WARGAMES

WarGames
Directed by	John Badham
Produced by	Harold Schneider
Written by	Lawrence Lasker Walter F. Parkes
Starring	Matthew Broderick Ally Sheedy John Wood
Distributed by	MGM/UA Entertainment Co.
Release date	3 June 1983 (USA)
Running time	114 min.
Language	English
Budget	$12,000,000 (estimated)
IMDb profile

This article is about the 1983 US movie. For other uses see War Games.

WarGames is a 1983 science fiction film written by Lawrence Lasker and Walter F. Parkes, and directed by John Badham. The film starred Matthew Broderick in his first major film role, as David Lightman, Ally Sheedy as Jennifer Mack, Dabney Coleman as John McKittrick, Barry Corbin as General Jack Beringer, Maury Chaykin as Jim Sting (computer nerd), James Tolkan as FBI Agent Nigan, Juanin Clay as Pat Healy and John Wood as Stephen W. Falken. A novelisation of the screenplay was written by David Bischoff.

The movie was a hit, costing US$12 million, but grossing over $74 million after five months in the United States. The NORAD set was the most expensive single movie set ever built up to that time, and cost $1 million.

Taglines:

• Is it a game, or is it real?
• How about a nice game of chess?
• ...Where the only winning move is NOT TO PLAY.
• Shall we play a game?

Plot

At the outset of the film, the Missile Combat Crew on a desolate U.S. Air Force base are given orders to launch their missiles at the Soviet Union. The Missile Combat Crew Commander (portrayed by John Spencer), insists on calling out for verification while the Deputy (Michael Madsen) holds a gun to coerce him to follow orders. In the end, it appears that the MCCC fails to turn his launch key, meaning that the ten ICBMs under his command do not launch.

It is shortly revealed that the orders were part of a larger psychological test, designed to see how many U.S. Missile Combat Crew teams really would "turn the key" when given a launch order. Twenty-two percent of Missile Combat Crew teams failed to launch during the exercise.

At NORAD's Cheyenne Mountain headquarters, computer expert John McKittrick points out that twenty-two percent is an unacceptably-high failure rate. McKittrick argues that a computer called WOPR^[1] should be put into control of the silos, taking the men out of the loop. Over General Beringer's objections, the congressmen return to Washington and recommend the change-over. Congress approves, and the change is implemented; the launch terminals are converted, and electronic communications are established between each silo and NORAD headquarters in Colorado Springs.

Dialogue between David and WOPR

Response at NORAD to Soviet missile launches

Meanwhile, David Lightman (Broderick), a hacker in high school, is introduced. We see that he is willing to resort to cheating when his gaming addiction leads to poor marks in school. He causes a disruption in class and is sent to the principal's office. While he waits for the principal he checks a desk drawer to read the current password for the school computer system. (It is clear David causes trouble specifically so he can retrieve this password from its secret location.) Later that day David and his classmate Jennifer Mack ride home together and David introduces her to his computer hobby. Equipped with a 1970s vintage IMSAI microcomputer complete with 8 inch floppy drive and modem (connected to the telephone by an acoustic coupler), he dials into the school computer and uses the password he found to change his science grade from an F to a C. He then offers to change Jennifer's grade to a C as well, and in fact does so, but reverts the change to an F at her request (changing it all the way up to an A as soon as she leaves).

David is next seen excited by some new computer games and doesn't want to wait for them to show up on store shelves. With a host of software not common among such early home computer users, he uses his smarts: He contacts Directory Assistance for the company's phone number, asks what other prefixes cover that location (there are four), and tells his computer to start dialing all 40,000 numbers in the area code, looking for modem tones, a practice known as war dialing. He intends to "fix" the call records so they don't show up on dad's phone bill.

