I loved WarGames as a kid and, watching it again recently, was mildly surprised to find that I still really enjoyed it. The technology shown, which was quite ambitious for the time, really does look dated nowadays but that manages to lend it a retro-charm rather than simply make it look old. The anti-war (more specifically, anit-nuclear war) message of the film is put across well without it seeming too preachy, and with more countries than ever before having or being suspected of having / developing nuclear capability, that message seems pretty pertinent today. The message comes across strongly but doesn’t feel preachy, it’s simply an intrinsic part of the film.
In WarGames young underachiever at school David Lightman (a very young Matthew Broderick) spends much of his free time on the computer, a monolithic set-up that is described as being “really cool”. It even has a modem fitted so it can communicate with other computers (fancy that!), and David spends some of his time hacking into the school computer, changing the odd grade here and there. When a firm announces that they’re going to release the next generation of computer games, he wants a piece of the action – but in trying to find their computer, he inadvertently manages to get himself into much more than a mere computer game…
Aided by friend / girlfriend Jennifer (Ally Sheedy), David tries to stay one step ahead of the authorities and preferably out of the way of his school teachers. However, what started out as harmless fun has become not only a matter of national security but about stopping World War III. With the FBI among others thinking that David must be working with communists, there is only one possible solution – find the programmer of the WOPR (War Operation Plan Response) computer, and try to teach it the difference between a game and real life. Or maybe convince it not to play the game at all…
There are many things to like about this movie, not only the important message and the encapsulating of the eighties phenomena of computers becoming part of everyday life, but also the snappy script (mostly snappy, anyway!) and the performances of yound Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy. I have to admit that John Wood’s performance was pretty atrocious in places, though he makes up for it by the way he delivers some of the best lines in the film. (He plays Stephen Falken, WOPR’s programmer.) There are some enjoyable performances in the supporting cast, especially from Barry Corbin and Joe Dorsey. It probably helps if you remember the eighties, I certainly found that this movie brought back a lot of memories – huge floopy disks, the time when hearing synthesised speech was amazing, when text was green and graphics practically non-existent or made up from the ASCII character set. Arthur B Rubenstein provides a suitable soundtrack and Willam A Fraker’s cinematography is a significant part of why this film still looks good.
Overall, WarGames is a real blast from the past and still very enjoyable, but especially for those of us who grew up in the eighties, and have an interest in computers. For those of you who think that anything less than a sixty five thousand colour screen display is painfully archetypal, this will be educational!
Other Information
Director: John Badham
Year of release: 1983
Runtime: 114 minutes
Rating: PG
Among several awards that this film was nominated for or won, it received 3 Oscar nominations – Best Cinematography (William A. Fraker), Best Sound (Michael J. Kohut, Carlos DeLarios, Aaron Rochin, & Willie D. Burton), and Best Writing / Screenplay (Lawrence Lasker & Walter F. Parkes).
Lawrence Lasker and Walkter F. Parkes, along with Writer/Director Phil Alden Robinson, went on to create the wonderful film “Sneakers”. That and Wargames remain the only two films with credible hacking sequences of any film I’ve seen.
Quotes
Stephen Falken: I loved it when you nuked Las Vegas. Suitably biblical ending to the place, don't you think?
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General Beringer: Gentlemen, I wouldn't trust this overgrown pile of microchips any further than I can throw it.
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Stephen Falken: General, you are listening to a machine. Do the world a favor and don't act like one.
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Mr. Lightman: This corn is raw!
Mrs. Lightman: I know, isn't it wonderful? It's so crisp!
Mr. Lightman: Of course it's crisp! It's raw!
Mrs. Lightman: No, it's terrific! You can just taste the Vitamin A and D!
Mr. Lightman: Could we have pills and cook the corn?
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McKittrick: See that sign up here - up here. "Defcon." That indicates our current defense condition. It should read "Defcon 5," which means peace. It's still on 4 because of that little stunt you pulled. Actually, if we hadn't caught it in time, it might have gone to Defcon 1. You know what that means, David?
David Lightman: No. What does that mean?
McKittrick: World War Three.
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Mr. Liggett: All right, Lightman. Maybe you can tell us who first suggested the idea of reproduction without sex.
David Lightman: Um, your wife?
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Joshua: Wouldn't you prefer a nice game of chess?
David Lightman: Later. Right now lets play Global Thermonuclear War.
Links
Matthew Broderick grew up, of course, and has appeared in many films, including The Stepford Wives with Nicole Kidman. He also voiced a character in Good Boy.
In director John Badham's WARGAMES Matthew Broderick stars as David Lightman a young hacker who accidentally logs on to the Department of Defense's ne...More at Family Video
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