WARGAMES (1983) Revisited - Sci-Fi Film Review (Matthew Broderick)

If you watched movies back in 1983, the personal home computer must have seemed insanely dangerous, as in John Badham's 1983 classic WarGames, Matthew Broderick is able to get us to the brink of WW3 and thermonuclear war with just the click of few keys. In this episode of Revisited, we take a look back at this super fun eighties flick, co-starring Ally Sheedy and eighties stalwart Dabney Coleman. It's one of many great films helmed by John Badham, one of the decade's most underrated directors, with him also doing Blue Thunder, Stakeout and more. Check out this episode and let us know if you think WarGames holds up in the comments!
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#WarGames #MatthewBroderick #AllySheedy

[@nicolaiitchenko7610]

Scariest line EVER delivered in ANY movie ever.... In response to the question, "Is this a game or is it real?" The computer answers "What's the difference?"

[@kalebgonzales4009]

I know right? when I first heard that, the computer got some attitude going which was scary haha!

[@sirvilhelmofyonderland]

Yeah, that’s cool 😎

[@celestepalm6949]

War Games is strangely timeless while still perfectly capturing the nascent computer culture of the times. Seeing those huuuuge floppy disks is hilarious. Dabney Coleman was the decade's official Magnificent Bastard of the '80's. Gotta love that general too, he got the _best_ lines in the film!

[@trinaq]

This movie was well ahead of its time, though the technology looks kind of dated now. It's fun to see Matthew Broderick as a hacker years before Ferris Bueller was, plus Ally Sheedy is always a win!

[@johnlawful2272]

Didn't he kill someone

[@johnlawful2272]

Didn't he kill someone

[@JGARCIA2012FULL]

@@johnlawful2272 Yes, two women, mother and daughter in Ireland, totally his fault!!

[@PeterSTIHL]

I think that was a nod to WarGames in Ferris Bueller, at least I thought that back then. Also the line his Science teacher says in WarGames: "reproduction without sex" was referenced in 1998 Godzilla, sort of...

[@saschamayer4050]

The Technology looks dated but awesome! 😎👍

[@KRAFTWERK2K6]

This movie made me fall in love with Ally Sheedy SOOO much. I just love how natural and effortless she portrayed her role. It was awesome that she teamed up with John Badham once more for "Short Circuit".

[@chriscox3709]

"Shall we play a game?" An all time classic line. Love, love, love that movie.👍

[@timstevenson3591]

I just rewatched this last week. Put me on an eighties binge. Manhattan Project, Damnation Alley , My Science Project, Explorers and Last Starfighter. . The eighties was the decade that keeps on givin.

[@bigbaddms]

How about real genius?

[@TheNameisPlissken1981]

I remember seeing Wargames in the theater during my Summer vacation with my family in Maine. My father and I also saw Krull and Yor; the Hunter From the Future during that trip, too! FYI - that is the film crew laughing when David says, "Your wife" to his teacher. It was the first time they heard the punchline and director Badham liked their reaction so much he left it in the movie!!

[@matthintz9468]

WarGames is the first in what I call the "Teen Cold War Trio," which consisted of three movies, fronted by great casts, that had very similar plots, elements, and tone. The other two are also among my favorite movies of this genre from the 1980s, Real Genius, with Val Kilmer and William Atherton in 1985, and The Manhattan Project, with Cynthia Nixon, John Lithgow, and John Mahoney. All three, WarGames, Real Genius, and The Manhattan Project, are worth a revisit by old fans, and a good look by interested movie goers.

[@spacechannelfiver]

You should probably call it a quadrology and add Red Dawn.

[@stepheneddington1667]

The greatest thing about this film is how accurate the computer technology is used.

[@thespicemelange.1]

I remember watching this movie when I was a little kid and I thought it was great. It was very suspenseful, even for a little kid that really didn't understand what was going on.

[@MickeyKnox]

short bonus trivia: "Falken" is the german word for "Hawking"

[@justinmanser7525]

The only winning move is not to play the game 😜. Brilliant film, some really funny moments too.

[@hieroglyph321]

Your wife?

