The Day After Quotes

The Day After is a Drama that appeared on TV in 1983 on ABC. The Day After stopped airing in 1970.

It features Robert Papazian (producer) as producer, David Raksin as theme composer, and Gayne Rescher as head of cinematography.

The Day After is recorded in English and originally aired in United States. Each episode of The Day After is 126 minutes long. The Day After is produced by ABC Circle Films and distributed by American Broadcasting Company.

The cast includes: Jason Robards as Dr. Russell Oakes, George Petrie as Dr. Landowska, Stan Wilson as Vinnie Conrad, Jeff East as Bruce Gallatin, John Lithgow as Joe Huxley, Stephen Furst as Aldo, Steve Guttenberg as Stephen Klein, Calvin Jung as Dr. Sam Hachiya, Lori Lethin as Denise Dahlberg, John Cullum as Jim Dahlberg, Jonathan Estrin as Julian French, Lin McCarthy as Dr. Austin, William Allen Young as Airman, Georgann Johnson as Helen Oakes, Amy Madigan as Alison Ransom, JoBeth Williams as Nurse Nancy Bauer, Ellen Anthony as Joleen Dahlberg, and Bibi Besch as Eve Dahlberg.

The Day After Quotes

Lori Lethin as Denise Dahlberg

• (Lori Lethin) "I can't remember."
• (Bibi Besch) "You can't remember what?"
• (Lori Lethin) "It's only been five days, and I can't remember what Bruce looks like."
• (Bibi Besch) "And now we've been through a lot, sittin' here in the dark."
• (Lori Lethin) "What are we doin' down here anyway? It's all over now, isn't it? It smells so bad down here I can't even BREATHE."
• (Bibi Besch) "Now listen Denise you get a hold of yourself. Now you know we can't go out of here and --"
• (Lori Lethin) "Why did I have to use that thing? We'd be married now anyway. Why didn't I at least get pregnant?"
• (John Cullum) "Just pipe down Denise."
• (Lori Lethin) "Because now I can't even see his face. I CAN'T SEE ANYTHING. I can't see anything."
• (Lori Lethin) "I can't see anything."
• (John Cullum) "Denise, just calm down. Get a hold of your --"
• (Lori Lethin) "Let go of me. I CAN'T SEE."

• (Lori Lethin) "Are the phones working?"
• (Steve Guttenberg) "Are you kidding? There aren't going to be any phones -- ever again."

• (Lori Lethin) "I've been out riding around with Bruce."
• (John Cullum) "All night?"
• (Lori Lethin) "Frankly, Daddy, that's none of your business."
• (John Cullum) "As long as you live --"
• (Lori Lethin) "Oh Daddy, don't start this again, I'm getting married tomorrow."

• (Lori Lethin) "You attend the University of Kansas in Lawrence? Do you know Bruce Gallatin? He's a senior over there."
• (Steve Guttenberg) "No."
• (Lori Lethin) "But you're from Lawrence, so that must mean that Bruce is all right."
• (Steve Guttenberg) "Well -- I don't know what happened to Lawrence. I was pretty close to Harrisonville when it started. There must have been five or six them to the north, and -- a whole string of them to the south."
• (John Cullum) "They must have hit every missile silo from Sedalia to Eldorado Springs."

