# Wargames (1980's movie) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 23, 2013, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wargames-1980s-movie/656540 "2013-04-23T21:44:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wargames-1980s-movie/656540/61 "2013-04-24T20:29:04Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > But remember how Falken talks the General into seeing it as a simulation: by asking him if it makes any sense. Falken asks whether we’re prepared to destroy 'em right back; the General says yes; Falken asks whether they know that; the General replies that we’ve made it clear. Falken then asks whether the Soviets would so attack, such that we see it coming and have plenty of time to shoot back and totally annihilate them. > > If we unilaterally disarm all nuclear weapons, then Falken’s argument would be that – it makes _perfect_ sense for the Soviets to so attack. I think there might be a misunderstanding on the meaning of ‘unilateral disarmament’ here. Does it mean “Keep your weapons if you want to, we’re getting rid of ours” or “We’re both ditching our weapons because I said so!” ? Hopefully clearing this up will allow the thread to quickly get back to more discussion of Ally Sheedy 😉 ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wargames-1980s-movie/656540/62 "2013-04-24T20:30:08Z")
Both agreeing to ditch their nukes would be bilateral disarmament. Unilateral means doing it without regard to what the other one does. ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wargames-1980s-movie/656540/63 "2013-04-24T20:36:22Z")
I’m not sure that was what **That Don Guy** meant when he said “Disarm all nuclear weapons - unilaterally, if you have to.” Since he included the word ‘all’, I wonder if he was taking about a choice by one side to enforce compliance by both sides. But I won’t put any more words in his mouth until he shows up again. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wargames-1980s-movie/656540/64 "2013-04-24T20:45:45Z")
Great movie. ---
**Author:** ![Disgruntled\_Penguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@Disgruntled\_Penguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disgruntled_Penguin)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2013, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wargames-1980s-movie/656540/65 "2013-04-25T02:15:42Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > And this particular model would store 100 numbers in memory, with up to 32 digits per number [back in the day of those alternate to AT&T long distance numbers where you had to dial an access number, then the passcode of 5 or 6 numbers, then the area code, then the 7 digit phone number. What was the demo of? I’ve wondered what the legitimate business use of this was. I’m assuming it wasn’t solely used to win free concert tickets. Was it used for telemarketing back then? That would make sense. ---
**Author:** ![Disgruntled\_Penguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@Disgruntled\_Penguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disgruntled_Penguin)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2013, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wargames-1980s-movie/656540/66 "2013-04-25T02:23:53Z")
> [@mlees](#): > > _snort_ > > Don’t get me started on computer controlled/driven automobiles! That reply has always been the point of the movie to me. I see it as a cautionary tale not to blindly implement the technology that you discover knowing that doing just that is human nature and that techhnology is moving so fast that the need to keep up ( especially in the cold war ) could make that a really tempting thing to do. There’s no need for bad guys in that scenario. Bad results are enough of a villain. ---
**Author:** ![ricksummon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ricksummon/32/3333_2.png) [@ricksummon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricksummon)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2013, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wargames-1980s-movie/656540/67 "2013-04-25T03:09:06Z")
It would have worked just fine if they hadn’t pushed the button to lock out changes. I mean, why do they even **have** that button? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2013, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wargames-1980s-movie/656540/68 "2013-04-25T03:45:51Z")
Two things I know about this movie, as I was around when it first came out, and had a very small part in its production. First (this is not first hand), since actors are not typists, a special keyboard was rigged so that _any_ key pressed triggered the display of the next character in a prepared sequence. Therefore, the sound of the keys matched the display and the actors could be sloppy about what keys they actually pressed as long as they didn’t press too few or too many. This also prevented erasures and backups. Second (this is first hand), I was given the Original Soundtrack Album before the flick was released to work on for copyright purposes. There were at least two tunes on it that did not appear in the final movie cut. One was a techno-pop song about dinosaurs, with lyrics. I found out later that that the Falken part had been written to show him a little too crazy, and it was trimmed to make the plot move along quicker. At least one tune was cut at the same time and the vocal part about dinos was used only as a short instrumental cut. ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2013, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wargames-1980s-movie/656540/69 "2013-04-25T03:59:40Z")
