V.C.R. Presents: War Games (1983) – Cold War Tension, AI Intrigue, and Tech Legacy

How would you react if you thought a game could start World War III? This week on Vintage Cinema Review, we're diving into the 1983 classic "War Games," a film that masterfully blends Cold War tension with cutting-edge technology of its time. Join us as we explore how the film's memorable line, "Would you like to play a game?" has become an iconic moment in cinema history. We’ll also uncover the surprising original title, "The Genius," and celebrate its impressive box office success, grossing $124.6 million against a modest $12 million budget. 

Our episode today focuses on the powerful themes and moments that make "War Games" both a timeless and thought-provoking film. We discuss the gripping opening scene that delves into human hesitation during a simulated nuclear missile launch and the creation of the AI supercomputer WAPR to remove emotional decision-making from defense strategies. Expect humorous tangents, like our confusion about Michael Madsen's career and our own field trip mishaps, but stay tuned as we dig into the serious undertones of AI, human consciousness, and the chilling possibility of living in a Matrix-like reality.

Lastly, we take a nostalgic look at how "War Games" influenced the tech community and its portrayal of computer hacking. We reminisce about the evolution of computer technology, from massive server rooms to today’s sleek devices, and the film's impact on early tech enthusiasts. Hear our personal ratings and nostalgic stories. This episode is a celebration of both the film's legacy and the camaraderie of our podcast community. Don't miss it!

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Thanks for tuning in to the Vintage Cinema Review On this week's episode. We're covering from 1983, war Games, ah War.

Speaker 2: 0:06

Games. The intersection between advanced technology and global security during the Cold War.

Speaker 3: 0:13

I don't know. I just I remember hearing that voice would you like to play a game? And the way that it was said on the television. When you hear it, you'll listen to that and hear it forever.

Speaker 1: 0:21

It'll draw you in for sure. We hope our podcast is drawing you in. Speaking of that. If it is, leave us a five-star rating on Spotify, on Apple five-star rating and a written review and sit back, relax and enjoy. From 1983, war Games. Hey, this is Dave.

Speaker 3: 0:40

Matt and Zap, and welcome to the Vintage Cinema Review.

Speaker 1: 0:44

Where, every week, we review some of our favorite films from the past.

Speaker 3: 0:47

Hey, there ain't no late fees here, silence is golden.

Speaker 2: 0:51

And be kind Rewind.

Speaker 3: 1:00

Hey, I see an early 80s classic going in there today.

Speaker 1: 1:02

Yeah, that's what's up. That is, this is a listener pick. This is off our list. This is War Games. It's got a lot of votes.

Speaker 3: 1:09

Who was the listener?

Speaker 1: 1:11

You know what? I'm not sure it might have been Juice man, I think.

Speaker 2: 1:14

Christ, okay, cool, cool I hope there's more than one that wanted to do this one.

Speaker 1: 1:25

Yeah, well, you know what I there I mean there were like 14 votes for this. So this was like up there and it's had, uh, quite a bit of votes. So this is a beloved movie. I haven't seen it since. Back then I enjoyed this. Yeah. So war games 1983. Runtime on this one hour 54 minutes and, to be honest, I could have went longer. I actually enjoyed it oh, it's a short short film, yeah this was rated pg and you know what the original title was going to be.

Speaker 3: 1:45

Awesome sauce. I was going to say DEFCON Basement.

Speaker 1: 1:49

No, that would have been good though.

Speaker 3: 1:50

War Times Russia sucks.

Speaker 1: 1:52

That was second in line. No, it was called the Genius.

Speaker 3: 1:55

Oh I did read that. I did see that we did like Real Genius. That was a good movie.

Speaker 2: 1:58

That was a good one, one of my faves in fact, that was the first movie I did.

Speaker 1: 2:05

Yeah, yeah, that was. That was uh zap's first induction into the basement with the little genius?

Speaker 3: 2:07

yeah, did you guys watching this? Did it kind of take you back to a time where like this was this could have been like the biggest thing in the world, but when you're watching it today, you're kind of looking at it like it's not 1983 as far as what like?

Speaker 1: 2:21

what if this would have happened?

Speaker 2: 2:22

I don't understand the word you just said.

Speaker 3: 2:24

Like like today. It's kind of meaningless watching it right now to when you watched it, when you were younger.

Speaker 1: 2:32

It's the other way around for me.

Speaker 3: 2:34

Oh really, yeah, yeah you guys said you were like anxious and I didn't. I didn't understand the anxiety. I'll definitely get into that.

Speaker 1: 2:39

But yeah, this movie, yeah, this movie. You know how we say they hit different, this hit differently.

Speaker 2: 2:45

It did With how much stuff has come and grown since. Not necessarily gone, because those sneaky fucking Russians haven't exactly gone. I don't know if you've been paying attention to the news, but they haven't gone anyplace. No, At least from that regard, that's still a thing, let alone. I mean the whopper is for real now, but I mean like dave said we'll get into it.

Speaker 1: 3:09

We'll get into it, speaking of back then matt. So may 7th 1983 this film released at kens film festival and then june 3rd 1983 to the rest of the united states kens, that's in.

Speaker 3: 3:19

Uh, in france the front. Yeah, I believe so yep.

Speaker 1: 3:23

So this was directed by John Battam, written by Lawrence Lasker and Walter F Parks and produced by Harold Schneider, with a budget of $12 million. Box office $124.6 million.

Speaker 2: 3:37

Dang Whoa Holy cow, really yes.

Speaker 1: 3:40

It did that well, it did great.

Speaker 2: 3:43

Yeah, that's ridiculous.

Speaker 1: 3:45

I can see why with the older crowd back then, like people that were getting this, I wasn't getting this movie back then this was a scary thing, man, this was.

Speaker 2: 3:52

It was a really well thought movie, I think, and I mean it was very, very poignant to to the extent that I mean it was relevant as hell, like this was a real potential thing oh, it probably still is.

Speaker 3: 4:05

You know, you never know exactly, even just like the submarines on your, like back door, step you know, the the way they had it lined up. There was a lot of computer games like this, wasn't there. Was there an actual like war games, computer game, or were there ones similar?

Speaker 1: 4:17

there was a war games computer game okay, that will be in the fun facts. Oh, okay, so this, so this was shot all the school scenes at El Segundo High School in California.

Speaker 2: 4:27

I left my wallet in El Segundo.

Speaker 1: 4:29

Yeah, tribe Called Quest, and the NORAD scenes were filmed in New Whalum, whatcom County, washington, washington, so Washington State.

Speaker 2: 4:39

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 4:40

So that's pretty much it for all that fun stuff. I'll turn it over to Zap for the cast.

Speaker 2: 4:44

Sure, Thank you, dave. The cast of War Games includes, but is not limited to, matthew Broderick as David Lightman, dabney Coleman as Dr John McKittrick, john Wood as Stephen Falcon, ellie Sheedy as Jennifer Mack, barry Corbin as General Jack Berenger, juanine Clay as Patricia Healy, dennis Lipscomb as Lyle Watson, kent Williams as Arthur Cabot, joe Dorsey as Colonel Joe Conley. I'm sorry, I can't help it. When I read Lyle Watsonatson I was thinking randy, yeah, I don't know why.

Speaker 3: 5:31

mr lyle watson that's good sexual chocolate I'm sorry, so now what's I like? It all right, all right.

