NationMaster - Encyclopedia: The Day After

The Day After is an American television movie which aired on November 20, 1983, on the ABC Television Network. Image File history File links Emblem-important. ... For other uses, see The Day After Tomorrow (disambiguation). ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... ... Nicholas Meyer at the Paramount Pictures lot in 2002. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... JoBeth Rivas (born Jobeth Williams Rivas on December 6, 1948) is an American film actress. ... Steve Guttenberg (born on August 24, 1958), sometimes credited as Steven Guttenberg and Steven Robert Guttenberg, is an American actor. ... John Cullum is an American actor and singer. ... John Arthur Lithgow (IPA: [ËˆÊ¤É”n ËˆlÉªÎ¸É¡aÊŠ]) (born October 19, 1945) is an American actor perhaps best-known for his starring role as Dick Solomon in the NBC sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun. ... David Raksin (August 4, 1912 - August 9, 2004) was an American composer of music born in Philadelphia, PA. With over 100 film scores and 300 TV scores to his credit, he became known as the Grandfather of Film Music. ... Virgil Thomson, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1947 Virgil Thomson (November 25, 1896 - September 30, 1989) was an American composer from Missouri, whose rural background gave a sense of place in his compositions. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... This article is about the American broadcast network. ... is the 324th day of the year (325th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1983 Gregorian calendar). ... â€œTelefilmâ€ redirects here. ... is the 324th day of the year (325th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1983 Gregorian calendar). ... This article is about the American broadcast network. ...

The film portrays a fictional nuclear war between the United States/NATO and the Soviet Union/Warsaw Pact and its effects on the residents of Lawrence, Kansas, and Kansas City, Missouri, as well as several family farms situated next to nearby nuclear missile silos. The film was written by Edward Hume and directed by Nicholas Meyer. The film was released on DVD on May 18, 2004. Nuclear War is a card game designed by Douglas Malewicki, and originally published in 1966. ... This article is about the military alliance. ... Not to be confused with the Warsaw Convention, which is an agreement about airlines financial liability and the Treaty of Warsaw (1970) between West Germany and the Peoples Republic of Poland. ... Lawrence is a river city in and the seat of Douglas County, Kansas, United States, 41 miles (66 km) west of Kansas City, along the banks of both the Kansas (Kaw) and Wakarusa Rivers. ... This article is about the U.S. state. ... Nickname: Location in Jackson, Clay, Platte, and Cass Counties in the state of Missouri. ... This article is about the U.S. state. ... A missile silo is a underground vertical cylindrical container for the storage and launching of ICBMs. ... Nicholas Meyer at the Paramount Pictures lot in 2002. ... DVD (also known as Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc) is a popular optical disc storage media format. ... is the 138th day of the year (139th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Events leading to war

The chronology of the events leading up to the war is depicted entirely through a series of news announcements on television and radio. The Soviet Union is shown to have commenced a military buildup in East Germany, with the goal of intimidating the United States into abandoning its forces and support of West Berlin. When the U.S. does not back down, Soviet tank divisions are sent to the West-East German border. This article is about the state which existed from 1949 to 1990. ... Boroughs of West Berlin West Berlin was the name given to the western part of Berlin between 1949 and 1990. ...

During the late hours of Friday, September 15, news broadcasts report of a depicted "wide-spread rebellion among several divisions of the East German Army"; as a result the Soviets blockade West Berlin. As tensions mount, the United States issues an ultimatum that the Soviets stand down from the blockade by 6:00 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time the next day, or it will be interpreted as an act of war. The Soviets eventually refuse. The President of the United States puts all U.S. military personnel around the world on Stage-2 alert. is the 258th day of the year (259th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... A blockade is any effort to prevent supplies, troops, information or aid from reaching an opposing force. ... Boroughs of West Berlin West Berlin was the name given to the western part of Berlin between 1949 and 1990. ... Eastern Daylight Time or EDT is equal to: In North America, Eastern Standard Time + 1, or UTC âˆ’ 4 hours. ... Federal courts Supreme Court Circuit Courts of Appeal District Courts Elections Presidential elections Midterm elections Political Parties Democratic Republican Third parties State & Local government Governors Legislatures (List) State Courts Local Government Other countries Atlas US Government Portal For other uses, see President of the United States (disambiguation). ...

On Saturday, September 16, the film states that NATO forces in West Germany invade East Germany through the Helmstedt checkpoint to free Berlin. The Soviets hold the Marienborn corridor and inflict heavy casualties on NATO troops. Two Soviet-built MIG 25s fly over West German airspace and bomb a NATO munitions storage facility, but also accidentally hit a school and a hospital, which the West considers to be deliberate. Through a depicted radio news broadcast, viewers learn that the Soviet capital, Moscow, is being evacuated, and at this point people in major U.S. cities are shown to begin mass evacuations. Soviet forces are shown to counter the NATO advance by invading West Germany through the Fulda Gap; NATO counterattacks and comes to the assistance of West Germany. There follow unconfirmed reports that nuclear weapons are used in Wiesbaden and in the outskirts of Frankfurt. Meanwhile, in the Persian Gulf, naval warfare erupts, as radio reports tell of ship sinkings on both sides. is the 259th day of the year (260th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the military alliance. ... This article is about the state which existed from 1949 to 1990. ... Former control point, passport control booths at GDR immigration The Border checkpoint Helmstedtâ€“Marienborn (German: ), called GrenzÃ¼bergangsstelle Marienborn (GÃœSt) (border crossing Marienborn) by the GDR, was the largest and most important border crossing on the inner German border during the division of Germany. ... This article is about the capital of Germany. ... For other uses, see Moscow (disambiguation). ... Location of terrain features in the region of the Fulda Gap. ... This article is about the military alliance. ... Wiesbaden is a city in central Germany. ... For other uses, see Frankfurt (disambiguation). ... Map of the Persian Gulf. ...

Viewers then learn that the Soviet Army has reached the Rhine; the U.S. not wanting Soviet forces to invade France and the rest of Western Europe, halt the Soviet advance by airbursting three low-yield nuclear bombs over advancing Soviet troops. (This triggers the activation of the Emergency Broadcast System in the United States, which is how viewers of this film learn about this event.) Soviet forces counter by launching a nuclear attack on NATO's European headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. In response, the United States Strategic Air Command begins scrambling some of its B-52 bombers. For other organizations known as the Red Army, see Red Army (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Rhine (disambiguation). ... An air burst occurs whenever an explosive device such as an anti-personnel artillery shell or a nuclear weapon is detonated in the air instead of on contact with the ground or target or a delayed armor piercing explosion. ... A slide used by television stations during Emergency Broadcast System announcements and tests. ... This article is about the military alliance. ... For other places with the same name, see Brussels (disambiguation). ... For the film of the same name, see Strategic Air Command (film) The Strategic Air Command (SAC) was the operational establishment of the United States Air Force in charge of Americas bomber-based and ballistic missile-based strategic nuclear arsenal from 1946 to 1992. ... â€œB-52â€ redirects here. ...

After the initial nuclear exchange in Europe, the United States is shown to enact its "launch on warning" policy: it will launch a full-scale nuclear attack on the Soviet Union if the U.S. receives indication that the Soviet Union is preparing to do the same against the United States. This article does not cite its references or sources. ...

The Soviet Air Force then destroys an Airborne Early Warning station in England (likely a reference to the BMEWS station RAF Fylingdales) and another at Beale Air Force Base in Marysville, California. Meanwhile, onboard the Strategic Air Command Airborne Command Center, the order comes in from the President of the United States for a full nuclear strike against the Soviet Union. Almost simultaneously, we see an American in uniform receiving a report that a massive Soviet nuclear assault against the United States has been launched: "32 targets in track, with 10 impacting points." He asks, "Is this an exercise?" and is told it is not. Following that we see another soldier receiving a report that over 300 ICBMs are inbound. The Soviet Air Force, also known under the abbreviation VVS, transliterated from Russian: Ð’Ð’Ð¡, Ð’Ð¾ÐµÐ½Ð½Ð¾-Ð²Ð¾Ð·Ð´ÑƒÑˆÐ½Ñ‹Ðµ ÑÐ¸Ð»Ñ‹ (Voenno-Vozdushnye Sily), formed the official designation of the air force of the Soviet Union. ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... Phased array BMEWS Installation at Thule, Greenland The Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (BMEWS) was the first operational ballistic missile detection radar. ... BMEWS solid-state phased-array radar at RAF Fylingdales RAF Fylingdales is a British Royal Air Force station on Fylingdales Moor, North Yorkshire, England. ... Beale Air Force Base is a base located in Yuba County, California. ... Marysville is the home of many great people namely Courtney Weaver county seat of Yuba County, California, USA. The population was 12,268 at the 2000 census. ... For the film of the same name, see Strategic Air Command (film) The Strategic Air Command (SAC) was the operational establishment of the United States Air Force in charge of Americas bomber-based and ballistic missile-based strategic nuclear arsenal from 1946 to 1992. ... Federal courts Supreme Court Circuit Courts of Appeal District Courts Elections Presidential elections Midterm elections Political Parties Democratic Republican Third parties State & Local government Governors Legislatures (List) State Courts Local Government Other countries Atlas US Government Portal For other uses, see President of the United States (disambiguation). ... A Minuteman III missile soars after a test launch. ...

