What WarGames Got WRONG | Movie Review

In this movie review I'll talk about 1983's WarGames, and what it got wrong and what it got right. It stars Matthew Broderick, Ally Sheedy and Dabney Coleman.
WarGames is about a young computer hacker Matthew Broderick who knows how to hack into the World Wide Web better than anyone I know. He soon discovers he's hacked into a military supercomputer called WOPR, and nearly starts an entire nuclear war with the United Soviet States of Russia (USSR).
Thanks for watching.
#wargames #moviereview #computerhacking

[@WhatWereYouWatching]

If you enjoyed the video, please subscribe the the channel!

[@RetroRedBeard]

Subbed. Good work

[@WhatWereYouWatching]

@@RetroRedBeard That's awesome of you. Thanks a billion :)

[@RetroRedBeard]

@@WhatWereYouWatching War games review

[@RetroRedBeard]

Oops. Read ur channel name as a question.lol

[@matthewhunter9594]

@@WhatWereYouWatching I don't think I watched Hackers 1995 yet,do you have the first Fightbox episode?🤔

[@benduell8792]

"The plot hinges on a giant room full of experts not believing what they are being told.." - this is actually plausible to anyone that has worked for the government.

[@WhatWereYouWatching]

Lol this is very true.

[@DanKetchum007]

Exactly.

[@Primitarian]

Yes, you have given the government--and people in general--way too much credit, I'm afraid.

[@EuropeanQoheleth]

Sitting at my computer in January 2021 in Ireland and I know exactly how you guys feel. We had the lowest infection rate per capita then they screwed up at Christmas and now we have one of the worst.

[@gorillaau]

@@EuropeanQoheleth Hang on there and get the vaccine as soon as you can.

[@robertholtz]

The endings you suggested for the movie would've been super lame. The end they used was perfection. STRANGE GAME. THE ONLY WINNING MOVE IS NOT TO PLAY. That was the moral of the entire story. That was the whole takeaway for the audience and it was really poignant in a time when everyone felt we were on the brink of a nuclear showdown with the Soviets.

[@tonykarter8830]

As a Joshua who got their name from this movie, I think it's a great movie.

[@deim3]

How about a nice game of chess?

[@djbabbotstown]

As a WOPR. I won’t tell you when I got my name.

[@joshuafalken5424]

Shall We Play A Game?

[@tonykarter8830]

@@joshuafalken5424 A strange game. The only winning move is not to play. How about a nice game of chess?

[@yorgle11]

When I was a kid we used to live near an Air Force base. Years later my mom told a story about one particular evening. It was dinner time, she looked in the backyard and saw some freaky stuff coming down from the sky in the far distance. She really thought it might be the missiles dropping. She didn't say a word to anyone, just quietly sat down to dinner wondering if that was our final moment. Everybody really thought this was how the world was going to end. It was just a question of when it would happen. When the Soviet Union collapsed it was a shock. Nobody realized how economically broken the Soviet government was. It seemed inevitable that we'd eventually end up trading blows.

[@WhatWereYouWatching]

That sounds scary as hell. I'm glad it wasn't the end! I also appreciate you taking the time to comment. Thanks a lot for watching :)

[@arjandikhoff5201]

Growing up in the 80s in the Netherlands was SCARY. Tensions between the USA and USSR were incredibly high. Nuclear arsenals were growing and nobody knew what the outcome would be. Wargames perfectly encapsulated that feeling. But even though it was a scary time to grow up, the movies coming out in the 80s were awesome!

[@Drewman3387]

I worked in the theatres when this came out and it and people were always coming out with a sense of satisfaction and fulfillment; ( not just the appearance of Ally Sheedy...) it was a good movie.

[@WhatWereYouWatching]

Yeah I like this movie a lot. What a cool time to have been working in a movie theater :) I worked in one in the mid 2000s. Not as fun as the 80s would have been.

[@kentdean3882]

They were well-entertained?

[@shicrapt]

Here's what the movie is missing: In the middle of a very tense situation where real war could occur, people leave for coffee break. These are government employees after all.

[@WhatWereYouWatching]

Hahahh that's a good point. Very much agreed.

[@ToastedNoodle]

Why don’t you have more views? More subscribers?! WHAT THE HECK, MAN?! YOU ARE BETTER THAN MOST REVIEWERS ON THIS DAMN SITE!! KEEP IT UP MAN!!

[@WhatWereYouWatching]

Thanks maaan. Once the stonks take off I'll quit my job do youtube full time.

[@billclinton6040]

I recently rewatched WarGames for the first time in probably more than 20 years. I was amazed at how smart this movie was and how well it had aged. The screenwriters and directors did an excellent job throughout. It got a little annoying how NORAD couldn't tell the difference between a simulation or the real thing. And at one point, I yelled at the screen, "Why don't they just unplug the damn thing?" Literally the next scene was General Beringer saying the same thing and Dabney Coleman quickly explaining why that wouldn't work. Similarly, the garbage can scene was critical to explaining why NORAD was unable to trace the call. It is also important to remember the climate in which this movie was made. The Cold War was in full effect, personal computers were still relatively new, and Stars Wars (or the SDI) was spooking everyone. But, getting back to just how smart this movie was, even though the technology is dated/obsolete it makes no difference because everything David used or did was real including the really memorable scenes of David hacking the school computer, breaking out of the infirmary, and phreaking the payphone. So even a Gen Zer can watch without their credibility being stretched to the breaking point. In fact, it provides unique insight into the state of the art in 1983 something which Hollywood normally does not get right. Compared to similar Cold War films of the 80s like Red Dawn which came out the following year, WarGames is Oscar worthy while Red Dawn deserves a Razzie.

