View source for The Day After

{{short description|1983 American television film by Nicholas Meyer}}
{{Redirect|Russell Oakes |the Australian dramatist |Russell J. Oakes}}
{{about|the 1983 television film}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{multiple issues|
{{refimprove|date=October 2024}}
{{original research|date=October 2024}}}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2025}}
{{Infobox television
| image                = The Day After (film).jpg
| caption              =
| genre                = Drama<br />Disaster<br />Science fiction
| creator              = 
| based_on             = 
| writer               = [[Edward Hume]]
| screenplay           = 
| story                = 
| director             = [[Nicholas Meyer]]
| starring             = [[Jason Robards]]<br />[[JoBeth Williams]]<br />[[Steve Guttenberg]]<br />[[John Cullum]]<br />[[John Lithgow]]<br />[[Amy Madigan]]
| narrated             = 
| theme_music_composer = [[David Raksin]]<br />[[Virgil Thomson]] (Theme for "The River")
| country              = United States
| language             = English
| num_episodes         = 
| producer             = Robert Papazian
| editor               = William Paul Dornisch<br />Robert Florio
| cinematography       = [[Gayne Rescher]]
| runtime              = 126 minutes
| company              = [[ABC Circle Films]]
| budget               = 
| network              = [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]
| released             = {{Start date|1983|11|20}}
}}
'''''The Day After''''' is a 1983 American [[television film]] directed by [[Nicholas Meyer]]. The [[war film]] postulates a fictional conflict between [[NATO]] and the [[Warsaw Pact]] over [[Germany]] that rapidly escalates into a full-scale [[nuclear warfare|nuclear exchange]] between the [[United States]] and the [[Soviet Union]]. The action itself focuses on the residents of [[Lawrence, Kansas]], and [[Kansas City, Missouri]], and several family farms near American [[missile silo]]s.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5flHQwTXN65VCVb5vgkMtGC/the-day-after-25-november-1983 |title=The Day After - 25 November 1983 |publisher=BBC |language=en |access-date=September 18, 2016}}</ref> The cast includes [[JoBeth Williams]], [[Steve Guttenberg]], [[John Cullum]], [[Jason Robards]], and [[John Lithgow]]. The film was written by [[Edward Hume]] and produced by Robert Papazian.

More than 100&nbsp;million people, in nearly 39&nbsp;million households, watched the film when it first aired on November 20, 1983, on the [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] television network.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://time.com/3101529/the-day-after/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141025122000/https://time.com/3101529/the-day-after/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 25, 2014 |title=All-Time 100 TV Shows: The Day After |last=Poniewozik |first=James |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=September 6, 2007 |access-date=January 17, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Tipoff |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=8rROAAAAIBAJ&pg=1194,1429539&dq=jobeth+williams+tv+movie+nielsen+ratings&hl=en |access-date=September 10, 2025 |newspaper=The Ledger |date=January 20, 1989 |location=Lakeland, Fla. |issn=0163-0288 |via=News.google.com}}</ref><ref name="Screener 2009">{{cite news |url=https://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/reference/top-100-rated-tv-shows-of-all-time/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161013204918/http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/reference/top-100-rated-tv-shows-of-all-time/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 13, 2016 |title=Top 100 Rated TV Shows Of All Time |work=[[Screener (website)|Screener]] |publisher=[[Tribune Media Services]] |date=March 21, 2009 |access-date=January 17, 2017}}</ref> With a 46 rating and a 62% [[Nielsen ratings#Ratings/share and total viewers|share]] of the viewing audience during the initial broadcast, the film was the seventh-highest-rated non-sports show until then, and in a 2009 Nielsen TV Ratings list was one of the highest-rated television films in US history.<ref name="Screener 2009" />

The film was broadcast on [[television in the Soviet Union|Soviet state television]] in 1987,<ref>{{Cite web |title=На следующий день |trans-title=The Day After |date=n.d. |url=https://www.kinopoisk.ru/film/257368/ |access-date=October 18, 2021 |website=KinoPoisk |lang=ru}}</ref> during the negotiations on [[Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty]]. The producers demanded the [[Russian language|Russian]] translation conform to the original script and the broadcast not be interrupted by commentary.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1987/01/10/Soviet-Union-to-air-ABCs-The-Day-After/5242537253200/ |title=Soviet Union to air ABC's 'The Day After' |department=UPI Archives |publisher=UPI |date=January 10, 1987}}</ref>

== Plot ==
<!-- Per WP:FILMPLOT, plot summaries for feature films should be set between 400 to 700 words. -->
Dr. Russell Oakes works at a hospital in [[Kansas City, Missouri]], and spends time with family as his daughter Marilyn prepares to move away. In nearby [[Harrisonville, Missouri|Harrisonville]], farmer Jim Dahlberg and family hold a wedding rehearsal for his eldest daughter Denise. Airman Billy McCoy, serving with the [[351st Missile Wing|351st Strategic Missile Wing]], is stationed at a [[Minuteman (missile)|Minuteman]] launch site in nearby Sweetsage, one of 150 such silos in western Missouri. Next to the site, the Hendrys tend to their farm chores and mind their children. Background television and radio reports reveal information about a [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] buildup on the [[East Germany|East German]] border. East Germany blockades [[West Berlin]], and the United States issues an [[ultimatum]] and places its forces on alert, recalling McCoy from his family at [[Whiteman Air Force Base]].

The following day, [[NATO]] attempts to break through the blockade at [[Helmstedt-Marienborn]]. [[Warsaw Pact]] [[Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25|MiGs]] hit Würzburg, [[West Germany]]. Moscow is evacuated. At the [[University of Kansas]] in [[Lawrence, Kansas]], near Kansas City, the word goes out that the Soviets have invaded [[West Germany]]. Soviet forces drive toward the [[Rhine]] in an armored thrust. Pre-med student Stephen Klein decides to hitchhike home to [[Joplin, Missouri]], while Denise's fiancé Bruce witnesses a crowd of shoppers frantically pulling items off the shelves as both sides attack naval targets in the Persian Gulf. Jim prepares his cellar. People start to flee Kansas City, and the [[Emergency Broadcast System]] is activated. NATO attempts to halt the advance by [[Air burst|airbursting]] three nuclear warheads over Soviet troops, while a Soviet nuclear device destroys the [[NATO headquarters]] in [[Brussels]]. US Air Force personnel aboard the [[Strategic Air Command|SAC]] [[Operation Looking Glass|Airborne Command Post]] receive notification of an incoming wave of 300 [[Intercontinental ballistic missile|ICBMs]], then activate their missile launch protocols, sending a wave of ICBMs towards Russia. While the film makes clear that NATO was the first to use nuclear weapons, it is left deliberately unclear who launched the first major attack.

