WarGames (1983) - Opening Scene Breakdown - Let's Talk - Movies

Episode Transcript
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Jason Connell (04:34:32):
Whoa, just curious. Welcome to Just curious
media. This is let's talkmovies. And I'm Jason Connell on
the show. Today I'm joined by aspecial guest, Sal Rodriguez.

Sal Rodriguez (04:34:45):
Thank you, Jason.
I'm very happy to be here.

Always a pleasure to have you, sir. Always a
pleasure. So today, so I broughtyou back on because this is the
second time we've done this, andyou're part of the last episode,
Reservoir Dogs, but we arebreaking down WarGames, 1983.
The opening scene breakdown.
We're stopping there, just theopening scene. And I'm super
excited. But this is back toback episodes that I find out

(04:35:10):
that you haven't even seen themovie.

No, no. And I think that's actually an
interesting slant that you'reallowing on the show is how much
will that opening scene grab aperson and want you to see more?
Yep. And this opening scene ofWarGames is intense. Big time it
says I really think I breathethrough the whole scene.

Yeah. Well, before we started recording you,
you kind of made a connection orparallel with the TV show voice
the voice? I've only seen itlike once or

twice. Yeah, yeah, it's one of those things
where the singer gets up onstage and all the judges have
their backs to them. And then Iguess if the judges liked them,
then they will turn around. AndI guess press the button or
something like that. So it's oneof those things where like, as a
parallel to this, will thisopening scene of this movie or
any movie, make you want to turnyour chair around and watch the
movie? And I would sayabsolutely, I want to see this

(04:35:59):
thing because if the rest of themovie is half as intense as
this, I definitely want to seeit and forgive me my whole
entire life. For some reason. Idon't know why I thought
WarGames was a was a comedy.
Because Matthew Broderick FerrisBueller? I mean, I just thought
it was.

He's one note.
He's one note. As a comedian.

I'm lame. So I'm very excited about this.

That's all right.
Well, it's 39 years old. So somespoilers are going to come out.
So trust me because we do justbreak down the opening scene.
But I'm gonna highlight giveperspective and kind of talk
about the story here and there.
But we're only breaking thispart down and we are going to do
the kind of our usual homeworklike who made the movie behind

(04:36:37):
the scenes stuff cast is thatthe other so the usual thing we
do on most let's talk moviesepisodes. But as opposed to
scene by scene breakdown of theentire movie, we really take our
time and unpack this, which Ienjoy because we can bring in
some side stories is that theother fact you told me something
before we got going, which youabsolutely have to bring up here
about the director, but in duetime, say that's a great nugget.

(04:36:59):
But alright, here we go. So thesynopsis for WarGames 1983 is a
young man finds a backdoor intoa military central computer, in
which reality is confused withgame playing, possibly starting
World War Three.

Jason one of the reasons why this is so intense
is not only because of the movieitself, but where we are right
now in space and time. I mean,so true. Holy cow. You know what
I think some of this startedwhen we you and I revisited
rocky for Rocky for obviouslythe same day, the whole America,
Russia Cold War thing. And nowwe have the activities in the
Ukraine. And there's the tensionnow with the US and Russia

(04:37:37):
again. So it's like this movie,and this opening scene is even
more impactful today than itwould have been five years ago.
Absolutely. Or even maybe evenmore than it was even 39 initial
is

every day where there was a lot of fear when
this movie came out about theCold War in Russia. And just
that, you know, any minute wemight be in tact. So that was
real. I was a kid though, somaybe that's part of it. But I
do agree when I watched thismovie five years ago, I kind of
periodically check in with thismovie. And it's always held up,
which I love. But more sorecently, my watch this week was

(04:38:11):
like, Oh my gosh, it'sundeniably accurate in history,
Sal, absolutely continues torepeat itself, which is an old
cliche, but it's so true. I

hate that that cliche is so true. It absolutely
is.

So here we go into the film, so directed by
John Batum. And if you want togo ahead and throw in your
story, which blew my mind aminute ago,

yeah, you know, I just found this out today
because I used to go to this gymin Sherman Oaks on Ventura
Boulevard called A Life Fitness.
Shout out a Life Fitness andJason, if you're listening, his
name is Jason Cohen, the owner,another JSON. And so I will see
this guy working out they'refriendly guy, older gentleman.
I'd see him in there. He'd workout with his trainer. I'd say
hello to him. You know, a chitchat. Hey, how's the treadmill
working for you basic stuff. Andone day, I think I heard

(04:38:55):
overheard people talking aboutmovies. And then they started
talking about this gentleman.
And I was like, Who is that guy?
They go, Oh, he's a moviedirector. I go, Oh, what does he
directed? They go, Oh, hedirected Saturday Night Fever.
And I go, Oh, that's cool. Ilove Saturday Night Fever. And I
left it at that. Well, today Ifind out he directed wargames.
So I have met the director ofwar.

Gosh, and last week you had met the father of
the director of the movie we'dcovered which was Tony
Tarantino, father of QuentinTarantino, because we talked
about Reservoir Dogs.

I am just being being here on role and all over
the place. That's too

funny. Yes. So He did direct that I'm gonna hold
his other credits till I getthrough this but written by
Lawrence Lasker and Walter Fparks. The genre for this movie.
It's a lot. It's a mouthfulAction, Drama sci fi and
thriller so absolutely true.
Sal. No comedy in there.

