When "The Day After" was released, I had recently mustered out of the Air Force, having been stationed at the unnamed missile base depicted in the film. (The base itself is an hour east of Kansas City; the missiles are no longer there, decommissioned as the result of subsequent SALT talks.)
The scenes on the part of the missile officers were fairly true to life, although I doubt if that airman working maintenance (I was a missile maintenance supervisor) probably wouldn't have made it home alive as someone would likely have shot him for deserting.
That said, if they really wanted to show it from the perspective of a college town, there was one in real life 10 miles away from the base in Warrensburg, MO which would have taken more of a hit than Lawrence, KS.
I could nitpick it for some time, but the effect of a nuclear attack like that would have been every bit as catastrophic as depicted. Despite its faults, it was a good wake-up call to the general public.
That said, if they really wanted to show it from the perspective of a college town, there was one in real life 10 miles away from the base in Warrensburg, MO which would have taken more of a hit than Lawrence, KS.
I could nitpick it for some time, but the effect of a nuclear attack like that would have been every bit as catastrophic as depicted. Despite its faults, it was a good wake-up call to the general public.