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United Artists
WarGames Collection
Is it a game, or is it real?
High school student David Lightman has a talent for hacking. But while trying to hack into a computer system to play unreleased video games, he unwittingly taps into the Department of Defense's war computer and initiates a confrontation of global proportions. Together with his friend and a wizardly computer genius, David must race against time to outwit his opponent and prevent a nuclear Armageddon.
CinemaSerf
Jun 20, 2025 · via TMDB
When the young computer whizz-kid “David” (Matthew Broderick) is showing off to his girlfriend “Jennifer” (Ally Sheedy) about how he can improve her grades and book them on a first class trip to Paris, he inadvertently dials a telephone number that wants to play a game. A game of thermonuclear war! Next day, the news is full of stories about the mobilisation of American defence capabilities and his phone rings again. It’s the computer, it wants to play and he’s just a little terrified. Not so afraid as he is about to get, though, when the FBI turn up and next thing he is in a top secret facility trying to explain to boffin “McKittrick” just how he accidentally tapped into a computer system that now seems to be trying to start WWIII - and nobody knows how to stop it. Can he come up with a solution before the increasingly exasperated “Gen. Beringer” (Barry Corbin) goes to DEFCON 1 and obliterates the globe? It’s a good, solid, sci-fi entertainment this film with Broderick, Sheedy and Corbin on good form, but it also serves as quite a potent reminder that, just as with “The Forbin Project” (1970), the whole idea of automating our defences and letting computers do our thinking for us is fraught with danger. Logic is the ultimate in two-dimensional thinking for a machine. For anything more nuanced, balanced or sophisticated then believe it or not, you need a hormonal teenage boy and some very basic rational thinking.
GenerationofSwine
Jan 13, 2023 · via TMDB
Ally Sheedy, whatever happened to her. When I was a little kid, I mean REALLY little she was one of the few stars I could name...and then she disappeared save for a couple memorable appearances in Psych. It's a shame. Anyway, my fiance is a Millennial and I've been trying to introduce her and her friends to some classic films. This one was a fail. They sat through it, but really only to mock the technology. Mocking things that are old for being old is kind of one of their favorite things. So, despite that, the film made ripples in congress and the only other film that I recall doing that was JFK. It rewrote laws. And, it was extremely entertaining in the process, despite the fact that Matthew looked like more of a push-over than a computer geek. Not that it matters, he still played the part of a teen pretty well.
John Chard
Apr 26, 2020 · via TMDB
Wanna play Global Thermonuclear War? It was with much interest to me to revisit this early 80s hacker piece armed with the knowledge of just how the advent of change in the computer world had evolved. With that in mind the film could quite easily be classed as a bit clunky due to the now almost Neanderthal toys, games and computers used in the movie, but casting aside the nostalgia feelings I had with it, it still hits the spot as both a poignant piece of interest, and a damn good thriller as well. Matthew Broderick is David Lightman, a young computer gamer geek who is something of a whizz kid on the PC. He can change his school grades and hack into various sites he shouldn't be even looking at. During one eventful sitting he hacks into a computer called Joshua and plays a game called Global Thermonuclear War, he harmlessly chooses to be The Soviet Union and proceeds to launch a nuclear attack on his own country, the U.S.A. Trouble is, is that the game is for real and the wheels are in motion for World War III!. It helps to remember the time this film was made (for those old enough of course), for it was the time of the ever worrying cloud of the Cold War, a time when nuclear war was more than a hearsay threat. I really think that in this day and age where computers literally do run our lives, this film stands up really well not only as a warning piece about messing with technology, but also as a gentle poke in the ribs about defence systems and the people we trust to run them. Though the film is a kind of watered down and accessible 2001: A Space Odyssey for the 80s set, it impacts well and only really suffers from a pointless romantic plot strand involving the sprightly Ally Sheedy (could they not just have been pals?) and the aforementioned dated gadgets. The ending to the film is excellent as the tension builds up nicely and we are left chewing our nails watching a game of Tic-Tac-Toe, sounds simple doesn't it? Not so. Good honest and intelligent entertainment. 7.5/10
User reviews courtesy of TMDB.
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Matthew Broderick
David Lightman
Dabney Coleman
McKittrick
John Wood
Stephen Falken
Ally Sheedy
Jennifer
Barry Corbin
General Beringer
Juanin Clay
Pat Healy
Kent Williams
Cabot
Dennis Lipscomb
Watson
Irving Metzman
Richter
Michael Ensign
Beringer's Aide
William Bogert
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Stack Pierce
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Art LaFleur
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Michael Adams
Travis
William H. Macy
NORAD Officer (uncredited)
William A. Fraker
Director of Photography
Michael Adams
Stunt Coordinator
Marguerite Happy
Stunt Double
Marguerite Happy
Stunts
Rick Avery
Stunts
John Badham
Director
Newt Arnold
First Assistant Director
Arthur B. Rubinstein
Original Music Composer
Willie D. Burton
Sound Mixer
Michael L. Fink
Visual Effects Supervisor
Lawrence Lasker
Writer
Walter F. Parkes
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Jonathan
Jun 3, 1983
Jul 23, 1996
Jul 24, 2008
Re-release
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Stripper Wives
1999
Sally's Beauty Spot
1990
Sign in to vote
Battle your watched movies head-to-head
Community Top Movies
Evil Dead II
1987 · 14 wins
The Dark Knight
2008 · 14 wins
Halloween
1978 · 13 wins
Final Destination
2000 · 12 wins
Halloween II
1981 · 11 wins
Trivia
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