McCoy flees his now-empty silo, telling his fellow airmen the war is effectively over. A [[high-altitude nuclear explosion]]'s [[Nuclear electromagnetic pulse|EMP]] disables vehicles and destroys the power grid. Nuclear missiles rain across the region on both [[counterforce|military]] and [[countervalue|civilian targets]]. Kansas City's last minutes are frantic. Bruce, Marilyn Oakes, the Hendrys, and McCoy's family are among the thousands of people incinerated, while the young Danny Dahlberg is [[flash blindness|flash-blinded]] by a nuclear detonation many miles away. Dr. Oakes, stranded on the highway, walks to University Hospital at Lawrence, takes charge, and begins treating patients. Klein finds the Dahlberg home and begs for refuge in the family's basement.

Oakes receives [[nuclear fallout|fallout]] reports by [[shortwave radio|shortwave]] from KU professor Joe Huxley in the science building: travel outdoors is fatal. Patients continue to come and supplies dwindle. Delirious after days in the basement shelter, Denise runs outside; Klein retrieves her, but both are exposed to the thick radioactive dust. McCoy heads towards Sedalia until he learns of its destruction from passing refugees. He befriends a mute man and travels to the hospital, where he dies of [[acute radiation syndrome|radiation poisoning]]. Oakes bonds with Nurse Nancy Bauer, who later dies of [[meningitis]], and a pregnant woman pleads with him to tell her she's wrong to be hopeless.

In a radio speech, the [[President of the United States|U.S. President]] announces a ceasefire, promises relief, and stresses no surrender and a reliance on American principles, set to shots of filthy, listless, or dead Americans among the ruins. Attempts at aid from the [[National Guard (United States)|National Guard]] and infrastructural redevelopment prove fruitless, and [[summary execution]]s become commonplace. Jim Dahlberg (and, it is implied, his remaining family) is eventually killed by [[squatting|squatters]], while Denise, Klein, and Oakes are wasting away from radiation sickness. Returning to an irradiated Kansas City to see his old home one last time, Oakes witnesses National Guardsmen blindfolding and executing looters. He finds squatters in the ruins of his home 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: [[Mutual assured destruction|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.{{cn|date=June 2025}}

== Cast ==
{{col-begin}}{{col-break}}
; '''The Oakeses'''
* [[Jason Robards]] as Dr. Russell Oakes
* [[Georgann Johnson]] as Helen Oakes
* Kyle Aletter as Marilyn Oakes

; '''The Dahlbergs'''
* [[John Cullum]] as Jim Dahlberg
* [[Bibi Besch]] as Eve Dahlberg
* [[Lori Lethin]] as Denise Dahlberg
* Doug Scott as Danny Dahlberg
* Ellen Anthony as Joleen Dahlberg

; '''Hospital staff'''
* [[JoBeth Williams]] as Nurse Nancy Bauer
* Calvin Jung as Dr. Sam Hachiya
* [[Lin McCarthy]] as Dr. Austin
* [[Rosanna Huffman]] as Dr. Wallenberg
* [[George Petrie (actor)|George Petrie]] as Dr. Landowska
* Jonathan Estrin as Julian French
* [[Wayne Knight]] as Man in Hospital
{{col-break}}
; '''Others'''
* [[Steve Guttenberg]] as Stephen Klein
* [[John Lithgow]] as Joe Huxley
* [[Amy Madigan]] as Alison Ransom
* [[William Allen Young]] as Airman First Class Billy McCoy
* [[Jeff East]] as Bruce Gallatin
* [[Dennis Lipscomb]] as Reverend Walker
* Clayton Day as Dennis Hendry
* Antonie Becker as Ellen Hendry
* [[Stephen Furst]] as Aldo
* [[Arliss Howard]] as Tom Cooper
* Stan Wilson as Vinnie Conrad
* [[Harry Bugin]] as Man at phone
{{col-end}}

== Production ==
{{unreferenced section|date=February 2024}}
''The Day After'' was the idea of ABC Motion Picture Division President [[Brandon Stoddard]],<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/24/business/media/brandon-stoddard-77-abc-executive-who-brought-roots-to-tv-is-dead.html |title=Brandon Stoddard, 77, ABC Executive Who Brought 'Roots' to TV, Is Dead |last=Weber |first=Bruce |date=December 23, 2014 |newspaper=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |access-date=March 18, 2016 |url-access=limited}}</ref> who, after watching ''[[The China Syndrome]]'', was so impressed that he envisioned creating a film exploring the effects of nuclear war on the United States. Stoddard asked his executive vice president of television movies and miniseries, Stu Samuels, to develop a script. Samuels created the title ''The Day After'' to emphasize that the story was about, not a nuclear war itself, but the aftermath. Samuels suggested several writers, and eventually, Stoddard commissioned the veteran television writer [[Edward Hume]] to write the script in 1981. ABC, which financed the production, was concerned about the graphic nature of the film and how to portray the subject appropriately on a family-oriented television channel. Hume undertook a massive amount of research on nuclear war and went through several drafts until ABC finally deemed the plot and characters acceptable.
[[File:Dayafter1.jpg|thumb|A scene from the film, in which a nuclear weapon detonates near [[De Soto, Kansas]].]]
Originally, the film was based more around and in Kansas City, Missouri. Kansas City was not bombed in the original script although [[Whiteman Air Force Base]] was, which made Kansas City suffer shock waves and the horde of survivors staggering into town. There was no Lawrence, Kansas in the story although there was a small Kansas town called "Hampton." While Hume was writing the script, he and the producer Robert Papazian, who had great experience in on-location shooting, took several trips to Kansas City to scout locations and met with officials from the Kansas film commission and from the Kansas tourist offices to search for a suitable location for "Hampton." It came down to a choice of either [[Warrensburg, Missouri]], and Lawrence, Kansas, both college towns. Warrensburg was home of [[Central Missouri State University]] and was near Whiteman Air Force Base, and Lawrence was home of the [[University of Kansas]] and was near Kansas City. Hume and Papazian ended up selecting Lawrence because of the access to a number of good locations: a university, a hospital, football and basketball venues, farms, and a flat countryside. Lawrence was also agreed upon as being the "geographic center" of the United States. The Lawrence people{{who?|date=October 2025}} were urging ABC to change the name "Hampton" to "Lawrence" in the script.