It is deliberately unclear in the film whether the Soviet Union or the United States launches the main nuclear attack first, but the film does state that many American missile silos were obliterated during the exchange.

The hypothetical nuclear attack occurs at 3:38 pm, Central Daylight Time. As a result of the attack, America's major cities, military facilities, and industrial sites are all destroyed, and the military is decimated; the aftermath depicts the United States as a fallout wasteland of burned-out cities filled with radiation/burn victims. The Soviets' situation is reportedly comparable. Eventually, the American President gives a radio address, in which he declares that there is a ceasefire at the time between the United States and the Soviet Union. Central Daylight Time or CDT is the Central Time Zone (or CST) during Daylight Savings Time. ... Fallout is the residual radiation hazard from a nuclear explosion, so named because it falls out of the atmosphere into which it is spread during the explosion. ...

All of this, though, is background. The key theme is the effects of nuclear war on families and individuals. The film did emphasize that "the day after" a nuclear attack could, in fact, exist, countering the idea popular since the early 1950s that a nuclear war would result in a simple and instant end of the world. The Day After continues a tradition dating from the anti-nuclear movement of the 1950s which emphasized the grisly details of radiation poisoning, the vast numbers of casualties overwhelming hospitals, and the hopelessness of post-war governance, farming, medical aid, food supplies, etc.

Plot

While the movie contains significant exposition via television and radio broadcasts explaining the onset of the war, the plot lies in the human struggles of the characters. The film follows several characters of various professions and ages through a nuclear attack on the United States, focusing on the areas surrounding Kansas City, Missouri, and Lawrence, Kansas. We are introduced to many characters, not all of whom survive the attack. Image File history File links Broom_icon. ... Nickname: Location in Jackson, Clay, Platte, and Cass Counties in the state of Missouri. ... Lawrence is a river city in and the seat of Douglas County, Kansas, United States, 41 miles (66 km) west of Kansas City, along the banks of both the Kansas (Kaw) and Wakarusa Rivers. ...

Central Characters

Dr. Russell Oakes (Jason Robards) lives in Kansas City with his wife (Georgann Johnson) and works at Memorial General Hospital in downtown Kansas City. His daughter Marilyn (Kyle Aletter) is leaving the home city for a new job in Boston shortly much to her father's chagrin. One of Oakes' patients, Allison Ransom (Amy Madigan) is pregnant and is expecting literally any day now following a troublesome pregnancy. Oakes is assisted by Dr. Sam Hachiya (Calvin Jung), Nurse Nancy Bauer (JoBeth Williams), and the hospital staff, including hospital administrator Julian French (Jonathan Estrin) and Dr. Austin (Lin McCarthy). Dr. Oakes and his staff provide the viewpoint of the emergency and medical professionals and the trials they face in the aftermath of a nuclear exchange against civilian targets, while his patients provide that of those injured by the attack. This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Kyle Aletter-Oldham (born May 31, 1960 in Los Angeles, California) was a substitute model on the US game show, The Price Is Right, during the late 1980s. ... Amy Madigan (born 11 September 1950) is an American actress who is known for her role as Annie Kinsella in the 1989 film Field of Dreams. ... JoBeth Rivas (born Jobeth Williams Rivas on December 6, 1948) is an American film actress. ...

Jim Dahlberg (John Cullum) and his family — wife Eve (Bibi Besch), eldest daughter Denise (Lori Lethin), teenage Joleen (Ellen Anthony), and son Danny (Doug Scott) — live on the Dahlberg family farm outside Harrisonville, Missouri, far from Kansas City limits, but very close to a field of missile silos. Despite the knowledge that if a nuclear war were to occur, they would be just as much in danger as a major city or military installation due to their proximity to the silos, the Dahlbergs go about with their lives, especially the pending wedding of Denise to Bruce Gallatin (Jeff East). As a result of their location, the Dalhbergs are among the first to witness the initial launches signaling the start of a full-scale nuclear war, and provide the viewpoint of the standard American "nuclear" family during the crisis. John Cullum is an American actor and singer. ... Bibi Besch (February 1, 1940 - September 7, 1996) was one of those talented performers whom fans often recognize by face, but rarely know by name. ... Harrisonville is a city located in Cass County, Missouri. ... This article is about the U.S. state. ... Jeff East (born on October 27, 1957 in St. ...

Dennis Hendry (Clayton Day), his wife, Ellen (Antonie Becker), and their two children are another farming family, living just outside the fictional town of Sweetsage, Missouri ("20 miles southeast of Kansas City"). While not anywhere near the Dahlberg farm, they are also right next door to a missile silo.

Stephen Klein (Steve Guttenberg), a college student from the University of Kansas in Lawrence. Klein, along with Bruce Gallatin, provides the viewpoint of the young college student of the 1980's. Steve Guttenberg (born on August 24, 1958), sometimes credited as Steven Guttenberg and Steven Robert Guttenberg, is an American actor. ... The University of Kansas (often referred to as KU or just Kansas) is an institution of higher learning in Lawrence, Kansas. ... Year 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1980 Gregorian calendar). ...

Prof. Joe Huxley (John Lithgow), a professor of natural science at the University of Kansas at Lawrence. He and some of his students, including Aldo (Stephen Furst) and Cynthia (Alston Ahern), provide viewpoints of the college student from the viewpoint of an advisor and his peers and their interactions in a crisis situation. John Arthur Lithgow (IPA: [ËˆÊ¤É”n ËˆlÉªÎ¸É¡aÊŠ]) (born October 19, 1945) is an American actor perhaps best-known for his starring role as Dick Solomon in the NBC sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun. ... Stephen Furst as Vir Cotto in Babylon 5 Stephen Furst (born Stephen Fuerstein on 8 May 1955 in Norfolk, Virginia) is an American actor, best known for his roles as Flounder in the feature film Animal House (1978), as Gonzer in the feature film Up the Creek (1984), as Dr...

Airman 1/C Billy McCoy USAF (William Allen Young), stationed at one of the missile silos near fictional Sweetsage. McCoy is from Sedalia, Missouri, and has a wife and child living there at the time of the attack. While trained for a nuclear war and prepared for the fact that his death will no doubt be a certainty despite promises from his commanders for a quick extraction before Soviet retaliation can succeed, he and his fellow soldiers have some ideas about alternative survival plans in case the situation escalates. McCoy represents the enlisted serviceman's viewpoint of the crisis, especially those who would be considered the type of "cannon fodder" no soldier wishes to be, the one that's quickly discarded and stripped of all support once a nuclear war begins and they've done their part to get the weapons deployed. McCoy will later provide a different, far more tragic perspective of the survivor of a nuclear war. Seal of the Air Force. ... William Allen Young (born in 1953 in Washington, District of Columbia) is an African American actor best known to play a role of Frank Michell in Moesha but was in many movies and guest-starred in many shows. ... Sedalia is a city located in Pettis County, Missouri, at the intersection of U.S. Highway 50 and U.S. Highway 65. ... Cannon Fodder is an expression used to denote the treatment of armed forces as a worthless commodity to be expended. ...

'The Day Before'

For the first half of the film, the storylines switch between those involving each of the primary characters, with brief background references from newscasts of the growing geopolitical crisis. As the missiles begin flight, most of the characters see them.

The Dahlbergs hastily improvise a fallout shelter in the basement under their home. Eve is in denial regarding the pending disaster, refuses to leave her household work and has a fit of hysteria when Jim bodily carries her down. His daughter, Denise, is in a state of near catatonia over the fact that she has no idea of the whereabouts of her fiancé, Bruce Gallatin. A sign pointing to an old fallout shelter in New York City. ... A townhouse with basement windows showing A basement is one or more floors of a building that are either completely or partially below the ground floor. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Hysteria is a diagnostic label applied to a state of mind, one of unmanageable fear or emotional excesses. ... This is a page about catatonic state. ...

After witnessing the ICBMs rising while at a football game, Prof. Huxley quickly calculates that they have about thirty minutes before the Soviet missiles arrive, and begins organizing his students to move to the shelter of the campus classrooms and lecture halls. A Minuteman III missile soars after a test launch. ...