When Jennifer comes by the house with him (she tells David she decided to let him change her grade and he admits to her that he in fact changed it already to an "A"), David checks out the half-dozen or so modem numbers he's found so far. The first one is a bank, and he muses, "Gotta make a note of that; it might come in handy." The next is a travel agency, and he books a trip to Paris for Jennifer and himself, though it's unusable since it isn't paid for (he does it mostly to impress her). He tries another number that gives him a login prompt with no other identification. He tries various commands and is repeatedly disconnected. Eventually he decides to try typing "List Games" and is given a list of various games. Because of this David assumes he's found the company he's looking for. David takes the printout to a computer nerd friend for advice, learning about "backdoors". He is advised to investigate the programmer of the system, whose name is revealed by the first game entitled "Falken's Maze." David researches a Professor Stephen W. Falken, who is revealed to have created the software for WOPR, and finds out more about him, including that his wife and son (named Joshua) died in a car accident. David tries to login to the unnamed system again, with Jennifer present, and this time the password "Joshua" gives him access into the computer. He is greeted by the famous prompt, "Greetings Professor Falken."

David, under the impression that he has hacked into a gaming software manufacturer's computer database and unaware of the machine's real purpose, discovers what he believes to be a simulation video game called "Global Thermonuclear War" and begins to "play", taking the side of the Soviet Union. Unbeknownst to him, WOPR sets in motion preparations for a real attack against the Soviet Union. At NORAD HQ, everyone leaps into action at a warning of incoming Soviet missiles. David and his girlfriend are having loads of fun aiming missiles at American cities, but when David's mother calls him downstairs, he shuts down his computer, and WOPR stops the simulation.

Later that day, David and Jennifer are shocked when the television news reports a brief alert at NORAD. He becomes very nervous about his activities and begins to dispose of all materials he has related to Falken. While he is doing this, the WOPR, as a personality referring to itself as "Joshua" (programmed into the use of the personal backdoor by Falken), phones back to connect with his computer. David learns by conversing with Joshua that the simulation is continuing automatically and that the "primary goal" is "to win the game." He disconnects his phone line.

David is later arrested coming out of a 7-Eleven, taken to NORAD and questioned. We learn that John McKittrick was Stephen Falken's assistant in the past. He also explains the DEFCON rating to David. McKittrick asks David whom he's going to Paris with (referencing the unused plane tickets), thinking that David may have been recruited by a Soviet saboteur, due to the percieved impossibility of a lone youth compromising United States top security. McKittrick is called away, and David uses McKittrick's computer to continue his conversation with Joshua. He learns that Stephen Falken is currently going under the alias of Robert Hume and is given a "classified address" in Goose Island, Oregon. McKittrick's secretary notices him on the computer and calls security. David begs to explain what he's learned to Mr. McKittrick but his requests are ignored. He is apprehended and confined in the medical infirmary.

David finds a microcassette recorder used by doctors, jump connects it to the door controls, then fakes the guard into typing the code into the keypad by saying he needs to go to the bathroom. He records the DTMF-type sounds that unlock the door, and then admits he doesn't need to go after asking again to talk to McKittrick. The guard closes the door again. David plays back the tape and unlocks the door, then sneaks out while the guard's attention is on a woman in the room, leaving the door jammed so it can't be opened with the code sequence. David crawls through air ducts while the FBI arrives. The guards find they can't open the door. David escapes NORAD in a tour group, then hitches a ride on a truck.

After getting some distance away, he calls Jennifer on a payphone (after hot-wiring it so it will operate without money) to buy him a plane ticket, and she joins him to fly to Oregon where they look for Professor Falken. Falken tries to persuade them that a nuclear holocaust is now inevitable and speaks of the futility of mankind. He offers that they can spend the night since they missed the last ferry, but David and Jennifer leave the house. David frantically searches for a boat he can use to get back to the mainland but is unable to find one. He and Jennifer share a passionate moment when David sadly wishes that he had never gotten involved in the situation. Unknown to them, Falken changes his mind and decides to help them, and he flies a military helicopter which they think are the authorities trying to catch them; in fact Falken is merely offering them a ride. They hurry to Colorado and are riding a jeep in a frantic race as the facility closes up in preparation for war. They arrive just in time to take part in efforts to convince Joshua not to finish the Global Thermonuclear War game. Upon their arrival, Berringer has sent US Air Force bombers to the fail-safe line to proceed to Soviet targets should Joshua be successful in launching the US ICBM's. Falken speaks to General Barringer and tries to convince him that the war cannot be real because it is too absurd. Barringer still isn't sure whether to believe what he is hearing, but he holds off attacking. They anxiously await the expected impact of Soviet missiles on various US military bases. When it is revealed that in fact nothing happened, everyone finally realizes that the war was in fact a simulation.

