WarGames

1983
PG
1h 54m

IMDb RATING

7.1/10

116K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

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Cyber Thriller Political Drama Political Thriller Teen Drama Action Drama Sci-Fi Thriller

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.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.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.

Director
- John Badham
Writers
- Lawrence Lasker
- Walter F. Parkes
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.1/10

116K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

1,814

334

Director
- John Badham
Writers
- Lawrence Lasker
- Walter F. Parkes
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Nominated for 3 Oscars
- 4 wins & 14 nominations total

User reviews253

Featured review

Interesting, original idea that delivers for the most part...

I enjoyed this movie quite a bit. Matthew Broderick is the teenager computer nerd who hacks into a military database through a "back door" and starts to unintentionally play games--which are, quite surprisingly, not games after all. He's really controlling the military! With WWIII nearing, the movie takes some twists and turns and it's all good fun.

Broderick is well-cast and this is probably one of the roles, along with Ferris Bueller, that stereotyped him as a continual teenager--which makes it hard for him to get adult roles nowadays. (He's in the upcoming remake of "The Producers"--yay!)

Ally Sheedy and Dabney Coleman both have supporting roles.

I thoroughly enjoyed this film and rate it a solid "4" of five stars.

Trivia note: Sheedy and Broderick both appeared in separate movies by John Hughes: "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" and "The Breakfast Club."

Trivia
The studio had the Galaxian (1979) and Galaga (1981) arcade machines delivered to Matthew Broderick's home. He practiced for two months to prepare for the arcade scene.

Goofs
There are improper arrest and apprehension procedures by the FBI. When David is picked up by the FBI, he is immediately read his Miranda rights as if it were a local arrest. Since David was a minor under 18, the FBI would have been required to bring him either to the local police precinct or his home so that his parents could be notified. Furthermore, there is no way that the FBI could have linked David to the calls made to the WOPR, since his home telephone was in his parents' name; thus, the FBI would have in reality gone to David's house first and questioned his parents.

Quotes
[after playing out all possible outcomes for Global Thermonuclear War]
Joshua: Greetings, Professor Falken.
Stephen Falken: Hello, Joshua.
Joshua: A strange game. The only winning move is not to play. How about a nice game of chess?

Alternate versions
In the International-dubbed prints and the U.S. TV premiere, in the scene where the female airmen is counting down to Impact, there is more background music that plays than in the original version.