War Games "Impact!" 1983 Directed by John Badham

A masterclass in creating movie tension, thankyou John Badham!

[@kyawthu755]

An AI controlled weapons defense system? What's next, a dinosaur theme park?

[@Holdit66]

Why not? What could possibly go wrong?

[@TheCatBilbo]

I've always fancied autonomous robot Police Officers...we should definitely try those - very safe. I want free entry to the Dino park, by the way.

[@Scripticus]

Nah, that would be too unbelievable...

[@samsunguser3148]

Sentient robots next (totally not a bad idea)

[@TheCatBilbo]

@@samsunguser3148 Yes, sounds totally sensible. Humans are great at designing these things; then eventually, they can design themselves! Wow, sentient cars...toasters...

[@johncanaparius3233]

They took their sweet time to confirm they were fine after impact.

[@rikk319]

That's the "drama" part of fiction. Without it, the film is less impactful. You can always watch a documentary if you don't like it.

[@pegasusted2504]

Well they had 12 different steps in the chain of command to actually get the fact they weren't dead to be verified before they could say "yeah, still here". Military chains may make things safer etc but damn it sure adds a lot of wasted time between needs and actions.

[@plasticicon2-freewheelingg853]

Acoustic coupler lag. Lol

[@leadsolo2751]

The Suspense was what moviegoers paid for

[@plasticicon2-freewheelingg853]

@Rideable Sun lol dude. Your possible last 15 seconds on Earth. Might as well go out doing something you love hahah

[@ravenhull]

One of the best things about this movie is that there really wasn’t a ‘villain’ outside the general scenario. Joshua is a child, who doesn’t understand the ramifications of its actions. The folks at NORAD were working off of incomplete information, and reacting in line with what they do know. If anything, it’s the information gaps that are the antagonists for our hero’s, all of them, have to work though.

[@Alamandorious]

There were a lot more situations of a similar vein to this than we were ever told.

[@medexamtoolscom]

What I thought was most magical about this movie is just that the AI is so powerful. It is far, far more powerful than anything that exists today. The AI is able to so convincingly do so much, and everyone is utterly deceived by it, and helpless against it. It is just this entity that can decide our future arbitrarily for us, all because it doesn't know or care about any difference between its simulation and reality.

[@stijnvandamme76]

read the book, command control by eric schlosser for what really happened with close calls in the cold war

[@ribbitgoesthedoglastnamehe4681]

The thing is, everything in war happens with incomplete information, in no situation is full information available to anyone anywhere.

[@erictaylor5462]

The very scary thing is, about the time this movie came out a Soviet spy sat, sent to watch for missile launches from the US mistook the sun reflecting off of lakes in the American Midwest. It sent information that the US was launching a massive strike. Even worse, this happened not long after a Soviet fighter plane shot down a Korean 747 killing many Americans, including a US Senator. Regan had been on TV talking about the "Evil Empire" and Soviet-American relations were extremely high. Even the Soviet general in charge of launching the missiles felt launching a strike at this time made no sense. Even though he was ordered to launch his missiles at once, he refused that order and did not launch. It was only when those "missiles" failed to arrive at their targets did the Soviets realize they were false signals. So, if you were alive in 1983, your life was saved by a brave Soviet officer who refused to follow orders. Keep in mind, in the Soviet Union, such an act would not only end your career, it could lead to not only your own arrest and execution, but possibly your family's as well. And should your family survive, the children of traitors never had a good career for themselves. So he was taking a huge risk in disobeying his orders. Of course you could argue that if he had carried out his orders, his family would surly be killed.

[@ewanday5015]

That time Ferris Buehler saved humanity from total annihilation, he's a real righteous dude.

[@elfhighmage8240]

I had forgotten he was in this movie.

[@wozza77able]

Haha

[@benhurley7366]

except when he killed those irish people

[@kevsecker3182]

This is why he needed a day off.

[@medexamtoolscom]

Matthew Broderick wasn't so righteous when he was killing 2 people by crashing his car headlong into theirs because he was driving on the wrong side of the road, and then got out of all responsibility for it because he was a famous celebrity.

[@Zorn27]

Wouldn't it been faster to call Canada and be like "Not to alarm you but do you see any rockets in the sky?"

[@Something8830]

Well Canada is apart of NORAD so they would be seeing the same thing.

[@robynharris7179]

I don’t know, those Canadians are pretty shifty. They may be trying to sneak a couple of warheads across the border disguised as mooses.

[@michaelbull1427]

Excuse me! No, we are Not!