Speaker 2: 5:47

William Bogert as Mr Lightman, that's David's father, susan Davis as Mrs Lightman, that's David's mother, irving Metzman as Paul Richter, john Spencer as Captain, jerry Lawson, michael Madsen as Lieutenant Steve Phelps, alan Blumenfeld as Mr Liggett and James Tolkien as Mr Wiggin, not to be confused with Chief Wiggum or Ralphie Wiggum.

Speaker 1: 6:19

Or Tolkien. Did he write Lord of the Rings? That's right. Dude, i'm'm sorry, watson anytime you hear watson, you can't help it you just can't help it yeah no, this the the cast.

Speaker 3: 6:32

I think uh, ali sheedy and matthew broderick really brought this movie to life um the way they acted like the the teenager part of them being teenagers and how they would act. Something like this would happen with spot on.

Speaker 2: 6:44

Enjoyed that yeah, I like matthew broderick in a role I think he did well, simply because he was able to play that timid, innocent guy. But there's a little bit of a conniving to him.

Speaker 3: 6:53

But oh yeah, it was still 99 99, just innocent and you just want to like change grades and stuff that you would think about doing in high school to to be that cool to it. But he was just a little too smart yet a little too dumb for his own good.

Speaker 1: 7:08

Yeah, I thought he was really good in this and I enjoyed it. Ali Shidi was really good Two years before Ferris Bueller? Yeah, and was he in a movie called Iron Eagle, was that?

Speaker 3: 7:16

him and Lewis Gossett. That wasn't Broderick, that wasn't Broderick. No, oh, okay. Okay, iron Eagle was a great. I'm surprised we haven't done that.

Speaker 1: 7:23

Yeah, that is one to bring up it's like Top Gun before it was Top Gun. I gotcha Yep, but I guess that's it for the cast. We'll turn it over to Matt for a brief synopsis.

Speaker 3: 7:32

This is a thought-provoking, exciting and brilliant blockbuster. David Lightman is a nice kid, a little brighter than most, perhaps a little shyer too. He does most of his socializing through his home computer, communicating with fellow computer buffs in an ever-growing world of circuits and terminals. His ingenuity gets him into enormous computer systems, allowing him to change his grades, play pranks and compete at games. Unwittingly he breaks into the most sophisticated computer systems ever built Joshua, the defense department's master war computer. By the time david realizes what he's done, he's brought the superpowers together in a game. No one can win world war three. Watch war games and you will well understand why it's created a sensation both with critics and moviegoers. It will entertain you thoroughly, yet make you happy that, for now at least, war games Games is only a movie.

Speaker 1: 8:25

Nice.

Speaker 2: 8:26

That was moving.

Speaker 1: 8:27

There's a company called Josh AI that they actually do home automation and all that, and I'm wondering if they got the inspiration for the name from this. Maybe.

Speaker 2: 8:39

I don't know. I don't know. I wonder if they would have used Joshua just to put it out there, maybe, or maybe that would have been too scary. Did the ai just to get around it? Just to get around, yeah, or it could have been too scary because, look, man, I'm, look, I'm with you, dave, I see that shit, I get scared man.

Speaker 1: 8:52

Yeah, it is. I mean this. Back then I don't think this was on anybody's radar, like ai, no. But watching it now, like definitely, uh, I think we can look at it through our lenses now with technology and and appreciate this movie for what. For what it was. I wrote down a quote, so they attributed to Einstein and this is paraphrasing, but it was along the lines of I know not with what weapons world war three will be fought, but world war four will be fought with sticks and stones, basically saying yeah, everything will be wiped out or going back.

Speaker 1: 9:24

So way back back um, I'm very interested in nuclear war and and I watched the documentary turning point. It's on netflix all about the cuban missile crisis and to me like this movie because I just watched all that and I'm interested in that. Now this movie, like like I said it, really I was into it. You know what I mean.

Speaker 3: 9:40

I dug it, it was scary, yeah oh, for sure, I would like to get to that mad max time or like the fallout, like those times seem cool to me yeah, I don't know.

Speaker 1: 9:48

I'm looking forward to that I don't know, but why don't we steer through the movie a little bit?

Speaker 2: 9:53

all right, let's get steering. Our movie opens with a tense scene in a nuclear missile silo. Under orders, two officers conduct a simulation of a missile launch to respond to a potential Soviet threat. One officer hesitates, unable to turn the key, displaying human reluctance and emotional intervention in executing such devastating actions. This hesitation triggers the military's drive to automate the decision process, leading to the creation of the WAPR, which is an acronym for War Operation Plan Response, an artificial intelligence supercomputer designed to eliminate human emotion from strategic defense decisions.

Speaker 1: 10:36

I wonder if the WAPR was out by then. From Burger King 100% it was.

Speaker 2: 10:42

Oh yeah, WAPR's been around a long, long time.

Speaker 1: 10:44

I wonder if they tried to sue him for the name you know?

Speaker 2: 10:46

I guess it's a different it's they, it's an acronym that they had to do it right. Yeah, burger king's not suing for shit.

Speaker 3: 10:54

You can never truly have a whopper though with with human emotion, like how you said that was involved. There's always that guy with the briefcase. There's always two guys that travel with them.

Speaker 2: 11:03

There's always two keys that's why there's the whopper. They want to the. I think the idea behind the whopper was forget this guy with the two keys, forget this guy carrying the case. We want to take our thought and our hesitation out of it because we're humans, we're gonna one of us is gonna say shit if we fire on them, they're gonna fire on us and all humanity is going to be destroyed. Why don't we just take our decision making out of it and put it into a one or zero calculating computer and let them do all the?

Speaker 3: 11:31

work and that's what Dave was saying. But I think the scariness about like the ones and zeros, having a computer and the AI just do it for you, because I think something like that has to be a human emotional response. You just can't let a computer do that for you.

Speaker 1: 11:45

They could have called it the Royale with cheese.

Speaker 3: 11:46

The.

Speaker 1: 11:46

Royale with cheese.

Speaker 2: 11:50

They don't know what the fuck the metric system yeah they don't know.

Speaker 1: 11:55

Also in his opening scene we get to see Michael Madsen. I was like, oh man, that's Michael Madsen, right away.

Speaker 3: 12:00

I noticed that he's dead.

Speaker 1: 12:02

What no?

Speaker 3: 12:03

Isn't he? No, isn't he no. Yes, michael Madsen's dead, no chance.

Speaker 1: 12:05

Michael Jackson's dead. No, michael Madsen, as far as I know, is still around.

Speaker 3: 12:10

Yeah, he's very much alive.

Speaker 1: 12:11

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 12:12

Are you guys sure about that?

Speaker 2: 12:13

I don't know Now you got me thinking, but I think I would have heard if Michael Madsen died.

Speaker 3: 12:21

No, wasn't Madsen, didn't he date the Lolita, the Long Island Lolita?

Speaker 1: 12:25

Joey Buttafuoco. No, you talking about Amy Fisher.

Speaker 3: 12:29

Amy Fisher no, no, no, not Amy Fisher, not the Long Island Lolita, the Long Island Medium. No, didn't he used to date oh man, long Island Medium.

Speaker 1: 12:38

I don't know.

Speaker 3: 12:40

Who else is from Long Island? Oh, I wasn long island. Oh, it wasn't okay. I'm confused now. Yeah, michael madsen, I was thinking of the other guy.

Speaker 2: 12:44

I'm sorry who's the other guy?

Speaker 3: 12:46

um he used to date um joey buttafuoco no, he used to date the kind of girl like amy fisher. She was a hooker she was a hooker but she owned, like a bunch of other hookers oh uh, heidi fleiss heidi fleiss. But who was that guy? I thought that was michael madsen.

