Rating: 
Summary: Unforgettable - Unlike most TV movies
Review: I remember the initial pre-broadcast hype for this movie. It aired on a Sunday and everyone at church that day was asking "Are you going to watch The Day After tonight?" Most everyone we knew was planning on watching it. My husband and I watched it and unlike most TV movies, it seared itself into my mind and the vivid images are still there today. Nearly twenty years later, I now live in the KC metro area. We are within an hour drive of Whiteman AFB and Fort Riley AB, 10 minutes from a major armament manufacturer, and one of the world's largest communications corporations has it's headquarters nearby - in other words - we're still a prime target. With all the goofballs in the middle east right now, the scenes from this movie still scare me because I know nuclear war is a very real possibility. The actors all did a wonderful job and were totally believable. I enjoy everything I've ever seen Jason Robards in. He was a national treasure and added class to every film he graced. The special effects were terrific for their day and still hold up. The movie effectively describes the aftermath of nuclear war, horrifyingly updating such cold war classics as "Alas, Babylon". However, I agree that the British movie "Threads" was much more terrible in it's depiction of atomic aftermath. I can't say I enjoyed this movie. How can you enjoy something that so frightens and depresses you? But I highly recommend it. Parts may be too frightening for younger children.
Rating: 
Summary: Anti Nuclear Film Needed Character Development
Review: "The Day After" was Hollywood's answer to the Reagan Administration's "Evil Empire" drumbeat. Conflicts in Central America, the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, the largest arms buildup in the post-war period generated a climate of genuine fear. With great fanfare and an expensive press campaign, ABC screened "The Day After" over successive nights on prime time television. A number of movies along similar themes were in circulation at the time, and "The Day After" was easily the biggest, but not the best. Unlike "Testament", which worked inexorably on character development, "The Day After" blitzed through its two dozen characters in the Before time in short snippets, and as a result, when the Bombs fall (and there are more than one), we don't really know them that well, and as a consequence, it is hard to empathize with the individuals. Jason Robards is one of the exceptions. The effects are excellent; the scenes of the missiles rising out of the plains are worth the watching, and the airbursts over a crowded highway are equally unmatched. But for the most part, as the characters one-by-one develop radiation sickness, we see them as specimens and not individual people. (The British films "Threads" and "The War Game" also suffer this problem). The low-budget "Testament" with Jane Alexander succeeds where these films failed. Trivia point: After the last episode, ABC ran a panel discussion which included the original Dr. Strangelove himself, Henry Kissinger. It was delightful to see Dr. K absolutely foaming at the mouth as he denounced the movie as fear-mongering. The film is now hopelessly dated, since it is entirely postulated upon a massive Soviet-US exchange. Yes, both nations still have thousands of warheads, but our current threats, if equally serious, are not of this magnitude.
Rating: 
Summary: Stayed with me all these years
Review: I'm not sure how to rate this movie. My school asked us all to watch it and only if our parents objected were we not compelled. I watched it and it was months before I had another good night's sleep. At the time, and perhaps today, this was the scariest movie I had ever seen. More than the normal gorefest, this seemed like something that could happen at any minute. I have not seen the movie since 1983 but it has stayed with me. The memory of what happened to all of these people. Jason Robards in particular. It's important to see. To see the fragility of man and to strengthen ones resolve that this never happen. No one is a winner in this kind of situation. Not good for young children.
Rating:
Summary: Unforgettable - Unlike most TV movies
Review: I remember the initial pre-broadcast hype for this movie. It aired on a Sunday and everyone at church that day was asking "Are you going to watch The Day After tonight?" Most everyone we knew was planning on watching it. My husband and I watched it and unlike most TV movies, it seared itself into my mind and the vivid images are still there today. Nearly twenty years later, I now live in the KC metro area. We are within an hour drive of Whiteman AFB and Fort Riley AB, 10 minutes from a major armament manufacturer, and one of the world's largest communications corporations has it's headquarters nearby - in other words - we're still a prime target. With all the goofballs in the middle east right now, the scenes from this movie still scare me because I know nuclear war is a very real possibility. The actors all did a wonderful job and were totally believable. I enjoy everything I've ever seen Jason Robards in. He was a national treasure and added class to every film he graced. The special effects were terrific for their day and still hold up. The movie effectively describes the aftermath of nuclear war, horrifyingly updating such cold war classics as "Alas, Babylon". However, I agree that the British movie "Threads" was much more terrible in it's depiction of atomic aftermath. I can't say I enjoyed this movie. How can you enjoy something that so frightens and depresses you? But I highly recommend it. Parts may be too frightening for younger children.