[@norm2096]

@@robynharris7179 Actually, we use real goose s**t. The stuff eats through anything :)

[@quillmaurer6563]

@@norm2096 Yep, for that reason I often refer to those as "Royal Canadian Air Force Brantus-class Heavy Bombers." For their intensive carpet-bombing campaigns on any grassy area, especially my former university's campus. Though they're actually multi-role if you piss them off or get too close to their babies they become ground-attack.

[@theduke7539]

This is far more accurate than I'd like it to be. There are SEVERAL recorded incidents of identical situations from both sides. Where a computer glitch told the operators that the other side had launched nukes and the controller sat there waiting for either confirmation of launch from another party or confirmation of a detonation. And for nearly half a century, the order stood. Stand by.

[@thehandlesticks66]

When it comes down to it, despite all the propaganda we don't want to believe humanity is capable of such senseless universal destruction.

[@thebigchecka]

In 1983, an exercise called 'Able Archer' very nearly brought the events depicted in this film to fruition. The Soviets intercepted transmissions not meant to be heard of Nato forces gathering missle systems on the border of Germany and such, not knowing it was actually an exercise in case the Soviets amassed their forces on the East. Unaware they could be heard, the Soviets then actually did amass their own missile systems on their border and pointed them toward the West. The whole thing was called off when someone called their bluff. Go find out and read up on it...scary stuff. In '83, no less! A year after this film!

[@christosvoskresye]

I think it is a miracle that we have not blown each other up. I mean that literally.

[@medexamtoolscom]

I don't think it was even a computer glitch, it was actual human observations. Like there was some space probe that was launched, which the russians thought was a missile launch, and a bunch of russian generals came to Boris Yeltsin with, telling him he needed to counterattack, and he told them to wait, and it turned out to be nothing just like he thought. But you can't blame that on computers.

[@venividi8523]

@@thebigchecka Actually it was the *same* year as this film, four months after this movie came out no less.

[@djfritz2001]

I still remember the sound of her voice... 'Impact...' In the theater that bass drone as each weapon struck was a LOT louder :)

[@Kalenz1234]

Dunno about your setup but the bass is very loud on my system ;)

[@fastacker2]

I wondered at the time, Did their simulation software actually include the sound effects of the bombs exploding? :)

[@robertcooper6853]

She was kinda hot….

[@TheRobsterUK]

The scary thing is how many times we've actually come this close to all-out war due to errors and misjudgments...

[@Vara91391]

sources and proof please?

[@xGoodOldSmurfehx]

all out war? you mean complete fucking nuclear annihilation more like

[@xGoodOldSmurfehx]

@@Vara91391 check history boi at least two separate occasions the US and the USSR were literal seconds from launching nuclear missiles at each other one of them is the cuban nuclear crisis and by far the closest we have ever come to not being born the world owes its existence and you and me owe our lives to several people, one of them is an absolutely beautiful soviet gentleman by the name of Vassili Arkhipov who prevented Russia from nuking the US by mistake via a nuclear submarine

[@madlarkin8]

@@Vara91391 I wrote my doctoral thesis on Able Archer 83. That is likely the closest we have come since the cuban missile crisis, which was one cross word away from a nuclear strike.

[@miszkurka2000]

And UFO sometimes.

[@rickitynick4463]

Airman Dougherty earned his wings that day... as well as a new pair of underpants.

[@richardvernon317]

and the guy who should have been on the phone was sacked!!!

[@CrustyWhiteBread]

@@richardvernon317 IKR??? Derfak was an Airman taking that call??

[@simunator]

ez epr bullet iyam

[@gobdeep]

That poor airman!

[@toddkes5890]

@@CrustyWhiteBread Airman had the confidence of the officer in charge that nothing serious was going to happen. Then while the officer is in the bathroom the airman gets a certain phone call

[@et50482]

Her voice has stayed in my head for 40 years

[@FirstNameLastname-nv2kg]

3...2...1...Impact 💥

[@nicksterj]

I think they ripped her off for the reactor explosion countdown in "Descent." 🎮

[@starwarsrebel2006]

Damn I feel old. I remember watching this in the theatre in 1983. I was 16 years old. Now I'm 54.

[@Rep0007]

At least there wasn't a nuclear war, right?

[@JC-qb1ir]

Back when Michael Jackson was still considered a young kid.

[@RtB68]

Same! Fellow child of 1968. ❤

[@user-jt5vm3mi1w]

ok

[@PlayerFalcon4]

Blythely leaving the cinema late one summer evening with friends & not knowing that 3 months before was the Able Archer scare (think Cuban Missile Crisis on steroids).

[@the1tigglet]

We've had several false alarms, one of which activated and sent out to every cell phone tv and computer a warning about a missle inbound to Hawaii just a couple of years ago!