> [@mlees](#): > > Don’t get me started on computer controlled/driven automobiles! Memo to Google: Roll out the driverless cars before Google Glass. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2013, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wargames-1980s-movie/656540/70 "2013-04-25T04:28:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **Quimby** : > > I remember my friend and I played a Wargames licensed game on his Atari Computer(not a game system, it was a Keyboard with a cartridge slot that could run programs or play games). Wow, someone else had that one! I did, too (Mom bought it for us because it was educational), and it was nearly impossible to find games for it. And yes, it seems crazy to trust a computer with driving a car, but consider this: The alternative is trusting _humans_. ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2013, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wargames-1980s-movie/656540/71 "2013-04-25T05:24:05Z")
> [@Student\_Driver](#): > > Anyone ever watch the made-for-DVD sequel, [WarGames: The Dead Code](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WarGames:_The_Dead_Code)? I ended up skipping it, but still kick myself for missing the theatrical re-release of the original WarGames that was done for its promotion. Oh, so bad. SO bad. I tried to watch it for the neo-retro indie cred, but it was too bad even for that. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2013, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wargames-1980s-movie/656540/72 "2013-04-25T06:33:10Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > You are correct. The first player can always force at least a draw, no matter their opening move. But what if Paul Lynde was really convincing that he knew the answer and you agreed with him and he was wrong? My favorite line I CAN’T SWIM. OK Wonder Woman! Here he’s be escaping the Feds and doing many amazing things but he has to admit that he can’t swim. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2013, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wargames-1980s-movie/656540/73 "2013-04-25T09:57:49Z")
> [@Disgruntled\_Penguin](#): > > What was the demo of? I’ve wondered what the legitimate business use of this was. I’m assuming it wasn’t solely used to win free concert tickets. Was it used for telemarketing back then? That would make sense. Yes, it had a use in telemarketing business to business. If you are for example the maintenance manager in a large business concern like my fathers chemical factory, you need to be able to contact assorted manufacturers and repair reps, who themselves are also busy. You can be at your desk working on some project and let the DD wardial the manufacturers rep for the quick disconnects on the bleach platform to get replacement parts. You don’t have to sit on the phone redialling forever, you can get on with your job. If you are a tech rep for Eaton Aeroquip and you have a burning desire to sell your line of quick disconnects to a slippery maintenance manager for Airjaunt and his phone is always busy, you can do something while Fred the DD slaves away trying get you connected. Really, for a small business back in the day [like a sales or tech rep, or like Lugash Telephonique [not the real name of his business] a demon dialler was actually a fairly decent investment. ---
**Author:** ![bdgr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a87d85/32.png) [@bdgr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bdgr)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2013, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wargames-1980s-movie/656540/74 "2013-04-25T10:49:35Z")
I remember watching this when it first came out. I enjoyed it at first, then hated it right after. We had a bbs party where we watched a bootleg of it, and talked about some of the goofs. First of all, you couldn’t generally do a war dialer with a cradle type modem that he uses. It could possibly dial the number, but it couldn’t hang up. (and I never heard it called a war dialer until after the movie). the carrier tone doesn’t sound right. The speech synthesizer certainly was available, but it wasn’t something a computer you just hacked into would be expected to support. What really got annoying is that right after that movie lots of people went out and got modems and tried to be hackers. (and yes, we called ourselves hackers, contrary to what people say now. A cracker was someone who broke copy protection on a program. a hacker got into computers they weren’t supposed to). I found a lot of the computers we would get into and toy around with were now getting locked down because of all the newbies screwing stuff up. Then they went and passed actual laws that made it illegal to hack into a computer, where before you were generally ok if you stayed away from government stuff. Where before, we were just seen as kind of annoying, now everyone saw us a threat. ---