Speaker 1: 13:02

For a second, but it's not. Charlie sheen was linked to her at one point is there a guy named michael masden.

Speaker 3: 13:07

Michael, whatever yeah, madsen is alive and well, he's 66 years old thank you, yes yes, yeah well that was fun.

Speaker 1: 13:14

I think I just saw him at denny's yeah on youtube or something for real that's fine.

Speaker 3: 13:19

On harrisburg pike yeah harrisburg's finest bistro.

Speaker 2: 13:23

It would make sense, god.

Speaker 1: 13:24

God, I love that movie. It's a good one. That is a good one.

Speaker 2: 13:28

All right, this is a this first scene here. I mean it's, it's something special, like it really I mean we'll get to it at the end when it all circles back to it. But like I, I'm with Matt, like you need that, you need that human decision-making, right, you need that human decision-making right, yeah, cause computers aren't going to care, they're going to give a shit. No, they're going to take us over anyway and they'll figure out a way to live through the. Only the computers and the cockroaches will live.

Speaker 1: 13:51

Well, there's a lot of like stuff nowadays with theories on all that, like, like that we're going to be uploaded to, I mean basically the matrix stuff that they're so like. That's what I said watching this movie. Now it's just crazy, I think, yeah, like we're just meat and bones to a computer like nothing.

Speaker 3: 14:07

Well, ai is taking over, gradually, slowly, and it will eventually take over. It was tom sizemore, by the way tom sizemore did he die? Yes, I think he is dead that sounds just like michael madsen he looks like yeah, he does just like, I know I know you're.

Speaker 1: 14:22

Yeah, and dj lethal.

Speaker 3: 14:23

He looks like dj lethal too, yeah, or mouse of pain jesus christ way off track okay so where are we at now?

Speaker 2: 14:31

we're introduced to david lightman, a bright yet academically underperforming teenager in suburban seattle. David's fascination with computers is evident in his room, which is cluttered with cutting-edge technological equipment. Despite his brilliance, david exhibits a rebellious streak. So rebellious he's sent to the principal's office for his lack of respect in biology class. And while he patiently waits, he swiftly sneaks a peek at the password to the school's computer system. Later now, joined by his friend Jennifer, he hacks into the computer system to change his failing grades, revealing both his talent and his disregard for rules. David's actions set the stage for his fascination with and adeptness at hacking into computer systems, suggesting both his capabilities and the potential dangers that such skills could entail.

Speaker 3: 15:26

He was just doing that to get a check he was yeah, I know right.

Speaker 1: 15:30

Well, he didn't want to change his grades he definitely wanted to change his grades.

Speaker 3: 15:32

Check this out.

Speaker 1: 15:33

I know when I would bring a girl home, the first thing I'd do is turn on my computer when I'd get in my room.

Speaker 2: 15:38

Absolutely. I mean Absolutely.

Speaker 1: 15:40

Absolutely.

Speaker 2: 15:40

I mean, I can tell you that my parents would never, in a million years, allow a girl into my room. No, no chance. But you're studying. Yeah, no chance. Even if you were studying Honestly, I never took girls to my house.

Speaker 1: 15:53

No.

Speaker 2: 15:53

No, I was no.

Speaker 1: 15:55

There's no place to hang out. I had the basement of fun. Yeah right.

Speaker 3: 16:01

There was a door down to the basement, there was a big screen tv. I was like, hey, would you like to play some pool or hang out at the bar, maybe watch some big screen tv?

Speaker 1: 16:07

I didn't have a computer back then, so I wouldn't have had that option. But I was just laughing at, like him in his room. Now, there again, this guy is like obsessed with computers.

Speaker 2: 16:16

Look I looked at his computer setup I thought of ferris bueller, like he had. His room was set up like I could appreciate. I grew up on a computer commodore 64 and I mean I was. I remember watching that as a kid and I was like really impressed with his rig man. I thought that was awesome.

Speaker 1: 16:31

There's no way like back then I know, I saw this when I was at maybe 10 years old. I had no idea what the hell he was doing he, neither did he.

Speaker 2: 16:38

There's no. No kid had that much shit at that age.

Speaker 3: 16:41

No chance this just should have been a prequel to bueller.

Speaker 1: 16:43

I think that would have made it even better like, yeah, he grew up in the same house, but he was younger like middle school bueller yeah, middle school bueller yeah and he just slacked off then his senior year yeah, but yeah because he he got busted yeah I think at this point in life, that was some high-tech shit.

Speaker 2: 16:57

He had a specific note, his modem, like where you would take the actual handset and put that onto a receiver that's on the, you know, on the table that's connected to the computer. I never had one of those, or I never saw one of those. In fact, the only time I saw one of those was in this movie yeah everything else was just you plugged it into the back of your computer and you just connected that way I would think at this time in 83 I mean this technology.

Speaker 1: 17:21

if it out, it probably wasn't out to the public. Maybe it was, but I doubt it was widely known. Right, you know what I mean? Or what it was. I couldn't imagine.

Speaker 3: 17:30

But I don't think this movie was very dated, for it being in 83.

Speaker 2: 17:33

No it was not at all.

Speaker 3: 17:34

Yeah, it wasn't at all.

Speaker 2: 17:36

His room had some cutting edge shit for show. For the ladies, Absolutely the ladies love that stuff. How cool is that to say, hey, man, look, I can change your grades. Yeah, Like not for nothing. You look back then only the jocks were cool and only the skateboarders were cool, whatever, Like, this guy was a nerd. He was a nerd. Yeah, they run the world.

Speaker 1: 17:57

So they win, and at that time that's exactly what it was. I was thinking about that. Watching this movie Like nowadays what it was, I was thinking about that watching this movie, like nowadays, that guy would be cool. Hell yeah, but back then, yeah you're. You're a nerd if you're smart or you're into computers and all that but he wasn't slick.

Speaker 3: 18:10

With ali sheedy, though she was like trying to capture him like your feet, like he was in between, like that's what I was saying.

Speaker 2: 18:15

Like I saw that dude, that was an awkward scene for him. Like uh stop it.

Speaker 3: 18:19

I'm trying to change your grade awkward well now, nowadays they don't.

Speaker 1: 18:22

Those grades are in the portal, they call it uh like your parents get an email right away, like I don't even know you can't, you don't even know, you can't even change grades I don't know how you would get in there.

Speaker 2: 18:32

I'm sure some kid could I bet uh principal vince could give us the code oh yeah, he has the code.

Speaker 3: 18:37

I wonder what his passwords pencil he's got an app remember or like uh he could change anybody's grades from his phone remember grade school like uh report cards on, like that heavy card stock and folded into three yep yeah they had like a c, you could make it like an a pretty easy yeah dude.

Speaker 2: 18:52

So when we were at mctavit they would print out the report cards on uh using a dot matrix printer. They printed your report cards out. You get them every quarter. I remember 100. I remember like erasing dots. I remember erasing grades and then taking the fine tip of a pencil and make changing the numbers.

Speaker 3: 19:13

Yeah, absolutely, I 100 did that you can actually just like white out. It just like white out and no, because they could see the white out you think you could see the white out, of course.

Speaker 2: 19:21

What if you like whited it out and then like re-scanned it or if you the white out, you think you could see the white out, of course what if you like whited it out and then like re-scanned it?

Speaker 3: 19:27

or if you? Apply, white out, it's gonna get shitty, even if you printed it again I see what you're saying I don't know, I never did that, I'm just saying yeah, I wasn't.