[@johnnyguitar6639]

Yeah. Someone got wind of the IRS was coming for them,and pushed the wrong button

[@jurgenronaaz4695]

GOD I remember that, that was a real scare

[@DreamWriterDKS]

I was here on Oahu when it did. Longest 30 minutes of my civilian life. My Navy buddy and I were trying to figure out where the impact would be, which military facility would be the higher target, so drive TO. We didn't want to survive the impact. If they hit a specific area, Hawaii's lifeline would be cut, and if the ships stopped there'd only be enough supplies for the islands for a week. Airport would be gone as well, so no leaving. We knew after 15 minutes it wasn't going to happen just because of the knowledge we had, still doesn't mean we weren't terrified. People shoved their kids into storm drains that go directly into the ocean, running off the beaches and causing car accidents because they weren't obeying traffic laws. It was a mess, few days after we were still walking with "did that really fucking happen" face. Still not convinced it wasn't a legit attempt.

[@Fletchman1313]

We later took a drive that day, and we passed by what used to be Ward Warehouse which was in the process of being demolished. My daughter chimes from the backseat "Is that where the missile hit?"

[@DreamWriterDKS]

@@Fletchman1313 Awww, that's cute. Did you tell her, "Nope, just extremely greedy people destroying what's awesome about Kakaako."

[@kevinwarren3998]

I loved this movie. Even had a BBS called "The WOPR" in the 1980s. I've had a career in defense and I have used "... after careful consideration I've come to the conclusion your new defense system sucks" more times than I can count.

[@turbochad69]

Lol

[@ericsmith8373]

My favorite line from the general was, "Awww. I was hoping for something better than that from you sir. A man of your education."

[@turbochad69]

@N Fels lmao, good point/example lol.

[@lawnmowermanTX]

Whuts a BBS? Was this ancient internet days? 🤓🤓🤓🤓

[@kevinwarren3998]

@@lawnmowermanTX the date is mentioned in the post. 🤡

[@wilson2455]

this movie was made way before its time. Also the guy with his thumb over the 'blow Earth up' launch button would never have opened the fail safe cover until the order was given.

[@turbochad69]

I dunno man. Some people are just like that.

[@numeristatech]

Achooo-oh shi-

[@armynurseboy]

Missiles aren't launched centrally anyways. ICBMs are launched by the two man team inside the silo command center.

[@kelaarin]

​@@armynurseboy Then you didn't watch the film. The entire premise of the movie was to replace the silo crews (who refused to fire during simulations) with a computer relay so NORAD could fire them centrally.

[@mazurekgrafika2032]

You can`t launch a nuclear missile by pressing button lol

[@Jay-vc8qk]

Ally’s facial expression when the bombs are hitting - horror , fright , and sadness is spot on - tremendous acting .

[@GameAholicsVideo]

Never noticed that before -- rewatched just looking at her face. She really sells the tension, fear, and then relief.

[@johnmccnj]

Yeah, that's always stuck with me, too. Everyone else is stone-faced, but you can tell that she's watching what she believes is the destruction of her country.

[@mikeymcmikeface5599]

She was a great actress.

[@nineteenfortyeight6762]

I thought everyone was amazing except the dude playing Falkan. He seems jazzed about all the wrong things. I get that he's a nut, but a traumatized nut, not an amoral one. 🤔

[@weeardguy]

@@johnmccnj Same thing with the man opening comms again after the first few detonations have or should have taken place. His posture right before he starts speaking just shouts 'please don't let this be for real' before he starts 'This is Crystal Palace are you still on?' So many people in this movie were excellent actors and Falken was just the right guy to find. A bit goofy, excentric to say the least. Liked that system-administrator guy as well, frantically running down the stairs shouting 'it's a simulation!' because that most likely is very close to reality how bad computer malfunctions were handled in that era by those people.

[@DrKlud]

Meanwhile , Stanislav Petrov , and Vasily Arkhipov , saved the real World. Never forget those Names.

[@jrow84]

Eh, 3.6 roentgen. Not great, not terrible

[@MistressGlowWorm]

Cooler than the other side of the pillow.

[@HopeisAnger]

I will never say a good word about any Communist. But I will never say a bad word about those men. Best I can do.

[@Frankie5Angels150]

Yes, as always, the Russians are the real heroes…. 😆😂🤣

[@ronniecoleman2342]

1983 right? The Soviets thought we launched during the NATO exercise and almost launched in response. Bad year, but I remember the TV movie The Day After came out and scared alot of people.

[@kissmy_butt1302]

General: Recall the bombers and stand down the missiles. W.O.P.R.: I am about to ruin this man's whole career.

[@Alpha-Trion7]

DONCHA THINK I WULDOV TRIED DAT??

[@FectacularSpail]

JOSHUA WHAT ARE YOU DOING?

[@Davechow12]

“I’m sorry Dave, but I’m afraid I can’t let you do that.”