No, no, no, no, I don't know why I thought isn't
Dabney Coleman in this too? Heis. I think of Dabney Coleman I
kind of think of comedy a littlebit because he's, he can do
comedy so well can be can donine to five all that. So I just
in my brain talk about MandelaEffect in my brain I had
WarGames a sweet

little comedy and maybe a musical. Or musical. The
ratings for this movie 7.1 onIMDb, solid IMDb again, tough
grade 93% on Rotten Tomatoes,the tomato meter to be specific.
There's two scores on RottenTomatoes. There's the tomato
meter and audience ratings. Butthis is the tomato meter 93%. So

(04:40:30):
very fresh, Sal. Yeah, that'svery fresh. Indeed, the release
date, June 3 1983. Now, I'dasked you this. But again, it's
not applicable to you. But Ifirst watched this in the
theater. Bowman twin theater tobe specific at 31st and Sheridan
and Tulsa, Oklahoma with mycousin Sean. And it blew my

(04:40:54):
mind. So both of our minds weresitting there and it was Bob and
twin in particular had thebiggest screen and Tulsa. It
seemed like there was twoscreens there. Bowman twin, I
think they're about the samesize. But I'd seen many movies
in there. But it's one of thosefilms. It's almost like a drive.
And it's just so big. And thesound was great. And this movie
just spoke to us was the rightage. And soon after that, I got

(04:41:15):
a Commodore 64 And myfascination with computers just
started to go into overdrive. Ialways wanted one of those
modems. I know you haven't seenthis movie, but it was the old
like Hand Cradle. You put thephone in and you would dial
Yeah. It's I just I alwayswanted to have my computer to do
more. I got to watch the boardgames. Like I learned how to
code and, and do things and makepirated games and do all this

(04:41:39):
stuff. But it was like, whatelse can I do? Because I wanted
to be Matthew Broderick, Iwanted to tap into things. So

I gotta hand it to you though, because when I
was first introduced to thecomputer, or the Apple Computer,
I was in fifth grade, I wentinto the class, and they let us
toy around on this computer. AndI had fun. We play games and
stuff, but I never thought itwould apply to me. I did not
know we would all have computersI did not know we'd walk around
with computers in our hands. Youknow, I just thought oh, this is
fun, but it doesn't apply to me.
I'm gonna be a you know, amusical theater kid, you know?

(04:42:07):
So I didn't even think it wouldapply to me. So I was a dumb
kid.

Well, you caught up with this. I did. Okay, you
overcame all that stuff. So thebudget for this movie $12
million. Which to me it seemslike a lot of money for 83 You
know, but also feels like nomoney at all because

yeah, but back then yeah, that's pretty big.
Pretty

good budget. US gross. $79.5 million in the US
of course and Canada I shouldsay North American gross,

but that's very successful box office. Yes. Very

successful. Yeah, I am surprised writing this down
that as like they didn't have asequel. It seems like they would
a rush right in if Weintraub hadbeen involved here Weintraub,
they would have made WarGames tohorror games three. But I'm
surprised they didn't do itbecause this was a hit a
bonafide hit. So

I think though, if Cobra Kai has taught us
anything, is that it's never toolate. They can be like like this
today.

I was talking to a friend and a pretty prominent
director many years ago, I don'tknow 10 years ago. And he was
telling me that he was workingon an outline or a script, for a
reimagining of wargames. Not aremake, but like kind of in
today's climate, not thepolitical climate. But I mean,
technology was right. You couldreally up the ante and do a lot

(04:43:29):
of things. And this is alreadyyears ago now. And I was like,
yeah, no one's dusted that thingoff and done that because I'm
not always in favor of a remake,but sometimes they get it right.
You know, movies like the fly.
You could call it a remake, butthe way Cronenberg took it
complements the original, it'shard to do, but when you do it,
right, they're reallysuccessful.

Did the movie take place? In 83?

Yeah, they're never specific, but it's
definitely in the early 80s.

Okay, I think one thing that requires a nice
update is if the movie is set inthe future, right, but that
technology is not where it isnow. Yeah, there you go. More
knobs and less less digital andmore knobs to flip.

Yeah, very analog. Now, the crew we just
talked about, but I'll give youmore of His credits. John Batum.
Director Saturday Night Fever asyou said, blue thunder love
blues under Wow. American fliersanother great movie short
circuit. A huge shit Johnnyalive. I'm alive. Johnny. That
was a good movie.

They haven't made a good action figure for short
circuit yet. I don't think so.
The fans want it but Theyhaven't made one yet.

He also did stakeout and another stakeout to
be specific to more hits andthen point of no return which is
a really good movie with BridgetFonda. It's like La Femme
Nikita. Oh, yes. Yes. Yes. Verygood. So solid solid director,
very good director and they gotthe right guy to pull this movie
off. Now more about the originaldirector. I'll save that for our
little bit of trivia. Now, thewriters Lawrence Lasker also

(04:44:58):
wrote Project X with MatthewBroderick and sneakers, one of
my favorite movies, such a greatfilm, and Oscar nominated for
wargames. Wow. 1983 did a lot ofproducing and was an Oscar
nominated producer for the movieawakenings in 1990. So great
movie

and sneakers was is like an espionage movie,
right?

Yeah, really smart. Same kind of thing. It's
a caper. There's a thrillercomponent, there's some comedy.
It's a star studded cast areRobert Redford and Sidney
Poitier. A very good film. Andthen Walter F parks is the other
writer also wrote sneakers sothey co wrote sneakers together.
And then he did that TV showcalled The slap, which I never

(04:45:42):
saw. But I'm sure means a lotnow so definitely a very
relevant thing now so maybe tellour audience for those who
haven't heard about it. What isthe slap now all about?

Well, the slap I think you're referring to Will
Smith and Chris Rock at theOscars. Yes. Yeah.

But modern slap

I say also that Will Smith is in the wake of
they actually have slappingcompetitions. Have you seen
these? They got two peoplestanding there. In format. It
looks like they would armwrestle but they don't arm
wrestle. They slap I slap you ashard as I can you slap me around
for a while. But no, it's it'sgetting bigger now.

It's getting bigger. Oh, yeah. The milk
crate?

Yeah, exactly. So sloth, and they have like, I
think Arnold Schwarzenegger wasthat one recently. I mean,
they're getting bigger all thesealternatives to combat sports
that are kind of like combatsports, but they're not combat
sports. Slapping is not combatbut it's fighting. So yeah, it's
getting bigger. And then now inthe wake of that, then Will
Smith of course, slaps ChrisRock. And now we have no
shortage of memes all over theweb. Now, that kind

of blew me away when I was watching it live
thinking was that stage, butwhen they cut the audio, when I
was gonna watch it, I thought,oh, no, that's a sign that this
is real, because he started evenno one's talking about this.
This laugh was definitely out ofline. He broke every rule.
Someone should have stopped itfrom happening. But what made it
even worse was the cursing fromthe seat. That like made anybody

(04:47:04):
in earshot, like cringe evenmore like hold on. This is a
real thing. It was kind ofscary. And I'm glad they killed
the audio. But of course, I'veheard the audio since on
different feeds. But yeah, it'sgetting a lot of hoopla and
we'll see how it pans out withhis career. And, you know, it's
funny right afterwards, ChrisRock literally the next day, I
believe, if not a day later, wasin Boston for his first concert.

