Wargames Re-Watch

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#1

[LEFT]I know some of you will argue that this isn’t sci-fi. But you’re dead wrong. As Sean once argued (quite intelligently) to me, any movie that includes an intelligent computer is, well, totally sci-fi. And besides that, it’s an incredibly seminal flick. I earned most of my adult living based on the skills I picked up unofficially because of this movie. And I’ll bet more than a few of you can say the same.
[/LEFT]

Plus, Ally Sheedy is majorly jot in this – looking great in a way that women now only dream they could – without looking like a stick. Geeks like curves, man. Curves!

If for whatever reason you haven’t managed to see this movie yet. (Like, for example, you were born after the fall of the Soviet Union. We’re talking about you, Boxy!) You need to rent in RIGHT NOW. And if you saw it in the theater like I did (three times), grab a copy and refresh yourself. Why? Because you’re going to receive a DTA on it very soon, that’s why!

Wargames [IMDB]

#2

I really hope some of you will take the time to re-watch this with us. I can’t begin to tell you how important this movie was to my childhood life – and how long I made a living on the crap I learned because of this movie. Seriously – you owe it to yourself to take a little time and watch it with us. Really!

#3

I’ll add it to my netflix… my son will love it…

—Dismal the Dad

#4

Woot! You won’t be disappointed – though you’ll probably have to explain what half the equipment in the movie is…

#5

I was going to netflix it, but then I thought why isn’t this movie in my collection, I should own it, and so should all of us, anyone who doesn’t should send the brand new geek cards back to the Reverend. So I will be going to Amazon to look for a shiny new copy!!

#6

Hmm. A visit to the local library may be in order. They definitely have copies of such owned there. A quick request may have such here to view over the Christmas break.

#7

I looked it up on Amazon, it is due for a new edition, they are still carrying an older DVD version, the only features are a commentary by the director and writers, so I will hold off for awhile, and hopefully they will come out with a new special edition director’s cut with 900 hours of additional features, so you were all right and I was wrong. Netflix it is!!

#8

Great Choice ! I recall you guys talking about this one in a past 'cast and it brought the movie right back to me…I had a huge crush on Ally Sheedy back then.

And in a bizarre Star Wars linkup, the professor’s name is :
Stephen Falken ! Pronounced “Fawlken” ! Nice :smiley:

I was watching “Deck the Halls” last night, a cheesy (but sweet) little Christmas story with Danny Devito and our pal Matthew Broderick…our now middle-aged and graying Matthew !
Rewatching this one is going to be a blast !

#9

You grew up and became a hacker? With war dialer software and all! Wow! :smiley:
I just watched this one recently and look forward to the DTA.

#10

w00t! I saw this a few weeks ago for the first time in about fifteen years, and I was amazed at how well it holds up. It’s the best hacking movie ever* and one of the best teens-in-love flicks as well. I watched it right after Transformers, and the former definitely suffered from the comparison.

*In the commentary track, one of the writers says that they may have invented the concept of wardialing (and I can’t find anything to refute this.) At the very least, they gave it the name, if inadvertently.

#11

Wardialing was around a little bit before the movie came out from what I remember. The movie did give it a name. Now the big thing is wardriving where their out there looking for wi-fi signals that are unprotected.

#12

I actually watched this movie a few weeks ago in a fit of nostalgia… it’s still as good as it always was…

While Chuck had the geek moment of trying to build Tron games… personally, I spent countless hours in front of my Apple II+ trying to program WOPR/Joshua and Global Thermonuclear War… and failed miserably at it.

This also has two of my favorite movie quotes of all times:

“Mr. McKittrick, after very careful consideration, sir, I’ve come to the conclusion that your new defense system sucks.”

–and–

Mr. Liggett: All right, Lightman. Maybe you can tell us who first suggested the idea of reproduction without sex.
David Lightman: Um, your wife?

#13

I mean, really - I saw this so many times when I was a kid (especially the month it was featured on HBO!!!) that I probably don’t even need to see it again. This may be Matthew’s best role ever, and not just in scifi - and yes, I’m even talking about FBDO! He’s at his best when he’s not trying to be cool - he’s the quintessential nerd…

Hard to believe the pressure/fear that my generation grew up with under the Cold War.

It’s on my netflix!

#14

It’s been showing up lately on some of the Encore channels–scheduled again for 5:30 am Tuesday, Dec. 12 on Encore

Excellent flick–doomed me to be a geek-lover for life

#15

Hello everybody this is my first post to the forums and it might as well be with a movie that dates back to my younger years. Yes I loved this movie and it caused me to rethink my hacking days on my power house commodre 64. yep before the internet i was burning up the wire (phone lines) with my screaming 300 baud modem trying my best to hack BBS’s. but this movie really was very good for its time and i enjoyed watching it over and over again through the years.

This movie also set back the pay phone companys millions in broken hand sets.

Walter

#16

Welcome, WW. Yeah, I’m a graybeard too. That handset trick was older (seventies) phreaking (note that the booth was old skool even for the eighties. What’s intrigued me was the claim that the writers made that they had invented wardialing for the movie. I seem to remember that it was already around (it’s one of those obvious ideas) but I never ran across any of that software until well after the movie was out.

I suspect that the answer is that they had reinvented relatively obscure existing tech without realizing it, but I’m not having much luck with citations.

[ citation needed ] /xkcd

#17

I seem to remember that the concept of organized dialing existed before hand, but I don’t think they had the name for it.

#18

And that’s probably why I can’t find an older mention.

What DID they call it back in the day?

#19

I always heard the term demon-dialing and demon-dialers. But that was colloquial for early-mid-80’s Los Angeles.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demon_dialing

#20

  1. Totally inspirational programming movie. Give it up for the Commodore Vic-20, low-baud modems, BASIC, and BBSs.

  2. Talk about fresh-faced young lads…

Eddie Deezen – then best known as Euguene from Grease, more recently the voice of Mandark on Dexter’s Laboratory* and the glasses kid in Polar Express – is a true national treasure, an underappreciated gem, perhaps the greatest working actor. OK, that’s a minor overstatement, but I think he’s invariably hilarious.

  1. Adolescent me was all about Ally Sheedy. And still am – anyone else see High Art?

  2. Broderick also flexed his hacking skills in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, you’ll recall.

  3. One of my favorite conventions from 80s movies was the plot-referential one-line zinger, like Ally Sheedy’s “Does this have something to with you fixing my grade?”

  • Dexter’s Lab: Among the top-five best-ever TV shows. I’d like to see Mandark and Baltar square off.