[@barrettross3772]

Just unplug the goddamn thing, Jesus Christ.

[@cameron120587]

Apparently, President Raegan loved this movie and asked NORAD to review their safety procedures with this movie in mind.

[@potatopotato6704]

The dude lifted off the cover for missile launch during the last 30 seconds, right? Imagine during the celebration, some random guy bumps into it

[@wordman3624]

Oops, sorry I started a nuclear war. My bad 🤷

[@therealtampadude9175]

AAAAACHOOOOO! OOOPS! My bad!

[@ColleenTRaney]

Whomever you are, these words were my exact thoughts about the random celebration. Exact.

[@Alpha-Trion7]

Someone did bump him, during one of the outtakes. But the movie wasn't supposed to end like that. :P my lips are moving *sonovabich*

[@ericsmith8373]

Stephen Erkel grows up and gets a job at Norad. "Did I do that?"

[@velveetaslingshot]

This movie scared the hell out of me as a kid. I saw it in the theaters and couldnt sleep for a week afterwards. Every jet trail in the sky was a nuclear launch. And since we lived super close to Macdill AFB, there would be dozens of trails in the sky when they were on alert. All I could ever think of was the big board at Norad and all the missiles in the sky.

[@primitivex5221]

I felt the same way .. This movie and the Day After . It compelled me to learn more about nuclear war and the chances of survival.

[@jdsmith542]

I grew up in the missile fields of North Dakota. I always expected that that would be how it ended. I'm amazed we've made it this far. But the threat has not gone away.

[@alexiotardes9179]

Lady's voice for countdown is wonderful 😍

[@karenamy2117]

Here for this! Totally agree.

[@nicks78735]

Looks like girlfriend from "Thriller"(Michael Jackson) video.

[@wreckage-vs5jv]

super cool infrasounds who ever audio fx designer came up with this idea is genius

[@jeremygrigsby7456]

What do you mean by infrasounds?

[@simeon24]

@@jeremygrigsby7456 really deep bass on the threshold of hearing,

[@ReddwarfIV]

@@jeremygrigsby7456 The "brrrrr" noise on impact.

[@benjaminsmith3364]

Whilst I am not 100% sure, I think the sound is associated with plotting so much white instantly to screen, that sort of hum is why, back in the day, you bought a soundblaster card!

[@SirCraigius]

0:23: I love the way he starts like a structured military communication, then he pauses and is like "to hell with it, we might all be about to die, so here it is in plain English"

[@ericsmith8373]

I love some of the names for the scenarios. My favorite is "Sudan Surprise". Sounds like an African dessert.

[@gt4666master]

Play Defcon for PC. It's a trip how they transferred this situation into a game with no real war imagery. It's an amazing, yet powerfully depressing look at the (nuclear) human condition

[@larsanderson3072]

Like the Sahara? Oh. my mistake. You said "dessert". (LOL)

[@jrow84]

Sudan Surprise sounds like something we need to add to Urban Dictionary. I checked to see if it was already there and now I am severely shaken after reading about the Strawberry Sundae Surprise

[@medexamtoolscom]

Actually, it reminds me of in UHF when there's the supply closet, and the bad guy opens the closet door, and the martial arts teacher and some of his students are behind the door waiting for him and they yell "supplies!" and then kick his ass.

[@AshleyPomeroy]

I always wondered if they got the names from some old declassified training manual, or something. They're silly, but just plausible enough to sound like actual war scenarios.

[@taylorahern3755]

To think that only a mere 65 years earlier most people in America & in Western Society were still living in a late 19th Century climate, ethos & society that lingered & brooded about most corners of the land, culturally, psychologically & technologically, while not a few people back in 1983 remembered life in the 1890s. Amazing! All the vast, incredible & mind boggling changes that were wrought & which quantum leaped into existence between 1918 & 1983, from the horse & buggy, embryonic radio transmissions on a local level & no electricity still being pervasive to people taking rocket trips to the moon, personal computers, computer operated cars, unmanned probes landing on Mars & super hi tech satellite readouts on big screens featured above. Just amazing! What momentous & stupendous technological transcendence took place between that 65 year interval. Quantum leap after quantum leap. Unreal!

[@jamesmyszka4930]

Detach souls! Attach woke divisiveness! We are so very much worse off. A generation who was taught "close enough is good enough" and that the world owes them. We are slaves to the things we were told would end the problems that keep getting worse. 😓

[@m2heavyindustries378]

@@jamesmyszka4930 Boomers arguing to boomers, whats new?

[@Suisfonia]

@@m2heavyindustries378 Ok, and what makes them a Boomer?