(04:47:28):
I didn't go I didn't even knowit was happening. But there was
a lot of talk than he did. Hewouldn't talk about it. He made
a quick joke in the beginning,like how was your weekend? And
then everyone laughed. And hemoved right on. So

I got ahead until some hosting and presenting
obviously not to that level. Butthe way that Chris Rock handled
that unreal, I got to give it tohim. I got to hand it to Chris
Rock for maintaining hisprofessionalism and composure
after something like that,because I do not think I would
have been able to

know. Yeah, it might have started crying. It's
just overwhelming,

right? Like what's going on? Well, my
instinct would have been like,I'm gonna break a chair over
this guy like, yeah, I go WWE atthat point.

Yeah, you do. You do so Alright, so back to Walter
F parks. He was also Oscarnominated for WarGames, writing
shared with Lawrence Lasker, andhe too, produced awakenings. And
was Oscar nominated for that.
1990. So they've worked togethera lot. And they've both produced
a ton of other things. I mean, Iwas blown away by parts his
resume produced on a lot ofSpielberg movies. So it's funny

(04:48:26):
like this might have been a bigstepping stone for them writing
war games, the success of wargames, and then all sudden
you're like this wanted writerand then they kind of crossed
over into producing so alaunching point for them for
sure. The cinematographer wasWilliam a cracker, and,
unfortunately, rest in peace. Welost him in 2010 at 86 had a

(04:48:46):
good run, made some great movieswhile he was here, Rosemary's
Baby bullet to great moviesright there, and Oscar nominated
for looking for Mr. Goodbar 1977Heaven can wait in 1978, which I
recently covered on Let's Talkmovies, a review of that great

(04:49:07):
movie 1941, which was aSpielberg movie. Oh, John
Belushi. Was it the most popularof Spielberg movies? No, it's
less than 79. Now it's kind of akind of tanked. Then WarGames
1983. And then lastly, Murphy'sRomance in 1985, which I also
love. So five time Oscarnominated, cinematographer kills
it here. It looks amazing. SoRest in peace, great work. And

(04:49:32):
then I wanted to give a quickshout out to the composer Arthur
B. Rubinstein kills it.
Unfortunately, another rest inpeace has happens with movies
that are almost 40 years old.
So, sure, sure, we lost him in2018 at the age of 80. And he
composed blue thunder, anothermovie by Batum and lost in
America, which I also loved. Andhe also did stakeout. So he's

(04:49:54):
worked with Batum a few times toput this score is phenomenal. In
fact, today when I was doing thenotes, I just put the score on
because I just loved it was sotimely and, and fresh, and you
should definitely put a link inthe notes for you to check out
as well. I'll check it out. Andlastly, there was one more Oscar
nomination for this movie, andthat was for best sound. And
yes, the sound is great. Whenyou watch the movie, Sal, you

(04:50:17):
will learn this but even thatopening scene, this opening
scene, you know, all the bells,the whistles, the computer
making noises, the missile thewarhead, you know, he not great,
great sound, especially for 1983

Sure, you can appreciate how well people
worked with the technology theyhad at the time.

Yeah, didn't matter. You know, it's the
vision. So now the cast andwe're really just going to focus
on the opening scene cast. I'mgoing to quickly talk about who
else is in the movie, but ourmain players and I included a
third because he's an actor.
We've seen a bunch he's theguard that when they first come
in, he checks them in. Oh, yeah.
He said know him. You recognizethe face for sure. His name is

(04:50:59):
Art Leffler. I know this isbecoming very common Sal but
rest in peace, died in 2021 at78 He plays the guard. His
name's Ginsberg. He's in movieslike Field of Dreams and The
Sandlot so classic baseballmovies and many other and then
we have John Spencer, rest inpeace. 2005 died at the very

(04:51:21):
young age of 58, which wasshocking to me. Now, I knew John
Spencer from so many things, buthe plays Jerry Lawson. He was on
La law. He was in the rock. Hewas on the West Wing fight for a
long time. He was incredible,great actor. He recognized the
older of the two gentlemen ofthe of our two main cast. And
then Michael Madsen plays StevePhelps. Now, I believe what I

(04:51:45):
heard on the auto commentary wasthis was his first movie. And
then he went on to do likeFeldman, Luis, and of course,
Reservoir Dogs, which is funnysounds so maybe this is a theme
for let's talk movies, there hasto be someone to hand it off to
the next movie. So MichaelMadsen came over from Reservoir
Dogs and we brought him back. Iforgot he was even in the Sal
was like, Wait a second smads.
And then of course, he was inKill Bill, Volume One, Volume

(04:52:06):
Two, The Hateful Eight. So a lotof Tarantino movies and so many
others, and he's alwaysfantastic.

Do we know if Michael Madsen is related to
Virginia Madison? He

is indeed they are brother

and sister. Nice.