**Author:** ![Aro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b3f665/32.png) [@Aro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aro)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2013, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wargames-1980s-movie/656540/75 "2013-04-25T12:34:14Z")
I’ve just finished reading a book on/by Kevin Mitnick ( **Ghost in the Wires** ) where he talks about how rumours were (totally mistakenly) spread that this movie was based on some of his exploits; the most ridiculous (and funny) highlight of this story was once, when being charged in court for hacking, the prosecutor told the judge that Mitnick was so dangerous he could _“whistle into a phone at NORAD and launch a nuclear weapon”_, a clearly erroneous claim that followed him around and plagued him for many years. But still, the things he _could_ do in those days proved a fantastic read, so would definitely recommend the book above for a bit of old-skool hacking insight. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2013, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wargames-1980s-movie/656540/76 "2013-04-25T13:34:12Z")
> [@chrisk](#): > > I’m not sure that was what **That Don Guy** meant when he said “Disarm all nuclear weapons - unilaterally, if you have to.” Since he included the word ‘all’, I wonder if he was taking about a choice by one side to enforce compliance by both sides. But I won’t put any more words in his mouth until he shows up again. I meant that the message I thought the movie was trying to send was, “If both sides won’t disarm their nuclear stockpiles together, then the USA should do it on its own; do you really think the USSR would launch first?” (and never mind that the answer was probably, “No, but it would have made it easier for Soviet troops to enter western Europe, especially as draft riots would probably have started the next day in the USA”). There’s a reason it was shown in a prime spot at Cannes when it was first released. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2013, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wargames-1980s-movie/656540/77 "2013-04-25T13:42:17Z")
> [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > I meant that the message I thought the movie was trying to send was, “If both sides won’t disarm their nuclear stockpiles together, then the USA should do it on its own; do you really think the USSR would launch first?” (and never mind that the answer was probably, “No, but it would have made it easier for Soviet troops to enter western Europe, especially as draft riots would probably have started the next day in the USA”). > > There’s a reason it was shown in a prime spot at Cannes when it was first released. IMO, the “peace message” is also reinforced by the WOPR stating that the Global Thermonuclear War game can’t be won, then asks why we bother playing it (IIRC). ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2013, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wargames-1980s-movie/656540/78 "2013-04-25T14:27:04Z")
I think WOPRs line is, “The only way to win is not to play.” ---
**Author:** ![Blaster\_Master](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cab0a1/32.png) [@Blaster\_Master](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blaster_Master)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2013, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wargames-1980s-movie/656540/79 "2013-04-25T14:29:10Z")
I loved this movie when I was a kid and, like others have said, it was part of what sparked my interest in computers and particularly artificial intelligence. I’ve seen it a few times over the last few months on various movie channels and, also like the OP, I’m quite pleased at how well it holds up. There’s certainly some technical errors in the film, but unlike a film like Swordfish, I think it’s clear that most of them were deliberately changed chosen for the purpose of drama in the film, rather than just throwing in some techno-babble. One of the most glaring “errors” in the film that stuck out to me and was pointed out upthread was at the end when Joshua is trying to determine the launch code. It just wouldn’t get one digit at a time; however, getting one digit at a time is sort of an interesting twist of the timer trope, and it helps build the tension, so I think it’s actually a reasonable and clever twist. That’s completely unlike the equivalent scene in Swordfish, 1024-bit encryption and untraceable transfers, but he gets the money back in less than a minute…ugh. So, yeah, it’s one of the few films on that sort of subject matter that I can watch and I’m actually able to maintain suspension of disbelief and enjoy the film. I also think the general plot and story are interesting, particularly given the era and subject matter. Here we have a movie about the Cold War where the Russians aren’t the bad guys and, in fact, neither is the antagonist. I don’t think it’s necessarily anti-military, but the simple parallel between how Tic-Tac-Toe is unwinnable, and the mutually assured destruction approach to nuclear deterence is brilliant in its simplicity and impact. ---
**Author:** ![Blaster\_Master](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cab0a1/32.png) [@Blaster\_Master](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blaster_Master)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2013, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wargames-1980s-movie/656540/80 "2013-04-25T14:34:48Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > I think WOPRs line is, “The only way to win is not to play.” The only winning move is not to play. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wargames-1980s-movie/656540.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wargames-1980s-movie/656540.md?page=5)