The Day After 1983 Watch Online

The Day After Watch Online

Dr. Russell Oakes works at a hospital in Kansas City, Missouri, and spends time with family over his daughter Marilyn’s decision to move away. In Harrisonville, Missouri, 40 miles southeast, farmer Jim Dahlberg and family hold a wedding rehearsal for his eldest daughter Denise, with family drama trying to keep the couple’s hands off each other. Airman First Class Billy McCoy, serving with the 351st Strategic Missile Wing, is stationed at a Minuteman launch site in Sweetsage, Missouri, 20 miles east of Kansas City. Next to the site, the Hendrys do farm chores and mind their children. Through heartland life lies tension: the news chatter about a Soviet buildup on the East German border.

Crisis Escalates

Toward the night, East Germany blockades West Berlin. USA issues an ultimatum and places its forces on alert, recalling McCoy from his wife and infant daughter at Whiteman Air Force Base near Sedalia, Missouri.

The Fallout

The following day, NATO forces attempt to break the blockade through Helmstedt-Marienborn. Warsaw Pact MiGs hit West Germany. People’s attempts to continue life as normal become increasingly strained. Moscow is being evacuated. At the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas, 38 miles km west of Kansas City, the word goes out that the Soviets have invaded West Germany. Soviet forces drive through the Fulda Gap toward the Rhine in an armored thrust, defying NATO policy of defense including tactical nuclear weapons.

Pre-med student Stephen Klein decides to hitch-hike home to Joplin, Missouri, while Denise’s fiancé Bruce figures it won’t affect them in the middle of nowhere. He’s told there’s no such thing any longer with 150 missile silos spread through half of Missouri, and witnesses a crowd of shoppers frantically pulling items off the shelves. Jim prepares his cellar, and others’. Both sides attack naval targets in the Persian Gulf. People start to flee Kansas City, and the radio is turned over to the Emergency Broadcast System. NATO attempts to halt the advance by airbursting three nuclear warheads over Soviet troops. A Soviet nuclear device destroys the NATO Regional Military Headquarters in Brussels.

The Tragic End

Ultimately characters watch the ICBMs streak toward Russia, as above Kansas the SAC Airborne Command Post tracks a full-scale Soviet attack. The film leaves who fired first deliberately unclear. McCoy makes it to his now-empty silo. Saying the war’s over and their job’s done, he flees. A high-altitude nuclear explosion’s EMP disables vehicles and destroys the power grid. Nuclear missiles rain across the region on both military and civilian targets. Kansas City’s last minutes are frantic. Marilyn and Bruce are incinerated, and the young Danny Dahlberg flash-blinded. The Hendrys, who’d been oblivious, never make it out of their yard.

Dr. Oakes, stranded on the highway to Kansas City, walks to University Hospital at Lawrence, takes charge, and begins treating patients. Klein finds the Dahlberg home and begs for refuge in the family’s basement. Oakes receives fallout reports by shortwave from Joe Huxley at the science building: travel outdoors is fatal. Patients still continue to come, having no shelter, option, or knowledge of the danger, and supplies dwindle.

Hope and Despair

Delirious after days in the basement shelter and unable to remember her fiancé’s face, Denise runs outside. Klein retrieves her, but they’re both exposed to the thick radioactive dust that’s killed the livestock. McCoy heads towards Sedalia until he hears from passing refugees that it’s gone. He befriends a mute man and travels to the hospital, where he dies of radiation poisoning. Oakes bonds with Nurse Nancy Bauer, who dies of meningitis, and a pregnant woman pleads with him to tell her she’s wrong to be hopeless.

Conclusion

In a radio speech, the U.S. President announces a ceasefire, promises relief, and stresses no surrender, liberty, and American leadership, set to shots of filthy, listless, or dead Americans among the ruins. Attempts at aid from the National Guard and infrastructural redevelopment prove fruitless, and summary executions become commonplace.

Jim is eventually killed by squatters, while Denise, Klein, and Oakes are wasting away from radiation sickness. Returning to Kansas City to see his old home one last time, Oakes witnesses National Guardsmen blindfolding and executing looters. He finds squatters there and attempts to drive them off, but is instead offered food. Oakes collapses and weeps, and one of the squatters comforts him. The film ends with an overlying audio clip of Huxley’s voice on the radio as the screen fades to black, asking if anybody can still hear him, only to be met with silence until the credits, as a Morse code signal transmits a single message to the viewer: M-A-D.

Most versions of The Day After include a textual ending disclaimer just before the end credits, stating that the film is fictional and that the real-life outcome of a nuclear war would be much worse than the events portrayed onscreen.

Don’t miss the chance to watch “The Day After” online to experience the gripping tale of survival and devastation. Watch “The Day After” now to witness the impact of nuclear war firsthand.