Average Lemmy enjoyers:

[Matthew] Broderick plays David Lightman, a young computer hacker who unwittingly accesses a United States military supercomputer programmed to simulate, predict and execute nuclear war against the Soviet Union, triggering a false alarm that threatens to start World War III.

… It was a widespread critical and commercial success, grossing $125 million worldwide against a $12 million budget. At the 56th Academy Awards, the film was nominated for three Oscars, including Best Original Screenplay. … WarGames is credited with popularizing concepts of computer hacking, information technology, and cybersecurity in wider American society.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WarGames

It also helped popularize the concept of computer gaming, which was still in its early days back then. Specifically, by showing that they could be more than arcade-style games like Galaga, and be more sophisticated interactive simulations. And while there had been several movies with AI characters in it before, this was the first one that involved needing to teach an AI, in a way that resonates with later machine-learning approaches. Also, the whole concept of someone who was “really into computers”, and who might thereby influence the world, was still very new.

• https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x93117c the link from above
• https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x929m0q another copy?
• https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8zdk1a German dub

RIP Dabney Coleman, btw.