History Film / TheDayAfter

This film employs many of the same tropes as its [[TransAtlanticEquivalent UK counterpart]], ''Film/{{Threads}}'', a ''much'' tougher-minded exploration of nuclear war's impact produced the following year in response to ''The Day After''. Also see ''Film/{{Testament}}'', released the same year, which depicts the aftereffects of a nuclear exchange on the survivors in a UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco suburb.

* XRaySparks: Used to depict the fortunate victims who were close enough to get vaporized by the nukes. That said, technology not available to 1983 audiences allows the viewer to slow down the section and realize that most of the images used to show the vaporization don't make much sense. Seconds earlier, Kansas City was descending into panic as air raid sirens blare and terrified citizens run haphazardly through the streets. Yet the vaporization scenes show people enjoying a day at the park, sitting in bars and coffee shops, quietly reading books in easy chairs, playing in the school band, etc. (Many are stills recycled from the beginning of the movie - three days ago in movie time.) The only victim of vaporization with any awareness of the events under way is Marilyn Oakes, the first victim shown on screen.

This film employs many of the same tropes as its [[TransAtlanticEquivalent UK counterpart]], ''Film/{{Threads}}'', a ''much'' tougher-minded exploration of nuclear war's impact produced in response to ''The Day After''. See also ''Film/{{Testament}}'', a similar made-for-TV movie that instead focuses on the aftermath of a nuclear exchange on a surviving town, released the same year.

The aftermath of the initial broadcast of ''The Day After'' had a profound effect on politics. Then-U.S. President UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan, who viewed the film when it came out, was greatly disturbed and claimed the movie left him "deeply depressed" for a while. Keep in mind that at the time this movie aired, Soviet-American relations were strained to a level not seen since the 1962 UsefulNotes/CubanMissileCrisis. In September of 1983, a Korean Air Lines flight from Anchorage to Seoul had accidentally entered Soviet airspace and, mistaken for a spy plane, was shot down with all 269 people on board (including a U.S. Congressman from Georgia) killed, prompting a sharp uptick in anti-Soviet sentiment in the West. Later that month, a Soviet Air Defense center received a false report of an incoming American ICBM; only the decision of the officer on duty not to pass the alert along to his superiors prevented a retaliatory nuclear strike against the U.S. And [[UsefulNotes/{{NATO}} NATO's]] infamous Able Archer 83 exercise in Western Europe--conducted only a week prior to this movie's initial airing--was another close call, because the Soviets thought the exercise was an escalation of forces in Europe and that NATO was genuinely preparing to go to nuclear war with the Warsaw Pact nations. After attending a meeting with the Pentagon about nuclear weapons shortly after the movie was released, Reagan became further repulsed by the idea of nuclear weapons and he wanted to solve the Cold War peacefully with the Soviets from that point on. In 1987, not only was the film shown on Soviet television for the first time, but the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty was signed by the United States and USSR. The treaty banned nuclear and conventional ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with intermediate ranges. And what's more, during the talks, both Reagan and Gorbachev briefly considered signing a treaty that would have done away with '''''all''''' the [=US=] and [=USSR=]'s nuclear weapons. Sadly [[WhatCouldHaveBeen this did not come to fruition because both leaders realized that the political will in their respective governments for such a move just wasn't there.]] In his memoir, Reagan directly mentioned a quote from the movie in relation about the signing.

This film employs many of the same tropes as its [[TransAtlanticEquivalent UK counterpart]], ''Film/{{Threads}}'', a ''much'' tougher-minded exploration of nuclear war's impact produced in response to ''The Day After''. See also ''Film/{{Testament}}'', a similar made-for-TV movie that instead focuses on the aftermath of a nuclear exchange, released the same year.

''The Day After'' is a MadeForTVMovie written by Edward Hume and directed by Creator/NicholasMeyer, made just after he filmed ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan''. It was first broadcast by Creator/{{ABC}} on November 20, 1983.

This film employs many of the same tropes as its [[TransAtlanticEquivalent UK counterpart]], ''Film/{{Threads}}'', a ''much'' tougher-minded exploration of nuclear war's impact produced in response to ''The Day After''. See also ''Film/{{Testament}}'', a similar made-for-TV movie that focuses more on the aftermath of a nuclear exchange, released the same year.