So who else is in the movie who we don't see in
this opening scene? Well,Matthew Broderick as we just
talked about the plays DavidDabney Coleman plays McKittrick,
and he's phenomenal as usual. Ofcourse, I did a documentary on
Dabney Coleman himself. Not sucha bad guy conversations with
Dabney Coleman. So I've gottento know him I met him through
the film festival becamefriends. Let me do a biography

(04:52:44):
on him had him on the podcast atone point in time we interviewed
him so he's amazing. And everytime I see I'm like, Oh my gosh,
like I was just a kid, idolizinghim and all these roles so to
know someone, it kind of blowsmy mind still, but he's still
going strong was in Yellowstonerecently in an episode so still
lacking still sharp as a tack.
It's good to hear and yeah,doing great. Then there's John

(04:53:06):
Wood. He plays Falken also restin peace, but I didn't get his
stats down. But I know we losthim. Ally Sheedy, a very young
Ally Sheedy, who became a bratPacker. She plays Jennifer. And
then Barry Corbin, who'sfantastic is Gen Behringer. And
he's in tons of movies, butwe're not going to go into them
because they're not in thisopening scene. Go back and watch

(04:53:28):
the movie, we may come back andrevisit the whole movie for an
episode of Let's Talk movies.
Now, just a quick few littletrivia before we jump into the
scenes that we can really sinkour teeth into. I talked about
an original director MartinBrest was fired a week into
filming this movie. Now Martinbreasted movies like Beverly

(04:53:50):
Hills Cop, Midnight Run Scent ofa Woman what she was Oscar
nominated for. And one point intime he then went on a date are
dated Terry bolo from strictlybackground. Yes, that's and it
all comes back around so

well let me ask you this. Do we are we going to
learn why he was fired?

They had a conflict of creative
differences. It's all I evergot. So I listen to the audio
commentary hoping to pick up onmore nuggets and looked online.
It's all ever set. In fact,Batum never says anything bad.
In fact, he compliments breaston it because some of his scenes
stayed in the movie. earlyscenes in the movie shot at
great and I love his work. Doyou

see credit director at all? No uncredited,
really. And they left some ofthe scenes in and when that
happens, yeah, they imagine thatyou will be obliged to remove
the scenes if you're going touncredited and fire somebody, he
doesn't

own the rights.
So they move right on. I mean,he was also, oddly enough, the
movie Fast Times at Ridgemont.
High. He's actually in the movieas an actor in the movie when we
did our breakdown of that movieon Let's Talk movies. I even
pointed out yeah, there's Bartonbreasts in that scene. They're
at the morgue. And they're like,looking at a body and Spicoli is
like, awesome. You know? He'slike, really loving it. They're

(04:55:06):
like exploring this cadaver. Oh,yeah, Martin breast is right
there, which is like, what theheck, that's so weird. But it
was the 80s. Sure. So he wasfired, and Batum came in. And
basically he was saying that hehad like, oh, we'll give you a
few weeks to prep, because he'scoming in something. It's
already going, everyone's onhold. Everyone's getting paid.

(04:55:27):
And he was going to take a fewweeks to kind of flush out and
you know, wrap his head aroundthe thing. And they kept saying,
Hey, can you just get going now?
Can you just get going becausewe got to get going. So he just
jumped in really early, hit theground running, and it didn't
impact the movie at all. It's anincredible film. So a credit to
him and the entire team andorganization for doing so. Under
some tough circumstances. Mindyou, I'm sure everyone shows up

(04:55:49):
to work, directors fired. I sawyou're an actor that would be
you know, that throw you offyour game, I would think

well, the closest I can imagine that is I'm in a
play right now the stageadaptation of the lilies of the
field, we have 11 performances,we're just finished eight and
we're going to do 910 11 I camein late so my role that they
couldn't find an actor to do myrole, or anyone that they liked.
So I came into the productionthis theater production, about a

(04:56:17):
month after everybody. Andspeaking of first scenes, I am
first out on the stage. So whatyou're doing here with analyzing
the first scenes of moviesreally impacts me because in my
play, I'm the first one outthere so I think about that now
you're it I am I am gonna setthe bar high say absolutely do
more pressure.

And speaking of Sidney Poitier, Wasn't he in a
film adaptation of your play?

It's my understanding that it was a
novel and then it became a movieand somewhere along the way, it
became a problem and then becamea play. But yeah, Sidney Poitier
won an Oscar for his portrayalof Homer Smith and lilies of the
field. Yes. Nice.

So two more quick ones. The movie is based in
Seattle, we know that when youwatch some movies, Seattle,
Washington, you know this, andthey're also at NORAD, which is
at the Cheyenne Mountain complexin Colorado. A couple things
though. The NORAD entrancetunnel is at Griffith Park.

You're saying in the movie,

they cheat it?
It's

like

they cheat the entrance because I go to
Griffith Park all the time.
Yeah, it's one of those tunnelsthat you've driven through you
wouldn't walk or hike Oh, likethere are tunnels and more

towards the observatory. Exactly. Okay. I'm
more more on the other side moretowards the five course

of course, but I've driven through there and I
see it in movies, I will spotit. I was even thinking that
looks like it and then they cameout and said it on the
commentary. Like they confirmedit plus it does say it online.
And David's house now again, setin Washington, Seattle,
Washington, David's house is at333 South Arden Boulevard, Los
Angeles, California 900 to zeroand that is in Hancock Park and

(04:57:49):
I used to live five minutes fromnow on walk my old previous dog
Brody around there almost everyday and I've been right by
David's house many times on art.
So I was like that house looksfamiliar. You know Hancock Park,
it has a very specific look inthe houses. And then in the
movie, David is arrested at a711 in Big Bear Lake. So they
cheat a lot of things. This,that and the other. And another

(04:58:13):
coincidence, I had rented acabin at one point in time,
literally on the street that theseven elevens at the very end on
the main street there. And Iwent to that 711

And I was watching you stay there knowing
that the 711 was there. No, no,

no, no, I discovered it. A few years ago.
I was watching it going. Wow. Itreally looks a little bit like
big bear. And I was right on. Sothat was I love that man. I
mean, that just excites me somuch.

I know how you feel about locations. Yes,

it's huge. And lastly, Matthew Broderick breaks
into the school's computersystems and WarGames to change
his biology grade. And in FerrisBueller's Day Off and 1986 He
broke into change the number ofdays he missed school. So a
common theme with MatthewBroderick. He is a computer nerd
so

that's why I thought this movie was a comedy.
And again, Matthew Broderickwent into that with the
producers remember on Broadway?
Oh, yeah, that's a comedy so Imy brain just went to comedy.
Let me ask this question while Ihave you hope I don't stump you.
What other serious dramas hasMatthew Broderick been in
besides this?

