Film & TV of the 80s
Remember Crocodile Dundee, 'shrimps on the bbq' beer ads, Ramsay St? We're all about celebrating film and tv of the 80s.The Day After (1983)
The story takes place in Lawrence, Kansas, portraying a fictional nuclear war between the US and the Soviet Union. The movie follows Dr. Russell Oakes, played by Jason Robards (Once Upon a Time in the West, Philadelphia, Nurse Bauer), JoBeth Williams (Poltergeist, Wyatt Earp), Jim Dahlberg, a farmer played by John Cullum (ER, Law & Order: SVU) and his family, a graduate student Steve Guttenberg, (Police Academy, Cocoon) and Science Professor Joe Huxley, John Lithgow (Cliffhanger, 3rd Rock From the Sun). Following the destruction of Kansas City, a few manage to survive, struggling to come to terms with the collapse of society and the shocking after effects.
‘The Day After’ was televised in 1983 and was one of several other TV productions around the same time addressing the issues of nuclear war. It portrays the paranoia and tensions between the US and the Soviet Union at a time of a heightened Cold War era.
The Day After is one of the best ‘made for TV’ propaganda movies about nuclear war, being both graphic and controversial for its time. Following the blinding light; bodies are frozen in mid-motion, lit up by x-rays and then incinerated. While the immediate blast effect is horrible, it’s the wasteland in the aftermath that really shows the intensity of nuclear war. The survivors form lawless groups, picking through rubble and looting to stay alive before dying of either radiation poisoning or starvation and misery.
The movie took place entirely in Kansas City and surrounding areas and provoked much political debate in America at the time. During the original broadcast, there were no commercial breaks after the nuclear attack scene and after the movie many American TV stations opened several hotlines with counselors standing by to calm upset viewers. Later ABC (America) aired a very heated debate with guests promoting the concept of nuclear deterrence ‘for and against’.
The Day After is a very powerful movie and one of the best in its genre.