[@Blueblazezzz]

I remember seeing this movie in theaters, with a packed house, and when that line was delivered by the the computer, it got a huge applause.

[@AFCManUk]

Ally Sheedy was f**king GORGEOUS in this flick!!

[@AngelOfDeath420]

ahhh the Good Ol Days. I was online in 1984 with my Macintosh 512K using Compulink. I bought games and sold stuff and played games with my mouse and keyboard.

[@secludedmisanthrope6388]

Being a kid in the early 80s, I loved this movie and still do to this day. My mom got me a Tandy 1000 for Christmas the year it was released. To say that these "PC's" weren't user friendly would be putting it mildly and I was in kindergarten at the time. Everything was done through MS-DOS, so my mom would have to boot it up for me and open any of the games on it. I loved that insanely frustrating device.

[@LaurenMiddleton28]

I love watching 80's films and then looking up the actors nowadays. My mom told me she saw War Games and Back to the Future in the Theater. Growing up in the 80's must have been magic.

[@johnlawful2272]

Along with the crack epidemic and jobs being sent overseas in 80's

[@willrunriot]

@@johnlawful2272 I mean, I’d take the crack epidemic over the fentanyl epidemic ravaging the country now..

[@jedd.0322]

@@willrunriot isn't there an opioid epidemic happening now too

[@willrunriot]

@@jedd.0322 fentanyl is a synthetic opiate, but yeah - it tends to get mixed in with heroin or whatever else to amp up the potency. What we get is the accompanying overdose epidemic.

[@IndyCrewInNYC]

@@johnlawful2272 Those are Adult issues, kids were in a very different world back then. I'll still take the 80s over today EVERY TIME.

[@00nick7]

I grew up with this film! I recently watched it again and have a whole new take on it!

[@barrya.6212]

The day after Russian invaded Ukraine I went on KZbin to watch the opening scene ...and pass on link to friends to freak them out on potential of WWIII

[@00nick7]

@@barrya.6212 It's so crazy how all this is coming true practically.

[@reinerjung1613]

He did not use the Internet, the film character connected to computers that where connected to a telephone line. He was using his computer as a terminal. And to find computers, he called methodically phone numbers to find computer which are connected to a modem/telephone line. The Internet already existed in 1983, but not for the general public. TCP/IP exists since 1982. ARPANET existed already before that in the 1960s.

[@shallendor]

This was such a fun movie with one of the best lines! "The only winning move, is not to play"!

[@stevep8485]

The best line for me was "I'd piss on the god damn spark plugs if I thought it would make any difference"

[@mightisright]

That first scene with Madsen was great. I think it would have been a great reveal if it turned out the first scene was actually taking place at the same time of the ending of the movie.

[@CheapSquierBassPlayer]

I saw this movie a few times in my local mall theater that summer - I'm old.

[@jeffslaven]

One of my all time favorite films! Matthew Broderick was born for that role!

[@ARKHAMxMaverick]

A criminally overlooked movie.

[@waverlyking6045]

Back in the 1980s, they knew how to make good movies about video games and gaming culture like Wargames, The Last Starfighter, and Tron.

[@Anonymous_Introvert]

Naa back then gaming just wasn’t as big so these movies were made by people who actually enjoyed games and their culture. But now since it’s massive, movies about video games nowadays (the majority of them) are just half assed cash grabs made by people that don’t understand or prob even enjoy them. It’s sad to see man 😔

[@christopherwaldrop5293]

If you listen carefully in their first meeting McKittrick talks to David about Falken in the present tense, saying, "Well, he's a brilliant man..." It's easy to miss but it's a clue Falken is still alive.

[@ShaneyBright]

I totally caught that! I absolutely love McKittrick and the way Dabney played him was amazing. I actually believe that McKittrick is the glue that holds the whole story together. There is no story without him and his balancing act between anxiety riddled interactions with the "Big Wigs" and his attempts to stay cool while the world seems to.be falling apart.

[@tauriusmagnamus3281]

Yup, this is the movie that got me into computers as a kid when it came out. Then I looked at what programs they had back then. You ain't hacking shit with these!