Well, has he been in serious dramas? Back in the
day what Biloxi Blues had comedybut it had some dramatic aspects
to it. It did and he was in MaxDugan returns which was More of
a comedy lighthearted movie. So,yeah, I understand that. But
you're speaking to the pointthat, you know, Ferris Bueller.
That was a huge hit it biggerthan WarGames, at least for

(04:59:41):
Broderick, right. Because he wasFerris Bueller. He was taught
billing and that movie wasprobably the biggest success for
John Hughes from a theatricalstandpoint. And that was this in
its posters, ham. So yeah, Icould understand like the
persona of Ferris Bueller ofMatthew Broderick, being a
comedic actor, always hadcharges, right. Yeah. And that

(05:00:02):
was years later, though, to methat there's that early era. But
he did a lot of stage a lot ofplays, and of course, led to,
you know, doing the producers.
So I always look to Him as moreof a hybrid. He had comedic
chops, but he was probably moreof a dramatic actor. Because in
this movie, he's not playing forlaughs He's just a kid who's
trying to play some games. Andthere's a couple of funny
moments. He's not funny. He'splaying it straight. And even in

(05:00:24):
Ferris Bueller, he doesn't playfor jokes. He's just a cool kid,
breaking all the rules, youknow. So he's not like a funny
guy. They brought Cameron in tokind of do some of that stuff.
So anyway, can't wait to see it.
So we might have you back on fora first reactions.

Spoiler for anyone listening is this scene
makes me want to see the rest ofthe movie. For sure.

It's working.
That's good. So let's get intothe scene. So we opened with,
it's like a storm, and there'san SUV. And I love that shot. I
mean, I heard they had allthese, you know, when machines
blowing and trying to createthat atmosphere, and they go
into this very unassuming housestyle. And this living room is
something that your grandmotherwould be proud of. But it's not
that isn't Sal, it's somethingcompletely different. And

I like this a lot. Because you think you're in
some boring living room? No, no,it's a facade.

So what is it?
Yes, exactly.

Yeah, they got to show their badges to them. It's
a two way mirror, they showtheir badges. They get let in
and all of a sudden, you're inthis compound. So that the whole
living room the whole thatlittle house was all fake.

It was neat, though, right? It was like just
that extra level, that extralayer of like, well, this is
just a house, you gotta go in,and you got to show your badge
and it's like, oh, you're behindthe curtain. And that really was
cool. It kind of blew my mind,actually. And we learned right
away that this is US Air Force.
And this is the replacementteam, the two guys Lawson and
Phelps. And they're running 20minutes late. Because of that

(05:01:52):
storm. It's a bad storm so theycan barely even drive in it.
Like visibility, what visibilityand so we also find out it's a
24 hour shift, right? When yougo into this job, it's 24 hours
on we they say you know see youtomorrow. The main guy that was
the other guy that I talkedabout earlier art Leffler played
the guard Ginsburg and also sawI noticed that they give them

(05:02:16):
weapons and bullets which comeinto play, but very interesting
that they give that to you likeyour standard issue you're
checking in sign in here's yourgun. And I thought that was
pretty interesting.

It is interesting because I think in that very
moment if you were to pause youthink why are they giving them
guns are gonna compound what'sgoing to happen here? You know,
they're safe. Why would theyneed guns?

Totally. And the US military you think they'd
already have a gun on him? Nowyou check in and now here's your
gun. Now you're safe. But yeah,here's your gun. Well, then when
they get on this elevator, so itreminds me of the same from
Spies Like Us 1985 John Landisfilm, when they mock this entire
scenario. I don't know if youremember that movie. I sent you

(05:02:57):
a link earlier. Dave. Youprobably haven't

seen it. No, I did see that. I didn't know what
it was from though. Yes, SpiesLike Us. Okay.

They really just inflate this. You know, in fact,
in that scene, it's hilarious.
So two guys pull up. It's an lalangue outskirts Lancaster, LA
but yeah, Lancaster, they pullup to like an old abandoned or
out of season drive in movietheater. And these two guys, and
what BB King gets out and sayswhy don't you gentlemen have a
Pepsi? That was that was BB Kingrest in peace. I

used to be a universal.

Well, this was BB King. Yeah.

So I didn't know.

And he tells him to go into the going this old
dilapidated like concession. Andthey go push the Pepsi machine
and they get shot down like 1000floors, and they're led. And so
they were definitely mockingthis in a good way. But it's so
funny like you would neverassume they go to this much
trouble to hide something. Butanyway, they're on the elevator.

(05:03:55):
And Lawson begins to share thisweed or grass story, which was
way ahead of his time. So

Well, the fact that they're just talking about
like two guys in a seriousscenario. Talk to him about
things that would be consideredtrivial or wrote, In other
words, rote, or mundane, or justcompletely unrelated to the
environment. Very reminiscent ofsome of the Tarantino scenes
that you and I have talkedabout.

Oh, absolutely.
Yeah, it's very Pulp Fiction.
You know you have the two Hitmangoing to a wee early and they
just start talking about stuffRoyale with cheese and all that
fun stuff. Well, we're provingthat are showing that these guys
have camaraderie and you'retogether for these 24 hours.
shifts, right? And who knowswhere they live on some base.
They're probably always aroundeach other. So they're probably
having a constant conversation.
They just pick it right back up.

(05:04:40):
But it was interesting thatthese military guys are talking
about weed. And then they getoff the elevator, they approach
this huge vault door they dialin. It looks like one star
three, three. I don't know whatthat was for maybe 30 threes and
Larry Bird reference, who knows?
But then they relieved Tuckerand Bevan and Sal Bevins. peterb
with them and writes them. Andthey're always late, I think. I

(05:05:05):
think there's like you guys,because you're waiting to be
released, you're ready to goafter 23 hours

until they get there.

That's 24 hours plus 20 minutes. So the vault
opens in yours. You're reallyseeing this the level of
security I mean, that door noone's breaking in that day, let
alone you gotta go through allthe layers to get there.