[@WhatWereYouWatching]

I think Red Dawn is highly overrated. I thought I was going to like it a lot but it was actually kind of boring, even though I enjoy the premise. The cast was also pretty great. But agreed, Red Dawn was nothing compared to WarGames. Thanks a lot for checking out the video :)

[@davidhunter1424]

Everything, with the exception of the hack (as far as I know) happened.

[@davidhunter1424]

Let me put it this way, everything in this movie was based on actual events (with the exception of the hack, as far as I know). The vast majority of what happens in this movie are real.

[@bjgandalf69]

After watching this film and being into doing low level versions of the hacking he did, I even tried to phreak the phone like was shown in the film but couldn't get it to work.

[@MrRezRising]

They couldn't unplug it or the system would interpret the loss of power as annihilation, and launched our icbms.

[@laurienoone5890]

At school, we watched educational videos on what to do in nuclear fallout. The threat was real.

[@peachesdoesyoutube]

My mom used to work at NORAD, where they _do_ give tours, but definitely not when DEFCON is below 5 at any cost (now it's no longer called DEFCON, but it's the same thing.)

[@WhatWereYouWatching]

Lol that's amazing.

[@jantipper]

Was she there in 1979 at 3am when this shit really did occur?? kzbin.info/www/bejne/j3S0eoeEl9xqqsU

[@bubu-]

I'm just reiterating what other people are saying, but this channel is criminally underrated. And it's all done with an original personality and editing style. I'm very impressed, sub for sure. If I had any constructive criticism, I'd say not to feel afraid to show your face more. The intro was great, but then we go over 80% of the video without seeing the charming lad behind the voiceover! Maybe cutting back to the mini-narrative every so often would be a good thing to play with.

[@WhatWereYouWatching]

Those are some super kind words, I appreciate it. I'm definitely still trying to figure out a proper balance in my videos, but I see what you're saying. My next few videos planned should remedy that problem for sure. So much so that it will create a brand new problem: too much screen time for the pale goon. Thanks a lot for the sub :)

[@Shred_The_Weapon]

As an aside, it is worth mentioning that WarGames cast members Dabney Coleman and Barry Corbin would 7 years later be reunited in the making of the cult classic Short Time.

[@ingolf17]

"The only winning move, is not to play", ok. Then it suggests a game of chess.... hello? ;)

[@ploxman]

We live in the wrong timeline if such a high-quality channel gets this little attention aaaaaaaaanyways, gotta go and watch some moooore insightful reaction videos of some very e p i c new movie trailers

[@WhatWereYouWatching]

Thanks dude. So many gotdang epic movie trailers out right now.

[@Fortaz107]

The Matthew Broderick chuckle at the end made me subscribe

[@WhatWereYouWatching]

Lol thank you. And thanks for watching the video.

[@johnmartinez1899]

"This corn is raw!" LOL

[@paulromsky9527]

The earth blowing up and Broderick's head flying off into space with a little grunt... perfect. I like the trash can scene when his mother asks him if he wants to invite his "little friend" to dinner. That was the whole point of that scene, no matter the generation, your parents will embarrass you in front of your friends trying to be "hip".

[@WhatWereYouWatching]

Haha very true. And thanks very much for watching, I appreciate it as well as the kind words.

[@longone-oc2zz]

i thought what made this movie so good was that it was simple enough so that non tech folks could understand it but just complex enough so that techies could be entertained. another good one just like this one was the manhattan project (1986).

[@mylovesongs2429]

yes! Manhattan Project was sooo underrated!!!

[@emuhill]

In addition to war dialing from an accoustic coupler modem, getting help from a login screen. Not to mention getting a games list from said screen. All pretty much unrealistic. Nothing like that should be possible from a login screen at all. That stuff would only be possible after you managed to login to the system.

[@EricJ2002]

With editing like this I was expecting this channel to have millions of subs it's sad how times have changed.

[@WhatWereYouWatching]

I really appreciate that! Comments like that keep me going. Hopefully in 2020 I'll upload more frequently and people will have more reasons to sub. Thanks a ton for watching :)

[@HeffeJeffe78]

One glaring error in the authenticity of the film is the role of NORAD. The war room they depict in the film would actually be the underground at SAC HQ, not NORAD as they had no role in executing a release of weapons. NORAD's job was to track every airborne object within the CONUS (and Canada) and determine if the object was of a malignant intent. If they picked up objects they considered to be suspect, the information was passed on to SAC who would analyze the situation and make recommendations to the SECDEF and POTUS, and then execute the orders given. Technically this film would have occurred at SAC HQ.