Speaker 2: 19:35

I was afraid, man. I got some bad grades here and there and I definitely didn't want to you know when you say bad, what are you? Talking. No, like c's I was gonna say.

Speaker 3: 19:43

I think my parents were of course my parents were divorcing at the time, so they really didn't pay attention.

Speaker 1: 19:47

They didn't really pay attention to my report card.

Speaker 3: 19:50

I'd bring it home and be like hey guys, I got my report card yeah yeah, they didn't care damn.

Speaker 2: 19:56

All right, moving along, an avid fan of video games, david's thirst for new games leads him to make every attempt to hack into a game company server from his house. Instead, he unwittingly accesses the Whopper. Presented with a list of games, david chooses Global Thermonuclear War, believing it to be a harmless game. Two opposing sides are presented as options the United States or the Soviet Union. He selects the Soviet Union, but as the Whopper is connected to the North American Aerospace Defense Command, also known as NORAD, this action initiates a series of commands that NORAD interprets as genuine missile launch preparations from the Soviet Union. Norad's command center in Colorado Springs comes to life. With alarms and flashing lights, military officers detect what they believe are authentic Soviet missile launch preparations. The DEFCON level is raised from 5 to 4 in response to the perceived threat. Tension mounts as military personnel react to the alerts, highlighting the thin line between simulation and reality in their interpretations yeah, like DEFCON 3 they started or whatever it was DEFCON 2 it starts at 5.

Speaker 2: 21:12

It's always at 5 unless shit gets real, then it gets. It goes down to 4, 3, 2 or 1. If it's DEFCON 1, missiles are in the air.

Speaker 1: 21:30

Yeah, so I always if you would ask me before this movie, I would have thought it was the other way yep, I think we did that.

Speaker 2: 21:35

I think I might have made the same confusion in a different podcast where I was high to low instead of low to high yeah, it goes high to low, correct yeah, but uh, what was the other thing?

Speaker 1: 21:44

oh, I wrote down here the, the computer room. Like they actually had those big rooms with the servers and all that stuff like back in a day, like for the computing power, you would need like entire rooms absolutely stuff like that absolutely yeah, because a computer, yeah, it's like.

Speaker 3: 21:57

The size of the basement here was like yeah, and there's like 16 gigabytes yeah maybe you know what I mean.

Speaker 2: 22:02

Not even, not even that even nowadays, though, what you're at your decent sized businesses, they have the quote-unquote, the computer, the server, other server rooms but they don't have those reel-to-reel things on and all that cheesy stuff no, the real reel-to-reel is done. I got some of those yeah micro discs or whatever they're going.

Speaker 1: 22:20

I wonder what all that, wonder what all that stuff's in a landfill somewhere. Think about all the computer equipment over the years like Y2K, all those big ass monitors and towers, all that stuff.

Speaker 2: 22:31

Landfills, crts. Man, they're in the landfill.

Speaker 3: 22:36

Tortoises eating it.

Speaker 2: 22:37

Yes, that's what he gets for not having opposable thumbs.

Speaker 1: 22:41

Right right.

Speaker 2: 22:43

As David continues his game, he notices more than coincidental realities coming to life and realizes the potentially catastrophic implications of his actions. Confusion and terror seep in as news broadcasts and system alerts mirror his simulated actions. Attempting to stop the game, David fails to disconnect completely, inadvertently alerting the authorities. The FBI arrives, arresting him amidst his pleas of innocence. Seemingly innocent, gameplay has transitioned to serious criminal charges. Carefree hacking is now riddled with real-world consequences. So dude was just walking away from the seven. The seven 11. Getting a goddamn slurpy Does every movie in the eighties have convenience stores.

Speaker 1: 23:30

It's like constant. There's always like a circle K or a seven, 11 or a what's even today, like you still see a lot of convenience stores.

Speaker 3: 23:37

They just they're just out there. I mean you don't see like a sheets or a well, not anymore.

Speaker 1: 23:41

That's what I'm saying, but it seems like back in the day, like of the recent ones we covered Rad, there was a 7-Eleven. We just did Bill and Ted. There's a Circle K. We got this with the 7-Eleven. I'm trying to think of other ones, like they're always at a convenience store. Oh, die Hard convenience store. Yeah, bu, to the price that was an AMPM. Ampm. Yes, I always take notice to the prices because I like that, so check this out.

Speaker 3: 24:06

I like that. That's awesome. I like that so much.

Speaker 1: 24:08

So, zap, you'll like this one here. Well, matt, you don't smoke anymore, right? No, okay, cigarette $6.99 a carton, god damn $7.11.

Speaker 2: 24:17

$6.99 a carton. So that was that's for a carton of cigarettes.

Speaker 1: 24:27

That's 70 cents a pack. That's a deal. Are you kidding me? That's incredible. Yeah, oh my god.

Speaker 3: 24:29

So uh, I mean, you can't even get, like a, a cheeseburger mcdonald's for 6.99 today. I?

Speaker 1: 24:34

know, I mean, that's what I'm saying prices like to me, that was the best part of the movie there the prices on the, on the, uh, because they always put the prices on the outside, sure, I mean on the windows and stuff.

Speaker 3: 24:44

Well, you, got to figure 1980. That's, that's big tobacco right there.

Speaker 2: 24:47

That's 83. Yeah, smoke everywhere back there.

Speaker 3: 24:50

Oh yeah, that was that was big tobacco money.

Speaker 2: 24:52

You could smoke in church. Well, hell the guys are in Nor. That's how it should be. I damn, yeah, you're gonna make decisions like that. You should be smoking, hell yeah, like winston winston salem who are the other, like big tobacco companies, rj, reynolds, philip morris? Yeah, they were living life back then. Hell yeah, stupid surgeon, general or whatever you are yeah whatever see fake news.

Speaker 3: 25:17

Fake news it is fake news see effort coop. Look I'm making like the. He looked like the kfc. Remember he did, he did.

Speaker 2: 25:24

Oh Coop.

Speaker 3: 25:26

Yeah, everybody look up C Everett Coop. Yeah, check that guy out.

Speaker 2: 25:29

Okay, yeah, oh man, stupid Coop, I hate you. Look, I make my lungs stronger, one cigarette at a time. I'm building resistance and tolerance. That's right. So when the nukes land, I'll be able to breathe the air it won't affect you. Not a bit.

Speaker 3: 25:43

Not a bit.

Speaker 1: 25:44

You'll light one right off the blast.

Speaker 3: 25:46

That's right. Blow back and reverse. It'll affect something like the time-space continuum.

Speaker 2: 25:51

So this is kind of jacked up though. Right, this section of this movie, right, so this kid's a thermonuclear war game last night. Now, all of a sudden, shit's being talked about about, uh, the russians were readying, and all kinds of stuff.

Speaker 3: 26:10

What a coincidence he was the one that typed that in. It was weird like how he picked that too. He's like global thermonuclear war and it just, I think, was that like the like, the, the words that needed to be in. There was a selection of games.

Speaker 2: 26:23

Yeah, there was a list of like, let's say, 10 games right, and all the other games minus Falcon. Falcon's maze Was games you would otherwise know like checkers chess, chess, yeah, whatever, I'd rather have chess double Dutch rudder, whatever the game is and then in this case, this case, thermonuclear, global thermonuclear war, this is 83. They didn't you 83. They didn't exactly have computer games that were that detailed dynamic.

Speaker 3: 26:48

Then the computer also asks he's like wouldn't you rather play chess? And then he's like no global thermonuclear war.