Back in Los Angeles, the idea of making a TV movie showing the true effects of nuclear war on average American citizens was still stirring up controversy. ABC, Hume, and Papazian realized that for the scene depicting the nuclear blast, they would have to use state-of-the-art special effects and so took the first step by hiring some of the best special effects people in the business{{who?|date=October 2025}} to draw up some [[storyboards]] for the complicated blast scene. ABC then hired Robert Butler to direct the project. For several months, the group worked on drawing up storyboards and revising the script again and again. Then, in early 1982, Butler was forced to leave ''The Day After'' because of other contractual commitments. ABC then offered the project to two other directors, who both turned it down. Finally, in May, ABC hired the feature film director [[Nicholas Meyer]], who had just completed the blockbuster ''[[Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan]]''. Meyer was apprehensive at first and doubted ABC would get away with making a television film on nuclear war without the censors diminishing its effect. However, after reading the script, Meyer agreed to direct ''The Day After''.

Meyer wanted to make sure that he would film the script he was offered. He did not want the censors to censor the film or the film to be a regular Hollywood disaster movie from the start. Meyer figured the more ''The Day After'' resembled such a film, the less effective it would be, and he preferred to present the facts of nuclear war to viewers. He made it clear to ABC that no big TV or film stars should be in ''The Day After''. ABC agreed but wanted to have one star to help attract European audiences to the film when it would be shown theatrically there. Later, while flying to visit his parents in New York City, Meyer happened to be on the same plane with [[Jason Robards]] and asked him to join the cast.

Meyer plunged into several months of nuclear research, which made him quite pessimistic about the future, to the point of becoming ill each evening when he came home from work. Meyer and Papazian also made trips to the ABC censors and to the [[United States Department of Defense]] during their research phase and experienced conflicts with both. Meyer had many heated arguments over elements in the script that the network censors wanted cut out of the film. The Department of Defense said that it would cooperate with ABC if the script clarified that the Soviets launched their missiles first, which Meyer and Papazian took pains not to do.

Meyer, Papazian, Hume, and several casting directors spent most of July 1982 taking numerous trips to Kansas City. In between casting in Los Angeles, where they relied mostly on unknowns, they would fly to the Kansas City area to interview local actors and scout scenery. They were hoping to find some real Midwesterners for smaller roles. Hollywood casting directors strolled through shopping malls in Kansas City to look for local people to fill small and supporting roles, the daily newspaper in Lawrence ran an advertisement calling for local residents to sign up as extras, and a professor of theater and film at the [[University of Kansas]] was hired to head up local casting. Out of the eighty or so speaking parts, only fifteen were cast in Los Angeles. The remaining roles were filled in Kansas City and Lawrence.

While in Kansas City, Meyer and Papazian toured the [[Federal Emergency Management Agency]] offices in Kansas City. When asked about its plans for surviving nuclear war, a FEMA official replied that it was experimenting with putting evacuation instructions in [[telephone book]]s in [[New England]]. "In about six years, everyone should have them." That meeting led Meyer to later refer to FEMA as "a complete joke." It was during that time that the decision was made to change "Hampton" in the script to "Lawrence." Meyer and Hume figured since Lawrence was a real town, it would be more believable, and besides, it was a perfect choice to play a representative of [[Middle America (United States)|Middle America]]. The town boasted a "socio-cultural mix," sat near the exact [[Geographic center of the United States|geographic center of the Continental U.S.]], and was a prime missile target according to Hume and Meyer's research because 150 [[Minuteman missile]] silos stood nearby. Lawrence had some great locations, and its people were more supportive of the project. Suddenly, less emphasis was put on Kansas City, the decision was made to have the city annihilated in the script, and Lawrence was made the primary location in the film.

=== Editing ===
ABC originally planned to air ''The Day After'' as a four-hour "television event" that would be spread over two nights with a total running time of 180 minutes without commercials.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Naha |first=Ed |date=April 1983 |title=L.A. Offbeat: A Lesson in Reality |magazine=Starlog |pages=24–25 |issn=0191-4626}}</ref> The director Nicholas Meyer felt the original script was padded, and suggested cutting out an hour of material to present the whole film in one night. The network stuck with its two-night broadcast plan, and Meyer filmed the entire three-hour script, as evidenced by a 172-minute [[workprint]] that has surfaced.{{Citation needed|date=September 2025}} Subsequently, the network found that it was difficult to find advertisers because of the subject matter {{Contradictory inline|reason=The first sentence of this paragraph indicates the network planned to air the movie without commercials.|date=September 2024}}. ABC relented and allowed Meyer to edit the film for a one-night broadcast version. Meyer's original single-night cut ran two hours and twenty minutes, which he presented to the network. After that screening, many executives were deeply moved, and some even cried, which led Meyer to believe they approved of his cut.

