The Morning After

I also saw this tv movie only once during its original airing. I was only 10 years old at the time. I regret to say that much of the content has since faded from memory. But don't think that has any reflection on the movie, only my memory! To this day I have not forgotten the impact that Dick Van Dyke's performance had on me. His portrayal of an alcoholic steadily descending into the deep abyss of his disease has stayed with me for almost thirty years. My first exposure to this illness came with this film. And it haunts me to this day. Not to mention the fact that I not once since seeing this movie have I been able to listen to the Beatles' 'Yesterday' without feeling a small jab in my heart because of it.

Dick Van Dyke earned a well deserved Emmy nomination for his powerhouse performance in THE MORNING AFTER, a 1974 ABC Movie of the Week where Van Dyke played a successful public relations man who begins to forsake everything in his life for the bottle. This intense look at the disease of alcoholism is uncompromising in its approach to the story and Van Dyke pulls out all the stops to turn in this gut-wrenching performance, which, if the truth be told, probably wasn't a real stretch as Van Dyke was drinking very heavily at the time. Van Dyke had been drinking for years but kept it well hidden. A few years later, he made his alcoholism public and got sober a few years after that. I was 16 years old when this movie premiered but I remember Van Dyke's performance haunted me long after the movie was over. I remember a scene where his wife, played by Lynn Carlin, won't give him the car keys so he can go out and get more liquor and he practically beats her up to get the keys. I also remember the final scene of a drunken Van Dyke, all alone in the world, on a beach, with his bottle, drinking and passing out. The movie is a powerful indictment against drinking and vividly portrays the isolation from everything important in a drinker's life that alcohol can cause. Another landmark TV movie that should be made available on video if it is not.

I am a HUGE fan of Mr. Van Dyke, and this is my favorite performance. I remember watching this movie in the '70's on TV, and have been looking for a copy ever since. Dick Van Dyke is not only a genius comedic actor, but he is also a wonderfully moving dramatic actor as well. If anyone knows where I can purchase a copy of this movie, please let me know at pjwpellegrino@hotmail.com. I have been waiting for years!!! Mr. Van Dyke reminds me so much of my father, and I have been watching his shows since I was a little girl. A couple of years ago, I received a DVD of a few of the old "Dick Van Dyke Show", and I watch it over and over. PLEASE email me if you know how to obtain a copy of "The Morning After", as I have been searching for this movie forever. Thanks so much, Paula Pellegrino pjwpellegrino@hotmail.com

I saw this movie when it came out. I was ten or eleven at the time and it's effect on me was profound.

One scene in particular, struck me so hard as to become a recurring nightmare:

Van Dyke's character wakes up on a beach and is going through the DTs. He runs down the beach clawing at himself and screaming. I remember asking my mother what he was doing and she explained the concept behind the DTs.

Years later, as a young adult, I discovered the joys (?) of drinking. Although I always had fun, I had a fear of that exact situation happening to me. On a trip to Club Med, I awoke to find myself face down on a beach. No DTs but I immediately flashed back to that movie and viewed myself as Van Dyke's character. A lonely, lost man with a terrible problem. We will just say that things changed from that point on.

Thank you, Dick.

Another note:

This film has always reminded me of "A Face In The Crowd". In that film, America's beloved Andy Griffith gave a chilling performance as a simple country man who allows fame and fortune turn him into a bitter wretch of a human being. As both films allow us to see very different sides of a pair of comic geniuses, I have often thought that they would make a great double-feature.

I cannot say enough good things about this film. I guess it is the mark of a classic that a film that was made almost thirty years ago could still touch people today. Dick Van Dyke deserved an Emmy for his mind-blowing performance as a tragic alcoholic. This movie has the grimmest ending you could imagine but it makes it a better film and a cut above the typical "disease of the week" fare tv has so often served. What is so amazing to me is that Dick Van Dyke had never played a dramatic part before he took on this one. He has played two other dramatic parts I remember well, he was a priest accused of murder in The Runner Stumbles and played another alcoholic in an HBO presentation of The Country Girl. Its so ironic that all three of these fine performances that he gave are now almost impossible to see. I have gotten e-mails from people after I got my copy of TMA asking me how they could get it because they have family members who are alcohlics. All right,go to "Google" on your computer. It is the most effective search engine and type in Weird World Of 70's Cinema Video Library. They have many, many rare videos that I didn't even know existed and The Morning After is one of them. Thats how you can get a copy. The e-mail address of this site is fantasma@negation.net. A man named Fitzgerald owns the site. He will gladly send you a copy at a very reasonable price.