Wargames
Wargames was released in 1983. The American Cold war fiction was directed by John Badham.
The film starred Mathew Broderick and was a commercial success.
It generated a box office revenue of $125 million on a budget of $12 million.
The Movie
David Lightman (Broderick) is a teenage computer genius, who struggles at school.
He cunningly hacks the school computer and gives himself better grades. He also helps his friend Jennifer Mack (Sheedy). David then started snooping around, connecting to phone numbers he doesn’t know.
This is where he accidentally connects to an artificially intelligent computer controlling the US nuclear missile arsenal
Thinking he is playing a game, he triggers the computer into thinking the USA is under attack and sets off a chain of events that could start a nuclear war.
The Cast
- Matthew Broderick as David Lightman
- Dabney Coleman as Dr. John McKittrick
- John Wood as Stephen Falken and the voice of Joshua / The WOPR
- Ally Sheedy as Jennifer Mack
- Barry Corbin as General Jack Beringer
- Juanin Clay as Patricia Healy
- Dennis Lipscomb as Watson
- Joe Dorsey as Colonel Joe Conley
- Michael Ensign as Beringer’s Assistant
- William Bogert as Mr. Lightman
- Susan Davis as Mrs. Lightman
- Irving Metzman as Richter
- John Spencer as Captain Jerry Lawson
- Michael Madsen as Lieutenant Steve Phelps
- Alan Blumenfeld as Mr. Liggett
- Maury Chaykin as Jim Sting
- Eddie Deezen as Malvin
- Art LaFleur as Sergeant Ginzberg, Guard
- Stack Pierce as Airman
- Stephen Lee as Sergeant Schneider
- Jesse Goins as Sergeant
- James Ackerman as Joshua Falken
- James Tolkan as FBI Agent George Wigan
Conclusion
Wargames received three Oscar nominations for Best Cinematography, Sound, and Writing. Video games were released for the ColecoVision in 1983. Versions for the Atari and Commodore 64 followed the next year.
A soundtrack composed by Arthur B. Rubinstein was released shortly after the film. A sequel was released directly onto DVD in 2008.