Georgann Johnson as Helen Oakes

• (Georgann Johnson) "My God. It's 1962 all over again. The Cuban Missile Crisis. Do you remember Kennedy on television, telling Khrushchev to turn his boats around?"
• (Jason Robards) ""Full retaliatory response." He didn't bat an eye."
• (Georgann Johnson) "We were in New York, in bed -- just like this, remember? 118th street."
• (Jason Robards) "Meatball sandwiches from Sharky's."
• (Georgann Johnson) "Your last year's residency. I swear we made Marilyn that night."
• (Jason Robards) "We got up, and went to the window to look for the bombs."
• (Georgann Johnson) "It didn't happen. It's not going to happen now."
• (Jason Robards) "Nah. People are crazy, but not that crazy."
• (Georgann Johnson) "Well -- do you want to know from crazy? The Donnelly's left today for Guadalajara."
• (Georgann Johnson) "Guadalajara?"
• (Georgann Johnson) "I swear it. I spoke to Herb as they were pulling out. He said they were dovetailing their vacation with the rising international tensions."
• (Jason Robards) "Aw, cut it out."
• (Georgann Johnson) "I'm not kidding. Well, they took their Vietnamese maid with them. And that rotten little barking dog with the pushed-in face."
• (Jason Robards) "Oh, what about their little combination tractor/lawnmower/golfcart with the silver hubcaps?"
• (Georgann Johnson) "Probably."
• (Georgann Johnson) "What if it does happen? What'll we do?"

John Lithgow as Joe Huxley

• (John Lithgow) "I have an atmospheric report for anybody who's listening. Dr. Oakes? Come in, Dr. Oakes, do you read?"
• (Jason Robards) "Yes, Joe."
• (John Lithgow) "We are holding fast here at just a hair under 50 rads per hour. I thought that it would have started to diminish by now. That must mean we're picking up fallout from -- Titan missile bases in Wichita -- and wherever else. That's the way the wind blows; straight toward St. Louis."
• (Jason Robards) "When will it be safe to move people to other buildings?"
• (John Lithgow) "It'll never be safe."
• (Jason Robards) "Come on, Joe."
• (John Lithgow) "Wait 'til it gets under two rads per hour. If and when."
• (John Lithgow) "Have you picked up anybody else on, on your end?"
• (Jason Robards) "Not a soul."

• (John Lithgow) "You know what Einstein said about World War III? He said he didn't know how they would fight World War III, but he knew how they would fight World War IV: With sticks and stones."

• (Unnamed) "What's going on?"
• (John Lithgow) "Those are Minuteman missiles."
• (Unnamed) "Uh -- like a test, sort of -- like a warning?"
• (John Lithgow) "They're on their way to Russia. They take about 30 minutes to reach their targets."
• (Stephen Furst) "So do theirs, right?"

Jason Robards as Dr. Russell Oakes

• (Jason Robards) "I think you've got to be willing to let your baby come whether you like it or not. You're holding back hope."
• (Amy Madigan) "Hope for what? What do you think is going to happen out there? You think we're going to sweep up the dead and fill in a couple of holes and build some supermarkets? You think all those people left alive out there are going to say, "Oh, I'm sorry. It wasn't my fault. Let's kiss and make up"? We knew the score. We knew all about bombs, we knew all about fallout. We knew this could happen for forty years. But nobody was interested."
• (Jason Robards) "I can't argue with you."
• (Amy Madigan) "Argue with me. Please -- give me a reason. Tell me about hope. Tell me why you work so hard in here."
• (Jason Robards) "-- I don't know."

• (Jason Robards) "You know what's coming next, don't you?"
• (JoBeth Williams) "Been trying not to think about it."
• (Jason Robards) "We may be the only operating hospital within 100 miles."

• (Jason Robards) "When are you due?"
• (Amy Madigan) "I'm overdue."

William Allen Young as Airman

• (William Allen Young) "You know what that means, don't you? Either we fired first and they're going to try to hit what's left, or they fired first and we just got our missiles out of the ground in time. Either way, we're going to get hit."
• (Unnamed) "So what are we still standing around here for?"
• (Sergeant) "Where do you want to go?"
• (Unnamed) "Well, how about out of here for starters? I've got to get my wife and my kid."
• (Sergeant) "We're still on alert, Billy. No one leaves this facility. Not until the choppers get here to take us back to Whiteman and to the shelters --"
• (Unnamed) "Are you kidding me, man? The bombs will be here before the choppers will. Listen to me."
• (William Allen Young) "Damn."
• (Unnamed) "Listen to me, man. The war is over. It's over. We've done our job. So what are you still guarding? Huh? Some cotton-pickin' hole in the ground all dressed up and nowhere to go?"
• (William Allen Young) "He's right."
• (Airman Tommy) "What about Starr and Boyle?"
• (Sergeant) "What about them?"
• (Airman Tommy) "What are they doing?"
• (Unnamed) "Yeah, they're 60 feet down, sipping on some cold beer and whistling "Misty"."
• (Airman Tommy) "I'm going down there."
• (Sergeant) "You can't go down there. That elevator is secure."
• (Unnamed) "Do you hear yourself talking, bozo? 'Cause I hear you saying that we've got direct orders to be sitting ducks."

