - was not entirely far-fetched, given the behavior of some former Soviet leaders.
The only thing I was disappointed in was that it did not extend the story even a year later - when one might expect to see the results of a nuclear winter. Although there is a hint of the future for Denise - after she exposes herself to a probably lethal dose of radioactive fallout - she is seen in a gym being used as a hospital, minus most of her hair, skin deteriorating, and apparently ill with leukemia. A hint of the future appears again, right at the end, as a man calls into a radio, 'This is Lawrence, Kansas. Is anybody there?'. This was something covered quite well in 'Threads', extending 13 years into the future.
This one gets a 7/10 for doing a reasonable job with somewhat limited resources. It was unquestionably a scenario that had to be told, to be explained to the public just exactly WHAT the true horrific effects of a full nuclear strike against the United States would be. The filmmakers wisely emphasized at the end that the events shown in the film would in fact be less severe than an actual full nuclear strike. So far, we have managed to avoid a 'Day After'-type scenario. However, with the threat of fanatical terrorists, this threat is raising its ugly head once again. While the storyline may be somewhat dated, the events it portrays are not.
'The Day After' begins in Lawrence, KS, on the border with Kansas City, Missouri and the state line. Lawrence is home to the U of Kansas, while Kansas City also has a USAF base nearby and more than 125 ICBM missile silos extending along the state border southward. The movie follows primarily one family - the Dahlbergs, whose oldest daughter, Denise, is preparing for her upcoming wedding. This was not unlike 'Threads' which also followed two characters who were about to be married, and both their families. However, in 'The Day After' we only see Denise's fiancé a few times; no mention is made of his family. The other character this movie follows is Dr. Oakes (Jason Robards), chief of surgery at the small U of Kansas hospital, along with RN Nancy Bauer (JoBeth Williams of 'Poltergeist').
Similar to the storyline of 'Threads', problems begin when the aggressive USSR sends tanks & troops to the border of West Berlin. The Russians then decide to march right into West Germany, and at one point they deploy a nuclear missile against a West German city. This is followed by the apparent evacuation of Moscow (likely planning that NATO will counterattack with nuclear weapons?). Most of the characters go about their lives not paying much attention to the overseas trouble, but some, like the Dahlbergs, start constructing makeshift fallout shelters in their basements. Others start hitchhiking out of town. Things quickly escalate when Russian ships strike an American one in the Persian Gulf. The Americans strike back by sinking a Russian ship, and then air burst a series of low-yield nuclear weapons over advancing Soviet troops in West Germany. Now the B-52 bombers are deployed, and the U.S. President quickly starts direct communication with the Soviet Premier. However, the Russian ploy to buy time is revealed when a Soviet ICBM hits NATO regional military headquarters in western Europe. Then the order to launch the ICBMs at the USSR comes, and one at a time, the missile silos along the state line unleash their deadly weaponry. Civilians who see the missiles don't think much of it until senior officers of the USAF, from a command aircraft, track more than 300 Soviet ICBMs headed for the United States! The air-raid sirens sound around Kansas City & Lawrence, and panic breaks out! People are clawing & trampling each other in their fight for survival. Minutes later the electromagnetic pulse knocks out electrical systems - from car batteries & clocks to lighting in an O.R during closure of a patient. Dr. Oakes is on the freeway when he sees the bright flash of the first ICBM hit Kansas City, and then the horrible mushroom cloud rising over the downtown area - 'as if the sun exploded'. People close to the blast site die immediately, but others are subjected to the deadly threat of radioactive fallout, long after the fires are out. Now, the Dahlbergs, Dr. Oakes, and others must try to survive in a world of radioactivity, scant electricity, disease, and an extreme shortage of safe food and water.
Considering that the filmmakers had to use their own special effects for some of the attack footage, they did reasonably well. The 2 mushroom clouds appearing over Kansas City appeared fairly realistic, and the explosions & waves of fire - some of which appears to be Defense Department footage - were also quite realistic. While I considered the attack scenes of 'Threads' to be more realistic, the filmmakers have done a respectable job here. Director Nicholas Meyer (Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan and Star Trek 6: The Undiscovered Country) has kept things fairly well-paced. It moves at a pace comparable to 'Threads' and the crisis that prompted the attack - Soviet invasion of western Europe - was not entirely far-fetched, given the behavior of some former Soviet leaders.
The only thing I was disappointed in was that it did not extend the story even a year later - when one might expect to see the results of a nuclear winter. Although there is a hint of the future for Denise - after she exposes herself to a probably lethal dose of radioactive fallout - she is seen in a gym being used as a hospital, minus most of her hair, skin deteriorating, and apparently ill with leukemia. A hint of the future appears again, right at the end, as a man calls into a radio, 'This is Lawrence, Kansas. Is anybody there?'. This was something covered quite well in 'Threads', extending 13 years into the future.
This one gets a 7/10 for doing a reasonable job with somewhat limited resources. It was unquestionably a scenario that had to be told, to be explained to the public just exactly WHAT the true horrific effects of a full nuclear strike against the United States would be. The filmmakers wisely emphasized at the end that the events shown in the film would in fact be less severe than an actual full nuclear strike. So far, we have managed to avoid a 'Day After'-type scenario. However, with the threat of fanatical terrorists, this threat is raising its ugly head once again. While the storyline may be somewhat dated, the events it portrays are not.