Joshua has other ideas. Assuming that the failure of the US to respond to an imminent nuclear threat is the result of Soviet undermining of command authority, he begins a brute-force attack on the launch codes so that he can execute the missile launch automatically. It is calculated that there isn't enough time to disconnect the missiles from the system, not to mention that they may simply launch anyway as a response to a perceived destruction of NORAD. Falken and David try to get into WOPR to abort the simulation, but they're locked out each time they try to tell it to stop the game. Falken discovers that his password, "Joshua", has been removed from the system. However, by entering tic-tac-toe into the login, they're able to access the game. David begins to play against the computer, but it's slow with one player against the computer. They restart with zero players and cause the system to loop, repeatedly playing against itself. Joshua quickly learns the futility of playing tic-tac-toe against an even matched opponent even as it is trying to unlock the launch codes. Joshua succeeds in deciphering the launch codes, and begins running simulations for a successful attack:

• US first strike. Winner: none.
• Soviet first strike. Winner: none.
• China first strike. Winner: none.
• China-US versus Soviet. Winner: none.
• China-Soviet versus US. Winner: none.
• India (Soviet ally) vs Pakistan (US ally). Winner: none.
• Israel vs an Arab state. Winner: none.

Over one hundred such scenarios are run, involving some of the smallest pairs of belligerent possibilities. Each one ends the same way - the major powers go to the aid of their small allies, and the two superpowers attack each other. Each one ends with no winner. The simulations run faster and faster and the rest of the base begins to shut down as power is drawn into the computer to feed increased processing to speed up the simulations. Computers begin to burn out violently as Joshua forces them to exceed their maximum safe computational limits.

After numerous such pointless war games, the simulations cease and the base becomes quiet. The WOPR, still under the programmed "personality" of Joshua, communicates with Professor Falken through text appearing on one of the many large monitor banks. It remarks that war is "a strange game", and "the only winning move", it states with astonishing insight, "is not to play". It has apparently realised that the only way to win a war (to protect the United States and neutralize all threats to it) against an equally matched opponent, is not to go to war in the first place. The base bursts out in rejoicement, and the main characters, especially Professor Falken, breathe a sigh of cautious relief.

Analysis

WarGames was promoted as a cautionary tale about technology and the dangers of leaving machines in control of unleashing destruction, in an echo of the Doomsday device of Dr. Strangelove. It also prominently featured the common idea of the Cold War period (particularly the 1970s and 1980s) that somewhere there was a "button" that, when pressed, would nuke the whole world away. This button, marked "LAUNCH", had several prominent close-ups in the film. (In fact, U.S. ICBMs were under a very decentralized control, as demonstrated in the prologue, with as few as ten ICBMs under the control of teams of two Missile Combat Crews -- to say nothing of the submarine launched missiles (SLBMs) and air-launched weapons (ALCMs). However, it can be argued that the button was installed after the WOPR was to simplify release of nuclear weapons. It is ironic that a system designed to take humans out of the loop would still require a human to "turn the key." The film's final sequence graphically demonstrated the concept of mutual assured destruction (MAD).

It was also one of the first movies to deal with teenage hackers and their activities, and features very early Internet technology.

Awards

WarGames was nominated for (but did not win) three Oscars:

• Cinematography: William A. Fraker
• Sound: Michael J. Kohut, Carlos de Larios, Aaron Rochin, Willie D. Burton
• Writing (Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen): Lawrence Lasker, Walter F. Parkes

