Rating: 
Summary: A Powerfully Filmed Work of Propeganda
Review: The Day After, divorced from the contex of its times, can be seen as a powerfully filmed movie.It is, in effect, the ultimate disaster movie in which instead of a building or a ship, the entire world is destroyed. The film is filled with haunting images. Two of my favorites are people watching as American missiles take off, headed for the Soviet Union, knowing that there must be Soviet missiles headed for them. The other is an airial shot of the hospital, showing the grounds littered with the dead and dying-much like the similer scene in Gone With the Wind. Of course, The Day After should be seen in the contex of its times. It was 1983, the third year of the Reagan Administration, and the left had been whipped into a frenzy over the proposition that Reagan, by opposing the Soviet Union, was certain to start a nuclear war. Hundreds of thousands had marched for things like a nuclear freeze in Europe and the United States. The Day After was really supposed to show what would happen if Reagan was not stopped. The great irony is that the fears expressed by the makers of The Day After never came to pass. History has shown that Reagan was right. By opposing Soviet aggression, especially with his SDI proposal, President Reagan forstalled the horrific future of The Day After and brought into reality the real future, with the Soviet Empire in ruins and American triumphant.
Rating: 
Summary: And if it ever happens, it would probably be even worse.
Review: This is absolutely worth seeing, and is fairly successful in conveying the appropriate hopelessness. I've posted a lot of reviews on Amazon.com, usually writing them to convey an emotional response to some work of fiction. "The Day After" shows an event so totally overwhelming that an emotional response is completely inappropriate. To deal with this kind of threat, only tough-minded, rational thought, with as much forethought as possible, is appropriate.People who... well, I won't say "enjoy," but rather "value" this movie, might want to read "Lucifer's Hammer," a novel by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle about the end of the world by means of a cometary impact, (which is also guaranteed to happen sooner or later). The other thing I want to say -- this movie involves a timeline that ends a few weeks, I believe, after the nuclear war. People need to understand that in the real world, there will be no happy ending, no and then they all went home and lived happily ever after." The only way to prepare for this is to have the largest bomb shelter possible, a long way from urban centers and military bases, and have it stocked with enough supplies (hopefully self-renewing supplies) to last for years. My only other real problem with this movie is that it underestimates the severity of a real nuclear war so much that it isn't even funny. How about the nuclear winter scenario? It's completely glossed over. In reality, the whole cast of characters would probably be killed off. A good response to this movie is not to cathartically discuss the emotional impact it had on you as a human being. A really good response is to realize that this is not science fiction in any sense, and it almost definitely will happen during the lifetime of people alive today. Let me give a good piece of advice to anyone reading this -- learn about hydroponics. Do searches on any search engine for the word "hydroponics." Hydroponics is a way of growing food, nutritious food, in an indoor environment. All you need is a few containers to grow the plants in, some water, and room to store nutrients. If this ever really happens, you might be the luckiest ones left alive. If you really understand hydroponics, you would have a renewable food source in your bomb shelter, while almost everyone else starves to death waiting for the fallen government to help... Also -- hang out in hardware stores. Learn how things work. Go to websites about radiation sickness. Also look for websites about the phrase "nuclear winter." The nuclear winter theory has been vigorously debated since it came out, but not completely refuted. Make friends with an oncologist (cancer doctor.) This movie portrays something that, in my opinion, really will happen someday. You can prepare for it or not, it's up to you.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best!
Review: I am a nuclear related film fan. I've seen pretty much everything out there from The Day After to Countdown to Looking Glass. The Day After has to be one of the best films on the nuclear topic I've seen. The movie starts out in Kansas, City moving between a perfect image of Hometown USA life to an ominous view of minuteman missile silos. The film shows the events that could lead us to the brink of World War III. It also depicts life after a limited nuclear exchange. The special effects in this film were simply inspirational and on a scale of which I have never seen used in a TV-Movie. The acting was fist class, and with names like Jason Robards, Steve Guttenberg, and John Lithgow how couldn't it be?? This is a must see for anyone concerned about the nuclear topic.
Rating:
Summary: Imagine the World Today
Review: Gone........... This movie was a chilling reminder that at any given time, we could be Gone with one push of a button! A Nuclure War could happen again. This movie has some good special effects for the time frame it was made. If it were to happen this would be the the reaction of everyone. A Must See movie!!