And at this very moment, is where my
claustrophobia starts to kickin,

dude, Yeah, cuz you're underground. You're
underground. There's

no it's one of the reasons why I don't like
taking an underground subway. Ido not like underground subways,
I don't like

them. And most are underground. I mean,

but that's where I lived. When I was in Japan.
They had various parts of thesubway about what 15 feet off
the ground, going through Tokyo.
I said, Well, this is fantastic.
But then as soon as it goes intothe city, no, I don't like
underground subways. I feelboxed in I really do.

You know, when I'm in New York, and sometimes I
would go over to that filmfestival in Hoboken. I had to go
over there and you really gointo subway underneath the
water, the Hudson River. Andthat's when I'm going out. I
think that's great. That's theone time I'm going we're really
underneath that. That's the onetime it sets in like God just
get through this. Yeah, not afan

that might start to hyperventilate, even just
thinking about it. Well, before

they go inside. I love that sign on the right to
do see that thing. Oh my god, itsays anyone urinated in this
area will be discharged. I loveI swear it says that it's so
funny. That you know that wasput there to see if anybody
notices this is an Easter egg.
Yeah, it does say that you'redischarged can't piss down here.
So then they go on this computerserver room. So it also looks

(05:06:45):
like something you could doBitcoin mining. And I think it's
just like servers everywhere todesk and they look about 1012
feet apart, right? They're notside by side desk. They're apart
for a reason, which we're aboutto talk about. Yes. And one is
facing a wall and the otherone's facing this other wall. So
if this guy looks over, he seeshis back. But the other guy
doesn't really have a vantagepoint of him all by design.

(05:07:07):
Yeah, I tell you. Yeah. Which iscool. Anything to add before I
continue?

No, it also reminds me of when I used to in
my teens and early 20s. My buddyand I would rent studio time
when we would record rap demosreminds me of some of the
studios that we've been in thosefully equipped Pro Studio. Oh,
yeah, we're the you're sort ofit's almost like a bunker. And
that's what this is like. Yeah.
But again, there's a bunker,obviously. Yeah, it is a bunker.
So these audio studios, theykind of maybe fashion them after
that if you're just likesurrounded by equipment.

I wouldn't want to try to record in this bunker
per se because it might bepretty loud that we should do
the podcast in there with allthe bells and the whistles and
no.

Quiet were there nothing going on in there.

Were there nothing going. Yeah, if if Well,
now out of nowhere, theyliterally just sit down just
getting comfortable. Mind youthat 20 minutes late. So had
they been there? They would havehad more.

You know what I just I just occurred to me. Had
they been 30 minutes late. Theother guys who

they couldn't have got down there on lockdown.
Yeah. Oh, those guys who havebeen real pissed. So then Phelps
has a red light appear becausethey both have their little desk
and 1000s of buttons and panelsand whatnot. And it's number
eight warhead alarm, and Lawsonsays out a flicker with your
finger. It's almost like hey, mycomputer's not working reboot

(05:08:25):
it, you know, just kind of okay,flip, flip, flip, it goes off.
And then we see live images ofwarheads and some really cool
stuff sound. It really hammershome the image and just the era
of Cold War as we talked aboutearlier, just seeing this, you
know, like there's a warheadthat's what it looks like. I
love these cards, these insertshots. Very effective. I'm sure

(05:08:48):
it's as accurate to you probablyhad back in the day teams like
this in bunkers standing bywaiting for to fire if and when
needed. This is based onsomething of reality.

I'm also reminded of we have our system and laws
in place. But the person whodelivers the order is not the
person that presses the button.
Now it comes from the presidentthey talked about where you go,
like for example, when it comesto execution state executions.
It's not the governor thatpushes the but it's not a judge.
It's some guy who does it comesfrom above. Yeah, but I mean, I

(05:09:21):
would not want to be that guy.
Pushing the button for whateverit is. Talk about the
responsibility. Holy cow.

Yeah. And that looms here in this scene which
makes it quite intense as we're,we're getting there, we're
revving up to it. Well then allof a sudden, so the flicker goes
away. And then a siren kicks offsirens, and we hear sky bird. So
this bunker is called Sky bird,and dropkick. I love this calls.

(05:09:50):
And so it's like Skybar This isdropkick red dash alpha message
in two parts. So it's like avery mechanical you saw, like,
robot almost like KITT fromKnight Rider.

Yeah, no emotion,

no emotion, but it's a great voice. And sound
also kind of reminds me hisvoice in particular, of the
radio announcer from A ChristmasStory 1983 When he's like, be
sure to drink your Ovaltine. Buthe gives them the whole, like,
like, get your pens ready, andthey're doing the whole decoder
thing. So they have a messagecoming in here I thought about
today is like it really kind ofreminds me of that. Now they

(05:10:25):
both came out in 83. So that wasjust coincidence. But Sal, why
don't you play this dropkickvoice for us and kind of build
some of this intensity that wewe get in the scene?

Brake, brake, red dash, alpha, red, dash, Alfa
Romeo, Oscar, November, Charlie,Tango, Tango, Lima, alpha
authentication to 20040 deltaLima.

So while that's going on, these guys scramble
and get their pads of paper. Andof course, you know, this is
military talk, Romeo, get the AROscar get the Oh, and they're
just writing it all down thereindividually at their own desk,
right. And they go toauthenticate this and they get
the secure red box. Love the redbox out there very quick on the
it's funny that says twocombination locks. Yeah, this is

(05:11:22):
a movie. And they basically goover like make one move and
they're open. Those things arenot that easy. There's like five
things I

know. You know what? They probably did it like
we would do it to our lockers atschool where you do the first
two. So when you get therelater, just do the third. Yeah.

Exactly. Exactly.
Yeah, who would know Right? Andit's like, they go to their
tables, they will crack thatthing. And it says like the top
secret red dash alpha, W O P RWhopper. This is in the movie a
lot. Whopper stands for Saudiwant to read it

war operation plan response. And it says

execution after that. I'll talk about Whopper
shortly. But then there's thelaunch code. And it's d l g
2209. T V x. Launch order isconfirmed. And then Phelps
relays the following.

target selection, complete time and target
sequence complete. Yieldselection, complete, enable
missiles, launch time, t minus60 seconds.