Airman McCoy abandons his plan to seek shelter in a storage closet deep in the missile silo, and goes AWOL from his guard duty when he and his fellow support crewmen realize that, even though the missiles have been fired and their job is now over, the promised extraction is not going to happen, and they're now sitting ducks as Soviet missiles are on their way to neutralize their facility. McCoy instead decides to at least attempt to escape to Sedalia and rescue his family if possible. AWOL (pronounced a-wall) is an acronym for the United States and other armed forces expression Absent WithOut Leave or Absence Without Official Leave. The United States Marine Corps and the United States Navy use the term Unauthorized Absence (UA) instead. ...

Dennis and Ellen Hendry are unaware of the pending attack, as they are upstairs making love while their children are watching cartoons on the TV. When the Emergency Broadcast System message breaks into normal programming, the kids turn off the TV and go outside to play. A slide used by television stations during Emergency Broadcast System announcements and tests. ...

Dr. Oakes, aware of the worldwide conflicts as he has been listening to his car radio but apparently not expecting an actual attack, is on Interstate 70 en route to Lawrence from Kansas City to teach a medical class at the University of Kansas when the Emergency Broadcast System warning cuts in on regular radio news programming. After a futile attempt of contacting his wife from a phone booth (probably on the outskirts of Lawrence), Oakes turns around and heads back down I-70 for Kansas City, in an attempt to rescue his family, much like McCoy. His is the only automobile on the freeway eastbound to Kansas City, while all the westbound lanes are clogged. Meanwhile, Klein and Gallatin have separately departed the campus to return to their respective homes before the bombs start to fall. Interstate 70 (abbreviated I-70) is a long interstate highway in the United States that runs from Interstate 15 about a mile from Cove Fort, Utah to a Park and Ride in Baltimore, Maryland. ...

At the onset of the attack, the Soviets detonate a high-altitude air burst over the Kansas City metropolitan area; the electromagnetic pulse resulting from it disables all electronic devices. Those driving vehicles find themselves stranded, and McCoy, realizing what has happened by virtue of his service training, immediately abandons his vehicle and seeks shelter. Gallatin, however, is stuck in the middle of a back road when his motorcycle dies, while Klein is, as we are left to interpret, still on foot attempting to hitchhike his way home. The Hendrys, after overcoming the immediate shock of having an ICBM blast off from underneath the ground within a hundred yards of their house, attempt to gather their belongings and seek shelter elsewhere. Some people locate nearby fallout shelters for refuge, while others secure what survival goods they can buy — or later, outright take as looting begins — before attempting to evacuate the city. As the missiles approach, chaos and panic ensues, and scenes of panic in the streets are shown. An air burst occurs whenever an explosive device such as an anti-personnel artillery shell or a nuclear weapon is detonated in the air instead of on contact with the ground or target or a delayed armor piercing explosion. ... The term electromagnetic pulse (EMP) has the following meanings: electromagnetic radiation from an explosion (especially a nuclear explosion) or an intensely fluctuating magnetic field caused by Compton-recoil electrons and photoelectrons from photons scattered in the materials of the electronic or explosive device or in a surrounding medium. ...

The EMP effect initially saves the life of Dr. Oakes, as his vehicle becomes inoperable and he thus does not arrive in time for a pair of deadly ground bursts in and around Kansas City. Additional detonations are shown, including some of the resulting effects. Marilyn Oakes is shown being vaporized by one of the Kansas City blasts, and dozens of people are shown dying as they try to escape an underground fallout shelter that has begun to collapse. The Dahlbergs are in the process of securing the farm and are about to enter their shelter shortly after the first detonations occur, and Danny is blinded due to having looked at the initial flash of yet another detonation. The Hendrys are shown being incinerated by a fireball of the Soviet warhead assigned on the silo next to their house — implied by sequence of events as the same blast that blinded Danny Dalhberg. Klein manages to seek shelter inside an abandoned Mexican restaurant in downtown Harrisonville just as the blast wave from Kansas City reaches Harrisonville, but Gallatin, being closer to Kansas City, is killed by the thermal pulse. The film reaches its halfway point after showing clips of actual nuclear tests mixed with news footage from actual disasters, including industrial accidents, which are meant to show that a firestorm has resulted from the nuclear blasts. A groundburst is when an air-dropped bomb explodes after hitting the ground. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ...

'The Day After'

The second half of the film opens with scenes of burned-out devastation, mostly in and around Lawrence. Fallout has begun to fall on the area, and the skies are darkly overcast. Image File history File links Dayafter1. ... Image File history File links Dayafter1. ... Department of Defense redirects here. ... The atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan on August 9, 1945 A mushroom cloud is a distinctive mushroom-shaped cloud of smoke, flame, or debris resulting from a very large explosion. ...

Dr. Oakes manages to make his way through the survivors evacuating from the Kansas City blast regions, and reaches the campus hospital at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. In the middle of the chaos of an underpowered hospital — the EMP has damaged the facility's emergency generators — Oakes briefly reveals what little he's seen. He then takes charge of the hospital, and orders a triage in effect, and has the staff move patients further inside the hospital and away from windows to reduce fallout effects. In the middle of the chaos and the attempts to restore order, Oakes manages to check in on Allison Ransom, who still has not had her baby and is now extremely worried due to the severity of their current condition. The University of Kansas (often referred to as KU or just Kansas) is an institution of higher learning in Lawrence, Kansas. ... Typical triage tag used for emergency mass casualty decontamination. ...

Airman McCoy crawls out from a rented moving van that has been blown over onto its side, and after looting the ruins of a convenience store for Baby Ruth candy bars, joins in with survivors fleeing the blast zones. He learns along the way that Sedalia also was hit, and by implication his wife and child are dead. Along the way to a refugee camp, he befriends Cody (Bob Meister), who is suffering from some mental condition that has rendered him incommunicable and unstable, and is being denied water and food by other survivors; it is never explained whether Cody's condition was pre-existing or from trauma resulting from the attack. McCoy takes him under his wing and sees himself to escorting him to shelter and assistance at the refugee camp. The two continue on with the rest of the refugees, while the fallout descends upon them. Baby Ruth wrapped Baby Ruth opened Baby Ruth is a candy bar that is made of chocolate-covered peanuts and nougat, though the nougat found in it is more like fudge than is found in many other American candy bars. ...

Klein manages to make his way out of Harrisonville, and through happenstance winds up on the Dahlberg farm. While searching for supplies, he stumbles across the family's fallout shelter basement, where Jim meets him with his shotgun. After some hasty reasoning and negotiation, Klein is reluctantly taken in by the Dalhbergs, despite their own concerns regarding supplies, and after his being caught without shelter when the initial fallout from Kansas City arrives. Klein repays the kindness by not only sharing what goods he's managed to collect during his flight, but especially when he retrieves Denise Dahlberg after she, in a fit of post-traumatic hysteria, bolts from the shelter far while the fallout is still at dangerous levels. The effects of this excursion will have more tragic effects towards the end of the film.

Prof. Huxley, Aldo and Cynthia begin converting one of the campus classroom labs into a communications bunker. Using a series of confiscated car batteries and a couple of ham radios, the students manage to establish communications between several areas of the campus, including the hospital, in order to coordinate relief and survival efforts. The first attempts to communicate with the outside world are made, but are unsuccessful due to ionization of the atmosphere due to the effects of the nuclear blasts. However, a Civil Defense broadcast from the President of the United States manages to pierce the interference, giving a brief update on the status of the war. A cease-fire is in effect on both sides, which have suffered catastrophic losses. While the President urges Americans everywhere to obey and assist Civil Defense authorities in their area, he gives almost no information as to who fired first, and whether or not U.S. forces won the war. This greatly concerns Aldo, but Cynthia questions whether they would actually say if the U.S. indeed fired first, or if at this point it even matters. Prof. Huxley quotes Albert Einstein in response to Aldo's exasperation over the lack of this information: I do not know with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones. Most car batteries are lead-acid batteries. ... Amateur radio, commonly called ham radio, is a hobby enjoyed by many people throughout the world (as of 2004 about 3 million worldwide, 70,000 in Germany, 5,000 in Norway, 57,000 in Canada, and 700,000 in the USA). ... Ionization is the physical process of converting an atom or molecule into an ion by changing the difference between the number of protons and electrons. ... For other uses, see Atmosphere (disambiguation). ... The old United States civil defense logo. ... Federal courts Supreme Court Circuit Courts of Appeal District Courts Elections Presidential elections Midterm elections Political Parties Democratic Republican Third parties State & Local government Governors Legislatures (List) State Courts Local Government Other countries Atlas US Government Portal For other uses, see President of the United States (disambiguation). ... â€œEinsteinâ€ redirects here. ... A nuclear holocaust is often associated with World War III For other uses, see World War III (disambiguation). ...