Speaker 2: 26:54

That's kind of weird too. Wouldn't he be kind of thrown at the point where he's talking with a computer that's talking back to him Typing? He's typing back and forth between a computer.

Speaker 3: 27:03

Well, no, he that's talking back to him typing. He's typing back and forth between a computer. Yeah, well, no, he was. He was ahead of his time on the computer. Remember he had a good setup.

Speaker 1: 27:06

She brought the speaker over. How's that working? How's it doing that? It's magic.

Speaker 3: 27:10

It's magic baby, she just wanted to smash.

Speaker 1: 27:12

He's there like messing around the computer the whole time I know, come on, that's what I just I mean, this kid I was like, come on, man, come on, he was into his games.

Speaker 3: 27:19

Yeah, he liked this game, he was a gamer he can't see the forest for the trees I don't know, like when I'm playing call of duty and I got my headset on.

Speaker 1: 27:25

I don't think there's anything less attractive like to my wife when she comes downstairs and I'm sitting there with a headset on and like you know what I mean playing a game like. I can't imagine that. That's like a turn, but for her, this girl in his movie she was digging it this is a little different, I guess.

Speaker 3: 27:39

Right, this is yeah, this is 83.

Speaker 1: 27:41

He's buying her plane tickets and doing this, and that's true too.

Speaker 2: 27:43

That's right. Tickets to france yeah still man I don't know I'd be. I'd be pretty damn afraid if I got black bagged and thrown into the back of a fucking van outside of the 7-eleven by the feds. Damn man, it's some scary shit. Hell yeah, how was that matt when that happened to you? With the feds yeah, it was scary yeah I don't like it.

Speaker 3: 28:03

Nope glad I got my green card.

Speaker 2: 28:07

I wasn't even going there I don't know where you were going I was just thinking about breaking the law, oh no, but I too am glad you got your green card thank you showcasing his resourcefulness, david uses his ingenuity to escape from Norad's custody, manipulating electronic locks and evading guards.

Speaker 2: 28:26

Joining forces with Jennifer, the two embark on a mission to find Dr Stephen Falcon, the creator of the Whopper Falcon, now living in seclusion due to his disillusionment with humanity, initially refuses to assist, expressing deep regret over the direction his creation has taken. He ultimately relents and the three make their way to Norad, where the situation has now escalated to DEFCON 2.

Speaker 3: 28:52

Which is bad.

Speaker 2: 28:53

That's bad.

Speaker 3: 28:53

Yeah, one is missiles in the air.

Speaker 2: 28:55

That's basically fingers on the button.

Speaker 3: 28:56

Yeah, two is button Button time.

Speaker 2: 28:59

Falcon's explanation of the Whopper's behavior.

Speaker 2: 29:01

That is, seeing the scenario as a game rather than a real-world threat clashes with the military's urgent preparations for what they believe is an impending Soviet attack. Thanks to Falcon's calm, rational explanations against the backdrop of NORAD's panicked atmosphere, david and Falcon are given one last chance to stop all-out nuclear war. So a lot happens here. David, uh, somehow gets a pair of scissors, some wire, while he's in lockdown at the prison at the at norad. Now, granted, he's in a you know what, a medical room or some shit like that, but somehow he figures a way Like that's some MacGyver shit, oh hell yeah, to get out of there. Oh, fun fact. Since I mentioned MacGyver, does anyone know MacGyver's first name? Mike, mike MacGyver.

Speaker 3: 29:55

Nope, no John.

Speaker 2: 29:57

Nope.

Speaker 1: 29:57

Is it like a weird name?

Speaker 2: 29:59

Yeah it was only mentioned in one episode jacks macgyver. No, I'll give you one more dave um what's it start with?

Speaker 1: 30:08

a and aggie, I don't know, I'll give up angus, angus, angus macgyver, I would have never got that, it's true story.

Speaker 3: 30:17

That's pretty wild. Where'd you find?

Speaker 1: 30:18

I just went by macgyver that's why you just went by. I like mcgrruber.

Speaker 3: 30:22

MacGruber's better.

Speaker 2: 30:23

yeah, that was good, I like McDonald's.

Speaker 1: 30:25

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 30:26

So yeah, so Dudas Gives gets out of there, and now, all of a sudden he's cool. Oh, because that guard's trying to play touchy-feely, play heinies and foo-foos with the secretary, uh-huh.

Speaker 3: 30:44

I don't know, field trip to tmi in high school they did that. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, the nuclear plant. You guys do remember that, no, do you? Oh yeah, I think the did we really do it. The nukes affected.

Speaker 1: 30:48

We went, I went to the team I was making trying to make a joke yeah, we never went there, dude dude, I've been to the t. I was at the nuclear plant when I was in high school because I was gonna say like yeah, I think he meant like I was gonna say yeah, me neither, because who the hell goes on a field trip to a NORAD like a nuclear bomb? You know what I'm saying. So that's that, yeah, yeah yeah, did you notice like there's high school kids or something walking around Right.

Speaker 2: 31:10

So if this is supposed to be a super secret, what's it called place, army secret place in the middle of a fucking mountain, under a mountain.

Speaker 1: 31:25

Yeah, field trips to come in there.

Speaker 3: 31:26

But wait, you, you guys didn't go to tmi in high school. No, no, oh, I don't remember a field trip. I went, I went away from tmi in 70.

Speaker 2: 31:29

Uh, damn it zap.

Speaker 3: 31:29

We all did 79 ruined my joke, sorry dude did you really, though I lived.

Speaker 1: 31:33

So what was it for? Like what? What was the?

Speaker 2: 31:35

so when I did it, I would take random look, this is very true story so you would do it on your own I would do it with like a couple of different dudes and our one of the mothers would always sign off like yeah, look, they're going on a field trip and this counts as credit and this counts as this that you know like an educational field trip, like yeah, like you could do the same thing you could do the same shit like going to the farm show yeah well, yeah, yeah, you guys never did that loophole no, my mom used to do that every uh, every year because she worked for usda, so she would work at the farm show.

Speaker 3: 32:02

But I used to get a day to go to the farm show with her to help. But an educational field trip didn't count against me.

Speaker 1: 32:08

My kids went on an educational field trip to Disney.

Speaker 3: 32:11

No shit.

Speaker 1: 32:12

Yeah, because we went on a Disney trip but there was Epcot and you're learning about the countries and whatever. So it was considered educational, hi-oh, excused absence or whatever.

Speaker 2: 32:22

So, falcon, lived on an island falcon, falcon fucking falcon falcon.

Speaker 3: 32:26

He was like, uh, the virgin atlantic dude. That's kind of what he reminded me of yeah, do you know who he's based on?

Speaker 2: 32:31

fun fact uh, steven hawken yes, yes, even the name.

Speaker 1: 32:36

Well it was, I think they were pronouncing it falcon right, yeah, hawken what's up with these really smart dudes like?

Speaker 3: 32:41

I hate that whenever they, like uh, try to make them in movies, they're always like living on islands, can't be around people they gotta be always like so smart. They're gonna blow the world up because they know how I had.

Speaker 1: 32:51

You know, I'm glad because they know how they're like uh, I know how to do that.

Speaker 3: 32:55

I better get away from people. I'm gonna kill everybody.

Speaker 1: 32:57

Too smart yeah there was a line I'm glad you guys brought this guy up because this was earlier in the movie when uh, broderick's like researching him and stuff reading and uh, there's, there's like a video, and him and uh, ali shidi are watching a video and she's like, oh my god, he's amazing yes, oh, he's amazing looking and she goes he was 41, that's old. Yeah, I was like, oh man, come on now, well, she's only like 16 well, I know, but just saying 41, that's old.

