THE DAY AFTER (1983) - ***1/2

Apocalypse Gimmick: (1) Pre-War (2) The Aftermath
Claim to Fame: (1)Highest Nielsen TV ratings ever for a TV movie for its time (w/100 million Americans) (2) Graphic depiction of the aftermath of nuclear war.

The Plot: Lawrence, Kansas is a normal American community...that happens to reside near nuclear missile silos. When the United States and Soviet Union go to war over West Berlin, World War III begins with missiles flying...and the community having to survive the unimaginable consequences in the day after.

The Review: Nicholas Meyer, the director of the really good movies STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KAHN and TIME AFTER TIME, helmed this highly-publicized television movie for ABC that attempted to show the effects of the nuclear radiation on civilians, and the futility of civilization even able to contend with the catastrophe.

Interestingly, Meyer claims that when President Reagan signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty at Reykjavik with Gorbachev, the director got a telegram from the Reagan administration that said, "Don't think your movie didn't have any part of this, because it did."