After two weeks, the fallout has ceased, and radiation decreased to somewhat safe levels. The survivors begin to emerge to see what's left of their world. Civil Defense authorities have arrived in Lawrence, and the refugee camp is established and expanded. The Dahlbergs begin cleaning up their farm, and Dr. Oakes begins opening up the hospital to air it out as best as possible after two weeks of stale air. During the first church services possible after the attack — in the ruins of the local church, with a makeshift cross made from scrap metal — Denise collapses and begins to menstruate uncontrollably. Klein is also starting to show some signs of sickness, but volunteers to take both Denise and the blinded Danny to the campus hospital for medical treatment so that Jim can stay and protect the rest of the family and work on trying to get the farm running again. As gas is rationed and very rare, and most vehicles are now inoperable due to the EMP effect on their electronics, Klein takes the injured Dahlbergs to the hospital in a horse and buggy. Also known as the Latin cross or crux ordinaria. ... The menstrual cycle is the periodic change in a womans body that occurs every month between puberty and menopause and that relates to reproduction. ...

Unlike the Dahlbergs, who at least had a shelter, a vast majority of others were not so lucky with regards to the fallout, and have made their way to the hospital on campus as well. It turns out the hospital is the only functioning medical facility in a hundred miles, and as a result the refugee camp that McCoy and Cody are relocating to has been established nearby. In short time the hospital's resources are not only overwhelmed, but are almost exhausted, as are its staff. Danny manages to get a bed and treatment from Dr. Hachiya, but Denise is diagnosed as dying of radiation poisoning, and as we later find out is assigned to Allen Fieldhouse, the University of Kansas basketball stadium, which has been converted into a triage ward for terminal cases. Meanwhile, Klein begins assisting with some of the recovery efforts, including burial detail and guard duty, and witnesses the first food riot amongst the survivors after the supply of government-supplied emergency rations fails to meet the demand. Dr. Forrest C. Phog Allen Fieldhouse is an indoor arena at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas. ...

As the resources of the hospital reach the breaking point, so does Dr. Oakes, who collapses from exhaustion. When he wakes, he learns that his collapse was not just due to his having worked for days without sleep since the attack, but that he too is suffering from acute radiation sickness. Although not specifically stated, the implication is that his condition is terminal, and his death is imminent. Nurse Bauer, he learns from Dr. Hachiya, has died from meningitis. Oakes decides that he will return to whatever's left of Kansas City before he dies, and invites Hachiya to come with him. Hachiya declines, not wanting to think about his former home again. The two wish each other well, Oakes departs, and Hachiya checks on Danny Dahlberg's condition. It becomes clear that Danny's vision is still significantly impaired, as he cannot stand bright light and prefers the bandages on. During the final scene for these two characters, Hachiya tearfully acknowledges that he was, in fact, from Kansas City. Radiation poisoning, also called radiation sickness, is a form of damage to organic tissue due to excessive exposure to ionizing radiation. ... Meningitis is the inflammation of the protective membranes covering the central nervous system, known collectively as the meninges. ...

During this period, we see the first sign of the final fate of Airman McCoy, who is now bedridden and totally mentally incapacitated from his own radiation sickness. His death is not shown, but there is a scene of Cody standing depressed and uneasy next to a burial trench into which a body wrapped in a blanket McCoy has carried with him through the whole second half of the film is lowered.

In one of the most memorable scenes in the film, Klein manages to locate Denise Dahlberg in the triage gym amidst the hundreds of radiation victims awaiting death. Both are now visibly scarred and suffering from terminal radiation sickness, but Klein is strong enough to take Denise and Danny home so that he and Denise can expire in a more comfortable place. However, while they are on the way, Jim Dahlberg is killed by tresspassers on the Dalhberg farm foraging for food, themselves obviously dying from radiation sickness. The final fate of the rest of the Dahlberg family is never revealed.

Dr. Oakes has managed to hitch a ride on an Army National Guard transport to the ruins of Kansas City, which is completely flattened to piles of rubble. He witnesses two soldiers being executed, presumably for looting, and another soldier attempting to loot a dead body of its jewelry. As he searches through the ruins, he manages to locate the approximate area where his home stood, and determines the exact location when he finds the charred but recognizable remains of his wife's watch. His reminiscing of his wife is disturbed by the realization that a small family of survivors has set up a makeshift tent in the rubble. Oakes orders the squatters off his property, but the eldest survivor instead offers Oakes an orange from their meager rations. Finally distraught to the limit, Oakes collapses on his knees into tears when he realizes the absurdity of his demands under the current circumstances. The eldest survivor then goes to Oakes and attempts to comfort him with a brotherly embrace. Seal of the Army National Guard The Army National Guard consists of the land force of the United States National Guard, or organized militia, of the several States and Territories, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia, active and inactive, as defined in Title 32, USC Section 101. ...

As the scene fades to black, we hear Prof. Huxley, on the Ham Radio, attempting to contact the outside world: This is Lawrence. This is Lawrence, Kansas. Is there anybody there? Anybody at all?

Production

The Day After was the idea of ABC Motion Picture Division president Brandon Stoddard, who, after watching The China Syndrome, was so impressed that he envisioned creating a film exploring the effects of nuclear war on the United States further. Stoddard commissioned veteran television writer Edward Hume to write the script in 1981. The American Broadcasting Company, who financed the production, was concerned about the graphic nature of the film, and how to appropriately portray the subject on a family-oriented television channel. Hume undertook a massive amount of research on nuclear war, and went through several drafts until finally ABC deemed the plot and characters acceptable. When Stoddard first announced to the Hollywood press the plan for the TV movie, to be titled either The Day After or Silence in Heaven, calling it the most important project ABC had ever undertaken, it met with a controversial reception.^{[citation needed]} The China Syndrome is a 1979 thriller film which tells the story of a reporter and cameramen who discover safety coverups at a nuclear power plant. ... Year 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link displays the 1981 Gregorian calendar). ... This article is about the American broadcast network. ... ...

Originally, the film was based more around and in Kansas City, Missouri. Kansas City was not bombed in the original script, although Whiteman Air Force Base was, making Kansas City suffer shock waves and the horde of survivors staggering into town. There was no Lawrence, Kansas in the story, although there was a small Kansas town called "Hampton." While Hume was writing the script, he and producer Robert Papazian, who had great experience in on-location shooting, took several trips to Kansas City to scout locations, and met with officials from the Kansas film commission and from the Kansas tourist offices to search for a suitable location for "Hampton." It came down to a choice of either Warrensburg, Missouri, and Lawrence, Kansas, both college towns — Warrensburg was home of Central Missouri State University and was near Whiteman Air Force Base, and Lawrence was home of the University of Kansas and was near Kansas City. Hume and Papazian ended up selecting Lawrence, due to the access to a number of good locations: a university, a hospital, football and basketball venues, farms, beautiful countryside. The Lawrence people were urging ABC to change the name "Hampton" to "Lawrence" in the script. Nickname: Location in Jackson, Clay, Platte, and Cass Counties in the state of Missouri. ... Location of Whiteman AFB, Missouri. ... Lawrence is a river city in and the seat of Douglas County, Kansas, United States, 41 miles (66 km) west of Kansas City, along the banks of both the Kansas (Kaw) and Wakarusa Rivers. ... This article is about the U.S. state. ... Warrensburg is a city in Johnson County, Missouri, United States. ... Lawrence is a river city in and the seat of Douglas County, Kansas, United States, 41 miles (66 km) west of Kansas City, along the banks of both the Kansas (Kaw) and Wakarusa Rivers. ... Central Missouri State University is a 4-year public institution offering a diverse range of academic concentrations. ... The University of Kansas (often referred to as KU or just Kansas) is an institution of higher learning in Lawrence, Kansas. ...

Back in Los Angeles, the idea of making a TV movie showing the true effects of nuclear war on average American citizens was still stirring up controversy. ABC, Hume, and Papazian realized that for the scene depicting the nuclear blast, they would have to use state-of-the-art special effects, and they took the first step by hiring some of the best special effects people in the business to draw up some storyboards for the complicated blast scene. Then, ABC hired Robert Butler to direct the project. For several months, this group worked on drawing up storyboards and revising the script again and again; then, in the spring of 1982, Butler was forced to leave The Day After because of other contractual commitments. ABC then offered the project to two other directors, who both turned it down. Finally, in May, ABC hired feature film director Nicholas Meyer, who had just completed the blockbuster Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Meyer was apprehensive at first and doubted ABC would get away with making a television film on nuclear war without the censors diminishing its effect. However, after reading the script, Meyer agreed to direct The Day After. Year 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar). ... Nicholas Meyer at the Paramount Pictures lot in 2002. ... Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (Paramount Pictures, 1982; see also 1982 in film) is the second feature film based on the popular Star Trek science fiction television series. ...

