Film Forum

“TV’S NUCLEAR NIGHTMARE” a fall 1983 Newsweek cover screamed, as American viewers awaited the long-publicized premiere of a made-for-TV movie depicting an all-out nuclear exchange with the Soviets. The threat of nuclear annihilation loomed, and THE DAY AFTER played on these fears to a staggering 100 million viewers (the largest TV movie audience in history at that point). TELEVISION EVENT tracks the unlikely evolution of this audacious project after it is greenlit by the ABC Network. Director Nicholas Meyer (STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN) combatively, hilariously details a succession of clashes with network executives and censors. THE DAY AFTER so disturbed President Ronald Reagan, it prompted his reversal on the country’s nuclear weapons policy.

2020     90 MIN.     USA / AUSTRALIA     FILM DESK

Reviews

“Absolutely riveting, highly entertaining…not only a remarkable, often oddly funny, look at the broadcast network machinations at the time, plus the making of a major TV project, but also a game-changing show business event that directly affected then-President Ronald Reagan and his whole attitude towards the possibility of a nuclear holocaust. It was so revolutionary that sponsors bailed and those that stayed got bargain basement deals that turned out to be a bonanza when it became a ratings juggernaut... It is a wild ride to be sure.”
– Pete Hammond, Deadline

“Witty, moving and engaging... a dynamic oral history of [THE DAY AFTER’s] making, capturing the clash of creative and commercial interests around a daring project. On a broader scale, it taps into the heightened anxiety over U.S.-Soviet tensions, the growing nuclear stockpiles that went with them, and the response of the Reagan administration to the movie’s anti-nukes message…In 1983, most Americans expected a nuclear war to take place within the next 10 years. Daniels’ sharp film never loses sight of that sense of urgency. As the movie’s biggest name, Jason Robards, told Meyer when he agreed to star in a film about the losing end of the arms race, ‘Beats signing petitions.’”
– Sheri Linden, The Hollywood Reporter