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‘The Day After’ Director Returns to Sound the Alarm with ‘How to Stop a Nuclear War’

Military.com  | By Blake Stilwell 11 Oct 23

It might come as a surprise to some, but for most of the Cold War, Hollywood never really depicted what might actually happen to Americans if the Soviet Union suddenly nuked the United States. Sure, they did emergency drills in schools and likely saw photos of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, but it was a 1983 made-for-television movie starring Steve Guttenberg and John Lithgow that changed how many Americans felt about the looming prospect of a nuclear war.

“The Day After” aired on Nov. 20, 1983, and bluntly showed everyday Americans going about their lives before getting vaporized to the bone by a Soviet intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM, as they ran in vain for the nearest fallout shelter. More than 100 million people watched Kansas and Missouri get suddenly and violently obliterated — and they didn’t handle it well.

Nearly 40 years later, director Nicholas Meyer (who is also responsible for all the good “Star Trek” movies featuring the original cast) is back to warn us again about the danger posed by nuclear weapons and how the world is currently teetering on the edge of destruction. This time, he’s doing it through a new documentary, “How to Stop a Nuclear War” based on the book “Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner” by famed Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg………………………………………………………….

Whether Jay and Meyer’s upcoming documentary “How to Stop a Nuclear War” will have an effect on whoever occupies the White House after its release is anyone’s guess. But if it’s anything like “The Day After,” it will likely have an effect on the rest of us.

— Blake Stilwell can be reached at blake.stilwell@military.com. He can also be found on Facebook, X or on LinkedIn. more https://www.military.com/off-duty/movies/2023/10/11/day-after-director-returns-sound-alarm-how-stop-nuclear-war.html #nuclear #antinuclear #NuclearFree #NoNukes #NuclearPlants

October 12, 2023 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | media, Resources -audiovicual