Just finished watching this movie. (Finally. It was on my list for toooo long). Subscribed, loved the interludes in this review :D

[@WhatWereYouWatching]

Thanks very much for the sub :) hopefully a new vid coming next week.

[@Kruppt808]

90s movies Hackers was an excellent example of what someone in the 80s who never owned a computer thought it looked like.

[@WhatWereYouWatching]

Lol correct

[@AppliedCryogenics]

One great thing that works in this content's favor: The narrator totally sounds like a young Matthew Broderick.

[@jodyspiegel73]

Could David have become Ferris Bueller through the witness relocation program?

[@WhatWereYouWatching]

lolol. official canon from here on out.

[@ferriusnillan5323]

There are few things that are related to the movie that i found fairly interesting: 1) A video game called Wargames: Defcon 1 put itself in a near future, where NORAD now uses clone troopers and Joshua (WOPR) goes bananas with his sleek robot armies. On PC its an RTS, on PS its an arcade driving and shooting game, however neither feature anything remotly close to be a nuke. 2) Actor, who played Falken also voiced WOPR by reading words in sentences from right to left 3) Falken's Maze would appear a bizarre reference to Alternate reality game called just "Maze", that even speculated to be on of such games that some agencies could use to recruit specialists in a most ridiculous way imaginable.

[@WhatWereYouWatching]

Yeah researching this movie and all the trivia behind it was a blast. Those are some good facts though. I have a hard time thinking of modern movies with such a rich backstory. Thanks for watching my vid :)

[@richardbenjamin8535]

How can you say the hardware was used in a realistic manner, when David (Matthew Broderick) would have to dial each and every phone number by hand? The modem he used is an acoustic coupler, basically a hearing aid for the computer. All it does is take binary information and translate it into an audible signal, which it then sends over a traditional phone line or voice line. There is no hardware in the modem to send dialing commands to the phone company. The name modem means to modulate and demodulate, doing exactly what i described before with binary information and audible tones. I have no doubt that there were "war dialers" in that time, but they would need a modem that actually DIALED the phone and essentially had a phone built into them, so they could both make and answer phone calls the way it does in the movie. I have worked with computers so long, I remember when I thought 300 baud or bits/second was fast and now I am pissed that I can't get the 1 gigabit/second that I pay for because of slow copper coax wiring.

[@emuhill]

Essentially you would have needed a smart modem that had the Hayes AT command set to war dialling. Anothern modem to add to the list of no goes would have been the early direct connect modems that had switches to control the modem. Once again you had to place the call first with a regular phone. Then flip a switch on the modem to initiate the modem handshake when the remote computer modem aswered the call.

[@Mlaprades]

Used to hang out with a childhood friend in fourth grade and we were dialing up s*** we mainly use AT&t 800 numbers once we found out it was AT&t we would hook up, throw some tones in and make free Long distance phone calls that had to be 1984-85..

[@amcclay415]

If the biggest criticism one can come up with for the authenticity of this movie is “they used the wrong kind of modem for the “war dialing” sequence, then I’d say that speaks pretty highly of the movie. First, the acoustic coupler was likely chosen for its far better visual impact and ability for an audience to get the computers are “talking to each other” while also being 90% accurate. Second, even in the hacking / phreaking community, the practice of “scanning” became known as “War Dialing” almost immediately after the release of this movie. Even today ,the act of “War Driving” is a reference to this movie.

[@lynnanderson5254]

Since the advent of SSBN’s, sub based nuclear weapons, the attack time has been reduced to less than the 30 minutes needed for ICBM weapons to travel from Siberia to the US.

[@AndrewCaudell]

The biggest flaw is the central assertion that tic-tac-toe is an unwinnable game. I've won, and lost, many games of tic-tac-toe. The whole premise that a nuclear war cannot be won because it's like tic-tac-toe is absurd.

[@Person01234]

I mean sure if the enemy doesn't launch any missiles then you win. But the assumption is that you're playing tic-tac-toe/global thermonuclear war against an opponent with a brain.

[@josephtaylor3857]

Great review...love the humour, well timed. Would love to have seen a reboot where Joshua/WOPR is owned by EA and charges Lightman $19.99 for the "Nuclear Launch Codes pack" before he can launch his missiles at Seattle.

[@jackilynpyzocha662]

I will play "Tic Tac Toe" instead, no thermonuclear war!

[@jackilynpyzocha662]

What size of the floppy disk? I hope you have a very large disk drive!

[@richardburchett]

I went back and watched War Games after not seeing it for 30+ years. It holds up well. What they did right was try to stick to real technology at the time and not try to make it science fiction or come up with futuristic ideas. They also touch on the perils of relying on AI to override old fashioned human decision making. I feel that cyber security was pretty lax back then and something like this really could have been plausible. The plot seems pretty seamless and builds steadily. The actors are all believable and there is a great chemistry between many of them that is enjoyable all by itself.

[@WhatWereYouWatching]

Agreed on all points! Chemistry between the actors especially. And regarding the technology, I had a fun time looking up the computer Broderick uses in the movie, an IMSAI 8080 and had a good time watching vids about it. Thanks for watching!