Rating:
Summary: What makes it even more scary is that it could STILL happen
Review: I first saw this movie a few months ago on television, and even with all the commercials, I stay tuned for all 3 hours of it. I have never been more frightened for this world in my entire life, and that is a fact. "The Day After" deals with a nuclear war, and the main characters are everyday folk, like us, in Middle America. The movie was filmed in the early 1980's, when the Cold War was at it's peak, and every film studio came out with cheap action films about post-nuclear war heros and giant radioactive insects. But this telefilm, guided by the talented Nicholas Meyer(Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan), rose to new heights and presented us with a vision of a world that has lost all sense of reason and hope, with 2 powerful nations taking their ignorance out on the billions who are innocent, but still pay for the actions brought on by the ignorant. Jason Robards plays a doctor and Steve Guttenburg(his best performance by far) as a man traveling home are just two of the many everyday people bound together by horrible circumstances. Two of the most powerful scenes that brought tears to my eyes is where a battered priest is reading from his Bible from a bombed out church, with devastation all around him, and the people in attendance are scarred, bloody, and dying. And as the priest trys to raise hopes about God's plan, and about keeping faith, a little girl dies in her sleep, apparently from radiation sickness.And the family, without saying anything, gets up from their pew, and walks away, while the priest, in desperation, increases his voice, having a hard time himself believing in a God that would let this happen. Another heart-wrenching scene is when a group of people are in a building hiding from the radiation, when they pick up a message from the President of the United States, telling Americans that a cease fire had been called, and that the US did not surrender, won't surrender, and he felt sympathy for the losses inflicted, but the great nation of America still lives, and he too had suffered personal losses. And as he said this the camera pans around the room, and instead of patriotic fervor from the survivors, you get the more realistic blank faces, from people who had just seen the world as they knew it destroyed, family, friends dead. This scene shows how futile and pointless war of any kind is. What was the most powerful is that even though we can inflict so much pain on each other, as presented very clearly and graphically in this film, is that there are those who will die to save others in the aftermath, such as in the hospital where the doctors died themselves, worked to death comforting the dying. I think that this film will touch everyone's soul, and hopefully someone in power will take heed of this movie. The threat of nuclear holocaust is still with us, and it would not take much for this film to become reality. Please buy this, rent this, or catch it the next time it is on television. We should not all have to suffer just because a few egomaniacs can't shake hands. This is just one of the many lessons this film teaches, and hopefully it will be a lesson learned, for all of our sakes.
Rating: 
Summary: Even more disturbing to see as an adult
Review: Like many of the viewers here, I watched this movie when it first aired on TV, I was in junior high school. I remember the TV stations and media warning people not to watch it alone, and to not let little kids watch. I remember the little 'discussion groups' about it at school the next day. The main image that was left in my mind was almost everyone being vaporized when the bomb hits, and their skeletons showing through for a moment (especially the couple on their wedding day- that must have been kind of a drag). I was home from work sick a few months ago, and had nothing to watch. The movie hadn't started too long ago, and I figured what the heck, it would probably be interesting to see how 'dated' it looked, and how it wasn't even remotely scary anymore (especially since I wasn't 14 and impressionable, and one of the least of my worries as an adult is a nuclear war-I remember being scared it would happen on a regular basis for weeks after seeing the movie as a kid). I remember thinking that all the warnings to viewers were just really good publicity stunts by the networks to get people to watch. Maybe it would even be 'campy', right? Ha-ha! No. I watched the movie with only mild interest at first, but got more and more upset as it went on. This movie has not lost any of its impact, but actually disturbed me much more as an adult. Maybe its because I am now grown up, married, know how short life really is, and have more of a realistic idea about how horrible life would really be 'the day after'. I was actually shocked at how graphic and scary the movie was, especially to have been shown on prime time TV in the early 80's, even when watching in the middle of the day. There's a truly chilling scene when a main character has been in a bomb shelter too long and completely loses it, to bolt outside. She's so far gone that she just twirls around happily, as if she came out and the land they lived on looked exactly the same. Instead, the sky is grey, ash covers every surface, every single bit of plant life is dead, and the family dog and all the livestock lie flyblown and rotting (there is dead silence, expect for the sound of flies surrounding the bodies)...in another scene set in a hospital, there was a huge jump that made me hit the ceiling and left me muttering a curse afterwards. There are other images that I couldn't get out of my head for a long time, such as one of the last scenes where a man visits his ex-girlfriend in some sort of shelter for the radiation victims. They both end up sobbing, and the camera keeps pulling back until you see the other dead and dying people surrounding them number probably closer to the thousands than the 50 or so you thought were in the shelter at the beginning of the scene. It just keeps getting more and more depressing, grim, and scary, until the last incredibly depressing scene, which is made even sadder and more emotional because you see a character obviously insane and dying who you thought might be one of the ones to make it. Afterwards, I think I ended up having to watch "Hairspray" or something equally cheerful to cheer myself up and get my mind off it before I could take a nap. I always heard how "Threads" made "The Day After" look like an after school special, and had been looking for a copy for a long time (since when I hear that a movie is shocking and upsetting, it usually makes me want to see if it can live up to the buzz). I finally found a store that carries it, but you know what? After getting nightmares after seeing "The Day After" as an adult, I think I'll just pass on "Threads"...
Rating:
Summary: The most depressing film I have ever seen, but enriching.
