The Day After

1983

2 hr. 6 min.

Drama

List

86%

14 Reviews

Tomatometer

69%

5,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

In the mid-1980s, the U.S. is poised on the brink of nuclear war. This shadow looms over the residents of a small town in Kansas as they continue their daily lives. Dr. Russell Oakes (Jason Robards) maintains his busy schedule at the hospital, Denise Dahlberg prepares for her upcoming wedding, and Stephen Klein (Steve Guttenberg) is deep in his graduate studies. When the unthinkable happens and the bombs come down, the town's residents are thrust into the horrors of nuclear winter.

Read More

Read Less

Jacob C

The palpable fear delivered by the sub_dialogue grows across the first half of the film (tv/radio). There is a growing intensity that draws from the early 80s struggle. Equivalent to now? Hmm ponder that thought. The delivery of living in a country that is spiralling and "I have no hope of influencing" is a primary exhaust of this brilliant dive into what may come. Watch and overlay to your current situation, The Day After is one that can evoke thought and discussion. Amazing.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/29/24

Full Review

Ilson SimÃ£o S

Entrega o que propõe, foi feito para alertar sobre os perigos da bomba se usadas para guerra

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/03/24

Full Review

Katie S

Watching this movie is embedded in my memory as a core memory. I was 11 years old. The hype, the movie did not disappoint this kid.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

11/21/23

Full Review

RB P

Lots of recycled stock footage and technical errors. No one would put an outdoor triage hospital under the I-70 bridge where spring flooding would carry the quickly done graves and bodies down the Kaw.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

10/04/23

Full Review

Anthony K

I am sure the effects were pretty good for a TV movie in early 80s. I won't complain much about that. I was 3 in 1983 so maybe I just don't know how things were. However, I found it unbelievable that people in the US stopped down and started wringing their hands because East Germany was closing the border with West Germany. Then we had the dad with the overly concerned facial features on the deck and immediately went to "build a bunker" mode. The aftermath was a bit better than the build up.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

07/28/23

Full Review

Ryan F

Entertaining, but perhaps did not go far enough for American audiences. Visiting the International Peace Museum in Hiroshima in 1982 helped sear the awful image of a world gone mad by the atrocity of nuclear war to myself.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

11/05/22

Full Review

Read all reviews

Post a rating

Nicholas Meyer

Director

Jason Robards

Dr. Russell Oakes

JoBeth Williams

Nurse Nancy Bauer

John Cullum

Jim Dahlberg

John Lithgow

Joe Huxley

William Allen Young

Airman Billy McCoy

Show Less Cast & Crew

Show More Cast & Crew

89%

74%

Testament

88%

72%

Time After Time

76%

79%

Silkwood

70%

79%

Whose Life Is It Anyway?

100%

69%

Country

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

View more photos

Jay Cocks

TIME Magazine

Under all the furor, spontaneous or manufactured, and the high urgency, real or prefabricated just for the premiere, is the film, a frail vessel indeed to bear the fate of mankind.

Nov 22, 2023

Full Review

Tom Shales

Washington Post

The Day After will upset people. It ought to.

Nov 22, 2023

Full Review

Scott Rosenberg

Boston Phoenix

It blends right in with the surrounding mediocrities on the TV schedule; and once you let it into your living room, it will turn off the lights, block the exits, and proceed to dismember your psychological defenses.

Nov 22, 2023

Full Review

Chris Cobb

Ottawa Citizen

It is, in a contemporary sense, the most important theatrical program to be shown on commercial television.

Nov 22, 2023

Full Review

Bill Carter

Baltimore Sun

To ask whether The Day After is a "good movie" is to ask a pointless question. Good and bad are not at issue here. The operative adjectives are "chilling," "disturbing," "depressing."

Nov 22, 2023

Full Review

Marc Gunther

Hartford Courant

Remarkable television. Watching it is an unsettling, upsetting and uncomfortable experience. But, even if you rarely watch TV watch this.

Nov 22, 2023

Full Review

Read all reviews

Synopsis

In the mid-1980s, the U.S. is poised on the brink of nuclear war. This shadow looms over the residents of a small town in Kansas as they continue their daily lives. Dr. Russell Oakes (Jason Robards) maintains his busy schedule at the hospital, Denise Dahlberg prepares for her upcoming wedding, and Stephen Klein (Steve Guttenberg) is deep in his graduate studies. When the unthinkable happens and the bombs come down, the town's residents are thrust into the horrors of nuclear winter.

Director: Nicholas Meyer
Screenwriter: Edward Hume
Production Co: ABC Circle Films
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English