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Title: The Day After (TV Movie 1983)
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| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Jason Robards | ... | Dr. Russell Oakes | |
| JoBeth Williams | ... | Nurse Nancy Bauer | |
| Steve Guttenberg | ... | Stephen Klein (as Steven Guttenberg) | |
| John Cullum | ... | Jim Dahlberg | |
| John Lithgow | ... | Joe Huxley | |
| Bibi Besch | ... | Eve Dahlberg | |
| Lori Lethin | ... | Denise Dahlberg | |
| Amy Madigan | ... | Alison Ransom | |
| Jeff East | ... | Bruce Gallatin | |
| Georgann Johnson | ... | Helen Oakes | |
| William Allen Young | ... | Airman Billy McCoy | |
 |
Calvin Jung | ... | Dr. Sam Hachiya |
| Lin McCarthy | ... | Dr. Austin | |
| Dennis Lipscomb | ... | Reverend Walker | |
|
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Clayton Day | ... | Dennis Hendry |
The frightening story of the weeks leading up to and following a nuclear strike on the United States. The bulk of the activity centers around the town of Lawrence, Kansas. Written by Anthony Ventarola <theventman@aol.com>
I first saw the film as a high school student attending a Department of Defense school in Germany in the early 1980's. The film was shown in school and it scared the bejeeezus out of me and many of my fellow students. We were dealing with Red Army Faction terrorism, car bombs, bomb threats at school and only a few hundred miles from the border to East Germany. The concepts were quite accurate: if the eastern bloc came over the border, then the ONLY NATO response could be to fight a delayed retreat, blowing up roads and bridges as the US and Nato forces were pushed back and most of Germany would have fallen to the Eastern Bloc before any offensive action could have been taken. The scenario leading to the nuclear attacks are quite real and plausible.
The critics say the film was not graphic enough (they prefer things like Threads) or too graphic (prefering more subtile films like Testament ). There is no need to be totally graphic and accurate in portraying the events. Yes, we know it would be worse. But the goal is not to gross everyone out. We want younger audiences to see the film too - and that would never happen with something like theads. Likewise, a mored emotional but action lacking film would not draw in the audiences. The purpose was to 'get the point accross' and I think it did that very successfully - bad acting, flubbed lines, stock footage and all. It showed enough of the circumstances surrounding the events for those who had some education in things could recognize issues and say,"Yes thats right" while not being overly graphic so that only adults could see it.
If you want to see an action movie about nuclear war or you want to see a touchy-feely emotional treatment of the losses due to war - this film is not for you. The purpose of this film is to show what nuclear war may be like (in a very superficial way) and to remind everyone that it must NEVER happen again. Back in the early 1980's with the Soviets under a rotating leadership of old hardliners and the US with Ronny talking smack - the threat was very real and the reality check this film delivers was needed. It doesn't play as well in the year 2002 - but you must remember when a film was made when you see it.