Speaker 2: 33:22

Well, I want to pass that how old truly was she in this movie, though I don't know, two maybe I'd put her at 21 22 she looked good in it yeah, she looked good and she was loose at least for matthew broderick yes he just kept missing the cues man she's trying.

Speaker 3: 33:41

She's just saying look, I get the computer. Man, I'm telling you it's great, we're in your room. Your parents are not even home. Let's hang out.

Speaker 2: 33:48

So refresh my memory. I know that the Go ahead, I'm sorry.

Speaker 1: 33:51

Sorry, no, I was going to say they didn't have mouses, though yeah, they did, did they? Yeah, I guess they did.

Speaker 2: 33:55

Xerox invented the mouse Last I checked, pretty sure, xerox invented the mouse and then Apple stole it the plans, the idea, the everything and they came to market first with it, but then at the same time, or they were going to go to market first and then at the same time. Bill Gates and friends were invited to visit Apple before they released their computer and they swiftly Stole it, stole it, Stole apple before they released their computer and they swiftly stole it, stole it, stole the idea as well.

Speaker 1: 34:26

So everybody, basically everybody, came to market with the mouse like all at the same time, same time. That's pretty wild. Yep, apple's pretty much apple's pretty much mouse-less.

Speaker 3: 34:33

Now, though it's just I mean, most of the computers are just like touchy moving, no touching yeah, it's just all fingers easy man, this is a family show. Roger wasn't yeah, he wasn't. He could learn something. He wasn't all fingers at all oh yeah, matthew, you gonna learn.

Speaker 2: 34:48

All right, falcon and david's goal is to teach the whopper the senselessness of nuclear war by forcing it to run all conceivable scenarios. The two distract the whopper by directing it to play tic-tac-toe against itself and, as expected, the result is a long string of draws, thereby forcing the computer to learn the concept of futility and no-win scenarios. In NORAD's command center, the computer rapidly simulates every possible nuclear war strategy. The large display screens fill with iterations of missile trajectories and explosions, each showing global destruction without a winner. After countless simulations, joshua, that is, the Whopper comprehends the concept of mutually assured destruction, concluding with the iconic line the only winning move is not to play. This realization deactivates the imminent threat, restoring control to human hands and de-escalating the DEFCON status.

Speaker 1: 35:48

That was a cool ending there. It's tense, dude. It's tense as hell. I know, Like I said, watching this movie now, being older and having knowledge of thermonuclear weapons back then, it's not registering. When I'm a kid watching this, it's like, dude, this could happen and this is real like and you get into a movie. They feel real sometimes sure and uh, it just has you thinking about the possibilities, like what if that would happen?

Speaker 2: 36:11

you know, so why did he name the computer joshua? It was because he wanted his son, right, but it was like. So, some way he was like talking to his son, since his son had died, he wanted to talk to somebody. So, hey, I'm just gonna make believe this is my son I don't know, like did they say that?

Speaker 1: 36:24

I don't know if they didn't say anything about it like an ode to like his son, was it?

Speaker 2: 36:28

just simply, joshua was the password.

Speaker 1: 36:30

I know that joshua was the password yeah, and what yeah was the actual program called joshua, though I don't know. I don't know or was it just like broderick calling him?

Speaker 2: 36:39

might have been, who knows, I don't know. Try it's. I think it's giving it. It was an attempt to give a human element to the computer right.

Speaker 1: 36:46

It's just funny to watch these movies from the 80s, like terminator, this, and then from the 90s the matrix and then watch them now because, uh, like at the time when even the matrix, when I saw, I love the matrix, but at the time when I watch it I'm like this is so far-fetched, like there's just no way. And now we're approaching where it's coming to life. Bro, it's kind of like not exactly what the matrix matrix is, but it could happen not yet, and it will happen and the same thing with this movie.

Speaker 1: 37:12

I mean, at the time I wasn't aware of, you know, thermonuclear weapons and warheads and all that, but I mean this stuff has been around you know what I mean for years and years and years but the 80s wasn't that a time of like, when actual like computer hacking because these computers were getting big there was people out there like actually starting to hack computers, like stuff that you hear about well, yeah, I know there were hackers around that they actually had come in for this movie and oh yeah, yeah, that's a fun fact yeah, speaking of which I cherish these moments yeah, so the term firewall became widely known and understood due to this film?

Speaker 1: 37:50

really, yeah, I guess shortly after this um, like I said, I don't know how many people really had like a grasp on home computers and computers in general at the time they said sales went up after this of like home pc computers and stuff like that, I am sure. Yeah, and that made me laugh. And the last podcast. I asked cause I know, zap, you were into computers. Sure, matt, I wasn't sure. So I said to Matt at the end. I said, were you a PC guy? And you were like politically correct.

Speaker 2: 38:15

You took it like that.

Speaker 1: 38:16

He was like, well, yeah, who wants to go next? Who's going? I got nothing.

Speaker 3: 38:21

Oh, a lot of studios didn't understand the concept behind this. They had trouble with the like computer hacking. A lot of people that heard the when they were trying to sell this movie. A lot of producers and stuff were like I don't know where to go with it, like I don't get. They didn't really get what they were talking about. The technology was a little beyond them.

Speaker 2: 38:39

Technology.

Speaker 1: 38:40

What is it? What is it? That's what I'm saying. This movie, like, was probably definitely ahead of its time.

Speaker 2: 38:45

It was I think I don't know, it makes you the the kids watch it and like aspire, right, like, wow, man, I want to get one of those. That's so cool. I want to do that just like weird science, not put a couple years later like I want that computer that. I mean even that computer alone, regardless of its ability to make hot babes. Make make hot babes was a cool ass setup.

Speaker 1: 39:04

Oh, absolutely so. This film is still a favorite in Silicon Valley. Uh, they had a 25th anniversary screening in 2008. So all those you know people out there, they're in in the industry. They love this movie for obvious reasons. The studio had, uh, Galaga from 1981 and how you say that? Galaxian Yep? Yeah, from 1979. The big arcade machines delivered to Broderick's house so he could practice for like two months.

Speaker 1: 39:29

So he looked like he knew what he was doing when he was playing them, because there was that scene in the beginning when he was at the arcade Sure.

Speaker 2: 39:33

Was that Galactica? He gets his game over. Yeah, it was.

Speaker 1: 39:36

Galaga, I guess.

Speaker 2: 39:37

That was Galaga, galaga Go ahead, matt, you got one.

Speaker 3: 39:41

No, they were just saying the directors, the original writers, were fired, then rehired a few times from this movie Dang.

Speaker 1: 39:47

I wonder why.

Speaker 3: 39:49

Well no, because they were saying they were trying to get the concepts down, so they were writing something about and they didn't know what they were talking about.

Speaker 1: 39:55

So they're like dude, you don't know what you're talking about, so they fired them, but then then they would rehire them back yeah, that's weird because, like I said, this was a little beyond yeah people, the writers that yeah comprehended at the time they were just saying their beats is whack yo right exactly yeah.

Speaker 3: 40:09

And then they were like all of a sudden, like one writer's going into like you know, nuclear destruction and this and that, and they're like no, we need a lighter tone. And then another writer's like okay, but then they're like no, we need more war so they were just getting confused and not having a good time so we like coulda, wouldas and all that.

Speaker 1: 40:22

I was looking for some. I couldn't find any, so who knows if these are accurate or not? Who's to say david lightman, played by matthew brawley, could have been tom cruise or john cusack, which makes sense at that time they were you know, up and coming.