[@stevelabounty]

This movie and the the TV show whiz kids👍

[@mmclaurin8035]

I always liked that the general wasn't some dumb, warmongering bad guy. He legitimately was terrified of nuclear war and was desperate to stop it, and didn't fall into the usual tropes of movies from that era.

[@whiterabbit1632]

One of my fave movies as a child! So dark and now more relevant than ever!

[@matthewwilson3202]

Even as a kid in the late 90s, this was scintillating stùff.

[@MarkHyde]

Managed to watch this movie in the cinema and was blown away by the premise at the time - a powerful statement movie - that movie ending dialogue from WOPR is iconic.

[@kageakuma3009]

I remember watching this on laserdisc as a teenager. lol it was around 1995 or so. I was around 14, it blew my mind. it's still super relevant today.

[@saltymisfit6566]

Since this channel has done Wargames, who else would like to see them revisit Cloak & Dagger which also had Dabney Coleman

[@PanDownTiltLeft]

He did not have the Internet, genius. He had a modem and was doing dial-up Point to point

[@kaijupredator4063]

@68K technically there was no "internet" back then, only stand alone BBS (bulletin board services) and mainframes.

[@tkskagen]

How about a Flashback to 1985 to have a D.A.R.Y.L. Movie! Robots, Video Games and SR-71...

[@terriquinlan7683]

"It's a simulation! It's a simulation!" It's a very entertaining film. They managed a great mix of humour and excitement. Who first suggested the idea of reproduction without sex? Oh, he left himself wide open for that.

[@ShaneyBright]

John Wood was the "computer voice" of Joshua. This movie rocks as well as the score. ❤

[@kali3665]

I wondered if that was the case. Cool. John Wood also played the evil Bishop in Ladyhawke who cursed the lovers played by Rutger Hauer and Michelle Pfeiffer.

[@nimblehealer199]

John had to say the sentences backwards because at the time, it was thought that digitized voices spoke one word at a time.

[@gregmize01]

the whole movie is a native ad for Burger King😅

[@Noland55]

The best part of the movie is when the air force general decides not to trust the computer & go by human knowledge of what is actually going on. One of the first movies to warn us about A.I.

[@grapeshot]

I'll always remember that scene of all the nuclear warheads firing out of the Soviet Union and the United States at once and the computer said no winner.

[@seanbrazell7095]

It's impossible to express accurately to people raised on the modern internet just how intoxicating it was to talk to someone on a BBS for the first time! Or the second, third, fourth...

[@jonasthemovie]

But... he didn’t have ”the internet”. He was cold dailing looking for an open modem.

[@Briansgate]

One of my all-time favorite movies. 1983 was a very good year.

[@speedygonzales378]

Some soppy kid nearly got us all into world war 3,uncle albert

[@edwardwilliams2438]

Nice review...very insightful. Plus the ending nuggets were also a nice touch. We movie geeks really appreciate th e little extra perks..Thanks!

[@deecee3544]

One of my favorite childhood movies!

[@virgil3241]

Oh I had such a crush on Ally Sheedy after this movie.

[@blacknapalm2131]

*Ally Sheedy was an absolute babe in this film. Her smile and expressions were amazing*

[@Archie2c]

One of my Favorite movies Dabney Coleman usually did comedy like 9 to 5

[@stevelabounty]

I noticed that you haven't done the Jon Cryer movie Hiding Out. You've done basically every other movie that I loved as a kid except that one. Please do that next. Thank you for the great content!

[@elichilton7031]

Here, here. Great underrated 80's teen/high school switch em' up movies.

[@renekauts8323]

Great film. Very nostalgic memories.

[@CornishCreamtea07]

Recently I watched Ladyhawk and Election for the first time, and I thought to myself "WTF Happened to Matthew Broderick?"

[@motomike71]

15:55 an impossibly young Mel Gibson at the Academy Awards.

[@mattpurcell2462]

Thanks for this. One of my favorite "go-to's" when I'm in a movie watching mood.

[@DarkForcesStudio]

I frikkin' loved this movie. Nobody every talks about it. And a 7.1 on IMDB? What's that about? Grr. Thanks for a great review. Excellent work.

[@barbiquearea]

This was the movie where I learnt how the Defcon thing worked.