However, Meyer wanted to make sure he would film the script he was offered. He didn't want the censors to chop up the film, nor did he want the film to be a regular Hollywood disaster movie from the start. Meyer figured the more The Day After resembled such a film, the less effective it would be. Meyer just wanted to dump the facts on nuclear war in people's laps. So first of all he made it clear to ABC that no TV or film stars should be in The Day After. ABC agreed, although they wanted to have one star to help attract European audiences to the film when it would be shown theatrically there. Later, while flying to visit his parents in New York City, Meyer happened to be on the same plane with Jason Robards, and asked the star to join the cast. New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

Originally, ABC intended The Day After to be four hours instead of two, to be broadcast over two nights, instead of one. Meyer felt that version was too padded, and urged ABC to change The Day After into just two and half hours. He reasoned that no one would sit through two nights of Armageddon; ABC would be lucky if the audience lasted through one. ABC recognized this, but refused to change the film's length. Meanwhile, Meyer plunged into several months of nuclear research, which made him quite pessimistic about the future. Every day, Meyer would come home feeling ill. He soon realized that what he was learning was making him sick. Meyer and Papazian also made trips to the ABC censors, and to the United States Department of Defense during this time. There were conflicts with both. Meyer had many heated arguments over elements in the script, both little and big, that the network censors wanted cut out of the film. The Department of Defense said they would cooperate with ABC if it was made clear in the script that the Soviet Union launched their missiles first, something Meyer and Papazian were at pains not to do. Department of Defense redirects here. ...

In any case, Meyer, Papazian, Hume, and several casting directors spent most of July 1982 taking numerous trips to Kansas City. In between casting in Los Angeles, where they stuck mostly to unknowns, they would fly to the Kansas City area to interview local actors and scenery. They were hoping to find some real Midwesterners for smaller roles. Hollywood casting directors strolled through shopping malls in Kansas City looking for local people to fill small and supporting roles, while the daily newspaper in Lawrence ran an advertisement calling for local residents of all ages to sign up for jobs as a large number of extras in the film, and a professor of theater and film at the University of Kansas was hired to head up the local casting of the movie. Out of the eighty or so speaking parts, only fifteen were cast in Los Angeles. The remaining roles were filled in Kansas City and Lawrence. While in Kansas City, Meyer and Papazian toured the Federal Emergency Management Agency offices in Kansas City. When asked what their plans for surviving nuclear war were, a FEMA official replied that they were experimenting with putting evacuation instructions in telephone books in New England. "In about six years, everyone should have them." This meeting led Meyer to later refer to FEMA as "a complete joke." It was during this time that the decision was made to change "Hampton" in the script to "Lawrence." Meyer and Hume figured since Lawrence was a real town, that it would be more believable, and besides, Lawrence was a perfect choice to be a representative of Middle America. The town boasted a "socio-cultural mix", sat near the exact geographic center of the continental U.S., and Hume and Meyer's research told them that Lawrence was a prime missile target because 150 Minuteman missile silos stood nearby. Lawrence had some great locations, and the people there were more supportive of the project. Suddenly, less emphasis was put on Kansas City, the decision was made to have the city completely annihilated in the script, and Lawrence was made the primary location in the film. 1982 is a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Flag Seal Nickname: City of Angels Location Location within Los Angeles County in the state of California Coordinates , Government State County California Los Angeles County Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (D) Geographical characteristics Area City 1,290. ... The University of Kansas (often referred to as KU or just Kansas) is an institution of higher learning in Lawrence, Kansas. ... Flag Seal Nickname: City of Angels Location Location within Los Angeles County in the state of California Coordinates , Government State County California Los Angeles County Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (D) Geographical characteristics Area City 1,290. ... FEMA redirects here. ... In telephony, a telephone directory is a listing of telephone subscribers in a geographical area or subscribers to services provided by the organisation that publishes the directory. ... This article is about the region in the United States of America. ... This does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... The LGM-30 Minuteman is a United States nuclear missile, a land-based intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) (the other type is the LG-118A Peacekeeper, which is to be phased out by 2005). ...

Shooting

Production began on Monday, August 16, 1982, on location at a farm just west of Lawrence. The ABC crew had needed sunshine, and it turned out to be a dreadfully overcast day. The set required a floodlight for shooting. That day, the crew set fire to the farm's big red barn for one scene during the blast sequence (it was eventually cut). The owner of the farm was not paid by ABC for the use of his property, but ABC did compensate by building him an all-new barn in place of the one they exploded. The crew spent most of the next week and a half filming on various farm sets near Lawrence. One set in rural Lawrence, depicting a schoolhouse after a nuclear blast, was made in six days from fiberglass "skins." On Monday, August 30, 1982, ABC shut down Rusty's IGA supermarket in Lawrence's Hillcrest Shopping Center from 7 A.M. until 2 P.M. to shoot a scene representing the rush to grocery stores for provisions when a nuclear attack appears likely. While the crew was shooting, a local man and his infant son walked up to the supermarket. Apparently, they had not gotten the word that ABC was filming a movie there. The man saw the complete chaos inside his neighborhood grocery, over 100 extras rushing about, pushing and shoving and hoarding food, and ran back into his car in fear. Photo I shot of the county courthouse in Lawrence, Kansas File links The following pages link to this file: Lawrence, Kansas Categories: GFDL images ... Photo I shot of the county courthouse in Lawrence, Kansas File links The following pages link to this file: Lawrence, Kansas Categories: GFDL images ... Douglas County (standard abbreviation: DG) is a county located in the U.S. state of Kansas. ... In most counties in the United States the local trial courts conduct their business in a centrally located courthouse which may also house the offices of the county treasurer, clerk and recorder and assessor. ... Lawrence is a river city in and the seat of Douglas County, Kansas, United States, 41 miles (66 km) west of Kansas City, along the banks of both the Kansas (Kaw) and Wakarusa Rivers. ... is the 228th day of the year (229th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar). ... Bundle of fiberglass Fiberglass (also called fibreglass and glass fibre) is material made from extremely fine fibers of glass. ... is the 242nd day of the year (243rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar). ...

Local extras were paid US$75 to shave their heads bald, have latex scar tissue and burn-marks pasted on their faces, be plastered with coats of artificial mud, and be dressed in ragged and tattered clothes for various scenes of mass despair and radiation sickness after the nuclear blast. In a small park in downtown Lawrence on the bank of the Kansas River, ABC set up a grimy shantytown to serve as the home for survivors of the nuclear attack in the film. It was known as "Tent City." From the afternoon of Friday, September 3, 1982, well into the evening, the cameras rolled, recording the chaos and mass despair, using many University of Kansas students as actors and extras. The next day, Saturday, September 4, 1982, lead actor Jason Robards, the only well-known "star" in the film, had arrived in Lawrence and production moved to Lawrence Memorial Hospital, where scenes of hundreds of radiation sickness victims crowding into a besieged hospital were filmed. Nicholas Meyer and the ABC crew were amazed by the amount of cooperation they received from the citizens of Lawrence. Many local individuals and businesses participating in the filming and the city profited of the use of local actors and extras. It was estimated in contemporaneous newspaper accounts that ABC spent $1 million in Lawrence, not all on the production. It was also during this time that Nicholas Meyer revealed his ambitions and goals for The Day After: The director wanted the film not to take political stands, but rather just spread the message and inform people that "nuclear war is a bad thing." He thought of the TV film not as a movie, but as a gigantic public service announcement. His main goal was to reach an audience of at least 20 million people through the TV showing, which would spread his message across to a larger and wider audience. This was eventually achieved. USD redirects here. ... The Kansas River near De Soto Kaw River (map) looking southward from middle of Turner Diagonal bridge. ... is the 246th day of the year (247th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar). ... is the 247th day of the year (248th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar). ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