So this puts things in motion when they check
out and everything's complete.
That means these warheads aregoing to be firing. And like you
just said, these are just theguys who are told this is the
protocol, you get this and ifthey check out, I guess both
sides and everything, you'redoing everything, you know, dot
your i's, cross your t's youfollow through, but you need two

(05:12:45):
guys to make this happen toguys. And so it's real, as far
as we know. And Lawson andPhelps feel the weight of the
situation much like you justsaid you don't want to be that
guy. You know, a lot ofresponsibility. Like, Hey, I
know works usually okay, but nowyou've got a real situation. Now
you have lives at yourfingertip.

I mean, it's inevitable if you're sitting at
that position. Yeah, whatthey're experiencing. That's
what you're there for, right?
Like to have it actually happen.
Yes. Oh, boy. No, this is I feelfor these guys. I really feel
for these guys like would notwant to be in that position.

Because we can make the assumption that it's
never happened before. Yeah, Iguess you can. So they probably
never been here before. In thissituation. They've trained for
it. But here it is. And so theysit that far apart, because like
I just said it takes two becausewhen you get all the codes and
all these things, you then haveto insert launch keys like a
regular key and have the panelflip it and there's off set

(05:13:47):
launch. And I love just aboveit. There's a label says gently.
Yeah, like this a little labelthat someone put on there. So
just go real slow.

Don't like accidentally go here all the
way. That was really

funny because both both stations had it. I was
like, because the label looked alittle different. I was like,
Oh, that's really good. I likethat nice touch. And Lawson
instructs them because Lawson isthe older of the two. Right?
slightly older, slightly moresenior of the two. And he
instructs them to turn to set

well Phelps refers to Lawson as Sir does
that mean that he's a superior?
Yeah, I

guess so. You could tell he's definitely got
some years on him.

Okay, well, because I'm assuming that he
says superior. What's going tohappen it makes it even more
impactful

and that was a smart way to take it.
Absolutely. So Lawson instructshim to turn to set and then the
dramatic score kicks in, go backwas shot to the warheads and
they're steaming, you know,like, oh my gosh, warming up and
it's intense. It's reallyintense. And then Lawson
hesitates, again, the senior ofthe two who's had many more

(05:14:53):
years of training, so we think,and then he instructs them to
enable missiles, butreluctantly, right, he's like,
and it is interesting that theycould have easily made it the
younger guys begin into panic,that'd be the more common way to
take. But I love that it's thisway. And you got the young buck
who's following protocol. And itjust becomes more and more

(05:15:16):
intense. Yeah. And that leads toLawson, who begins to question
authority just a little bit. Hewants wing command post. And
then he wants to Sacheadquarters. He wants to talk
to somebody, right? He wants totalk to somebody and then why
don't we bounce? Well, why don'tyou take it? Take the dialogue
that happens between Phelps andLawson. And I'll just do that a

(05:15:37):
little instructions in between.
So let's build up to this bigclimactic finish.

Phelps says, that's not the correct
procedure, sir. That's not thecorrect procedure, sir. And
Lawson says screw the procedure.
I want someone on the goddamnphone before I kill 2 million
people.

And now right t minus 20.

I got nothing here that might have been
knocked out early. And Lawson'scovered in sweat. He says, all
right.

And then Lawson instructs them to churn launch
keys to launch. But at T minussix. Lawson drops his hand.

And Phelps says sir, we have a launch order. Put
your hand on the key sir.

T minus one launch. Now the warhead steaming
but nothing's happened. Theyhave not completed the cycle.
And Phelps points his gun atLawson whose back is to Phelps
by design. He can't even see it.
It's a powerful image. Andplease continue.

Sir. We are at launch. Turn your key. I'm
sorry. I'm sorry. Turn your keysir. Again, pointing the gun at
it what I believe is hissuperior officer, which is more
intense, even more. So.

When Lawson and by the way, John Spencer was
such a fantastic actor. When hesays that I'm sorry. I'm so
sorry. He's not even talking toPhelps. He says he's having his
own universe. Yeah, exactly. Itis powerful. And they went with
a better, more mature actor forthat role, too, which was
fantastic. And I love that.
Yeah. Phelps has got him in hiscrosshairs now, so he can't

(05:17:17):
really kill him. If he does. Youcannot complete the cycle
either. So there is thatjuxtaposition like, yeah, he's
just trying to like intimidatehim into turning his key.

It's almost like there should be a third guy.
Like, just in case you know whatI mean? Yeah. Because yeah, if
he were to shoot him, heavenforbid, then the whole thing is
just ruined, you know? Yeah.

Well, back to the guns. Those guns are there for
that very reason

for each other.
Holy cow. They're handing youguns, you and your buddy to
potentially use on each other.
Yeah, crazy. It is

crazy. I was thinking about that. Yesterday,
like, oh, my gosh, I justhadn't, you know, delved into
that very much. But I mean,unless someone broke in the
bunker, but the okay, there'sthat too. But that will be very
slim to break through all thelevels of security that also
good. I mean, unless Tom CruiseMission Impossible to him show
it up. But beyond that, it'sthere for that reason, you may

(05:18:14):
have to do this. I guess if hedid shoot him, he could say,
hey, he wouldn't follow through.
I did everything I could. Yeah.
But like you said earlier beforewe recording loss and could have
easily pulled his gun on Phelpssaid, Hey, I'm not doing this.
So back off, and they can have astandoff. But I liked the way
they took it. One guy justresigned from everything.

And this is what makes it even more intense is
that first scene ends as acliffhanger. Totally. Like, what
happens?

Yeah, we basically get a great cut to a
military vehicle Hongqi like mygoing up, and we see war games
come on screen. And then itpulls up to the NORAD combat
operations center at CheyenneMountain complex. And then the
score kicks in. And it's likemilitary sounding and it kind of

(05:19:00):
feels like stripes that movie,and we're off the hook for a
second it does it gives you areprieve. A much needed reprieve
needed. Yeah. So like, I guesswhat I just see the movies not
messing around. It's such agreat opening. It hooked me as a
kid it terrified me as a kid,first of all, but we were in our
eyes were just like what? Andthen now we're at no right and

(05:19:22):
then what happened? So becauseagain, you haven't seen this,
but you begin to kind of meetsome of the other players. And
first of all, I should also say,we find out soon enough So that
what happened here was indeed adrill.

