Cinema in Context: WarGames

1983, dir John Badham w/Matthew Broderick, Ally Sheedy, Dabney Coleman, John Wood, 114 min, 35mm

“The movie that most fascinated Reagan, however, was WarGames… The premise suggested a Spielbergian remake of Dr. Strangelove: a high school computer whiz (twenty-year-old Matthew Broderick) hacks into the North American Defense Command, mistaking one of its programs, Global Thermonuclear War, for a sophisticated computer game. The fate of the world is in his hands, along with his accomplice (twenty-one-year-old Ally Sheedy).” – J. Hoberman, Make My Day: Movie Culture in the Age of Reagan

This screening will be introduced by J. Hoberman. His new book, Make My Day: Movie Culture in the Age of Reagan, will be available for purchase.