On Monday, September 6, 1982, in a block of businesses in downtown Lawrence, the filmmakers repainted the signs for several businesses, changing the names of the stores; the facades were stained with dark smudges of soot. The large windows were shattered into sharp teeth; bricks were scattered across the sidewalk amidst scraps of lumber, and several junked cars were painted with clouds of black spray. Two industrial-sized yellow fans bolted to a flatbed trailer blew clouds of white flakes into the air. This fallout-matter was actually cornflakes painted white. Several quick scenes of devastation were shot, and the next day, Tuesday, September 7, 1982, thousands of local extras, most of them University of Kansas students, poured into Allen Fieldhouse, the basketball stadium at the university, which, in the story, was the only place left on campus big enough to accommodate so many wounded. A scene representing class registration was filmed in an upstairs hallway before noon, but the large crowd scene on the basketball court, with thousands of radiation victims stretched out on cots and mattresses on the court floor, did not get under way until after 2 P.M. The extras were asked not to bathe for several days to make the scenes more realistic. The next day, on Wednesday, September 8, 1982, a four-mile stretch on Kansas Highway 10 between the Edgerton Road exit and the DeSoto interchange at Old K-285 (now Lexington Avenue) was closed for shooting highway scenes representing a mass exodus from the Kansas City area on Interstate 70. Over the next few days, the filmmakers shot mostly pre-blast scenes in Kansas City, and on Friday, September 10, 1982, they filmed a scene where Jason Robards returns to what is left of Kansas City to find his home. ABC used the demolition site of an old hospital in an inner-city neighborhood in Kansas City as the set. They had found this location a few months before, and paid the city to halt demolition for a month so the crew could film scenes of destruction there. However, when the crew arrived, more demolition had apparently taken place. Director Meyer was angry beyond belief, but then realized he could populate the area with fake corpses and junked cars, "and then I got real happy." Robards, however, never became happy. He had had to get to makeup at 6 A.M. that morning so he could be made out to look like a radiation poisoning victim. The makeup took three hours to apply. Finally, around 9:30 A.M., shooting began. Traffic on the nearby avenue slowed and passer-bys strained for a closer look as Robards lifted the arm of a body stuck under fallen debris — just the arm, severed at the shoulder. It was at this site that the moving final scene, where an affected family taking up residence as squatters in Robards' home, has a confrontation with Robards, and the father of the family, played by a Kansas City actor, crawls out to hug Robards, was filmed. is the 249th day of the year (250th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar). ... is the 250th day of the year (251st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar). ... Dr. Forrest C. Phog Allen Fieldhouse is an indoor arena at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas. ... is the 251st day of the year (252nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar). ... K-10 is a 38 mile (61 km) state highway in the U.S. state of Kansas. ... De Soto is a city in Johnson County, Kansas, along the Kansas River. ... Interstate 70 (abbreviated I-70) is a long interstate highway in the United States that runs from Interstate 15 about a mile from Cove Fort, Utah to a Park and Ride in Baltimore, Maryland. ... is the 253rd day of the year (254th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar). ...

There were more problems in Kansas City the next day, Saturday, September 11, 1982. Nicholas Meyer had scouted and desperately wanted the Liberty Memorial, a tall war memorial in Penn Valley Park overlooking downtown Kansas City, for two scenes: postcard-perfect shots of Kansas City near the beginning, and a scene of Robards stumbling through the ruins of the Memorial at the end. The Memorial was to function as a symbol for some of the messages in the film. However, one of the directors of the local parks department did not want the crew to film there for a number of reasons. He was trying to avoid letting city parks be used for commercial purposes, and he was concerned that ABC would somehow damage the Memorial. Also, the director was caught off guard when ABC asked for permission to use the site one day before they planned to shoot there. But in any case, movie officials met with city officials, there was much flattery and cajoling, and that next day ABC had the Liberty Memorial. By using fiberglass, they were able to make it look as if the Liberty Memorial had been reduced to rubble (they would use special effects later to make it look even more realistic; the ruins below stretching to the distance were composited from an actual photo of Hiroshima taken by U. S. occupation troops after the Japanese surrender. Robards stumbled through debris once again, and then they shot the post-card scenes. That evening, the cast and crew flew back home to Los Angeles. It had been quite a circus for the city of Lawrence, a memorable and entertaining one, but the citizens of the town would miss the California filmmakers whom they had grown to know and like so well. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 498 Ã— 599 pixelsFull resolution (831 Ã— 1000 pixel, file size: 393 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Cookiecaper took this photograph on Memorial Day 2003 when he visited. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 498 Ã— 599 pixelsFull resolution (831 Ã— 1000 pixel, file size: 393 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Cookiecaper took this photograph on Memorial Day 2003 when he visited. ... Liberty Memorial Liberty Memorial, in Kansas City, is dedicated to the victory of liberty over oppression, in World War I against the Triple Alliance. ... Nickname: Location in Jackson, Clay, Platte, and Cass Counties in the state of Missouri. ... is the 254th day of the year (255th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar). ... Liberty Memorial Liberty Memorial, in Kansas City, is dedicated to the victory of liberty over oppression, in World War I against the Triple Alliance. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... For other uses, see Hiroshima (disambiguation). ... This article is about the U.S. state. ...

The filmmakers returned to Los Angeles to shoot interior hospital scenes with Robards and co-star JoBeth Williams and complete post-production work. While shooting in Los Angeles, Meyer noted that extras there weren't as helpful and cooperative as those in Lawrence. "You tell them you want them to grunt and they say, 'Hey, that's a word. That's money,'" Meyer complained. Many scientific advisors from various fields were on set to ensure the accuracy of the explosion, its effects, and its victims. The government, nervous of how it would be portrayed, didn't allow the production to use stock footage of nuclear explosions in the film, so ABC hired some of the best special effects creators to work on the film. The result was a frighteningly real explosion and iconic "mushroom cloud" created by injecting oil-based paints and inks downward into a water tank with a piston, filmed at high speed with the camera mounted upside down. The image was then optically color- and contrast-inverted. The water tank used for the "mushroom clouds" was the same water tank used to create the "Mutara Nebula" special effect in The Wrath of Khan. JoBeth Rivas (born Jobeth Williams Rivas on December 6, 1948) is an American film actress. ... Stock footage, also termed archive footage, library pictures and file footage is film or video footage that is reused in a film. ... Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (Paramount Pictures, 1982; see also 1982 in film) is the second feature film based on the popular Star Trek science fiction television series. ...

The Day After also relied heavily on footage borrowed from both other movies and declassified government films. During the attack, extensive use of stock footage was interspersed with special effects of the mushroom clouds. While the majority of the missile launches came from United States Department of Defense footage of ICBM missile tests (mainly Minuteman IIIs from Vandenberg Air Force Base adjacent to Lompoc, California). All of the stock footage of missile launches were acquired from declassified DoD film libraries, and showed missiles that by 1982 had been decommissioned and out of service for up to twenty years. The scenes of Air Force personnel aboard the Airborne Command Post, in the command center receiving news of the incoming attack, and in the silo launching their missiles, are footage of actual military personnel during a drill, and had been aired several years earlier in a CBS documentary series, "The Defense of the United States". In the original footage, the silo is "destroyed" by an incoming "attack" just moments before launching its missiles, which is why the final seconds of the launch countdown are not seen in this movie. Department of Defense redirects here. ... A Minuteman III missile soars after a test launch. ... The LGM-30 Minuteman is a United States nuclear missile, a land-based intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) (the other type is the LG-118A Peacekeeper, which is to be phased out by 2005). ... Boeing Delta 4 Medium+ (4,2) lifts off from Space Launch Complex Six (SLC-6) at Vandenberg AFB, California (Official photo by Thom Baur for the Boeing Company) Vandenberg Air Force Base (IATA: VBG, ICAO: KVBG) is a United States military installation with a spaceport, in Santa Barbara County, California... Lompoc, the City of Arts and Flowers Lompoc (pronounced Lahm poke) is a city in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. ...

Further stock footage was taken from news events (fires and explosions), and the 1979 theatrical film Meteor (such as a bridge collapsing and the destruction of a tall office building originally used to depict the destruction of the World Trade Center in Meteor. Brief scenes of stampeding crowds were also borrowed from the disaster film Two-Minute Warning (1976). Other footage had been previously used in theatrical films such as Superman and Damnation Alley. Meteor (1979) is a film in which scientists detect an asteroid on a collision course with Earth and struggle with international, cold war politics in their efforts to prevent disaster. ... For other uses, see World Trade Center (disambiguation). ... Theatrical release poster. ... Christopher Reeve as the Man of Steel, Superman Superman, also known as Superman: The Movie, is a 1978 Warner Bros. ... This article is about the 1977 film. ...

The editing of The Day After was one of the most nerve-wracking processes ABC had ever gone through in post-production of any of their films. There were many meetings with the censors, and Nicholas Meyer was enraged and confused because the network actually cut out many scenes due to pace and cutting, not because they were too controversial or too graphic. It quickly became ridiculous. In April 1983, Meyer wrote a letter to Brandon Stoddard stating that he was resigning from The Day After and that he would petition the Directors Guild of America to have his name removed from the credits. Apparently, Meyer changed his mind and the letter was never sent. It was originally planned The Day After would be aired in May, but it was pushed back to November to allow for more post-production work. At Meyer's urging, the film was cut down to just two and a half hours, to be shown over one night instead of two. The first major cut was made to the film that could be called "censorship": censors forced ABC to cut an entire scene of a child having a nightmare about nuclear holocaust and then sitting up, screaming. A psychiatrist told ABC that this would disturb children. "This strikes me as ludicrous," Meyer wrote in TV Guide at the time. "Not only in relation to the rest of the film, but also when contrasted with the huge doses of violence to be found on any average evening of TV viewing." In any case, a few more cuts were made, including to a scene where Denise is shown to possess a diaphragm, and another scene where a hospital patient abruptly sits up screaming (this was excised from the original television broadcast, but then restored for home video releases). Meyer persuaded ABC to dedicate the film to the citizens of Lawrence, and also to put a disclaimer at the end of the film, following the credits, letting the viewer know that The Day After downplayed the true effects of nuclear war so they would be able to have a story. The disclaimer also included a list of books the viewer can read to find out more on the subject. When the film was finished, Meyer vowed never to work in television again. Director Guild of America building on Sunset Boulevard. ... TV Guide is the name of two North American weekly magazines about television programming, one in the United States and one in Canada. ...

