The Day After

Before the film even aired, controversy arose over who attacked first: the U.S.S.R. or the United States. Nicholas Meyer wanted the answer to remain ambiguous, to focus on the horrors of nuclear destruction. He wanted the evil to be nuclear weapons in general, not government.

When Dr. Austin (Lin McCarthy) is explaining the effects of the electromagnetic pulse (EMP) from the nuclear blast, he says. "It's all theoretical. It's never happened before." In actuality, the United States detonated a 3.8 megaton warhead at an altitude of 50 miles, 1 August 1958, in the Operation Hardtack Teak shot nuclear test. This event caused unexpected communications disruption and damage to electrical equipment in an area that ranged between Hawaii and New Zealand. It was the first observation of the EMP effect.

[After movie has ended, before end credits.] The catastrophic events you have just witnessed are, in all likelihood, less severe than the destruction that would actually occur in the event of a full nuclear strike against the United States. It is hoped that the images of this film will inspire the nations of this earth, their peoples, and leaders to find the means to avert that fateful day.

The rare laserdisc version (released by Image Entertainment in 1995) is advertised as being a director's cut. This version runs 127mins, is widescreen in its proper ratio of 1:75:1 and has a commentary track by director Nicholas Meyer. At the time of this release full versions of the film were not readily available. So it stands to chance this director's cut is actually the same as the current mgm dvd (US region 1) as far as content and running time goes, with the exception of the widescreen format and commentary track which so far has only be found on this laserdisc.