[@Jimmyknapp2]

I honestly wonder if the Roswell event had anything to do with it

[@taylorahern3755]

@@Jimmyknapp2 It wouldn't surprise me if it did👽👽😜😊👍

[@BruceWayne-mb4hk]

Who could act like a professional in a situation like that? The lady announcing “20 seconds to impact” was stone cold.

[@gargouenzene]

You said it, she's professionnal. In jobs like hers, people must be stone cold.

[@andrewbevan4662]

Same with the radio chatter during the Challenger explosion, always kept calm

[@robertwilson214]

Dabney acting in shock was good

[@chuckscott-cy7iq]

Yeah. Personally, if I were David I would have invited Jennifer to a backroom. I wouldn't want to die a virgin or watch my own destruction on a monitor.

[@mayorjimmy]

i remember watching this movie as a kid at Loring AFB. boy that was a trip.

[@Recoil816]

Tinker AFB for me... long time ago.

[@christopherwood8425]

I was born at Loring AFB. Thought it was cool when I saw this in the theatre as a kid!

[@Mikey300]

@@christopherwood8425 when it came to “counterforce” targets, Loring had to be near the very top of the Soviet lists (right after Fylingdales, Thule, and Clear).

[@opusmax1]

@@Mikey300 Rumor was that Loring and it’s nearby airspace would have been targeted by a minimum of six, possibly as many as ten SLBM warheads in the 250 kt range. Essentially, everything within 30 miles of the base would vanish

[@Mikey300]

@@opusmax1 Ivan must have really been afraid of the 42nd Bomb Wing (with good reason as Loring was supposed to be the domestic SAC base closest to Moscow). 😊

[@Anthyrion]

And now imagine hearing a single and loud "Oops!" from the Officer, who had his finger over the launch button, because somebody accidentally bumped into him and his finger went forward :D

[@raven4k998]

have you played Defcon? I mean global thermal nuclear war yet if not I seriously recommend you try it out it's a whole lot of fun

[@michaelairton3723]

Some great acting in this movie, particularly in this scene. Jennifer's reaction at 1:58 sums up the palpable relief of the moment.

[@GameAholicsVideo]

It's the possibility that they could be wrong -- and that there really are missiles flying!

[@haroldgeorge4412]

“Mr Mckittridge, after careful consideration I’ve come to the conclusion that your new defense system - sucks!”

[@cryhavoc38]

who else remembers seeing this in the theaters at the time. This was an intense moment when seeing it for the first time.

[@danielcarroll3358]

I still have my IMSAI, Joshua's computer. 64k of memory, a dual 8" floppy drive and a battery backed up 1 MB solid state drive consisting of dynamic RAM. If the power went out for more than three hours it all went into the bit bucket. But you could play Space Invaders, even with a 2 MHz CPU. Those were the days.

[@Rep0007]

Yeah and the depressing thing is that even those primitive early systems were fast and responsive compared to today's "cloud" applications... despite gigahertz and terabytes of power and storage today, the computer experience is DOG slow compared to the 80s.

[@drmayeda1930]

@@Rep0007 The problem is the cloud storage uses a slow system to transfer the data. If the data was stored on your computer, it should be faster. You would need a fast CPU chip, enough RAM and a big drive to store it. It's all those copper phone lines that telephone companies are using. Good idea wrong area code. Microsoft misjudged the infrastructure, Win 10 and 11 are a pain because of a new feature that doesn't clean the hardware properly.

[@mho...]

this movie was such a mindblower back then! great times!

[@christopherbrewer9368]

A great movie from the Cold War era...powerful impact....it means more to me now as an Adult than it did back then as a Teen.

[@raven4k998]

shame that now days if Russia sent nukes the state they would miss all military targets due to modern Russian incompetence and just hit empty parking lots and fields and the like

[@thesmirkingwolf]

Barry Corbin is such a great actor.

[@derpanzermacher9094]

Damn I thought that was him. He looks way younger (this movie is a few years older than me). He also played the good General Carville in Westwood's Red Alert 1 (expansion) and Red Alert 2, he fits military roles really well.

[@caras2004]

Red Dawn, The Day After, Wargames Some of the scariest movies of all times

[@karlzaunbrecher8241]

"Failsafe" should be on that list. Everything that happened in that movie was entirely plausible

[@michaeljohnson1157]

❤ ONE OF THE MOST MAGNIFICENT MOVIES 🎥 EVER CREATED...IN OUR GLORIOUS AMERICA 🇺🇸 Period___

[@limbodog]

I remember having nuclear nightmares about this sort of thing. The 80s were weird.

[@ColleenTRaney]

1981 full court propaganda.

[@LoPhatKao]

every day was an existential crisis growing up in a target zone, knowing you'd be vaporized or burnt so bad that you'd wish you had been fun times rather be back in the 80s than here in the 20s ;(

[@ShenMerrick]

@@ColleenTRaney "Full court propaganda"....sounds a lot like today.

