Posted on Dec 5, 2023
How a movie shot 40 years ago in Kansas changed the trajectory of the nuclear arms race
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"The Day After" made use of 2,000 local extras alongside well-known actors of the time. The film's emotional impact made it into the pages of a presidential journal, and is widely credited for putting the brakes on the nuclear arms race.
More than 100 million people gathered around their television sets 40 years ago to watch a mushroom cloud rise over a Midwestern town.
The ABC broadcast of "The Day After" was one of the most watched television movies of all time. The film won two Emmy Awards, was nominated for 10 others and is widely credited with changing public opinion about the arms race during the Cold War.
The grim portrayal of the aftermath of a full-scale nuclear war between the U.S. and the Soviet Union shook up audiences at the time. The message even reached then-President Ronald Reagan.
"It has Lawrence Kansas wiped out in a nuclear war with Russia," the former actor later wrote in his diary. "It is powerfully done — all $7 mil. worth. It’s very effective & left me greatly depressed."
A new documentary directed by Jeff Daniels details the making of the film. Liberty Hall in Lawrence will host a screening and discussion of the documentary, “Television Event," on Monday evening.
More than 100 million people gathered around their television sets 40 years ago to watch a mushroom cloud rise over a Midwestern town.
The ABC broadcast of "The Day After" was one of the most watched television movies of all time. The film won two Emmy Awards, was nominated for 10 others and is widely credited with changing public opinion about the arms race during the Cold War.
The grim portrayal of the aftermath of a full-scale nuclear war between the U.S. and the Soviet Union shook up audiences at the time. The message even reached then-President Ronald Reagan.
"It has Lawrence Kansas wiped out in a nuclear war with Russia," the former actor later wrote in his diary. "It is powerfully done — all $7 mil. worth. It’s very effective & left me greatly depressed."
A new documentary directed by Jeff Daniels details the making of the film. Liberty Hall in Lawrence will host a screening and discussion of the documentary, “Television Event," on Monday evening.
How a movie shot 40 years ago in Kansas changed the trajectory of the nuclear arms race
Posted from kcur.org
Movies
Nuclear
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Cold War
Posted 5 mo ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."He says the movie still packs a punch for him, and working on a set surrounded by so much fictional devastation left a psychological mark.
"I had a nightmare almost every night, that I was running to a payphone to call my parents because a nuclear war was starting,” Guttenberg remembers.
Carol Dorsch, left, helps her eight-year-old daughter, Chann, with her candle as Chann clutches her teddy bear during a candle-light vigil, after Sunday night's television movie, "The Day After", on Nov. 20, 1983 in Lawrence. About 1,000 gathered in front of the Campanile war memorial, on the University of Kansas campus for the peaceful ceremony.
Ellen Anthony was just 11 years old when shooting began in late summer of 1982. Anthony, who now lives in New York City, played a Kansas farm girl who had to leave her dog Rusty behind when her family sought shelter in a basement.
“It was hard, because I had a dog (in real life),” Anthony says, so the scene was an emotional moment. That feeling is part of what made the movie so powerful.
“If you're trying to sort of relay something very ordinary about childhood, it's our relationship with our pets,” she says.
It wasn't until years later that Anthony found out about the film's influence on Reagan, who screened it at the president's Camp David retreat.
"Reagan understood the world through movies and through performance, and that's a big part of why he was such a popular president at the time,” Anthony says."...
..."He says the movie still packs a punch for him, and working on a set surrounded by so much fictional devastation left a psychological mark.
"I had a nightmare almost every night, that I was running to a payphone to call my parents because a nuclear war was starting,” Guttenberg remembers.
Carol Dorsch, left, helps her eight-year-old daughter, Chann, with her candle as Chann clutches her teddy bear during a candle-light vigil, after Sunday night's television movie, "The Day After", on Nov. 20, 1983 in Lawrence. About 1,000 gathered in front of the Campanile war memorial, on the University of Kansas campus for the peaceful ceremony.
Ellen Anthony was just 11 years old when shooting began in late summer of 1982. Anthony, who now lives in New York City, played a Kansas farm girl who had to leave her dog Rusty behind when her family sought shelter in a basement.
“It was hard, because I had a dog (in real life),” Anthony says, so the scene was an emotional moment. That feeling is part of what made the movie so powerful.
“If you're trying to sort of relay something very ordinary about childhood, it's our relationship with our pets,” she says.
It wasn't until years later that Anthony found out about the film's influence on Reagan, who screened it at the president's Camp David retreat.
"Reagan understood the world through movies and through performance, and that's a big part of why he was such a popular president at the time,” Anthony says."...
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"The Day After" ABC Movie Intro 1983
This is the Original Broadcast Intro for the Made-for-TV movie "The Day After"...with some network bumpers (Nov.20,1983)From May of 1983, here are the openin...
Movie had a warning intro due to the dramatic content at the time…
https://youtu.be/p5UMNkCxIQU?si=6-BdYT4lsxd-9IhH
https://youtu.be/p5UMNkCxIQU?si=6-BdYT4lsxd-9IhH
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