The big nuclear war TV-movie of the 80s, the one that depressed everybody. The one that parents were warned to NOT let their kids watch. Just in case they did though, schools put counselors on duty the next day and TV stations set up 1-800 lines that people could call to talk about their fears of nuclear devastation. William Castle would’ve been proud of the ballyhoo. It was the TV event of the season. Over 100 million Americans tuned into ABC to see what happens when Soviet missiles hit Lawrence, Kansas. It’s not a great movie, but it is quintessentially 80s and a must for apocalypse junkies.
For the first half-hour we get to know a small selection of boring characters while TVs and radios in the background report on tension between the US and Russia. Just as you’re about to fall asleep watching Jason Robards fret over his daughter’s move to college, World War III thankfully starts and jolts you awake. It was such a big moment that during the original airing in November 1983, ABC ran the film commercial-free after the bombs drop. Today, the attack scene is still effective—it’s over three solid minutes of noise, fire, screaming, mushroom clouds, people running in the streets, and bodies vaporized in a red flash—and weakened only by cuts to scratchy 1960s stock footage of nuclear tests. Once that’s over, we spend the rest of the movie wallowing in an aftermath comprised of radiation sickness, anarchy, and Steve Guttenberg’s giant nostrils.
Director Nicholas Meyer squeezes in as much despair and realism as the network Standards and Practices division allows. The original version of the film was about four hours long and intended to air over two nights. Everyone eventually decided that a two-hour film would be best though, so it was chopped down to 120 minutes. Home video versions add on six extra minutes of footage cut by the network for being too disturbing.