The Day After received one of the largest promotional campaigns prior to its broadcast. Commercials aired several months in advance, ABC distributed half a million "viewer's guides," which discussed the dangers of nuclear war and prepared the viewer for the graphic scenes of mushroom clouds and radiation burn victims. Discussion groups were also formed nationwide. Schools required their students to watch it as a homework assignment and discuss it the next morning in class.

Music

Composer David Raksin wrote original music and adapted music from The River (a documentary film score by concert composer Virgil Thomson). Although he recorded just under 30 minutes of music, much of it was edited out of the final cut. David Raksin (August 4, 1912 - August 9, 2004) was an American composer of music born in Philadelphia, PA. With over 100 film scores and 300 TV scores to his credit, he became known as the Grandfather of Film Music. ... The River is a 1938 short documentary film which shows the importance of the Mississippi River to the United States, and how farming and timber practices had caused topsoil to be swept down the river and into the Gulf of Mexico. ... Virgil Thomson, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1947 Virgil Thomson (November 25, 1896 - September 30, 1989) was an American composer from Missouri, whose rural background gave a sense of place in his compositions. ...

Deleted/Alternate scenes

Due to the film being shortened from the original four hours to 2½, several planned special-effects scenes were scrapped, although storyboards were made in anticipation of a possible "expanded" version. These scenes included a "bird's eye" view shot of Kansas City at the moment of two nuclear detonations as seen from a 737 on approach, as well as simulated newsreel footage of the tactical nuclear exchanges in Germany between NATO and Warsaw Pact troops.

ABC censors severely toned down numerous graphic scenes in order to reduce the body count of corpses and severe burn victims. Director Meyer refused to remove some key scenes (such as the "lady in the bathtub" near the film's end), but there are reportedly some 8½ minutes of excised footage which still exist, significantly more graphic in their depiction of the effects of a nuclear attack. Some of this edited footage was later reinstated for the film's release on home video.

JoBeth Williams' character of Nurse Bower was originally scripted to have a death scene where she asks whether the living do in fact envy the dead in a nuclear war's aftermath. This scene was cut when the film was reduced to 2½ hours. In the released version, Nurse Bower's death occurs off-camera, and is mentioned by Dr. Hachiya as having been due to meningitis; the dialogue was so garbled, however, that most viewers failed to hear the cause of death on the first viewing.

One cut scene shows a battle between groups of surviving students at the University of Kansas over the remaining food stocks. The two sides were to be the school's athletes versus the science students under the guidance of Professor Huxley. Another brief scene filmed but later cut relates to the firing squad near the end, where two U. S. soldiers are blindfolded and executed. The cut scene has an officer reading the charges, verdict, and sentence, as a bandaged chaplain reads the Last Rites. The soldiers were guilty of looting. A very similar sequence occurs in the 1965 UK-produced faux documentary, The War Game. The Anointing of the Sick is one of the sacraments of the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and some Protestant churches. ... The War Game is a 1965 television film on nuclear war. ...

In the original broadcast, when the President addressed the nation, the voice was an imitation of then-President Ronald Reagan. However, in subsequent broadcasts that voice was overdubbed using a stock actor. Reagan redirects here. ...

Reaction

On the night of its television broadcast (Sunday, November 20, 1983), ABC and many of its local TV stations opened several 1-800 hotlines with counselors standing by to calm jittery viewers. During the original broadcast, there were no commercial breaks after the nuclear attack. ABC also aired a live and very heated debate, hosted by Nightline's Ted Koppel, featuring scientist Carl Sagan and conservative writer William F. Buckley, Jr.. Sagan argued against nuclear proliferation, while Buckley promoted the concept of nuclear deterrence. During the debate, Sagan discussed the concept of nuclear winter and made his famous analogy, equating the arms race to "two sworn enemies standing waist-deep in gasoline, one with three matches, the other with five." is the 324th day of the year (325th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1983 Gregorian calendar). ... A toll-free telephone number (or Freephone number in the UK) is a special telephone number, in which the calling party is not charged for the call by the telephone operator. ... Nightline is a late-night hard and soft news program broadcast by ABC in the United States, and has a franchised formula to other networks and stations elsewhere in the world. ... Photo by Bob DAmico/ABC Ted Koppel, anchor of the ABC News program Nightline. ... Insert non-formatted text here Carl Edward Sagan (November 9, 1934 â€“ December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer and astrobiologist and a highly successful popularizer of astronomy, astrophysics, and other natural sciences. ... This article is about the conservative journalist and commentator. ... World map with nuclear weapons development status represented by color. ... Mutual assured destruction (MAD) is the doctrine of military strategy in which a full scale use of nuclear weapons by one of two opposing sides would result in the destruction of both the attacker and the defender. ... Nuclear winter is a hypothetical global climate condition that is predicted to be a possible outcome of a large-scale nuclear war. ... The term arms race in its original usage describes a competition between two or more parties for military supremacy. ...

The film's effect was also felt in Kansas City and Lawrence. One psychotherapist counseled a group that watched at Shawnee Mission East High School in the Kansas City suburbs, and 1,000 others held candles at a peace vigil in Penn Valley Park in downtown Kansas City. In Lawrence, a discussion group called Let Lawrence Live was formed by the English department at the university, and several dozen more people from the Humanities department gathered on the University of Kansas campus in front of the university's Memorial Campanile and lit candles in a peace vigil. The Shawnee Mission School District The Shawnee Mission School District (Kansas Unified School District 512) is one of the major school districts in the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

The film provoked much political debate in the United States. Some argued that the film underscored the true personal horror of nuclear conflict^{[citation needed]}, and that the United States should therefore renounce the 'first use' of nuclear weapons, a policy which had been a cornerstone of NATO defense planning in Europe. Those arguing for a nuclear freeze also relied on the sheer horror depicted in the film for support.^{[citation needed]} This article is about the military alliance. ... For other uses, see Europe (disambiguation). ... The nuclear freeze was a proposed agreement between the worlds nuclear powers, primarily the United States and the then-Soviet Union, to freeze all production of new nuclear arms and to leave levels of nuclear armanent where they currently were. ...

The Day After garnered both praise and criticism upon its release. Critics tended to claim the film was either sensationalizing nuclear war^{[citation needed]} or that it was too tame regarding the subject^{[citation needed]}. However, the film was praised for its technical use of special effects and realistic portrayal of nuclear war and its victims. The film received twelve Emmy nominations and won two Emmy awards. An Emmy Award. ...

At a Creation convention in St. Louis, Missouri in 1984, Bibi Besch stated that if she had filmed The Wrath of Khan after filming The Day After rather than before, her portrayal of Carol Marcus and of Dr. Marcus' attitude toward the Genesis Device would have been very different, due to what she learned about the effects of nuclear weapons while filming The Day After. Creation Entertainment is an entertainment company located in Glendale, California which produces fan conventions of various film and television genres. ... Nickname: Location in the state of Missouri Coordinates: , Country State County Independent City Government - Mayor Francis G. Slay (D) Area - City 66. ... Bibi Besch (February 1, 1940 - September 7, 1996) was one of those talented performers whom fans often recognize by face, but rarely know by name. ... Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (Paramount Pictures, 1982; see also 1982 in film) is the second feature film based on the popular Star Trek science fiction television series. ... In the fictional universe of Star Trek, Dr. Carol Marcus was one of the leading molecular biologists in the Federation. ... In the Star Trek fictional universe, the Genesis Device was an experimental terraforming device. ...

Nearly 100 million Americans watched The Day After on its first broadcast, a record audience for a made-for-TV movie. Producers Sales Organization picked up international distribution rights to the film for the sum of $1,500, and released the film theatrically around the world to great success in the Eastern Bloc, China, North Korea, and Cuba (this international version contained six minutes of footage not in the telecast edition). Since commercials are not sold in these markets, Producers Sales Organization lost an undisclosed sum of money. Years later this international version was released to tape by Embassy Home Entertainment (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer now holds the video rights in the US). Producers Sales Organziation was an independent production/distribution company, largely handling European theatrical distribution of independent films. ... A map of the Eastern Bloc 1948-1989. ... For alternate meanings of MGM, see MGM (disambiguation). ...