Trivia

• The combination to the detention room at NORAD where Matthew Broderick was held is 111 222.
• At least one computer/video game was licensed from the WarGames movie, published in 1983 by THORN EMI Video under the movie's name and the alternative name Computer War. It was released for the ColecoVision, Commodore 64, Atari 8-bit family and the Commodore VIC-20, and possibly for other platforms as well.
• In the Nintendo Entertainment System game Mission: Impossible (based on the television series of the same name), to win the game, the player must play a similarly unwinnable-with-perfect-play game called "Madelinette" against a supercomputer to demonstrate the futility of nuclear war, just as in the movie. In the game, the game board is superimposed on a world map. Madelinette is a game in which you have to force your opponent into a position that it can't move.
• The user account "falcon" (a misspelling of Falken) was present by default for a long time in several versions of the BSD operating system, in homage to WarGames.
• A shell script, /usr/games/wargames, is included with BSD systems. When run, it will ask the user if they want to play a game. If a game is selected, the script will then run the game, or, if an invalid selection is made, it will state: "A strange game. The only winning move is not to play." The script was also run when a user logged in as falcon, followed by an immediate logout.
• The jeep crash outside NORAD was not supposed to take place, and was instead an actual crash. However, the crash was later believed to enhance the action, so it stayed in the movie.
• In Lasker, Parkes, and John Badham's commentary on WarGames, they mention that the role of Stephen Falken was originally written as an acting vehicle for John Lennon.
• The writers and director had an interest in working with Professor Stephen Hawking to develop the Falken character into a physicist as well as a computer scientist/game theorist. Hawking responded to their request by noting that he was happy to assist with the inclusion of some of his theories on cosmology in the movie, but he would decline if the intent was to exploit his battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Since the writers and director could not in good conscience say that Hawking's disability wasn't of interest to them, they ultimately decided to write Falken as a dabbler in paleontology instead. They kept the name "Stephen" as an homage.
• Contrary to some rumors, the hacker Kevin Mitnick was not an inspiration for the character David Lightman, according to screenwriter Lawrence Lasker, who hadn't even heard of him until a rather long time after the movie release.
• The arcade game played in both scenes where it appeared in the movie was Galaga, one of the most popular games in the 1980s. The "Challenging Stage" jingle from that game can also be heard in a later scene.
• Known hardware used in David Lightman's room are: an IMSAI 8080 computer, an IMSAI IKB-1 keyboard, an IMSAI FDC-2 dual 8" floppy drive, a 17" Electrohome monitor, and a 1200 baud Cermetek 212A modem, relabelled "IMSAI". It was considered unrealistic for a teenager to be able to afford the most up-to-date hardware, so propmasters used this somewhat dated equipment because it was the sort of gear one might have found at the time via dumpster diving.
• This movie carried the first cinematic reference to firewalls.
• The launch codes that Joshua uses to almost launch the missiles is "CPE1704TKS".
• In the movie Mission: Impossible, Ethan Hunt uses a similar but different method of phone phreaking. The comparison was that Ethan had to use a special type of add-on to connect with Kittridge, while Lightman uses a soda can top to connect to his girlfriend without any money.
• John Spencer, who had played the recurring role of Henry Anderson in the '60s on The Patty Duke Show, as well as several other minor roles, received his first major film role in WarGames, as the Missile Combat Crew Commander in the prologue who refuses to turn his key for the launch.
• The password David uses to break into the school computer is "pencil".
• A small error was made: the "voice" of Joshua is from a voice simulator that David owns. Yet, the same voice is heard from McKittrick's computer and from the loudspeakers in NORAD's war room. The re-use of the voice, however, has the advantage of conveying, to the audience, that the same "personality" is present and responsible. It can also be viewed as a reflection of the state of computer voice synthesis at the time, when the hardware was relatively uniform and primitive compared to the technology of today.
• The voice of Joshua was performed by actor John Wood (who also played Falken). Director John Badham had Wood deliver the words in reverse order, which resulted in a staccato, even-toned delivery. Wood's voice was then post-processed to obtain the artificial quality.
• A game called WarGames: Defcon 1 was available on the console Sony PlayStation. It entails about a global war between NORAD and WOPR in which the player may take either side at the beginning of the game (and therefore end up with two alternate endings). The NORADs are using human (yet somewhat near-future) technology while the WOPR uses futuristic technology. Interestingly, there is a third entity called the "JIC" that stands for "Joshua Information Center". When played as NORAD, the last sentence spoken by the WOPR after its mainframe was bombed are "Shall we play a game? How about a nice little game of chess?"
• In the computer game Uplink, one machine that can be hacked into is labeled "Protovision Game Server." Using the password "joshua" on this machine will recreate the list of games available on the WOPR computer, including a playable Global Thermonuclear War.
• In Red vs Blue episode 75, "Things are Looking Down", Lopez (a robot) says, "Sarge, would you like to play a..." after Sarge accesses Lopez's internal controls.
• The rock band Crosby, Stills & Nash had recorded a title song written by Stephen Stills used in initial early trailers for the film, and released concurrently as a single by the group, but their participation in the project was cancelled at the last moment. The single did not feature in the film, although images from the movie were used by the band in an accompanying MTV video.
• Except for some few minor changes, the plot of WarGames parallels the 1977 Canadian film Hide and Seek.
• In the movie, Broderick's character hacks into his high school computer system and changes his grades. His character performs a similar feat in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, using his break-in to reduce his number of absentee days.
• The NORAD Command center built for the movie was the most expensive set ever constructed at that time, built at the cost of one million dollars. The producers were not allowed into the actual NORAD command center, so they had to imagine its interior.
• The exteriors were all filmed in western Washington state. The NORAD HQ set was built in the Cascades, and the Oregon airport was really a Boeing field. Goose Island is really Anderson Island in Washington (in the Southern part of the Puget Sound). The last ferry off the island really was at 6:30 in the evening, and visitors were really stuck there if they missed it.
• Although she had appeared in many television movies, WarGames was also Ally Sheedy's first feature film.
• The studio had Galaga and Galaxian machines delivered to Broderick at home, where he practiced for two months to prepare for the arcade scene.
• Director John Badham actually took over the film from Martin Brest. A few of Brest's scenes remain in the final film.
• Kevin Costner turned down the lead role for a part in The Big Chill, which was eventually cut.