[@autohmae]

" I feel that cyber security was pretty lax back then and something like this really could have been plausible." it was so plausible it triggered the US to enact the: Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.

[@MrRezRising]

You don't need security if no one knows you exist.

[@jackilynpyzocha662]

I looked up (online) "The China Syndrome" and The Three Mile Island meltdown yesterday, eerie about the time period that elapsed between the movie and the meltdown.

[@tbfdude]

1:20 That was hilarious, love that download speed. 😂😂😂😂

[@WhatWereYouWatching]

Thanks my friend :)

[@NerdOutWithMe]

Top 5 favorite movies growing up. Watched it all the time on HBO. And Dabney Coleman is GOD!

[@NerdOutWithMe]

PS - SNL ending song = brilliant.

[@WhatWereYouWatching]

It was way better than most movies nowadays. I need to get more familiar with the Dabster.

[@NerdOutWithMe]

@@WhatWereYouWatching May I suggest "9 to 5" and "Cloak & Dagger" ?

[@strivingformindfulness2356]

Cool overview. I remember Wargames and The Day After. Many of us alive at the time half expected to die by nuclear attack. Now it's almost April, 2020, and many are dying from the newest virus to hit the air, Covid-19. 🦠☠️ It's aaaalllways sumthin.

[@WhatWereYouWatching]

Thanks a lot! Yeah, it all seems very cyclical. Kinda depressing. Buuuut at least we got movies like Wargames to get us through the bummerest of days.

[@Primitarian]

Knowing what I know about just how close we actually came to nuclear war in the very year that War Games and The Day After came out (1983), I for one greatly prefer the present pandemic.

[@2HRTS1LOVE]

I watched this at a drive-in as a little kid, hanging out with my bff in the back of her folks' station wagon. My first drive in movie. It was a lot of fun, but it scared us too, we were probably a bit young to be watching a nuclear war movie at the height of the Cold War. Then again, we rode around with no seatbelts and stayed outside on our bikes for hours on end, not coming home til dark. Different times.

[@WhatWereYouWatching]

Seeing this in a drive-in must have been cool as hell. Thanks for watching!

[@Scottocaster6668]

And we drank water from a garden hose too! 😵

[@1123lz]

You were one of the lucky ones to have experienced the drive in movies. We watched Grease in drive in too a lot of fun

[@seanb6478]

And enjoyed Eskimo Pies!

[@jackilynpyzocha662]

The guy in the "Tax Attack" commercial looks like it is April 15, his taxes will be late. And that huge floppy disk! :-)

[@ingolf17]

@6:17; Why would NORAD go on the news, exposing a computer weakness worldwide?

[@Joe-z3n]

good point

[@polarper8165]

If you want a "good" nuclear movie... watch Threads.

[@bighoss9705]

If the missiles will only launch at DEFCON 1, why didn't they just switch to DEFCON 2? I imagine that a follow-up movie or ending would have been the kid and his family would have been thrown in federal prison 🤔 😅 for the hack 😊

[@MovieEmporium]

I love this review, the dry wit is amazing. I enjoy war games a lot. Nice review sir.

[@WhatWereYouWatching]

Thanks a lot my friend

[@moviemanxrk]

I like how you did this review. I’m into all these retro movies and eventually want to review more movies like this. Thanks for visiting my channel too. You got yourself another sub!

[@WhatWereYouWatching]

Thanks a lot Rye, I appreciate it! Hopefully more regular uploads in da future.

[@dan4lau]

Very good review. You have a very nice speaking voice and delivery too. Something oft lacking in youtubers. No one's fault I suppose but when people are either too loud or too quiet, fill their reviews with profanity, or mercilessly edit their videos to take up the absolute minimum amount of time, seeming to speak with pausing for breath and giving you no time to absorb what they're saying, that's not an enjoyable listening experience for me. So well done sir. Much appreciated and enjoyed. Now I want Joshua's voice! haha

[@WhatWereYouWatching]

I really appreciate the kind words. I put a lot of work into the videos so it's nice to know when someone digs them. And thanks a ton for taking the time to watch :)

[@jackilynpyzocha662]

Does "WOPR" work in leap years? :-)

[@jackilynpyzocha662]

Do the Taxes, man! :-)

[@madpajamas7628]

great review. i have vague memories of this movie. might need to go back and watch now.

[@WhatWereYouWatching]

Thank you :) At the very least you should try hacking some government supercomputers to live the movie out yourself.

[@jackilynpyzocha662]

Be sure that you cook the corn!

[@baylinkdashyt]

Cute. And I gotta say, while I didn't really miss the tag scene you posit, you're not wrong, they could have dropped that in. There's a *big* BTS on this on YT, probably from the DVD release, and the final shooting script is out there too, as a PDF. Holds up *damned* well over 35 years.

[@bladerunner752]

I had a computer setup very similar to the David character. The huge 8 inch floppy disks that held a whopping 256Kb Lol. Its what I think makes this such a great movie is that they show you the current tech of 1983

[@WhatWereYouWatching]

Amen to that. I love that they used authentic technology in this movie. I googled IMSAI 8080, the computer David uses in his room, and it's not possible to buy them anymore, which is sad. That would be something fun to own even though it'd likely cost a crapload of money. Thanks a ton for watching :)

[@alcockell]

@@WhatWereYouWatching damn Ann early build of cp/m. Should be possible to find an emulator.