Calvin Jung as Dr. Sam Hachiya

• (Calvin Jung) "What did you see? You come from Kansas City. What did you see?"
• (Jason Robards) "I was on the freeway, about 30 miles away. I'm not sure -- it was high in the air, directly above downtown. Like the sun -- exploding."

Stan Wilson as Vinnie Conrad

• (Stan Wilson) "The thing that bothers me is that damn "lunch-on-warning"."
• (Jeff East) "What's that?"
• (Stan Wilson) "That's when one side tells the other that they're gonna launch their missiles as soon as they think the other guy's missiles are already on their way."
• (Jeff East) "What are the chances of something like that happening way the hell out here in the middle of nowhere?"
• (John Lithgow) "Nowhere?"
• (John Lithgow) "There's no "nowhere" anymore. You're sitting right next to the Whiteman Air Force Base right now. That's about -- 150 Minuteman missile silos spread halfway down the State of Missouri. That's -- an awful lot of bullseyes."

JoBeth Williams as Nurse Nancy Bauer

(We don't have any quotes for this character)

Jonathan Estrin as Julian French

• (Jonathan Estrin) "We tried hooking up an auxiliary pump up to a backup generator, and we're still only getting a trickle."
• (Calvin Jung) "I don't understand. Did they burn out?"
• (Lin McCarthy) "They could have been subject to the EMP effects."
• (Jason Robards) "What's that?"
• (Lin McCarthy) "'Electro-Magnetic Pulse.' When a large nuclear device is airburst at high altitude, a lot of electrical disruption can be created, principally with radios, communication systems, electrical wires, computers, cars, transistors. Of course, it's all theoretical. It's never happened before. In short, very little electricity."
• (Calvin Jung) "Forever?"

Amy Madigan as Alison Ransom

• (Amy Madigan) "We knew about bombs, we knew about fallout, we knew this could happen for 40 years but nobody was interested."

• (Amy Madigan) "You know what it feels like?"
• (JoBeth Williams) "What?"
• (Amy Madigan) "Like I'm gonna have a basketball."

John Cullum as Jim Dahlberg

• (John Cullum) "Danny. Don't look."

• (John Cullum) "I gotcha son. It's alright. I gotcha."

Steve Guttenberg as Stephen Klein

• (Steve Guttenberg) "You can't see it -- you can't feel it -- and you can't taste it. But it's here, right now, all around us. It's goin' through you like an X-ray. Right into your cells. What do you think killed all these animals?"

George Petrie as Dr. Landowska

• (George Petrie) "There is a rumor that they are evacuating Moscow. There are people even leaving Kansas City because of the missile base. Now I ask you: To where does one go from Kansas City? The Yukon? Tahiti? We are not talking about Hiroshima anymore. Hiroshima was -- was peanuts."
• (Jason Robards) "What's going on? Do you have any idea what's going on in this world?"
• (George Petrie) "Yeah. Stupidity -- has a habit of getting its way."

Ellen Anthony as Joleen Dahlberg

• (Ellen Anthony) "Rusty. Dad, we left Rusty out."
• (John Cullum) "We may be down here a long time. There's not going to be enough food and water for Rusty."
• (Ellen Anthony) "You mean he's just going to die out there?"

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