IS IT A GAME, OR IS IT REAL?

Teenage computer whiz David Lightman (Matthew Broderick) finds a way of connecting with a super-sophisticated computer at the Pentagon and starts playing a war game that turns out to be real.

Director John Badham made two tech thrillers in 1983, Blue Thunder and this teen favorite, that combined Cold War paranoia with a vision of computers running amok and starting wars on their own. Amusing and interesting as a document of its time, even if several characters are needlessly stupid. NORAD looks like a Bond villain’s lair, but the writers did visit the base.

Broderick and Ally Sheedy are engaging as the kids.

1983-U.S. 110 min. Color. Directed by John Badham. Screenplay: Walter F. Parkes, Lawrence Lasker. Cast: Matthew Broderick (David Lightman), Dabney Coleman (John McKittrick), John Wood (Stephen Falken), Ally Sheedy, Barry Corbin, Juanin Clay, Michael Madsen, John Spencer. 

Trivia: Martin Brest was replaced as director. Followed by a direct-to-DVD sequel, WarGames: The Dead Code (2008).

BAFTA: Best Sound.