[@seanb6478]

@@WhatWereYouWatching It must've cost a crapload of $$$ in the 80's like $3000+?

[@jackilynpyzocha662]

2023!

[@flameloude]

Fun fact. A computer error has almost caused world war three during the cold war a few times.

[@WhatWereYouWatching]

They probably fixed it by restarting their computers. It's how I fix my errors when I'm about to cause nuclear annihilation.

[@mattgiguere5638]

Correct

[@danielserene4532]

The reason that there is no further development of the characters in the movie is that the original ending had WOPER actually launching the nukes and starting WWIII. However, the studio at the last minute had the ending changed to the one we saw.

[@willywonka2614]

I really liked the ending. I do not agree with you, that it had a bad ending.

[@MrRezRising]

The epilogue scene you desire is in the book. David's high school principle gets a call from Dabney Coleman and says David is gifted and should be left alone, or at the very least handled with kid gloves.

[@jackilynpyzocha662]

It sounds like a pinball machine!

[@the_once-and-future_king.]

The HUGE problem is that NORAD didn't think to contact England, France, Germany etc to find out if THEY had any confirmation of a Soviet launch. Or maybe see if any NASA satellites had seen the missiles.

[@worlddd7777]

Sure, but something like this actually happened in 1983

[@tholmes2169]

Great review. I always wondered what the actual Protovision games would have been…

[@WhatWereYouWatching]

Thank you :)

[@bjgandalf69]

I genuinely laughed at the skit you created to go along with your film analysis. Installing the ancient "Protovision" tax software that keeps giving nuclear war as an option was brilliant especially the last time when every choice is playing the game. Thanks for the laugh and excellent analysis...I appreciated the smart breakdown of the strengths and weaknesses of the film and it made me appreciate it all the more. I had always thought that it was the only film from the 80s and 90s to realistically portray hacking and it came out at a time where it had a huge impact on me along with all the other nuclear war related films. I was born in 1969 the son of an Air Force plane mechanic career man who joined to avoid going to the Army when drafted for the Vietnam War so knew way too much for a teenager about the mechanics of nuclear war and how it could be fought and grew up during this decade of increasing tensions with the Soviet Union. I even did a school project where I video interviewed a foreign exchange student from West Germany about his personal feelings about living under the threat of possible invasion by Soviet tank brigades that could spark a tactical nuclear exchange that could lead to an all out nuclear war. People who lived through the Cold War have a different outlook on the world than people born since. I also would like to point out the genius of the scene where Lightman escapes by recording the tones of the electronic door lock. I'm glad I found your channel...will be looking at more of your content...🙃😁😄🙂

[@WhatWereYouWatching]

Thanks Charles I really appreciate your nice words :) I love this movie. The depiction of hacking is second to none as far as I know. Usually movies completely muck it up.

[@alanazargushasb8557]

The technology in this movie looks so alien too me.

[@martinbrody3315]

Um, I was just asking what monitor did you use for this video?

[@WhatWereYouWatching]

Some kinda Asus brand thing. I think I got it off Amazon for around 100 dollars.

[@leeshaver7825]

I watch them film the 7-Eleven scene that was supposed to have taken place in Seattle it was actually the 7-Eleven in Big Bear Lake California on the corner of Eureka and Big Bear Boulevard across the street from McDonald's the cabin and helicopter scenes were also filmed in Big Bear Lake California

[@helgedell]

Very interesting. Took a trip there on googles street view. Could you turn this streetview to the excact point where the phone boot was? www.google.com/maps/@34.2434866,-116.8983382,3a,75y,24.32h,80.46t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sPJR7ZYbimcUCVanSgHXpFQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu

[@HappyFriday]

Have not seen this movie, but now I think I need to, it looks good

[@WhatWereYouWatching]

It's a standout movie for sure. Def see it.

[@TheHorrorGeek]

Wandered over here from NewTubers -- this is great. You deserve a way bigger audience.

[@WhatWereYouWatching]

Thanks my friend. I really appreciate it.

[@RogersRoyal]

I agree. I always thought that too when I saw this movie. David gets away with everything and learns nothing from his actions. Sure he helped stop everything and was a hero here to stop a problem he caused in the first place. But to just end the movie with a wink and a smile and he goes on with his life afterwards, I feel it needed more. Even a throw away line of "We would like you to intern for us when you are done with school. We can use someone with your know how here to keep the world safe." being said by Dabney Coleman's character would have been a great way to show that David amounts to something after this and of course having David say yes to let us know that this all worked out for him. Or perhaps as you suggested they could have had a final scene where he is seen doing his homework and not even looking at his computer as Jennifer comes over to study with him. Something to show that he learned what he did was wrong and how important it is to be a good student and appreciate the friend he now has in her. But they didn't. Still a great movie but it was missing that closing arc as you say.