Speaker 1: 40:34

I think outsiders are already out, so cruise would have been in that. It could have worked for cruise cusack, I don't know. I mean he's similar. It could have worked. It could have worked for him too, and for the Ali Sheedy part that could have went to Jodie Foster, they're saying yeah which I mean yeah, I can see that.

Speaker 3: 40:51

I mean I don't really think they were both big at the time yeah, so you talked about video games versions of this.

Speaker 1: 40:57

There was a 1984 game for the ColecoVision Commodore 64.

Speaker 2: 41:01

Hell yeah, there was.

Speaker 1: 41:02

And Atari 8-bit. The game would start out greeting you as the professor and you would play a game of Global Thermonuclear.

Speaker 2: 41:10

War. Global Thermonuclear War yeah.

Speaker 1: 41:11

So that was the objective was to stop nuclear war from occurring by protecting the country with various military vehicles. So it was like strategical, you know what I mean? Yeah, but did you play that?

Speaker 2: 41:22

War games.

Speaker 1: 41:22

Yeah On, like the Commodore no.

Speaker 2: 41:24

I couldn't get into it.

Speaker 1: 41:25

Oh, he couldn't hack it.

Speaker 2: 41:27

I mean, I know it existed. No, I thought you meant like I gotcha, I gotcha, I couldn't hack into it. No, I couldn't hack it, I couldn't listeners. So this is a shout out to big friend of the show, mike schreib, stroker on commodore 64, so on, on commodore 64, every one of those keys had two characters on them in addition to the letters. So you could do you know, an I, a lowercase or uppercase I, but there were also two characters on there that you could. It was basically like a design, like a forward slash or a backslash or whatever.

Speaker 2: 42:06

So what people would do? They would take these and you could draw these on the screen. You could, you know, just go line by line by line by line and put them on the screen and then all of a sudden you're able to draw things. Then you can make things move by. You know typing in the right codes and whatever. So there was this one game on there. It was about jacking off and it was. There was this dude's johnson and a hand holding the johnson and you had them with the joystick up and down was the johnson made of like x's and o's?

Speaker 3: 42:33

was it like an x and o johnson?

Speaker 2: 42:34

no it was like so it was vertical, just bars. Vertical, I want to say sprites, but that's not the right word. It's vertical. Vertical, it's character.

Speaker 1: 42:44

How good were the graphics? Was it veins? And?

Speaker 2: 42:46

stuff. They were fucking awful. No, it was just the outline it was awful.

Speaker 1: 42:50

So it was no good then.

Speaker 2: 42:51

No, it was terrible.

Speaker 1: 42:52

Mushroom.

Speaker 2: 42:53

It was stupid. Nothing, nothing. It was dumb, like somebody had way too much time on their hands making this game I gotta look that up because I'm gonna see it like an image of the screenshot. You can find it on youtube, I'm sure, yeah that's what?

Speaker 3: 43:05

um, how you were saying, uh, broderick, they sent him the galaga game to practice. They also had typing lessons for him oh for real. Yeah, like miss was it miss. Who was that lady miss uh?

Speaker 1: 43:15

at our school, yeah who's her typing teacher? She was a good one, she was awesome, they got, they got him q, q, q q q w, q, q, W W W W.

Speaker 2: 43:25

Dude man, she made your fingers work, bro.

Speaker 3: 43:27

But they got Broderick like a typing coach to get him.

Speaker 1: 43:30

So when he did the computer stuff it looked like he was actually a big nerd, yeah, so he wasn't doing the one-handed push Like a monkey or something.

Speaker 3: 43:38

And also have that, the NORAD command center. The set of that cost $1 million to build, making it one of the most expensive movie sets at the time. That's crazy.

Speaker 1: 43:48

For NORAD. So $12 million budget. A million of it went to that. But I was impressed by that whole oh, shit, yeah, and they used it a lot. I mean the beginning, the end and all that stuff. So I thought that was pretty cool.

Speaker 2: 43:58

I'm surprised that there wasn't like a rehash or a remake of, like the China Syndrome set or something like that, because it's kind of the same setup. But I guess not.

Speaker 1: 44:07

Well, they did say, as well, norad saw this. The people at NORAD saw the movie and were like, hey, we need to upgrade our actual facilities. Like the movie, one was better.

Speaker 2: 44:14

Yeah, we want that.

Speaker 1: 44:15

We want what they got. And also, ronald Reagan saw the movie and it influences thinking on cybersecurity. So, like you know, the policies and stuff.

Speaker 3: 44:23

Also, that was Star Wars. That's why Star Wars was created.

Speaker 1: 44:27

I don't know, I don't know, I'm going to say hell, no One does not have any relation to the other it's like well Nance In 1984, a year after this came out, a group of students from Milwaukee they were high school students broke into a nuclear computer system and they were inspired by this movie. So that's what I was wondering. I'm sure this movie inspired hackers. I mean to get into different stuff.

Speaker 2: 44:47

Look, as soon as you have a computer attached to anything, people are going. Somebody somewhere is going to attempt to hack into it. Figure it out, as long as you can dial into it, people are going to do that. So let's say it goes back, not the 70s if not earlier. People are going to try to find a way.

Speaker 1: 45:03

You should hack and make cigarettes $4.99 a cart. Dude, that'd be great.

Speaker 3: 45:06

That'd be a good idea. You might let you scan them $6.99.

Speaker 1: 45:10

Yeah, that'd be a good idea. Yes, I'd like $100, please let's see.

Speaker 3: 45:14

I wonder what you would get jail time for that, maybe like a year probation or something it depends.

Speaker 2: 45:20

I guess I'm not.

Speaker 1: 45:21

We might have to mailbag that with uh jw yeah, jw would know I wonder, yeah, but that would be, that would be a federal.

Speaker 3: 45:28

Well, it depends. If you brought it over state lines, isn't this, would that be a federal offense? For messing with yeah, messing with cigarettes that I don't know.

Speaker 1: 45:36

I don't know if you're going in. That's like stealing if you go in and change pricing like that I mean people try that at the store, they'll switch tags and stuff and try all that. You know, if you go in and change pricing on stuff like that I mean people try that at the store they'll switch tags and stuff and try all that.

Speaker 3: 45:45

Yeah, if you go to Walmart and just observe, you'll see it happening all the time. Oh, you see a lot of that stuff.

Speaker 1: 45:49

Let me find one last good one here. So War Games was nominated for three Academy Awards Best Original Screenplay and Best Cinematography.

Speaker 3: 45:58

I don't know what the other one was. Did it win?

Speaker 1: 46:00

no, it won none I don't know that it won.

Speaker 2: 46:02

It just said they were nominated. So great they were nominated for three and here's two here's two, yet I don't have the other one here.

Speaker 1: 46:08

I guess that's not a good one.

Speaker 3: 46:09

I thought like project for most, most cock blocks of yourself best ball best, best blue balls blue balls. Performance goes to matthew broderick war games uh, there was a sequel to this war games, oh that, oh, that's no, it was like in 2000.

Speaker 2: 46:23

2006., 2008. It was.

Speaker 1: 46:25

Ah, 2008. The Dead.

Speaker 2: 46:26

Code. Yeah, no, there was no returning people.

Speaker 1: 46:32

This was the first film that ever used the term virus in connection to computers and security, and all that so that's pretty cool.

Speaker 3: 46:40

I thought you were going to say the AIDS.

