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:

The only winning move is not to play.

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:

Computer | Military | Boyfriend Girlfriend Relationship | Backdoor | Computer Genius

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 3 wins & 11 nominations

Cast

Matthew Broderick	...	David
Dabney Coleman	...	McKittrick
John Wood	...	Falken
Ally Sheedy	...	Jennifer
Barry Corbin	...	General Beringer
Juanin Clay	...	Pat Healy
Kent Williams	...	Cabot
Dennis Lipscomb	...	Watson
Joe Dorsey	...	Conley
Irving Metzman	...	Richter
Michael Ensign	...	Beringer's Aide
William Bogert	...	Mr. Lightman
Susan Davis	...	Mrs. Lightman
James Tolkan	...	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:

Canada:PG (Ontario) | Iceland:L | South Korea:All | New Zealand:PG | 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 second launch code, which was the one stolen by Joshua before at DEFCON 4, was JDB or JOB 9515 VNS. This could be a reference to Job 9:5-15.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Jennifer tells David to "Hop on" the moped her lips do not move.

Quotes:

Stephen Falken: What you see on these screens up here is a fantasy; a computer enhanced hallucination!

Movie Connections:

Spin off Wargames (1998) (VG)

Soundtrack:

Video Fever

wonderful film

Cyberthrillers may not have started with "WarGames," but it was here the form achieved an early peak. As more filmmakers follow its example of portraying a high-tech face-off between man and machine, "WarGames" remains a standard to be measured against. While it's not a film classic, it's a very, very good popcorn thriller of uncommon craft, charm, and humanity.

Seattle high schooler David Lightman (Matthew Broderick) has only a few hours to undo what he thought was a sneak preview of an upcoming computer game but what instead got him tinkering with the U.S. Air Force's WOPR (War Operation Planned Response) computer system in such a way as to trigger a countdown to World War III. The FBI thinks he's a Soviet spy, while classmate Jennifer Mack (Ally Sheedy) is wondering if this isn't all really about a re-jiggered biology grade.

Broderick is solid, and Sheedy even better, but what really sells this film is everything else. Start with the excellent supporting performances. John Wood as a reclusive professor and Barry Corbin as a tobacco-chewing general get much of the kudos, and rightly, but there's a whole deep bench of quality work beyond that, like Kent Williams as a curt White House adviser, William Bogert and Susan Davis as David's out-of-it parents, Alan Blumenfeld as the swaggering bully of a biology teacher, and Juanin Clay as a beautiful but under-appreciated assistant (even by herself as she uses her own mouth as an ashcan for her boss's discarded gum.) You know the casting people behind this movie were on the ball when the opening sequence features two very recognizable faces, those of Michael Madsen and John Spencer, in what were film debuts for both.

That sequence with Madsen and Spencer as missile men point up another quality of "WarGames," the way the movie works in terms of setting up expectations and developing pace. The harrowing business between the two of them is mercilessly presented ("Turn your key, sir!") and then effectively abandoned so as to work in the central storyline, the replacement of these men with computers. We get a macro-view where Dabney Coleman as a tunnel-visioned war room executive effectively makes the case for "taking the men out of the loop" and then zoom back into what seems a totally unrelated story, that of slacker teen David Lightman and his high school travails.

The film could have just started with Lightman, and worked its way out to the business with the WOPR. But the early peek behind the curtain is a clever way of raising the stakes with the audience before the protagonist realizes what's up.

The set design, cinematography, lighting, music, and editing all work wonders as well. The NORAD war room is really a character onto itself, the ultimate source of reality in this film (and better for my money than the war room in 'Dr. Strangelove,' an obvious inspiration.) The way the cameras dart around from terminal to terminal as uniformed USAF technicians follow the progress of an apparent Soviet attack, lighting onto one of them just before he or she relays an important piece of information, is highly addictive and entertaining.

There's some sloppiness in the movie. Madsen and Spencer's talk about this great pot Spencer's character has scored strains credulity in the high-security setting they are in, and its blindingly obvious that the two men we see exiting a helicopter and entering a jeep during the credits are not the same two men getting out of the jeep moments later. And there's no real examination of the morality of Lightman's serial lawbreaking.

But this is a funny, exciting, consciousness-raising movie that is as entertaining now with the Cold War more than a decade behind us as it was all those years ago. For all the technical innovation on display, it's ironically appropriate we remember it for showing us how to butter an ear of corn, because it's the human side of the equation 'WarGames' keeps in its sights at all times.