[@RideAcrossTheRiver]

The film got it backward.

[@chrisklecker]

This is still an amazing movie and still holds up today. I just watched it with my students and they enjoyed I hope. At 48 I still enjoyed it.

[@rickc2102]

Instead of looking like John Lennon, Falken ended up looking like Alan Holdsworth.

[@clutch8685]

My theory: this movie is a prequel to short circuit

[@gregmize01]

just watched Anthoney Marinelli's video about how he composed the music for this! Great vid!

[@galesito1733]

After watching this film in the 80s my father became convinced that I was going to start WW3 on my Sinclair Spectrum.

[@Tretas.]

Well, did you? 🧐

[@galesito1733]

@@Tretas. Unfortunately not, but it wasn't from lack of trying.

[@barbiquearea]

Makes me wonder how many more films were impactful enough to cause lawmakers to set down new laws based on them?

[@georgemetcalf8763]

I've heard "The Day After" got Reagan to do START to reduce nuclear weapons between the US and USSR.

[@kaijupredator4063]

Loved this film as a kid! Remember going to the theater with my Cub Scout troop. It meant something to me particularly because my name is David and I was getting into Computers with my Commodore 64. Plus Ally Sheedy was sexy AF with that adorable smile! Had a huge crush on her in this & Short Circuit.

[@grapeshot]

Global thermonuclear war or we can play chess.

[@BBI_Strange_Agent]

Funny this should come up. I'm designing a board game based on it.

[@n.d.m.515]

Will the board game be about hacking or global thermonuclear war? Or both?

[@kikecabrera4751]

shall we play a game?

[@varianbohling251]

It’s the whopper bro! Whopper!

[@tomjewell7759]

If this film is made with the 'serious' attitude it wouldn't have worked as well. The kids being high school kids really adds to movie. Shows you what a razor's edge Hollywood is.

[@orangecounty2033]

the main lesson from War Games (1983) is that you can eat corn-on-the-cob raw

[@centauri0]

Every time I hear him say the W.O.P.R I cringe. Have you even watched the movie? Its called the Whopper.

[@drpeppaerdrpeppaer5434]

10:58 I had no idea it would cost so much, I wont pay it!

[@WhiskyCanuck]

Interesting that Martin Brest was taking the film in a too-serious direction since he'd later g on to direct two truly hilarious movies: Beverly Hills Cop and Midnight Run

[@fordprefect80]

I remember after watching this in 83 I desperately had to get myself a computer. I think I became obsessed as did many other kids.

[@alfredthegreat9543]

Also worth mentioning is that at the time the thoughts of a possible nuclear war were very real so it touched a nerve.

[@nightcrawler2099]

now you need to do a revisit to Colossus: The Forbin Project. A very, very unknown gem

[@bigbaddms]

Fantastic movie!

[@deadcatthinks6725]

Excellent examples of social engineering are present in this film. For example when he gets his failing grade at the start, he knows where the password is kept but has no legitimate reason to be in the area where its kept, so he causes a nuisance in class and insults the teacher and gets sent to the area where the password is kept. Thus giving him authorisation to be in an area he wouldn't normally be allowed.

[@netropolis]

Fun Fact: WarGames was also the first time ON SCREEN of the Bally Midway game Galaga. Bally Midway placed cardboard toppers on all the games that stated "GALAGA Featured in the exciting new film WarGames" and "Watch the movie and enter the Ballys Family Entertainment Centers WarGames Hollywood Sweepstakes"

[@MegaCunnie]

When your high that background music sure does go on. 😂

[@willh5847]

On paper this movie shouldn't have been as good as it was, but damn I love it. Glad they found the right director for it.

[@WonderSausage]

Please revisit the similar "The Manhattan Project (1986)" with John Lithgow - there are no KZbin reviews at all, as far as I can find.

[@Bobbyboy-i3z]

Besides Fail Safe, one cold war movie really scared me. Colossus The Forbin Project! It had a similar theme but was dark and had no teenage comedy.

[@EverettBurger]

Ever since Russia invaded Ukraine, I've been watching a bunch of "We might accidentally start a nuclear war" movies. War Games holds up well.