[@WhatWereYouWatching]

Right? Seems like the story would have improved by buttoning up David's story, even just a little. But everything else about this movie is so good and memorable. I appreciate your comment, thanks for watching :)

[@jackilynpyzocha662]

David "who gets away with everything" is like "Ferris Bueller"

[@jodyspiegel73]

See my previous comment Ferris Bueller and David act like the same person; they are both slacker from school and both are tech proficient and both have a nice girl friend; Ferris could be David put into the witness relocation program to protect himself and the United States from others that would want to use his tech abilities to their advantage;

[@maxheadrom3088]

I watched the movie in 1983 and the NORAD scenes were tense. The ending you proposed would kill the film. The lesson is "Strange game, Professor Falken, the only winning move is not to play. How about a nice game of chess?". WOPR was not AI but a traditional chess style learning game: play, find the good moves, store good moves, play again. Why was I tense with the NORAD scenes? Why all those films were made around the same year? That's because the US escalated the arms race with the Star Wars project. At the time the USSR was already collapsing and a NATO communications training exercise at the time almost lead the Soviet high command to think they were being attacked. (at the time the system was collapsing and information agents in the west got more chances to stay in their jobs if they sent more information so they exaggerated a little and did not bother to look into it). Wanna now what is really interesting? After the collapse of the Soviet Union, we came to know that in 1983 a senior radar officer saw in his screen 5 ICBMs inbound to the USSR. He had to decide if that was a real attack and inform the high command. He informed no one and waited. Those ICBMs were bugs on the satellite information processing software that caused high altitude clouds to be mistaken for missiles. Then everything went calm ... the wall fell, the USSR fell ... and we would have no problems at all. The nuclear threat was gone! No more news about it except for some specialist on KZbin lectures saying "we now live under a higher risk of a nuclear exchange than ever before. The advent of low yield tactical H-Bombs create a situation where it's more tempting now to deploy a nuclear bomb". Things went so calm so quickly that in 1998 after a series of speculative attacks on the Russian financial system (these attacks were widespread, btw) the country went bankrupt. For some reason, at the time, no one imagined that it would be prudent not to let a country with a nuclear arsenal that size undergo a second economic crisis in less than 10 years. No one remembered that Hitler's rise to power was caused by exactly a similar (although much more extreme) situation. If you look at the life expectancy for Russians you'll see a 5 year drop (70 to 65) in 3 years from 1991 to 1994, a slight improvement and then it dropped again to 65.5 years after 1998. You know what causes drops in life expectancy like that? A high number of deaths concentrated in a short period of time and in Russia, at the time, those deaths were suicides. "[...] If politics is to become scientific, and if the event is not to be constantly surprising, it is imperative that our political thinking should penetrate more deeply into the springs of human action. What is the influence of hunger upon slogans? How does their effectiveness fluctuate with the number of calories in your diet? If one man offers you democracy and another offers you a bag of grain, at what stage of starvation will you prefer the grain to the vote? Such questions are far too little considered.[...]" -- Bertrand Russel, Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, 1950. Then, by the end of the 1990s, Yeltsin resigns and his VP takes his place. In 2001, that VP becomes the President of Russia. His name is Vladimir Putin and under him the life expectancy of Russians has steadily risen to 75 years. The guy became a dictator accepted by the population and now he invaded Ukraine and is a war criminal - a war criminal that no one dares to fight (except a portion of the Russian population) because he has nukes. DO NOT USE what I just told you to dilute Putin's responsibility for the criminal invasion of Ukraine - he is the one and only responsible for that because that is the nature of authoritarian power. He could have made Russia more democratic but decided to cling to power like Bo did to Ally Sheedy. Use what I told to learn and to not let it repeat.

[@dBREZ]

Guy says "Movie came out before I was born" I look up thinking.....I actually remember seeing this in the theater.....

[@WhatWereYouWatching]

Haha you're here now and that's what matters.

[@dBREZ]

@@WhatWereYouWatching If a time traveler came back , in those days, and said that "in the future we'll be so connected that people around the world with common interests will have an online forum to communicate that interest." I would of said "What's a KZbin?"

[@paulcoover7057]

I was a kid at the tme. But I remember the world atmosphere. It was the height of the cold war. Same year the powers were within minutes of an all out nuclear war.

[@WhatWereYouWatching]

That must have messed with people's heads, constantly knowing you're on the brink of war. Glad it never got out of hand.

[@paulcoover7057]

That's what I was saying, it was a scary time, I was 11. The world has it easy now , international Crap. Men womem . They are still winning by divide and conquer

[@paulcoover7057]

Was so young. But people said you had to hate russisns, they were bad. Grew up married and divorced Russian woman. Wonderful people, great culture. The world has been brain washed.

[@paulcoover7057]

@@WhatWereYouWatching I was young but yes it did. Growing up in those times it was all hate doctrine for a set of people I never even met , lived 12000 miles away from me and we're just as scared as we were. Fucking politics always uses fear to control the masses.