Nevertheless, a further six-month struggle ensued over the final shape of the film. Network censors had opinions about the inclusion of specific scenes, and ABC itself was eventually intent on "trimming the film to the bone" and made demands to cut out many scenes that Meyer strongly lobbied to keep. Finally, Meyer and his editor, Bill Dornisch, balked. Dornisch was fired, and Meyer walked away from the project. ABC brought in other editors, but the network ultimately was not happy with the results they produced. It finally brought Meyer back and reached a compromise, with Meyer paring down ''The Day After'' to a final running time of 120 minutes.<ref name="Niccum 2003">{{cite news |last=Niccum |first=John |title=Fallout from ''The Day After'' |url=http://www.lawrence.com/news/2003/nov/19/fallout_from/ |work=Lawrence Journal-World |location=Lawrence, Kan. |via=Lawrence.com |access-date=October 11, 2011 |date=November 19, 2003 |archive-date=April 15, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120415223440/http://www.lawrence.com/news/2003/nov/19/fallout_from/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Meyer |first1=Nicholas |title=The View from the Bridge: Memories of Star Trek and a Life in Hollywood |date=2009 |publisher=Viking |location=New York |isbn=978-0-670-02130-7 |page=150 |language=en}}</ref>

=== ''The Day Before'' campaign ===
Josh Baran and Mark Graham were [[anti-nuclear movement|anti-nuclear activists]] who were secretly given a bootleg copy of the film by Nick Meyer prior to the ABC broadcast. They sent copies of the film to various peace groups, interviewed peace leaders about the film, and held screenings in homes, bars, and restaurants. There were post-screening discussion groups and town hall meetings. They held private screenings for the media, like ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine, the ''[[New York Times]]'', and the BBC. As word got out about the film, higher ups wanted to see it including members of the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]], and even the Pope. Baran and Graham called it ''The Day Before'' project to hijack ABC's marketing of the film. One scholar said they "pioneered the piggybacking of a public issue onto the release of a commercial media product", and ''Variety'' called it "the greatest PR campaign in history."<ref name="Craig 2024" />

The consequences of Meyer's bootleg copy and subsequent ''The Day Before'' PR campaign was a groundswell of public interest and discussion before the film was ever broadcast. This made it difficult for ABC executives to kill the film, because there were rumors they wanted to quietly shelve it, including rumors that Ronald Reagan had hinted to studio executives he didn't want the film broadcast.<ref name="Craig 2024">{{cite book |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/apocalypsetelevi0000crai/page/85/mode/1up?admin=1&view=theater |chapter=Hijacked |title=Apocalypse Television: How The Day After Helped End the Cold War |publisher=Applause Theatre & Cinema Books |location=Lanham, Md. |first=David Randolph |last=Craig |year=2024 |pages=85–98 |isbn=978-1-4930-7917-9 |chapter-url-access=registration}}</ref>

=== Broadcast ===
''The Day After'' was initially scheduled to premiere on ABC in May 1983, but the post-production work to reduce the film's length pushed back its initial airdate to November. Censors forced ABC to cut an entire scene of a child having a nightmare about [[nuclear holocaust]] and then sitting up screaming. A psychiatrist told ABC that it would disturb children. "This strikes me as ludicrous," Meyer wrote in ''[[TV Guide]]'' at the time, "not only in relation to the rest of the film, but also when contrasted with the huge doses of violence to be found on any average evening of TV viewing." More cuts were made, including to a scene in which Denise possesses a [[diaphragm (contraceptive)|diaphragm]]. Another scene in which a hospital patient abruptly sits up screaming was excised from the original television broadcast but restored for [[home video]] releases. Meyer persuaded ABC to dedicate the film to the citizens of Lawrence and also to put a disclaimer at the end of the film after the credits to let the viewer know that ''The Day After'' downplayed the true effects of nuclear war so it could have a story. The disclaimer also included a list of books that provided more information on the subject.

''The Day After'' received a large promotional campaign prior to its broadcast. Commercials aired several months in advance, and ABC distributed half-a-million "viewer's guides" that discussed the dangers of nuclear war and prepared the viewer for the graphic scenes of mushroom clouds and radiation burn victims. Discussion groups were also formed nationwide.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Atomic War Film Spurs Nationwide Discussion |last=McFadden |first=Robert D. |date=November 22, 1983 |work=The New York Times |page=A27 |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/11/22/us/atomic-war-film-spurs-nationwide-discussion.html |access-date=September 10, 2025 |url-access=limited}}</ref>

=== Music ===
The composer [[David Raksin]] wrote original music and adapted music from ''[[The River (1938 film)|The River]]'', a documentary film score by the concert composer [[Virgil Thomson]], by featuring an adaptation of the hymn "[[How Firm a Foundation (hymn)|How Firm a Foundation]]". Although he recorded just under 30 minutes of music, much of it was edited out of the final cut. Music from the [[First Strike (1979 film)|''First Strike'']] footage, conversely, was not edited out.

=== Deleted and alternative scenes ===
{{more citations needed section|date=October 2011}}
The film was shortened from the original three hours of running time to two, which caused the scrapping of several planned special-effects scenes although storyboards were made in anticipation of a possible "expanded" version. They included a "bird's eye" view of Kansas City at the moment of two nuclear detonations as seen from a [[Boeing 737]] airliner approaching the city's airport, simulated newsreel footage of U.S. troops in [[West Germany]] taking up positions in preparation of advancing Soviet armored units, and the tactical nuclear exchange in Germany between NATO and the Warsaw Pact after the attacking Warsaw Pact force breaks through and overwhelms the NATO lines.

ABC censors severely toned down scenes to reduce the body count or severe burn victims. Meyer refused to remove key scenes, but reportedly, some eight and a half minutes of excised footage still exist, significantly more graphic.{{cn|date=October 2024}} Some footage was reinstated for the film's release on home video. Additionally, the nuclear attack scene was longer and supposed to feature very graphic and very accurate shots of what happens to a human body during a nuclear blast. Examples included people being set on fire; their flesh [[carbonization|carbonizing]]; being burned to the bone; eyes melting; faceless heads; skin hanging; deaths from flying glass and debris, limbs torn off, being crushed, and blown from buildings by the [[shockwave]]; and people in [[fallout shelters]] suffocating during the [[firestorm]]. Also cut were images of radiation sickness, as well as graphic post-attack violence from survivors such as food riots, looting, and general lawlessness as authorities attempted to restore order.