[@kanaric]

@@ShenMerrick nixon, reagan, bush, and trump's behind the scene guys are all the same people. Same with the people who run right-wing media.

[@ShenMerrick]

@@kanaric What would you call "right wing media"?

[@michaelhyde9070]

I saw this in 84 at boy's breagade camp happy day's. Lol. Wen he goes No impact we're alive and well I shouts out Praise God with my fist in the air. Still makes me emotional after all these years. But here we are again talking about nuclear war as if nothing has been learned. Sad. But still a amazing film.

[@59plexi]

i loved this movie...i got a commodore vic-20 in 1982, and this came out in 83....it was like hell yeah!!!!! I was only 12, didnt know jack about computers, (nothings changed lol) but you knew the world was advancing with the computer stuff....miss those simple days....😕

[@adamwatkins1150]

You have me beat. I got a C-64 in March 1985 and was connected at 300 baud to Quantum Link the summer of 1986.

[@stevepirie8130]

Old cassettes loading time 20-30 min just to play a game

[@drmayeda1930]

I had a Vic 20 also. Got it to go RJE to the local university but we had the wrong type of telephone, so we had to hunt for the right one. I had a problem with invisible characters that made it difficult to work from home.

[@clay3205]

Airman Dougherty experienced maximum pucker time on THAT morning.

[@johnmccnj]

He would have created that much suction, they would have had to order a new seat cover.

[@bobbyricigliano2799]

The female Airman vocalizing the countdown stole this scene. That "Impact" line was perfect.

[@nucflashevent]

Now to be clear, my following statement is related specifically to the worlds *these movies exist in*, not some social commentary about our own world (though you could certainly draw parallels, etc.) Speaking of the fictional universes like those in "The Day After..." and "WarGames". Whenever I watch movies like that (or read books for that matter) I always imagine I'm looking into a parallel universe, something very familiar but often just a little different. Imagine for humans civilization to have come as far as it had up to that point...tens of thousands of years to reach the Industrial Revolution and utterly transforming the planet in just a little over two centuries after...fighting two World Wars and the advancements in Law and World Order that brought (such as the U.N.) for it all to have been wiped away less than 40 years later in a cataclysmic nuclear exchange that surely would have left the vast majority of the world in utter ruins. Were I some alien race visiting in the future and discerned the history of the planet, I would think a very sad commentary indeed.

[@blackhawks81H]

Or maybe there would be no aliens... Nuclear is a universal constant.. Any civilization out there with reasonably advanced tech would eventually discover the ability to make insanely powerful weapons by "messing with atoms". And certainly before they developed any technology to travel the stars.. Since one is far easier than the other, just due to the sheer size of the universe and distances involved. Then maybe once the cat is out of the bag on nukes, it's only just a matter of time before civilizations end up using them, whether on purpose or on accident. And maybe that's why we've never detected any "aliens" no matter how hard we try. Maybe the fate of every somewhat advanced civilization is to blow themselves up before reaching the stars.. Just because one is so much easier than the other.

[@nucflashevent]

@@blackhawks81H And if my mother had balls she'd be my father 😜 Yes, I'm aware of the Fermi Paradox, the point of my comment wasn't whether or not aliens exist, just that if this scenario ever occured, aliens would be the only possible intelligence that could ever learn what we were because there wouldn't be any of us left to say anything.

[@Schimml0rd]

@@blackhawks81H im not sure humankind even needs nukes to kill itself :D

[@piggypiggypig1746]

@@nucflashevent What we were would clearly be evident by our absence.

[@fourthhorseman4531]

I loved Barry Corbin's General Beringer. Reminded me a little bit of real life General Curtis "Bombs Away" LeMay.

[@chrisbullard5901]

The way he’s written and portrayed, both as a firm believer in deterrence, and as someone hopeful he never has to carry out his orders, is spot on. The Russians have historically been bullies, and deterrence was the only thing that kept them in-line. Hopefully, though, we’ll start developing the technology to intercept ICBMs with over 98% accuracy, and one day be able to retrofit all the Minutemen IIIs into a truly defensive system.

[@hughmungus913]

And in the excitement of that moment, old Harry stumbles forward and hits the launch button.

[@TheHD803]

Haha “gee sorry guys”

[@Userfriendly1977]

The soviets actually experienced something very similar for real. A computer misinterpreted sunrays as missile trails and alerted their missile command. Luckily their commander didn't have the guts to send retaliatory missiles the other way.

[@CommanderZoom]

That, and he figured that if the Americans were going to launch a first strike they weren't going to do it with a mere handful of missiles.

