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Retro SciFi Film of the Week…
WarGames (1983)
The authenticity of this film has held up pretty well over time. They apparently had very good technical consultation with only a few incredulous “Hollywood moments” thrown in here and there. The film also provides an excellent snapshot of the early hacker culture and the 80’s cold war posture. At the time the film was produced, only a small portion of the population even knew how to use a computer, let alone owned one.
Production wise, it was pretty well made and is still entertaining even though it’s now been 40 years since it was produced. The filmmakers made liberal use of stock character actors in the film who played it a bit over the top at points, and there was quite a bit of awkward exposition, which is not uncommon for a film that is trying to introduce new concepts to an audience, which at the time, was digitally illiterate.
The film has acquired substantial cultural significance over the years and was likely influential in forming public opinion about technology, nuclear weapons and the cold war.
Recommended for anyone who needs to understand the early days of the computer revolution and the American cultural environment during the years leading up to the fall of the Soviet Union.
@Pat I remembering seeing it in the theater when it came out. I think I saw it more than once. Love it. Fun and thoughtful film. I had a small amount of computer background at the time, having learned coding in BASIC on a Commodore PET computer four years earlier. But it was still a cool and somewhat advanced sci-fi film at the time. A year earlier was TRON, another great sci-fi with AI causing havoc.