• GOOFUPS: While being held in the NORAD infirmary, Broderick's character plays a tape recorder. The tape plays a doctors voice saying "...patients eyes are dilated, which is consistent with marijuana use...". Actually though, marijuana use does not dilate the pupil but it fact constricts them, a common misconception.

• GOOFUPS: During the war scene toward the end of the movie, the General responds to 2 Russian jets showing up over Alaskan airspace by calling in the order "Scramble two F-16's". However, the very next scene shows two F-15 's. These planes are easily distinguished from F-16 because they have two vertical tail sections.

WOPR scenarios

The nuclear war scenarios that WOPR runs when learning the futility of war, and are seen in the film, are as follows:

Quotes

• "Is it a game... or is it real?" – David Lightman, "What's the difference?" – Joshua (WOPR) (See also: Alternate reality game)
• "David, does this have anything to do with what you did with my grade?" – Jennifer
• "I'd piss on a sparkplug if I thought it would do any good."– Gen. Jack Beringer, ad-libbed by Barry Corbin
• "Mr. McKittrick, after very careful consideration, sir, I've come to the conclusion that your new defense system sucks." – Gen. Jack Beringer
• "A strange game. The only winning move is not to play. How about a nice game of chess?" – WOPR, on the nature of Tic Tac Toe and Global Thermonuclear War
• "Shall we play a game?"
• "What is the primary goal?" "To win the game"

Footnote

1. ^ WOPR = War Operation Plan Response; in the movie, this computer system is running a program named "Joshua"

See also

• Demon dialing
• Phreaking
• The Manhattan Project, a film similar in theme to WarGames
• Colossus: The Forbin Project, a film where a computer also controls nuclear missiles
• Terminal Entry, a film with a similar theme, however a terrorist network replaces the nuclear weapons.

...and these terms actually derived from the movie WarGames:

• Warbiking
• Warchalking
• War dialing
• Wardriving
• Warspying
• Warstorming
• Warwalking

Their definitions can be found at WarXing.

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

WarGames

• MGM's official WarGames site
• WarGames at the Internet Movie Database
• The Wargames IMSAI
• NORAD Headquarters. Crystal Palace. The Wargames Homepage This website even has the authenticated "Greetings Professor Falken" introduction from the movie, and simulates the WOPR.
• The Spoilers Alternate DVD Commentary of WarGames with Andy Ihnatko