One cut scene showed surviving students battling over food. The two sides were to be athletes and the science students under the guidance of Professor Huxley. Another brief scene that was later cut related to a firing squad in which two U.S. soldiers are blindfolded and executed. In that scene, an officer reads the charges, verdict, and sentence as a bandaged chaplain reads the [[Last Rites]].{{Citation needed|date=November 2020}} A similar sequence occurs in a 1965 British-produced faux documentary, ''[[The War Game]]''. In the initial 1983 broadcast of ''The Day After'', when the U.S. president addresses the nation, the voice was an imitation of President Reagan, who later stated that he watched the film and was deeply moved.{{Citation needed|date=September 2025}} In subsequent broadcasts, that voice was overdubbed by a stock actor.

Home video releases in the U.S. and internationally come in at various running times, many listed at 126 or 127 minutes. [[Fullscreen (aspect ratio)|Full screen]] (4:3 aspect ratio) seems to be more common than widescreen. [[RCA Corporation|RCA]] [[videodisc]]s of the early 1980s were limited to 2 hours per disc so that full screen release appears to be closest to what originally aired on ABC in the U.S. A 2001 U.S. VHS version ([[Anchor Bay Entertainment]], [[Troy, Michigan]]) lists a running time of 122 minutes. A 1995 double laser disc "director's cut" version (Image Entertainment) runs 127 minutes, includes commentary by director Nicholas Meyer and is "presented in its 1.75:1 European theatrical aspect ratio" (according to the LD jacket).

Two different German DVD releases run at 122 and 115 minutes respectively; the edits reportedly downplay the Soviet Union's role.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=193898 |title=Day After, The (Comparison: VHS Version - Modern Version) |first=Gerald |last=Wurm |website=Movie-censorship.com |date=n.d.}}</ref>{{Self-published inline|certain=yes |date=September 2025}} A two disc Blu-ray special edition was released in 2018 by the video specialty label [[Kino International (company)|Kino Lorber]] and present the film in high definition. The release contains the 122-minute television cut, presented in a 4:3 aspect ratio as broadcast, as well as the 127-minute theatrical cut, presented in a [[16:9 aspect ratio|16:9 widescreen aspect ratio]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.kinolorber.com/product/the-day-after-2-disc-special-edition-blu-ray |title=The Day After (2-Disc Special Edition) |publisher=Kino Lorber |archive-date=January 27, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210127142842/https://www.kinolorber.com/product/the-day-after-2-disc-special-edition-blu-ray |url-status=dead}}</ref>

== Reception ==
On its original broadcast, on Sunday, November 20, 1983, [[John Cullum]] warned viewers before the film was premiered that the film would contain graphic and disturbing scenes and encouraged parents who had young children watching to watch together and discuss the issues of nuclear warfare.{{Citation needed|date=September 2025}} ABC and local TV affiliates opened [[Toll-free telephone number|1-800 hotlines]] with counselors standing by. There were no commercial breaks after the nuclear attack scenes. ABC then aired a live debate on ''Viewpoint'', ABC's occasional discussion program hosted by ''[[Nightline (US news program)|Nightline]]''{{'}}s [[Ted Koppel]], featuring the scientist [[Carl Sagan]], former Secretary of State [[Henry Kissinger]], [[Elie Wiesel]], former Secretary of Defense [[Robert McNamara]], General [[Brent Scowcroft]], and the commentator [[William F. Buckley Jr.]] Sagan argued against [[nuclear proliferation]], but Buckley promoted the concept of [[nuclear deterrence]]. Sagan described the [[nuclear arms race|arms race]] in the following terms: "Imagine a room awash in gasoline, and there are two implacable enemies in that room. One of them has nine thousand matches, the other seven thousand matches. Each of them is concerned about who's ahead, who's stronger."<ref name="Allyn 2012">{{cite book |last=Allyn |first=Bruce |title=The Edge of Armageddon: Lessons from the Brink |date=2012 |publisher=RosettaBooks |location=New York |isbn=978-0-7953-3073-5 |page=10}}</ref>

The film and its subject matter were prominently featured in the news media both before and after the broadcast,{{Citation needed|date=September 2025}} appearing on the covers of ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'',<ref>{{Cite magazine |url=https://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19831205,00.html |title=Arms Control {{!}} Dec. 5, 1983 |magazine=Time |url-access=limited}}</ref> ''Newsweek'',<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.backissues.com/issue/Newsweek-November-21-1983 |title=Newsweek November 21, 1983 |via=Backissues.com |archive-date=June 29, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200629191148/https://www.backissues.com/issue/Newsweek-November-21-1983 |url-status=dead}}</ref> ''[[U.S. News & World Report]],''<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.backissues.com/issue/US-News-and-World-Report-November-28-1983 |title=U.S. News & World Report November 28, 1983 |via=Backissues.com |archive-date=June 28, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200628102710/https://www.backissues.com/issue/US-News-and-World-Report-November-28-1983 |url-status=dead}}</ref> and ''[[TV Guide]].''<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.backissues.com/issue/TV-Guide-November-19-1983 |title=TV Guide November 19, 1983 |via=Backissues.com |archive-date=June 29, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200629232224/https://www.backissues.com/issue/TV-Guide-November-19-1983 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Critics tended to claim the film was sensationalizing nuclear war or that it was too tame.<ref name="Emmanuel n.d.">{{cite web |url=https://museum.tv/archives/etv/D/htmlD/dayafterth/dayafter.htm |title=The Day After |publisher=The Museum of Broadcast Communications |last=Emmanuel |first=Susan |date=n.d. |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116131652/http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/D/htmlD/dayafterth/dayafter.htm |archive-date=January 16, 2013}}</ref> The special effects and realistic portrayal of nuclear war received praise. The film received 12 [[Emmy Awards|Emmy]] nominations and won two Emmy awards. It was rated "way above average" in ''[[Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide]]'' until all reviews for films exclusive to television were removed from the publication.<ref>{{cite book |title=Leonard Maltin's TV Movies And Video Guide |edition=1987 |publisher=New American Library |location=New York |editor-last=Maltin |editor-first=Leonard |page=218 |date=1986 |isbn=978-0-451-14531-4}}</ref>

In the United States, 38.5&nbsp;million households, or an estimated 100&nbsp;million people, watched ''The Day After'' on its first broadcast, a record audience for a made-for-TV movie.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Stuever |first=Hank |date=May 12, 2016 |title=Yes, 'The Day After' really was the profound TV moment 'The Americans' makes it out to be |newspaper=The Washington Post |department=Arts and Entertainment |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2016/05/11/yes-the-day-after-really-was-the-profound-tv-moment-the-americans-makes-it-out-to-be/ |access-date=May 21, 2019 |url-access=limited}}</ref> [[Producers Sales Organization]] released the film theatrically around the world, in the [[Eastern Bloc]], [[China]], [[North Korea]] and [[Cuba]] (this international version contained six minutes of footage not in the telecast edition). Since commercials are not sold in those markets, Producers Sales Organization failed to gain revenue to the tune of an undisclosed sum.{{citation needed|date=September 2019}} Years later, the international version was released to tape by [[Embassy Home Entertainment]].