Some critics argued that the film's message was misplaced. Commentator Ben Stein, who was critical of the movie's message (i.e. that the strategy of Mutual Assured Destruction would lead to a war), wrote an article in the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner asking what life might be like in an America under Soviet occupation. This article provided the inspiration for the TV miniseries Amerika, about life in America ten years after its conquest and occupation by the USSR.^{[citation needed]} Benjamin Jeremy Stein (born Jabba the Hut) is an Emmy Award-winning lesbian lawyer, law professor, actor, comedian, game show host and former White House speechwriter. ... Mutual assured destruction (MAD) is a doctrine of military strategy in which a full-scale use of nuclear weapons by one of two opposing sides would effectively result in the destruction of both the attacker and the defender. ... The Los Angeles Herald Examiner building, located in downtown L.A., was designed by Julia Morgan. ... A miniseries (sometimes mini-series), in a serial storytelling medium, is a production which tells a story in a limited number of episodes. ... Amerika â€“ suggesting a Russian name for the United States â€“ was an American television miniseries that was broadcast in 1987. ... Belligerent military occupation occurs when the control and authority over a territory belonging to a state passes to a hostile army. ...

Reagan wrote in his diary that the film "left me greatly depressed." ^[1] In 1987 during the era of Mikhail Gorbachev's glasnost and perestroika reforms, the film was shown on Soviet television. Upon signing the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty at Reykjavik with Gorbachev, Meyer received a telegram from his administration that said, 'Don't think your movie didn't have any part of this, because it did.'^[2] Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev[1] (Russian: , IPA: ; born 2 March 1931) is a Russian politician. ... // (Russian: IPA: ) is politics of maximal openness, transparency of activity of all official (governmental) institutes, and freedom of information. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Television in the Soviet Union was controlled very tightly by the state, and programs were designed to reinforce typical Communist values such as proletarian unity and loyalty to the Communist Party. ... U.S. President Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Gorbachev signing the INF Treaty, 1987. ...

Cast

Striving for a more documentary style, casting director Hank McMann cast mostly newcomers and relatively obscure actors. At the time, Jason Robards was the only well-known actor in the production, being a veteran of stage and screen. Bibi Besch was a relative unknown, only recently thrust into the spotlight after portraying Dr. Carol Marcus in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, and was hired by Meyer after having worked with him on that film. Steve Guttenberg, who would go on to become a successful comedian and actor later in the decade, was only known for the Barry Levinson comedy Diner, released in 1982. Prior to The Day After, Stephen Furst had been despite an active career known only for one role, Flounder in National Lampoon's Animal House. George Petrie, best known as a stock player on several incarnations of Jackie Gleason's television series, had a small role as a doctor at the hospital where Robards' character worked. This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Bibi Besch (February 1, 1940 - September 7, 1996) was one of those talented performers whom fans often recognize by face, but rarely know by name. ... In the fictional universe of Star Trek, Dr. Carol Marcus was one of the leading molecular biologists in the Federation. ... Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (Paramount Pictures, 1982; see also 1982 in film) is the second feature film based on the popular Star Trek science fiction television series. ... Steve Guttenberg (born on August 24, 1958), sometimes credited as Steven Guttenberg and Steven Robert Guttenberg, is an American actor. ... Barry Levinson Barry Levinson (born April 6, 1942 in Baltimore, Maryland) is a Jewish-American screenwriter, film director, actor, and producer of film and television. ... Diner (1982) is a film written and directed by Barry Levinson which along with Avalon, Tin Men, and Liberty Heights constitutes his series of Baltimore films. ... // This is the year of film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, which will become the highest grossing movie for almost 15 years (until Titanic), earning double or triple against any major film of the 1980s. ... Stephen Furst as Vir Cotto in Babylon 5 Stephen Furst (born Stephen Fuerstein on 8 May 1955 in Norfolk, Virginia) is an American actor, best known for his roles as Flounder in the feature film Animal House (1978), as Gonzer in the feature film Up the Creek (1984), as Dr... National Lampoons Animal House is a 1978 comedy film in which a misfit group of fraternity boys take on the system at their college. ... Herbert John Jackie Gleason (February 26, 1916 â€“ June 24, 1987) was an American comedian, actor, and musician. ...

Meyer and company cast several local actors and actresses from Kansas City and Lawrence to fill the smaller supporting roles. Jeff East, who played Bruce Gallatin, was a local Kansas City actor despite some work in television and feature films, and auditioned for the role of Bruce in Kansas City. Doug Scott and Ellen Anthony, who played the younger Dahlberg children, were both found in Lawrence (Anthony was the daughter of the film's Kansas casting director Jack Wright). Arliss Howard (who played one of the young airmen) and C. Wayne Owens (the large man with the transistor radio in the supermarket) both went on to well-known film acting careers, but at the time were local thespians found in Kansas City. Charles Oldfather, Herk Harvey, and Charles Whitman (all of whom at the time or soon afterwards were professors or teachers at the University of Kansas) were all cast in Lawrence as farmers in the agricultural meeting scene towards the end of the film. Arliss Howard (born Leslie Richard Howard on October 18, 1954 in Independence, Missouri) is an American actor, writer and film director, best known for his roles in Full Metal Jacket and Ruby, and for directing the film Big Bad Love (starring his wife Debra Winger). ... Harold A. Herk Harvey (June 3, 1924 â€“ April 3, 1996), was an American film director. ... The University of Kansas (often referred to as KU or just Kansas) is an institution of higher learning in Lawrence, Kansas. ...

While many of the principal cast would go on to have successful careers and star in notable films (i.e., John Lithgow, JoBeth Williams and Amy Madigan), at the time they were relatively unknown. John Arthur Lithgow (IPA: [ËˆÊ¤É”n ËˆlÉªÎ¸É¡aÊŠ]) (born October 19, 1945) is an American actor perhaps best-known for his starring role as Dick Solomon in the NBC sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun. ... JoBeth Rivas (born Jobeth Williams Rivas on December 6, 1948) is an American film actress. ... Amy Madigan (born 11 September 1950) is an American actress who is known for her role as Annie Kinsella in the 1989 film Field of Dreams. ...

This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... John Cullum is an American actor and singer. ... Bibi Besch (February 1, 1940 - September 7, 1996) was one of those talented performers whom fans often recognize by face, but rarely know by name. ... JoBeth Rivas (born Jobeth Williams Rivas on December 6, 1948) is an American film actress. ... Steve Guttenberg (born on August 24, 1958), sometimes credited as Steven Guttenberg and Steven Robert Guttenberg, is an American actor. ... John Arthur Lithgow (IPA: [ËˆÊ¤É”n ËˆlÉªÎ¸É¡aÊŠ]) (born October 19, 1945) is an American actor perhaps best-known for his starring role as Dick Solomon in the NBC sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun. ... Amy Madigan (born 11 September 1950) is an American actress who is known for her role as Annie Kinsella in the 1989 film Field of Dreams. ... William Allen Young (born in 1953 in Washington, District of Columbia) is an African American actor best known to play a role of Frank Michell in Moesha but was in many movies and guest-starred in many shows. ... Jeff East (born on October 27, 1957 in St. ... Dennis Lipscomb is an American actor of both leading and supporting roles. ... Stephen Furst as Vir Cotto in Babylon 5 Stephen Furst (born Stephen Fuerstein on 8 May 1955 in Norfolk, Virginia) is an American actor, best known for his roles as Flounder in the feature film Animal House (1978), as Gonzer in the feature film Up the Creek (1984), as Dr... Arliss Howard (born Leslie Richard Howard on October 18, 1954 in Independence, Missouri) is an American actor, writer and film director, best known for his roles in Full Metal Jacket and Ruby, and for directing the film Big Bad Love (starring his wife Debra Winger). ...

Awards

Emmy Award nominations: The Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Visual Effects has been a category for television shows, mini-series, and TV movies since 1984. ...

Nicholas Meyer at the Paramount Pictures lot in 2002. ... John Arthur Lithgow (IPA: [ËˆÊ¤É”n ËˆlÉªÎ¸É¡aÊŠ]) (born October 19, 1945) is an American actor perhaps best-known for his starring role as Dick Solomon in the NBC sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun. ...

Contents

Events leading to war

Plot

Central Characters

'The Day Before'

'The Day After'

Production

Shooting

Music

Deleted/Alternate scenes

Reaction

Cast

Awards

See also

Notes

Sources and references

External links

Contents

Events leading to war GA_googleFillSlot("encyclopedia_square");

Plot

Central Characters

'The Day Before'

'The Day After'

Production

Shooting

Music

Deleted/Alternate scenes

Reaction

Cast

Awards

See also

Notes

Sources and references

External links

Events leading to war