[@paulcoover7057]

@@WhatWereYouWatching thanks for the likes, nice to know someone out there sees simple reality

[@thrdeye]

In the real world, David would been in a shitload of trouble for breaking into the system. He probably be brought up on espionage and terrorism charges

[@user-cs4fg1rm5k]

Watched this one and Electric Dreams in computer class in middle school a number of times. Another good movie with a similar plot is the Manhattan Project.

[@RKingis]

The Manhattan Project is awesome, as well as Wargames!!!

[@jamesslick4790]

It was "frightening" in a way when I heard you say you weren't born yet when "WarGames" came out. To me it's STILL a "modern" classic. Then again, Ally Sheedy is one month YOUNGER than me. 😳 "Fun Fact" Me, Ally, Kmart, Target AND Walmart are the same age! (1962 was a BUSY year!).

[@WhatWereYouWatching]

WarGames has aged like wine. If only they still made movies like that. True classic stuff.

[@mylovesongs2429]

RIP Dabney Coleman. He played such a great role in this fine film!!!

[@WhatWereYouWatching]

💯

[@Hansenvision]

I saw hackers at the theater, it was laughable. Swordfish had this one great scene... don't remember much else. THE NET is an underrated classic if you ask me.

[@jodyspiegel73]

I noticed that you also made the connection between David and Ferris Buller; could they be one in the same person by Ferris being David who was put into the witness relocation program ?

[@blatentredditstealer7170]

jesus this is a underrated channel

[@WhatWereYouWatching]

Thanks, that's mighty nice of you. Thanks for watching :)

[@Hansenvision]

Brilliant! All that 80s software man, all they did was play Oregon trail and GTNW.

[@PhazerSC]

Question: how did you make the Tax Software computer voice? It almost sounds like Dr. Sbaitso but his Italian cousin.

[@WhatWereYouWatching]

I think I used some robotic text-to-speech website. I forget which exactly.

[@JohnSmith-zw8vp]

2:47 -- Dude, shooting him will not do a damn bit of good unless you happen to have Go-Go-Gadget Arms. (the keys are intentionally set far enough apart to make it impossible for one man to reach and turn both unless of course you're Inspector Gadget.)

[@cowprez]

One of my ALL TIME favorite movies.

[@WhatWereYouWatching]

They don't make em like they used to.

[@Mainstay17]

I think there's a great benefit to having antinuclear films that aren't as brutal as The Day After. Also I'll defend the sequel just because it was years ahead of the curve on unaccountable government surveillance and drones.

[@lynnanderson5254]

Well first, NORAD is not the agency tasked with raising the DEFCON level. Second, the only person who is allowed to order the deployment of nuclear weapons is either the President or his successor. If however, they are unable to give the coded order, the military has an airborne command post authorized to do so. By the way, after an attack has been detected and verified, the commander in chief only needs about four minutes to order a retaliatory strike. Attack profiles are already available for his cconsideration.

[@JohnSmith-zw8vp]

Actually his computer equipment was already really out of date even at the time of the movie. It still had the huge eight inch floppies!

[@jokerz7936]

If you want to see what Nuclear Fallout would look like forget The Day After and watch BBC's Threads from 1984. It's currently on Shudder and is one of the most upfront films about the horror of Nuclear War and Fallout ever made.

[@WhatWereYouWatching]

For some reason when I was doing research on nuclear war movies in the 80s I overlooked Threads like a doofus, or else I would have definitely included it as a few people have recommended it to me since. Maybe because it's on Shudder now. In any case I appreciate the recommendation :) Thanks for watching.

[@805Bruin]

You mentioned young Michael Madsen but you didn't mention that the other guy was a young John Spencer?

[@paulweston8184]

You got to give Hackers some props though. Yeah, it was cheesey but it had a great soundtrack and a star-studded cast whose careers were just about to take off. It had a young smokin hot Angelina Jolie before anybody knew Angelina Jolie. Matthew Lillard who had some hillarious improved scenes in the blockbuster movie Scream released one year later. Johnny Lee Miller who went on to play the responsible heroin addict in Trainspotting alos released one year later. Marc Anthony played a small role as a cop who thought hacking was cool and then went on to make milions in his singing career. The legendary Penn from Penn and Teller made a cameo as an IT security agent. It got me into computers but War Games was the initial catalyst.

[@peter_piper]

Love the video, love Wargames, and please is there a download link for Tax Attack 3000 ?

[@WhatWereYouWatching]

Thanks for watching. Wargames rocks :) here's a link to the full length nightmare kzbin.info/www/bejne/onXIlIF5aq-Vabc&ab_channel=WhatWereYouWatching%3F

[@TakedaIesyu]

Hey, this is a pretty good video! Surprised you don't have at least 10k subs already!

[@WhatWereYouWatching]

Thanks mate. One day perhaps :)

[@mattgiguere5638]

U made me laugh ☺️☺️☺️using the gun to open the box..👍 giant oversized floppy...launch some nukes...funny shit man...great movie...good job...I'd better go do my taxes.

[@WhatWereYouWatching]

Thanks a lot :) I appreciate that. And thanks a lot for watching.