Review: I rented this on video about three years ago, and it invaded my nightmares for months. Needless to say, this film is not for the faint of heart. It is relentlessly grim and depressing, and I am thankful to my parents for not allowing me to watch it on television when it first aired in 1983. I was only 8 at the time, and I am sure it would not have been pleasant. Regardless, it is a brilliantly made film, more of an exercise than a story. Infact, there really isn't much narrative or character development. The director, Nicholas Meyer, simply takes you through the situation, gradually, with events getting more and more horrific, and the film progresses. There really is no entertainment value to watching this film. Its primary purpose seems to be to incite emotion and to make you think. I would have to say that it succeeds brilliantly in those goals. Like the recent Requiem for a Dream, it is not a film that invites a second viewing, but there is imagery that you will not forget. The direction is pretty spare, except for the scenes when the bombs detonate. Those are probably the most exciting of the film, despite the fact that the special effects are probably not that convincing, by today's standards. All of the performances are pitch-perfect, with most characters seemingly frozen out of fear and dread. I have read some reviews describing the film as melodramatic. I think that kind of criticism could be levelled at almost any film about nuclear war. I mean, there were melodramatic elements in On the Beach, Fail-Safe, even the recent 13 Days, and all of those films had enormouse power. Let's face it, with the end of the world as your focal point, it is hard not to be a little dramatic. The whole cast, especially the late Jason Robards, do excellent jobs. I have not seen everything that Robards has done, but between this, the recent Magnolia, and the classic All the President's Men, you have to give the esteemed actor enormous credit for taking on big roles in films with big subject matters, and always delivering good subtle work. My recommendation is to watch the film with some one else and preferably earlier in the day. And you might want to try to have something light and funny to watch, afterwards. Depending on your preference, that could be The Simpsons or old Monty Python reruns. But you will need some lightening up after watching this thing. Of course, this doesn't mean that you should try to forget this film. It is very important, and there are ideas in it that warrant discussion, even today, after the end of the Cold War. Infact, a good case could be made that the threat of nuclear war has never been greater, even with the likelihood that the use of such weapons in today's climate would be on a smaller scale, as terrorism. Watch and discuss
Rating: 
Summary: Strong Anti-Nuclear message
Review: This is an interesting bit of anti-nuclear propaganda. However, it doesn't have the same sense of drama and supense as other movies like HBO's "Countdown to Looking Glass"(which has not been in print as far as I know) or "Failsafe". The best part of this movie would have to be the build up to the actual attack. The way a number of characters react seems similar to every other disastor movie out there. There are groups of people not sweating it, people preping for it, and people that are involved with it. The second half of the film deals with the basic after affects of people in Kansas trying to rebuild thier lives the day after the world ends. Hence the title THE DAY AFTER. That is where it really gets slowed down and you just don't get a chance to se the characters develop. This film was made at an interesting time in history and reflects the basic feeling of a majority of people that were paying attention. This was made after Regan came into office and just before the 1984 elections. This came when most of Europe was protesting our introduction of the Pershing 2 missile into Germany. This came at a time when the leadership of Russia was dying faster then anyone could keep up with. Those times were trying and dangerous times. For about 4yrs we came just as close to a nuclear war, whether it be accident or intentional then we did those 13 long days in 1962. PS. You will occansionally catch "Countdown to Looking Glass" on HBO on late night or weekend after lunch. Its basic premsis is that there is trouble in the Mid-East after the Saudi and Kuwaiti royal houses fall after thier loans are called by a number of banks in the US that had fail. The Soviets try to move in and control the oil and the US responds. Finally a sitution similar to the blockade around Cuba occurs and it leads to a nuclear exchange. This is all told from simulated news broadcasts from a channel like CNN. It ends with the Civil Defense warning beeper cutting in and a picture of Air Force one taking off.
Rating:
Summary: A chilling 'what if' film
Review: The first time i saw this movie, it was dubbed in german so i could not understand the words, but i understood the film, and no film has ever moved me like this one! The directors portrayal of nuclear holocaust, although not totally accurate, was an example of the turmoil that would be caused by world war 3. The strange thing is that even though people know what the consequences of ww3 would be, most people arent bothered! bet they would be bothered if it all went off! An amasing film with superb effects for its time. Well worth watching, of if you want to see a film with even better realism, look for 'when the wind blows' It will blow you away!
Rating:
Summary: Where's the realism?
Review: When this first aired, it claimed to be realistic, while it probably couldn't be farther from it. The effects of radiation are drastically underplayed, the effects of nuclear blasts on cities was also completely wrong--one just needs to see photos of Hiroshima to see that--and most of the characters should've been dead long before the ending. It could've been a good film, but it focuses too much on characterization, undermines the concept of nuclear war and the chances of survival, as well as the long term side-effects on the environment, and leaves lots of loose ends in relation to many characters. Radiation sickness has a variety of classic symptoms, it's surprising they went so far to omit them, probably because they'd be unpleasant to a television audience. The actors attempt to do a good job with a bad script, but if one wants realism of nuclear war, the Day After is not a good choice. While the closest thing to filmed realism of a nuclear explosion was probably Terminator 2, a 1984 animated feature called "When the Wind Blows" is probably the best example of realism, far surpassing The Day After.
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