[@tiadaid]

You missed out the most important part - it happened in the same year of this movie's release...

[@triandfit1]

And the Soviets punished him for not following protocol.

[@raven4k998]

and then figured out that by not shooting he didn't look like a moron one of Russia's brighter moves in military history🤣

[@eizol568]

You worry about global warming, we worried about global extinction ☢️

[@Yurixyz]

The bad thing is that both the USSR and the US have indeed had similar problems with their automated defense systems but luckily there was always a human being who ultimately had to push the button who ultimately had doubts about the reality of such attacks.

[@veramae4098]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983_Soviet_nuclear_false_alarm_incident Yes. Russian alarms were in error, Russian officer did not follow procedure ... and therefore stopped WW 3.

[@raven4k998]

yeah good things neither have had the missiles fired by accident by some rouge computer program that would be seriously embarrassing yeah the reason the us or Russia got nuked to hell and gone was our bad we thought we were under attack and fired off our missiles starting the real world war 3

[@kriss3d]

Best part is. This isn't even far from how close it actually was. The Cuban missile crisis was this close to be lit. Literally.

[@Elthenar]

Yes and no. The tensions were as high as could be but no one actually thought a missile was in the air, or else there would have been a full nuclear war. A more accurate comparison 1983 false alarm. The Soviet air defense detected inbound American missiles but was able to guess that it was a false alarm. Turns out it was sunlight reflecting off some clouds that their satellites detected.

[@tardismechanic2319]

This movie is a masterpiece

[@feth7747]

This one, back to the future and E.T, what a films, such a nostalgia, no times like the eighties, films, music, wear...

[@majorlagg9321]

Actually, Crystal Palace would be one of the first to know if the strike was real. Several missiles would be targeted at Cheyenne Mountain.

[@willycanuck]

and it really happened on the Soviet side...R.I.P. Lt. Col. Stanislav Petrov, the World is forever in your debt.

[@RaphaelAnthony]

Describe WarGames as simply as possible: “Why so serious?”

[@jeromeperlinski1062]

trop proche d un jeu avec des acteurs humains et leur réflex à la con. navré, présentation correcte, j aime et un sentiment correct.

[@terrencetrussell7625]

This was a great movie for all the reasons stated. Likewise, “Failsafe” was also a great movie. Truly, both exemplify the reality of Joshua’s very mature conclusion: “The only way to win, is NOT to play”. When will those who seek power learn?

[@fcfcfcwearesolar]

Never, as long as currency exists.

[@RayoAtra]

Growing up in the 80's There were 150 of these in underground silos sprinkled around the countryside and backroads within 100 miles of our house.

[@Dante-ki4ol]

Great film, great cast, especially the computer.

[@jeffreytan2948]

When there was no internet, no world wide web and you connect your computer to another computer directly via dial up modem

[@BELCAN57]

The look on Falken's face is perfect.

[@g2macs]

This has actually happened, several times NORAD almost fired due to false information.

[@pearsondavenport3242]

"Permission to change my underwear, Sir?"

[@michaelhyde9070]

Like most I grew up with these films. War games the day after, threads, when the wind blows.

[@NoahSpurrier]

This was a good movie.

[@neilgodfrey2669]

Guy with moustache looks like the hotel owner from ghostbusters who refuses to pay them after they trash the hotel

[@davidsloat1016]

It is.

[@user-mb1sy9uz6z]

Always proud to see s Sistah in a position of leadership!!! Impact❤

[@dmac7128]

An irony behind this scene is that it runs directly contrary to the stated doctrine of the US nuclear deterrent, launch on warning. We would not wait out an attack before launching our missiles. Considering the incident in 1979 from which this movie draws inspiration, its a wonder how we haven't destroyed ourselves in a nuclear fire.

[@rickneal4967]

Fun fact: The black lady was the DJ from The Warriors. Lookin gooooood babies....

[@warvamp2]

Its funny she is not credited for this movie even if she had a few shots in the movie

[@leftcoaster67]

@@warvamp2 Crappy agent?

[@warvamp2]

@@leftcoaster67 maybe

[@nicholasxavier5892]

The sad part is how easily the destruction of the entire world could be

[@nointegritydotorg]

The scary part is that it has almost happened...a few times.

[@PuppetierMaster]

@@nointegritydotorg Worst of all some old Soviet loonies are mad it never came to be

[@yuriyurson6483]

It almost happened: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislav_Petrov

[@shannonquinn8687]

Ally was a tremendous actress. Perfectly captured the emotions someone should have in this situation. Young actresses today are incredibly lame.