[@timothystockman7533]

Apparently the laughs after the "reproduction without sex - your wife" gag were the film crew, who were not in on the joke. The Pterodactyl: The back story was actually a big thing. IIRC, this pterodactyl was built by a bunch of university students to prove they could get it to fly. In the modern day of quadcopters, this seems archaic, but remember how comparatively primitive microprocessor technology was back then, and you can understand that the pterodactyl glider active stabilization without a proper aircraft tail was a big deal.

[@SouRGraphics]

Haven't laughed at a KZbin video in a long time, video was so well structured too Had second thoughts before clicking this video because of low video count, was assuming it would be overdone with zoomer memes and such Very glad I clicked on this, earned yourself a sub. It's unfortunate you're not more recognized for originality but I think you have fun making them

[@WhatWereYouWatching]

Very kind words from you, thank you :) I really appreciate the sub. I don't upload as often as I'd like but I put a lot into my videos so thank you a million for sticking around.

[@stevejohnson2627]

“Spinning dumb-asses”. Thank you.

[@MightyMurloc]

I think WarGames, and to an extent, Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker, will have incredible relevance as time goes on. The goofiness of the future predictions/attitudes of the time will be criticized and mocked. But I think a conversation about M.A.D. Certainty being given to the hands of a computer COULD be a start of further nuclear de-escalation. I think the threat of total destruction could carry the appropriate weight, if removed from human hands, to those who don't recognise it already.

[@angelorusso3219]

I was 9... I had my TRS-80 CoCo and programming BASIC. This movie came out and I knew the future of computers was going to be amazing. I didn't want to hack like David, though I did do a lot of pirating at the time and learning how to circumvent copy protections being introduced. Back to the movie though, it holds a place in my heart and I watch it at least once a year... for the content, for the excitement, for the drama... and let's face it guys... for Ally Sheedy! Yeah Broderick stole the show, but Sheedy was an early 80's teen dream (Breakfast Club, St Elmo's Fire, and another of my favorites - Short Circuit) that had the girl next door look and not a "too hot to be possible" appeal.

[@WhatWereYouWatching]

WHOA. A TRS-80? I googled it, and I think you and David Lightman would have been good friends. Those kinds of machines are so rare nowadays. Makes me nostalgic for old computers. Thanks a bunch for watching :)

[@lifeisamatrix5960]

There would have been at least 5 silos with 2 each at the belly. They'd only need 5 of the 8 key turners to turn if one didn't. So Regardless it would have launched if it wasn't a start up booster test then shut down code as movie had.

[@WhatWereYouWatching]

But you know what this movie DID launch? Matthew Broderick's career.

[@berrisfueller6221]

Matthew was so cute in this movie!

[@WhatWereYouWatching]

Almost as cute as Dabney Coleman :)

[@berrisfueller6221]

@@WhatWereYouWatching ikr lol

[@NerdyBlurbTV]

I have never seen this movie so I vow to watch so I may effectively view this video and comment with full effect.

[@WhatWereYouWatching]

DO it! It's a solid movie. It'll make you want to boot up your old Apple II computer and do some cyberterrorism.

[@lilithdemonia74]

10:24, Falken wasn't Dabney's assistant, not the other way around. But yeah the notion of the govt offering the boy an actual computer job makes sense and would have been an interesting ending.

[@WhatWereYouWatching]

Just give the boy a job already, g-men.

[@jamesslick4790]

Not so "fun fact", no elaborate system was needed to generate the launch codes: For YEARS they were set at "00000000"! 😱

[@GardenofEnid]

I love it! Great movie and great review!

[@WhatWereYouWatching]

I appreciate it :) Thanks for watching. Wargames rules.

[@chrisklecker]

I always thought that NORAD including McKitrick didn't know just how sophisticated WOPR was. They assumed that WOPR was only simulating a game that was played by an outside hacker and did not assume that WOPR would continue it given it has never done it before even after the connection was terminated. They were not thinking that WOPR would continue to display or even play the game it was asked to play. WOPR is always playing wargames, so why is it now all of the sudden displaying it to the screen? Because this is the first time that it is actually playing against another "device" or in this case a human. So the computer is now outside of its own "box" so to speak. It's playing a game with the user but unfortunately displaying that data to NORAD. Since this never a problem before I think it's pretty easy to believe that NORAD would assume this is real. Besides, the computer is trying to launch missiles against Russia because that will win the game which is the real tension and conclusion the movie. This follows with your statement. What happened to Lightman? Well his actions confused the AI, yet he fixed a bug that Falcon never fixed, and all that took was having the AI play tic tac toe and GTNW for 2 minutes. That was my biggest problem. The solution took 2 minutes. It was a GREAT two minutes, but that was a bit fast for fixing the AI one weakness.

[@jacquelineamelie5467]

WarGames was already 25 years old by the time I watched it but man it quickly became my obsession. Was too young for Swordfish and The Net too but are least Wargames seemed only a little bit unrealistic.

[@WhatWereYouWatching]

Yeah WarGames is definitely way more tolerable and competent as far as realism goes. Swordfish and Hackers are abominations. But they are abominations you should watch anyway. At least watch Swordfish for John Travolta's hair and soul patch.

[@jacquelineamelie5467]

What Were You Watching? I see they’re available to rent on KZbin so I’ll probably check them out soon.