Speaker 2: 46:42

Yeah, that's pretty cool. I thought you were going to say the AIDS. Yeah, that's a virus, you can get it. It's still a thing. In fact, I wonder if, back in 83, they still called it the grid.

Speaker 1: 46:50

Yeah, I don't know about that. Oh, AIDS the grid. Yeah, I remember that from Dahmer.

Speaker 2: 46:53

We were talking about yeah, yeah, the grid, yeah before AIDS gritty. I like chappelle.

Speaker 3: 47:13

He says now like it's now like call off, where my aids is acting up not gonna be in, my aids is acting up. That's great. When I grew up, I want to get aids, man, my aids I can't be in today, I'm calling off, I'll be in tomorrow.

Speaker 1: 47:18

Had a flare up but uh, yeah, man, I was. I mean I really enjoyed that. So, speaking of that, I guess it's a time where we'll yeah, man, I mean I really enjoyed that.

Speaker 2: 47:23

So, speaking of that, I guess it's a time where we'll do our little rating system. We can, but before we do, I want to give a shout out to one of our biggest fans, one of our most loyal fans. Great, all-around dude. I'm very happy to have made his acquaintance in the real world. Jason the mechanic, you are the man. It was so great meeting you for real in person. It was so great meeting you for real in person. It was awesome. Thanks for all your help and hey, man, thanks for your support.

Speaker 1: 47:47

Yeah, that's awesome that he recognized you. I guess he heard the voice.

Speaker 2: 47:52

Can we call him.

Speaker 1: 47:52

J-Mac.

Speaker 2: 47:53

J-Mac, I think he walked by.

Speaker 1: 47:55

And he heard it or saw the name.

Speaker 2: 47:57

No, he saw my awesomeness.

Speaker 3: 48:05

He was like dude, aren't you that dude? And I was like, yeah, bruh, was it much like coming to america when?

Speaker 2: 48:08

when the guy was going to the bathroom and he saw like the prince no, it's no. Honestly, was it kind of like that? No, not at all honestly. Did you kind of like? Drop what he was doing no, he was just really cool. He was just really cool. He's like dude, don't I know you from someplace? I'm like well, I don't know man I'm. I'm john zapp. He's like oh yeah, that's where I know you yeah, there it is.

Speaker 1: 48:22

Yeah, jason loves the podcast, did he?

Speaker 3: 48:23

get like did you sign something like like sign the side of a car or something come on, man, I don't know like I don't know.

Speaker 1: 48:28

No, I don't know where we're at out there in the real world not that level yet okay getting there.

Speaker 2: 48:33

Getting there, you never know besides, man jason's not that kind of man, he's just a cool dude that listens to the show yeah, he's just one of them guys like he.

Speaker 1: 48:39

Like he always tells me it's like I'm hanging out with my buddy. I feel like he knows me. He's like yeah, I feel like I'm in there with you guys when you're talking about stuff. I'm talking. That's what people say, that's what we want is to feel like we're kind of all hanging out together.

Speaker 3: 48:51

That's what the podcast is about. Like family, yeah exactly.

Speaker 1: 48:55

We got our boy Officer Vince out in Pittsburgh. We got a new fan up in Buffalo reached out to me Nice. So yeah, we got people all those mafia, all right.

Speaker 1: 49:04

Hell yeah, juice as well. He's up there or from up there. But I guess this is a time where we'll break down our rating on this Sure, so for me I'll I'll start it off back. Then I would have probably either returned it or burned it. But me, now I might lay feed this, now I might lay fee this like I actually really enjoyed it, I wouldn't mind watching it again.

Speaker 1: 49:26

Uh, just uh. I don't know that I will, but I just really enjoyed it. So I'll say late fee for me now. Back then as a kid I wasn't getting it you're lying through podcasts.

Speaker 3: 49:35

I don't know if I will I would.

Speaker 1: 49:39

But I mean, I'm just saying that's how much I enjoyed it. I was like, yeah, this is actually one of those movies that, uh, as an adult, now I get it. You know what I mean. I understand the whole premise. I never went back and watched this as a teenager you got, you got the gravity of it right.

Speaker 3: 49:53

You would say like today yep, it was a blast.

Speaker 1: 49:57

No pun intended gravity.

Speaker 2: 50:00

Isn't that a bg song?

Speaker 3: 50:02

no, that's tragedy. I see no wait, is it?

Speaker 2: 50:05

no, it's tragedy, you're right that's right yeah, matt, what do you think? What are you gonna do?

Speaker 3: 50:10

oh, I would. Uh, I would definitely return it, but I would enjoy watching it. It was, it was fun to watch again. I I really didn't remember much of it. I remember like certain parts, um, but uh, yeah, 1983 we were youngins do we? Yeah, we were like seven yeah, I don't think we're going to like watch war games at the theater or like we're in. I don't think my dad rented war games no, you went into it.

Speaker 1: 50:31

No, I think there's too much too many arnold movies back in the early 80s.

Speaker 3: 50:34

Man, that's right like get the old. But uh, no, I I'd return it, but I I enjoyed watching it. I think my uh, my kid was really into it. He likes computers and stuff and I think he was like, oh, it's kind of neat he dug it.

Speaker 1: 50:46

That's cool. Is that what you got?

Speaker 2: 50:48

I would return it. Potentially late for it. Oh, it's on the cusp yeah, it's on the cusp.

Speaker 3: 50:54

That's back then and now like if you had it sitting there you might be like, maybe I'll just watch that again the night, like I got stuff to do I remember being a kid and watching this with a group of kids with whom I grew up, and at least two of them were like really, really nerdy.

Speaker 2: 51:06

We watched this movie a bunch of times, over and over and over, and I would still do it again.

Speaker 1: 51:11

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 51:11

Absolutely do that again, just because I mean, it's like Dave is saying and like we're all saying, like now we're all grown up and we see this, and it's like, well, man, that shit's for real, like Ms Jackson.

Speaker 1: 51:22

Yeah, I wish I would have been into computers back when I was a kid. Later on in life obviously everybody got on board, but I would have liked to start earlier and maybe got more into it and understood them how they work and all that. I just didn't have access to it. In the city we didn't have a computer room, trust me, anything like that.

Speaker 3: 51:39

I was too busy being cool for computers.

Speaker 1: 51:41

Yeah, I didn't have time for that I was too busy riding my bike and skateboarding. That's true.

Speaker 3: 51:45

Trying to hit on chicks.

Speaker 1: 51:47

Yeah, but that was a cool one. Don't forget to keep going on there and ranking the movies, telling us what you want. We're going to try to pull from that list, so we'll definitely be back next week. I've got to look at the list and see if anything moved up. And don't forget to find us for True Crime every other week. You guys got anything else?

Speaker 3: 52:02

No, it was fun. Yeah, this was a good time.

Speaker 1: 52:04

Yeah, definitely yeah. So don't forget to find us on Facebook and Instagram, at Old Dirty Basement, on TikTok, at Old Dirty Basement Podcast. I guess that's it for now, so we'll catch you where.

Speaker 2: 52:14

On the flip side If we don't see you sooner, we'll see you later. Peace.

Speaker 3: 52:21

Thanks for listening to the vintage cinema review and the old, dirty basement. If you dig our theme music, like we do, check out the tsunami experiment, find them on Facebook. Their music is streaming on Spotify and Apple and where great music is available.

Speaker 1: 52:35

You can find us at old dirty basement on Facebook and Instagram and at old dirty basement podcast on Tik TOK.

Speaker 3: 52:42

Peace.

Speaker 1: 52:43

We outtie 5,000.