The actor and former Nixon adviser [[Ben Stein]], critical of the movie's message that the strategy of [[mutual assured destruction]] would lead to a war, wrote in the Los Angeles ''[[Los Angeles Herald-Examiner|Herald-Examiner]]'' what life might be like in an America under Soviet occupation. Stein's idea was eventually dramatized in the miniseries ''[[Amerika (TV miniseries)|Amerika]]'', also broadcast by ABC.<ref>{{cite news |last1=O'Connor |first1=John J. |title='{{not a typo|Amerkia}}' - Slogging Through a Muddle |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/02/15/arts/tv-view-amerkia-slogging-through-a-muddle.html |access-date=10 September 2025 |work=The New York Times |department=TV View |date=February 15, 1987 |at=Section 2, p. 1 |url-access=limited}}</ref> The ''[[New York Post]]'' accused Meyer of being a traitor, writing, "Why is Nicholas Meyer doing [[Yuri Andropov]]'s work for him?"<ref name="Braund 2010"/> [[Phyllis Schlafly]] declared that "This film was made by people who want to disarm the country, and who are willing to make a $7 million contribution to that cause".<ref name="Braund 2010">{{cite magazine |last1=Braund |first1=Simon |title=How Ronald Reagan Learned to Start Worrying and Stop Loving the Bomb |magazine=Empire |date=November 2010 |issue=257 |pages=134–140 |issn=0957-4948}}</ref> [[Richard Grenier (newspaper columnist)|Richard Grenier]] in ''[[National Review]]'' accused ''The Day After'' of promoting "unpatriotic" and pro-Soviet attitudes.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Grenier |first=Richard |title=The Brandon Stoddard Horror Show |magazine=National Review |date=1983 |pages=1552–1554 |issn=0028-0038}}</ref> Much press comment focused on the unanswered question in the film of who started the war.<ref name="Braund 2010" /> The television critic [[Matt Zoller Seitz]], in his 2016 book co-written with [[Alan Sepinwall]], ''[[TV (The Book)]]'', named ''The Day After'' as the fourth-greatest American TV movie of all time: "Very possibly the bleakest TV-movie ever broadcast, ''The Day After'' is an explicitly antiwar statement dedicated entirely to showing audiences what would happen if nuclear weapons were used on civilian populations in the United States."<ref>{{cite book |author1=Sepinwall, Alan |author2=Seitz, Matt Zoller |author-link1=Alan Sepinwall |author-link2=Matt Zoller Seitz |title=TV (The Book): Two Experts Pick the Greatest American Shows of All Time |date=2016 |publisher=Grand Central Publishing |location=New York |isbn=978-1-4555-8819-0 |page=372 |edition=1st}}</ref>

The movie had a profound effect on [[Generation X]].{{According to whom|date=September 2025}} Many children in grade school and middle school at the time of its release were traumatized by viewing it and credit the film with instilling a sense of dread, nihilism, and despondency in many of their cohort.<ref name="O'Neal 2017">{{cite news |last1=O'Neal |first1=Sean |title=''The Day After'' traumatized a generation with the horrors of nuclear war |url=https://www.avclub.com/the-day-after-traumatized-a-generation-with-the-horrors-1798447330 |access-date=10 September 2025 |work=AV Club |date=August 28, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/03/the-gritty-reboot-of-gen-xs-nuclear-nightmares |title=The Gritty Reboot of Gen X's Nuclear Nightmares |first=Steve |last=Kandell |date=March 15, 2022 |magazine=Vanity Fair |access-date=10 September 2025 |url-access=limited}}</ref> It is postulated{{By whom|date=September 2025}} that this singular event could be a major impetus for what became the Gen X hallmark of being a "slacker generation" that espoused "whatever" as a life concept, since it was hopeless to plan ahead under the constant threat of nuclear annihilation.<ref name="Schofield 1989">{{cite journal |last1=Schofield |first1=Janet W. |last2=Pavelchak |first2=Mark A. |title=Fallout From ''The Day After''. The Impact of a TV Film on Attitudes Related to Nuclear War |journal=Journal of Applied Social Psychology |date=April 1989 |volume=19 |issue=5 |pages=433–448 |doi=10.1111/j.1559-1816.1989.tb00066.x |issn=0021-9029}}</ref>