This film employs many of the same tropes as its [[TransAtlanticEquivalent UK counterpart]], ''Film/{{Threads}}'', a ''much'' tougher-minded exploration of nuclear war's impact produced in response to ''The Day After''. See also ''Film/{{Testament}}'', released the same year.

The film is set in and around Kansas City, Missouri and Lawrence, Kansas, which are in the geographic center of the United States. Initially it follows the daily lives of a number of locals: Kansas City physician Dr. Russell Oakes (Creator/JasonRobards) and his wife Helen (Georgann Johnson); Oakes's hospital colleagues, including nurse Nancy Bauer (Creator/JoBethWilliams), and one of his patients, expectant mother Alison Ransom (Creator/AmyMadigan); Joe Huxley (Creator/JohnLithgow), a science professor at the University of Kansas; Stephen Klein (Creator/SteveGuttenberg), one of the students there; Harrisonville, Missouri farmer Jim Dahlberg (Creator/JohnCullum) and his family; and U.S. Air Force airman Billy [=McCoy=] (William Allen Young), who's part of a launch crew stationed at Whiteman Air Force Base, home to a number of [[UsefulNotes/PeaceThroughSuperiorFirepower Minuteman II missile silos]].

* UnspecifiedApocalypse: Downplayed, but there is one very specific detail that a few characters ask for the sake of trying to feel there is still some sense in this world: who fired first, the Americans or the Russians? The answer by the other characters is [[RiddleForTheAges that it does not matters]], everybody [[CrapsackWorld got screwed either way]].[[note]]Notably, it is because this detail was not answered that the film's request to be BackedByThePentagon for denied.[[/note]]

* SpiritualSuccessor: Like its transatlantic counterpart, ''Film/{{Threads}}'', it's essentially ''Film/TheWarGame'' updated for the '80s.

** The Soviet Union has begun a military buildup in East Germany in an attempt to bully the United States into giving up West Berlin, followed by the Soviets sending armored divisions to the borders of East and West Germany after the Americans refused to back down. Some time on Friday, September 15th, reports of "widespread rebellion" in the East German forces force the Soviet Army to blockade West Berlin. The American President issues his ultimatum: either the Soviet Union back off and lift the blockade by 6:00 AM the following morning, or their actions will be interpreted as an act of war. The Soviets refuse, and the President puts all U.S. military forces around the world on DEFCON 2 alert.\\

* CrisisPointHospital: Following the nuclear attack, the Kansas University hospital is overrun with patients. Plus, because it was only a campus hospital prior to the war, supplies are already limited, and thanks to the EMP, working electrical appliances are in short supply. On the upside, they at least have the experienced Dr Oakes to take charge. Unfortunately, it doesn't improve much: as time goes on, the morgue is abandoned in favour of mass graves, lack of clean water runs the risk of spreading cholera, fights break out over the remaining food, and the population skyrockets. Ultimately, the hospital's relative functionality is its downfall: once people realize that there's a working medical facility, people flock to it in droves, turning the place into a refugee camp and making the situation even harder to control. By the end, patients are being kept on the campus basketball courts.

** In a combination with DeathBySex, the Hendrys had sex as the nuclear war began. If you're going to die ''anyway'', might as well GoOutWithASmile!

* SkewedPriorities: In the live debate that was broadcasted a short while after the film premiered, Creator/CarlSagan put paid to the "We'd win" aspect of nuclear warfare by comparing it to two belligerents in a basement awash with gasoline, one holding nine thousand matches and the other holding seven thousand. All that those two people are concerned about is who's ahead and who's stronger, despite the fact that if either of them strikes a match, it won't matter.

* XRaySparks: Used to depict the fortunate victims who were close enough to get vaporized by the nukes. That said, technology not available to 1983 audiences allows the viewer to slow down the section and realize that most of the images used to show the vaporization don't make much sense. Seconds earlier, Kansas City was descending into panic as air raid sirens blare and terrified citizens run haphazardly through the streets. Yet the vaporization scenes show people enjoying a day at the park, sitting in bars and coffee shops, quietly reading books in easy chairs, playing in the school band, etc. (Many are stills recycled from the beginning of the movie - three days ago in movie time.) The only victim of vaporization with any awareness of the events under way is Marilyn Oakes, the first victim.

** Speaking of doctors, Creator/JasonRobards also played one in the film adaptation.