[@ELEKTROSKANSEN]

Any others you would recommend?

[@bigbaddms]

@@ELEKTROSKANSEN damnation alley, threads, terminator movies, dr Strangelove, failsafe, by dawns early light

[@heidifedor]

“I’d piss on a spark plug if I thought it would do any good.”

[@jc.1191]

The premise of the film actually happened to NORAD in 1979. Pretty crazy.

[@unchainedwiththecapt]

This movie got me into computers big time when I was 13.

[@jasonmoore5334]

This corn is raw!

[@andrewparkin1337]

I know, isn't it wonderful? It's so crisp!

[@allnamesaretakenful]

I'm surprised you didn't mention that the famous line was quoted in Captain America: Winter Soldier.

[@fastguned]

Good review - a lot of things I didn't know

[@josepablolunasanchez1283]

At the time of this movie, there were people with the idea of full automation, and many people did not agree inside the army. So there was a joint effort between these people and Hollywood to make this movie. The only difference is that the monitoring room was smaller and did not have those nice color Macintosh graphics.

[@zillsburyy1]

did everyone try to make a free call with a soda can tab?

[@RodgerRamjet]

the movie is a blast...it has intense drama.. Govt black bag men...a modest love story.. a sad story of a lost child, hackers who hacked for fun, just because they could.. or to impress a girl.. the "WOPPR" looks a little small for what it was intended to do,, but, not overly so.. and yes.. if you are a kid, who loves games,, you are going to JUMP all over the "Global Nuke War" game.. EVERY Guy would.. the rest that follows.. is mostly just plain fun to watch and enjoy.. 1 modest slip up near the end, which makes no real sense, but, other than that, its well thought out, acted, and directed.

[@sfkeepay]

Kinda weird you don’t mention the other actor in the opening scene being John Spencer, who became famous from Hill Street Blues, and immortalized for playing Leo McGary on West Wing.

[@bobbabai]

He wasn't on the Internet in this movie. His thing was dialing up every number in a local area to try to find computers that would answer. This wasn't a network at the time. That was the cool thing about the internet when it finally became accessible to ordinary people. You could dial into an Pnternet provider's network and instantly have the possibility of accessing any other computer that was on the Internet. And some of those computers really cool information or did cool things.

[@katarinakrnjevic8183]

This movie is so much different than any other 80s teen movie.

[@raystewart3648]

Best of the Best Movie ever out of all of the Best Movies. Love watching this all the time, at least 25 times a year. It takes me back to a time when I was learning Computers and Hacking. Love the Theme at the Start and the Ending Score, wow. Yes, watching it these days, you can clearly see some flaws in the computer graphics which they did not have back then, but its still very entertaining and educational in some respects.

[@raystewart3648]

PS DEFCON No.5 is when War Starts not No.1 as seen in the movie.

[@dpsamu2000]

Unlike the weakly written deus ex machina endings of many movies this ending made logical sense, and made for a great visualization of the concept. I particularly liked all the names they thought up to title the various strategic war scenarios.

[@fredlandry6170]

I loved this movie when I was 13.

[@nice2008c]

"Well that's a a load of shit. Oh no, no, not you Mr. President."

[@TheOriginalCaptainTrips]

TURN YOUR KEY, SIR

[@heidifedor]

This movie has a goods mix of suspense and humor.

[@ded2thaworld963]

I was like 4 yrs old when this dropped. It’s weird i remember it, but I can’t even remember wtf i did last week

[@gladyskravitz1000]

This is not "the internet". Computers were connected to phone lines. And if you had a Modem, you could connect to computers. I used to connect to Northwestern U.'s computer all the time. Most colleges had computers that you could connect to. Governments had them too. And there were often simple games on the computers. We would play those. The games were there to teach people how to use the computer. And they made good assignments for Computer Science students. Back then kids knew more than teachers about how to use the computers. Teachers read the books and taught binary and oct, and hex math. But we loved to play and write simple games. Its how I learned to program before ever taking a class. In fact all the good programmers were self taught. Or taught by banding together with a like minded group who figured out how to get in. How to program. And how to get access to better resources.