=== Effects on policymakers ===
[[File:Official Portrait of President Reagan 1981.jpg|thumb|220px|After seeing the film, [[Ronald Reagan]] wrote that the film had been very effective and left him depressed.]]
US President [[Ronald Reagan]] watched the film more than a month before its screening on [[Columbus Day]], October 10, 1983.<ref name="Stover 2018">{{Cite web |url=https://thebulletin.org/facing-nuclear-reality-35-years-after-the-day-after/ |title=Facing nuclear reality, 35 years after The Day After |last=Stover |first=Dawn |website=Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists |date=December 13, 2018 |language=en-US |access-date=September 10, 2019 |issn=0096-3402}}</ref> He wrote in his diary that the film was "very effective and left me greatly depressed"<ref name="Braund 2010"/><ref>{{cite web |last1=Reagan |first1=Ronald |title=Monday, October 10, 1983 |url=https://www.reaganfoundation.org/ronald-reagan/white-house-diaries/diary-entry-10101983 |website=The Diary of Ronald Reagan |publisher=Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute |access-date=10 September 2025 |language=en}}</ref> and that it changed his mind on the prevailing policy on a "nuclear war".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Reagan |first1=Ronald |title=An American Life |date=1990 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |location=New York |isbn=978-1-4516-4268-1 |page=585 |language=en}}</ref> The film was also screened for the [[Joint Chiefs of Staff]]. A government advisor who attended the screening, a friend of Meyer, told him: "If you wanted to draw blood, you did it. Those guys sat there like they were turned to stone."<ref name="Braund 2010" /> In 1987, Reagan and [[Soviet Premier]] [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] signed the [[Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty]], which resulted in the banning and reducing of their nuclear arsenal. In Reagan's memoirs, he drew a direct line from the film to the signing.<ref name="Braund 2010"/> Reagan supposedly later sent Meyer a [[Electrical telegraph|telegram]] after the summit: "Don't think your movie didn't have any part of this, because it did."<ref name="Niccum 2003"/> During an interview in 2010, Meyer said that the telegram was a myth and that the sentiment stemmed from a friend's letter to Meyer. He suggested the story had origins in editing notes received from the [[White House]] during the production, which "may have been a joke, but it wouldn't surprise me, him being an old Hollywood guy."<ref name="Braund 2010"/>

The film also had impact outside the United States. In 1987, during the era of Gorbachev's ''[[glasnost]]'' and ''[[perestroika]]'' reforms, the film was shown on [[Soviet television]]. Four years earlier, Georgia Representative [[Elliott Levitas]] and 91 co-sponsors introduced a resolution in the [[U.S. House of Representatives]] "[expressing] the sense of the [[United States Congress|Congress]] that the [[American Broadcasting Company]], the [[United States Department of State|Department of State]], and the [[U.S. Information Agency]] should work to have the television movie ''The Day After'' aired to the Soviet public".<ref name="H.Con.Res.229">{{cite web |title=H.Con.Res.229 - 98th Congress (1983-1984): A concurrent resolution expressing the sense of Congress that the Soviet Union should air to the Soviet public the ABC television movie 'The Day After' |url=https://www.congress.gov/bill/98th-congress/house-concurrent-resolution/229 |access-date=10 September 2025 |via=Congress.gov |date=November 17, 1983}}</ref>

== Accolades ==
''The Day After'' won two [[Emmy Award]]s and received 10 other Emmy nominations.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.emmys.com/shows/day-after-abc-theatre-presentation |title=The Day After An ABC Theatre Presentation |date=n.d. |publisher=Television Academy |language=en |access-date=January 13, 2019}}</ref>

Emmy Awards won:
* Outstanding Film Sound Editing for a Limited Series or a Special (Christopher T. Welch, Brian Courcier, Greg Dillon, David R. Elliott, Michael Hilkene, Fred Judkins, Carl Mahakian, Joseph A. Mayer, Joe Melody, Catherine Shorr, Richard Shorr, Jill Taggart, Roy Prendergast)
* [[Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Visual Effects|Outstanding Achievement in Special Visual Effects]] ([[Robert Blalack]], Nancy Rushlow, Dan Pinkham, Chris Regan, Larry Stevens, Christofer Dierdorff, Daniel Nosenchuck, Katherine Kean)

Emmy Award nominations:
* Outstanding Achievement in Hairstyling
* Outstanding Achievement in Makeup
* Outstanding Art Direction for a Limited Series or a Special ([[Peter Wooley]])
* Outstanding Cinematography for a Limited Series or a Special (Gayne Rescher)
* [[Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special|Outstanding Directing in a Limited Series or a Special]] ([[Nicholas Meyer]])
* [[Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Made for Television Movie|Outstanding Drama/Comedy Special]] (Robert Papazian)
* Outstanding Film Editing for a Limited Series or a Special (William Dornisch and Robert Florio)
* Outstanding Film Sound Mixing for a Limited Series or a Special (Charles T. Knight, Gary C. Bourgeois, Kevin F. Cleary, Robert L. Harman)
* Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or a Special ([[John Lithgow]])
* Outstanding Writing in a Limited Series or a Special (Edward Hume)

== See also ==
* [[List of nuclear holocaust fiction]]
* [[Nuclear weapons in popular culture]]
* ''[[Special Bulletin]],'' a 1983 TV movie about an act of nuclear terrorism.
* ''[[On the Beach (1959 film)|On the Beach]]'' (1959 film)
* ''[[Fail Safe (1964 film)|Fail Safe]]'' (1964 film)
** ''[[Fail Safe (2000 film)|Fail Safe]]'' (2000 TV film)
* ''[[Dr. Strangelove]]'', a 1964 satirical black comedy film by [[Stanley Kubrick]] about nuclear warfare in the United States.
* ''[[The War Game]]'', a 1966 film about nuclear war and its aftermath in the United Kingdom.
* ''[[Stalker (1979 film)|Stalker]]'' (1979 film)
* ''[[A Visitor to a Museum|A Visitor To A Museum]]'' (1980 film)
* ''[[When the Wind Blows (comics)|When the Wind Blows]]'', a 1982 graphic novel about nuclear war
** [[When the Wind Blows (1986 film)|the 1986 film]]
* ''[[Testament (1983 film)|Testament]]'', a 1983 film about a nuclear explosion over the United States. 
::It was released two weeks before ''The Day After'' aired.
* ''[[Threads (1984 film)|Threads]]'', a 1984 British television film that centers on a nuclear war and the societal after-effects
* ''[[Brother in the Land]]'', a 1984 novel for teenagers by Robert Swindells, about a boy's struggle for survival in the aftermath of a nuclear war.
* ''[[Countdown to Looking Glass|Countdown To Looking Glass]]'' (1984 film)
* ''[[Dead Man's Letters]]'' (1986 film)
* ''[[Russian Symphony]]'' (1994 film)
* ''[[Television Event]]'', a 2020 documentary film about the making and release of ''The Day After''

