WarGames (1983)

Director:

John Badham

Writers:

Lawrence Lasker (written by) &
Walter F. Parkes (written by)

Release Date:

3 June 1983 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Is it a game, or is it real?

Plot:

A young man finds a back door into a military central computer in which reality is confused with game-playing, possibly starting World War III.

Plot Keywords:

Government | Whopper | Anti War | Backdoor | Seattle

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 3 wins & 11 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Sun. Aug. 3

11:30 AM

AMC

Cast

Matthew Broderick	...	David Lightman
Dabney Coleman	...	Dr. John McKittrick
John Wood	...	Dr. Stephen Falken
Ally Sheedy	...	Jennifer Katherine Mack
Barry Corbin	...	General Jack Beringer
Juanin Clay	...	Pat Healy
Kent Williams	...	Arthur Cabot
Dennis Lipscomb	...	Lyle Watson
Joe Dorsey	...	Colonel Joe Conley
Irving Metzman	...	Paul Richter
Michael Ensign	...	Beringer's Aide
William Bogert	...	Mr. Lightman
Susan Davis	...	Mrs. Lightman
James Tolkan	...	FBI Agent Nigan
David Clover	...	Stockman

Also Known As:

War Games (USA) (alternative spelling)

Runtime:

114 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Dolby (35 mm prints)

Certification:

Iceland:L | New Zealand:PG | South Korea:All | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Australia:PG | Finland:K-12 | France:U | Norway:12 (1984) | Sweden:11 | UK:PG | USA:PG | West Germany:12 | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

7-Eleven Convenience Store - 41440 Big Bear Boulevard, Big Bear Lake, Big Bear Valley, San Bernardino National Forest, California, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

The film inspired the computer game "DEFCON: EVERYBODY DIES"

Goofs:

Factual errors: When the General asks for two F16's to be scrambled out of Galena, the two planes are clearly F15's.

Quotes:

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.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Fallout: A Post-Nuclear Role-Playing Game (1997) (VG)

Soundtrack:

Video Fever

Pleased with the film

If you want to see a film with the most real style of hacking, forget Swordfish, The Net and all these other films where "hackers" work in graphically superb programs and can hack government server in few seconds. Broderick, working in his text-only mode, using social-engineering and having good abilities handling primitive electric devices is nearest the real world's "hacking", at least in his period.

As thought that the film sometimes lacks tension, especially in the middle, it has its very strong moments. To be honest, I got most excited on the very beginning, I really loved it.

The performances are good, but I disliked and didn't believe the performance of the man, who should have played the wooden-head general. It seemed to be too overacted. He himself lowered my rating by one.

This film might not be so interesting for people, who aren't interested in computers, because, as I mentioned upper, the plot lacks some deeper crisis, but I thing that everyone else will like it, so if you match the upper criterion I can recommend you only one thing: Go and get it!