[@mjrmrz5932]

1:40 Everyone walking around during a nuclear holocaust

[@MVR326]

I remember thinking the same when I first saw this movie. It's an eerie image, the silhouetted people with that giant screen behind them

[@sam08g16]

They were rushing to the toilet to change underpants

[@davidtaylor8002]

"I'd piss on a spark plug, if I thought it would help." - Gen. Berringer.

[@sinkingdutchman7227]

It's nice they have an officer with a perfect announcer voice to read the countdown. It's almost like she was cast for that task only.

[@cheeseandonions9558]

To me, this is the best "nuclear war wake-up call" movie ever made

[@jdplus3]

“Morning after” scared the crap out of me a lot worse

[@kennethrice3450]

Does anyone else’s hair stand on end during this whole scene? Especially when the impacts happen? Good Grief!😳

[@horseradish4046]

Alternate Ending: the Soviets, having learned about the multiple false alarms from earlier, decide to take advantage of the confusion and actually launch a full-scale attack knowing that there will probably be no retaliation due to hesitancy.

[@pulle88]

would not happen today though......... both the UK and france would nuke russia if they attacked the US

[@TheAngelOfDeath01]

Most hair-rising moment in the history of film making.

[@mrnotnomis]

I need the "Impact" actor's voice as a ringtone. Let's see how bad I can increase people's blood pressure around me when I get a text.

[@charleschuckfinley3304]

Imagine if the General said "Ok, Lunch time" and the guy heard "Launch time" - hahahahaha

[@stephenhunt2701]

He nearly pressed the launch button by accident! For the love of God! Keep your finger away from the button!

[@edwardwilliams6514]

The dude with him thumb on that button... one sneeze and it's lights out - for real.

[@darrellapple8980]

The senior controller at Loring saw the shit hitting the fan and ran home to grab his family and run for it lol.

[@leftcoaster67]

30 seconds to impact? He wouldn't even have gotten out of the door.

[@manofsheerawsomness]

If you like this google the Russian officer who stopped WW3. This really happened on the other side of the iron curtain. The fact we aren't all playing Fallout 4 IRL right now is a miracle because men like him chose to wait.

[@craiglarge5925]

Gotta love1983.. That Russian officer was a LTC who had to authentic the detection of 11 United States ICBMs' that were in their flight to Soviet territory and confirm the threat.Lucky for planet earth he made the right judgment call in that it was a false alert.

[@triandfit1]

@@craiglarge5925 and he was screwed over for doing it too.

[@tsukikage3941]

"Alright we're safe!" *Slaps desk and accidentally hits the Launch button*

[@bocagoodtimes1460]

Such innocent times....now our enemies have viruses and hypersonic missiles!

[@jrow84]

We have the virus, too, comrade. OUR virus

[@schutzemk2811]

realized that jennifer (Ally Sheedy) is in "The breakfast club" and the YingYang Killer in Psych.

[@h.a.9880]

Now, if this was the Ferrari F1 pit crew, it'd go somewhat different. General Berringer: "This is Crystal Palace, are you still on? Anyone there?" Pit Crew: "Stand by, we're checking."

[@SKF358]

Really well done graphics and for that year.

[@GrahamKSmith]

Not graphics at all. Each video display was back-screen projected film. Apparently it took ages to resync all the projectors for a retake!

[@chrisst8922]

I think it won an award that year.

[@miked172]

I love how they thought this was the end, but they didn't realize the computer was about to counterattack with real missiles. The celebration that they were still alive was cut short when they realized a real live counterattack was about to take place.

[@Scopper81]

This is a great scene because the actors really sell that they BELIEVED that nukes were on the way and then 100% stress relief when the attack is fake.

[@darkone666]

Crystal palace - are you still there? Aston villa - yes, were still here.

[@treloarw]

Honestly, I would have told that guy with his finger over the launch button to flip the cover closed and “walk away from it” before celebrating or even just cracking a hint of a smile. 😬 Just my 2 cents

[@SirHenryMaximo]

0:16 That actor played General Carville in the Red Alert games! Guess it fits.

[@kossttamojaan]

"Joshua, what are you doing?"

[@leftcoaster67]

But Dad, we can win!

[@juziotrompka]

I love these movies under the Pentagon umbrella.

[@michaeljohnson1157]

Note the Tears in ALLEY SHEEDYS Eyes

[@brt-jn7kg]

In real life the guy holding his thumb over the launch button would probably have sneezed pushed the button

[@michwashington]

THE WOPR (bacon lettuce 🥬 and tomato 🍅 and cheese 🧀 ) 😂

[@tomj4406]

1:40 The impact circles are the size of entire Western states, lmbo. Legit all of Nevada shown blotted out by 1 nuke..i dont think so. However!! One of the best movies & best scenes, ever!

[@garwynrosser8907]

The horrifying moment you realise that nobody has been watching the Russians this whole time.