Rating:
Summary: A new generation viewer
Review: I don't remember if I saw this movie or not as a young boy; I was only 3 1/2 when it was first shown on TV. I remember seeing it for the first time last summer when I was 20. Even though the threat of nuclear war with the Russians is sharply diminished, I truly understood the meaning and purpose of the movie. I was a baby in the early 80's when US/Soviet tensions heated up. I never truly understood the danger of the period. However, in watching the movie, I realize just how likely nuclear war is even today. Watching the posturing and preening and machinations of countries like China, India, Pakistan and Israel, it makes me wonder if we might not see a nuclear war in our lifetimes. The movie itself is a fine piece of work, you can't go wrong with Jason Robards and JoBeth Williams and John Cullum. It's a great script and it is wonderfully acted. It must be a tough role playing a nuclear war survivor having to deal with total social chaos. But they picked good actors for this movie, and a totally superb film resulted. The world has changed rapidly and dramatically since 1983. But the story and the theme of The Day After has not worn out; if anything it's stronger. There are still thousands of nuclear warheads out there, still more than enough to easily destroy the human race. We must never use them, because as Jason Robards mentions in the movie "[cockroaches will be] the only guranteed survivor of a nuclear war." Strongly recommended viewing for everyone.
Rating:
Summary: 20 years later..........
Review: As a child, I was not allowed to watch this TV movie. As an adult, it wasn't available until May 18, 2004. I bought a copy and watched it avidly. It was worth the 20 year wait.
The screenplay is well written, the acting is good considering very few Americans even understood the concept of nuclear war at the time (Hiroshima, Nagasaki conveniently forgotten).
I was disappointed that they really didn't show the effects of "nuclear winter" or the true effects of radiation sickness but I was pleased that it wasn't too technical (I know my nuclear terminology, but don't want to hear it while watching a movie).
Overall a very good portrayal of what could (will?) happen - although now it's not so much the Russians as.......well, who?
Rating: 
Summary: Missing dialog.
Review: I vividly recall watching (and taping) this when it played in the early 80's. While it displays many of the trappings of "made for TV" movies, it packs quite a punch. There are moments in the film that still give me chills 20 years later. Unfortunately one of those moments has been destroyed on this DVD. When a fellow doctor asks the Jason Robards character what he saw, he replies: "...it was high in the air. Like the sun exploding...TWO suns." His colleague appears crushed by the revelation. It's an emotional moment. On the DVD it appears to be just before the layer change. Robards gets half the sentence out when there is a pause in the picture, then another scene. For all I know there may be more missing. This may not be an all-time classic film but it deserves better than this.
The nice looking transfer doesn't make up for this shabby treatment.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best TV Movies
Review: Most Made for Television have a lot cheese in them and after a few days the viewer forgets about them. But "The Day After" is different. Made in the early 1980's it shows the effects on nuclear war on the Kansas City area. These are just average people who are put worst situration that could ever happen. Starting Jason Robards, Steve Guttenburg, and JoBeth Williams we see how their characters would survive if it really happen. The DVD tranfer is great, but there are no extras. But don't let that stop you "The Day After" is a must for any fan of the end of the world stories.
Rating:
Summary: Here's an opinion of the former Soviet Union citizen
Review: I've seen "The Day After" when I was a child of 10-11 in 1986-1987 in a small village in Siberia called Maya, near Yakutsk, USSR. The movie was shown over the whole Soviet Union twice on the first channel. Since then I remember the movie very clearly, the impression I got was very high, so I immediately started to deeply realize the horror of a nuclear catastrophe. We were on the other side of the Cold War propaganda. I remember at school how we were taught about the US predator imperialistic policy. We always had lessons at school how to behave in case of US nuclear attack and practiced it physically running down to underground rooms wearing gas-masks and helping each other. The US nuclear threat, I believed, was so real, so I was frightened of a sight of a shining plane board in the sky. I was sure it were Americans going to bomb my village. And this hysteria was everywhere in USSR. Now living in Moscow, the heart of an almost free country of Russia I realize that the topicality of the movie hasn't dissappeared. We still face a lot of threats around the world, including terrorism and nuclear war. I'm sure all this comes from people's indifference, jealosy, prejudice, ignorance... Watch the movie and let our children know and grow.
Rating:
Summary: Nucelar Threat Film Still Intense
Review: This historical television production by ABC Circle Films, released by MGM for DVD is still creepy and emotionally biting as it was in 1983, concerning the "survival" of a nuclear holocaust. However, the program does show its age with dated haircuts, Steve Gutenberg and traditional cinematography of the day. The DVD is presented in Full Screen format(1.33:1) and is designated as mono on the dust jacket, but registers as dolby 2.0 on my player. The sound is satisfactory, however, the color is slightly dull, probably as it was originally. The 2 hour and 7 minute presentation seems complete, but offers no extras whatsoever, even though a European version has a commentary track by the director which may crop up in the future. Considering its low price tag, The Day After is a must have for any fan of this or any other post-apocalyptic story terrifyingly relaying the consequences of our technology front-staging our wisdom. The question is "Do we want to survive such a catastrophe?"
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