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* Cheers, Michael, "Search for TV Stars Not Yielding Right Types", ''[[Kansas City Times]]'', July 19, 1982.
* Twardy, Chuck, "Moviemakers Cast About for Local Crowds", ''[[Lawrence Journal-World]]'', August 16, 1982.
* Twardy, Chuck, "Fake Farmstead Goes Up in Flames for Film", ''Lawrence Journal-World'', August 17, 1982.
* Laird, Linda, "The Days Before 'The Day After{{' "}}, Midway, the Sunday Magazine Section of the ''[[Topeka Capital-Journal]]'', August 22, 1982.
* Twardy, Chuck, "Shooting on Schedule 'Day After' Movie", ''Lawrence Journal-World'', August 23, 1982.
* Lazzarino, Evie, "From Production Crew to Extras, a Day in the Life of 'Day After{{' "}}, ''Lawrence Journal-World'', August 29, 1982.
* Rosenberg, Howard, {{" '}}Humanizing' Nuclear Devastation in Kansas", ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', September 1, 1982.
* Schrenier, Bruce, {{" '}}The Day After' Filming Continues at KU", ''[[University Daily Kansan]]'', September 2, 1982.
* Appelbaum, Sharon, "Lawrence Folks Are Dying for a Part in TV's Armageddon", ''[[The Kansas City Star]]'', September 3, 1982.
* Hitchcock, Doug, "Movie Makeup Manufactures Medical Mess", ''Lawrence Journal-World'', September 5, 1982.
* Twardy, Chuck, "Nicholas Meyer Tackles Biggest Fantasy", ''Lawrence Journal-World'', September 5, 1982.
* Twardy, Chuck, "How to Spend $1 Million in Lawrence", ''Lawrence Journal-World'', September 5, 1982.
* Twardy, Chuck, "Students Assume War-Torn Look as Film Shooting Winds Down", ''Lawrence Journal-World'', September 8, 1982.
* Goodman, Howard, "KC 'Holocaust' a Mix of Horror and Hollywood", ''Kansas City Times'', September 11, 1982.
* Jordan, Gerald B., "Local Filming of Nuclear Disaster Almost Fizzles", ''The Kansas City Star'', September 13, 1982.
* Kindall, James, "Apocalypse Now", ''The Kansas City Star'' Weekly Magazine, October 17, 1982.
* Loverock, Patricia, "ABC Films Nuclear Holocaust in Kansas", ''On Location'' magazine, November 1983.
* Bauman, Melissa, "ABC Official Denies Network Can't Find Sponsors for Show", ''Lawrence Journal-World'', November 13, 1983.
* Meyer, Nicholas, {{" '}}The Day After': Bringing the Unwatchable to TV", ''[[TV Guide]]'', November 19, 1983.
* Torriero, E.A., "The Day Before 'The Day After{{' "}}, ''Kansas City Times'', November 20, 1983.
* Hoenk, Mary, {{" '}}Day After': Are Young Viewers Ready?", ''Lawrence Journal-World'', November 20, 1983.
* Helliker, Kevin, {{" '}}Day After' Yields a Grim Evening", ''Kansas City Times'', November 21, 1983.
* Trowbridge, Caroline and Hoenk, Mary, "Film's Fallout: A Solemn Plea for Peace", ''Lawrence Journal-World'', November 21, 1983.
* Greenberger, Robert, "Nicholas Meyer: Witness at the End of the World", ''Starlog'', January 1984. {{issn|0191-4626}}.
* Eisenberg, Adam, "Waging a Four-Minute War", ''Cinefex'' magazine, January 1984.
* {{Cite journal |last=Boyd-Bowman |first=Susan |title=The Day After: Representations of the Nuclear Holocaust |journal=Screen |year=1984 |volume=6 |issue=4 |pages=18–27}}
* {{Cite thesis |last=Perrine |first=Toni A. |year=1991 |title=Beyond Apocalypse: Recent Representations of Nuclear War and Its Aftermath in United States Narrative Film |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/303940219 |id={{ProQuest|303940219}} |version=Final Draft |type=Doctorate}}
* {{Cite AV media |people=Meyer, Nicholas |year=1983 |url=https://akas.imdb.com/title/tt0085404/ |title=The Day After |medium=TV-Miniseries |location=United States |publisher=Embassy Home Entertainment |access-date=June 30, 2018 |archive-date=August 13, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190813133705/https://akas.imdb.com/title/tt0085404/ |url-status=dead}}

== External links ==
{{wikiquote|The Day After (1983 film)}}
* {{IMDb title|0085404}}
* {{Rotten Tomatoes|day_after}}
* {{cite web |type=video |title=The Scariest Movie Ever Shown on Live TV |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJzpd1s-hzA |publisher=Toni's Film Club |date=May 27, 2025 |via=YouTube}}

{{Nicholas Meyer}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Day After}}
[[Category:1983 films]]
[[Category:1983 television films]]
[[Category:1980s disaster films]]
[[Category:1983 drama films]]
[[Category:1980s American films]]
[[Category:1980s English-language films]]
[[Category:1980s science fiction war films]]
[[Category:1980s war films]]
[[Category:Television controversies in the United States]]
[[Category:ABC Motion Pictures films]]
[[Category:American Broadcasting Company original films]]
[[Category:American disaster films]]
[[Category:American drama television films]]
[[Category:American political drama films]]
[[Category:American post-apocalyptic films]]
[[Category:American science fiction television films]]
[[Category:American science fiction war films]]
[[Category:American survival films]]
[[Category:American television docudramas]]
[[Category:American war drama films]]
[[Category:Anti-war films]]
[[Category:Anti-nuclear films]]
[[Category:Anti–nuclear weapons movement]]
[[Category:Anti-nuclear movement in the United States]]
[[Category:Apocalyptic films]]
[[Category:Disaster television films]]
[[Category:Cold War films]]
[[Category:Films about nuclear war and weapons]]
[[Category:Films about World War III]]
[[Category:Films directed by Nicholas Meyer]]
[[Category:Films scored by David Raksin]]
[[Category:Films set in bunkers]]
[[Category:Films set in Kansas]]
[[Category:Films set in Kansas City, Missouri|The Day After]]
[[Category:Films shot in Kansas]]
[[Category:Films shot in Missouri]]
[[Category:American pregnancy films]]
[[Category:1983 science fiction films]]
[[Category:English-language science fiction films]]
[[Category:English-language war films]]