That's what I didn't know. Gotta be like, in
other words, I'm I guess I, I'mjust I don't want it to be real.
So I'm thinking, this wasn'treal this was these guys didn't
even know they were in a drillmaybe one of those things you
know.

Exactly. So Lawson's hunch now I don't know
if his hunch was, Is this adrill he just wanted someone to
verify before he killed 20million people him and his
cohort. But also we

don't know, like the viewer doesn't know who the
missile is aimed at? Well, wejust assume the missile would be
aimed at Russia at this time.
Well, Russia

comes into play very quickly. Okay. We go right
to this mini war room. Andthey're just saying how you
know, how did these guys notknow it was a drill. So it's a
given it's a drill. But somehowthat information did not get
passed down to the bunker, thankgoodness that Lawson had this
kind of change of heart. Andaverted there was the first
version of World War Three rightthere. Because if they fire

(05:20:28):
those missiles, they'll becounterattacks and, but that
information didn't make it downthere. But this puts the movie
into motion. So it's a greatdevice. Because it's decided in
the meeting that Whopper, thecomputer we just talked about II
didn't notice computer but waroperation plan response. So
there's a supercomputer big.
This is the 80s. But coollooking, they put all these

(05:20:50):
bells and whistles because thecomputer doesn't look like much.
So that was a nice touch aswell. It looks like it's
working, you know, but it'sgoing to replace the humans and
controlling the US warheadsslash missiles. And therefore
humans are out of the way. Ifthe President gives the command.
The computer can take his ordersand go without a motion. This is

(05:21:10):
Skynet is with Yeah, exactly.
But this is what puts it outthere. And that what a great
device like okay, humans failed,although no one's talking about
it was a drill. So he we can'trely on humans was a computer
when the done it? No, becausethe computer would have known it
was drill. But that's beside thebut

that's the whole argument in favor of autonomous
vehicles. Human error, thiseliminates human error. Yeah,
we're meant to believe thathumans are so error prone that
we need a computer to do what weformerly did.

Well, there would be no more drinking and driving
with autonomous vehicles, whichwould really lower death rates.
But I know what you're saying, Iget it, I get it. Let's primates
we can't be trusted. So I justlike to drive. I enjoy drive I
love to drive to but insurancewould be like, you know,
$100,000 to drive because allright, I'll just do it. take a
loan out. Well, there's thisgreat shot. So first of all, we

(05:22:02):
don't know what happened to ourtwo guys, right? We don't know
Phelps and Lawson. So they showthem shortly thereafter. Because
basically, they're gonna installthis computer system in 30 days,
men are out of the bunkers outof the silos. Computers are
taking over, they can control itat the top. And they're removing
those two chairs. They sat ingreat shot. You see our two

(05:22:24):
guys, they're picking up someequipment head and out of the
old bunker. And two other guysare carrying out the chairs.
Like what a way to like thatillustrates perfectly symbolic,
like, wow, okay, it really makesits point visually without
explanation. And so we knowthey're alive. You didn't
continue and shoot him in theback of the head. That would

(05:22:45):
have been terrible. And they'reon good terms. Because I don't
say is that there's that to theview. I forgive you, you know,
you're gonna kill me rememberthat you had me in your
crosshairs there Powell. Butthey worked through it. And of
course, with the computercontrolling things. This allows
David, our hero in this movie,Matthew Broderick to enter the

(05:23:08):
picture because he's a computernerd high schooler live in
Seattle. And he's hackingsystems as the synopsis said
looking for games and stumblesinto accessing a military
computer by mistake, thussetting up more scenes with
warheads, and countdowns andnearly launching World War Three
with Russia.

You know why this is also scarier is because you
and I have been talking aboutcryptocurrency for a while, both
on and off the air. And in thebeginning you you're like, oh,
it's safe. You know, crypto issafe. But how many stories have
we heard recently, where maybeit's not as safe as we would
hope because of hackers. hackerscan potentially do something

(05:23:51):
like this. You have to

guard them so I think they're safe within
reason. Yes, it can get hacked.
Hey, is cash

safe? Well, you'd have to physically assault me
Yes, otherwise no.

And you can have crypto that's not on sitting on
a computer you can have it on adrive nowhere online at all you
could ever written down you canthere's lots of ways to protect
it. But most people Hey, mostpeople use the same password for
everything. Okay? Most peoplearen't that well guarded. And
hackers are just like, oh mygod, this is too easy. So
there's that right well,

look at all these little fun little things that
get passed around Facebook. Hey,everybody, what's tell us your
favorite childhood dog's name?
Yeah, everybody. I couldn'texist. Yeah,

and what street did you grow up on? What's your
kid's birthday? It's all fun.
Great. And we're on vacationnow. And so you know, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, youknow, whatever. It's not good.
So I don't walk around thinkingabout that. But I tried to
safeguard myself to some degree,but it's not like I got a lot.
So, you know, I got a littlecrypto, I got all this. Yeah,

(05:24:54):
it's all yours. It's alltangible. Sal lubes. And

some would have to like come in with a
wheelbarrow. Totally.

Well, we talked about this in the beginning. But
it is amazing to me sow that 39years later. There's all this
turmoil and issues with Russia,going into Ukraine, and all
that's happening. And it isincredible that history repeats
itself, like it does. And as faras that matter is concerned, I
hope and pray for a goodoutcome. We're all a little

(05:25:27):
uneasy. And it's just in therewas a long time that Russia was
kind of dormant is the big badsuperpower for a long, long
time. But here it is rearing itsugly head again. And I just
happen to dust this movie off.
And you're right, it kind ofstarted when we did rocky for
when Stallone went and made theultimate Director's Cut rocky
versus Drago and that put it onour radar. It's like oh, yeah,
the Cold War and all that isright there in that movie, and

(05:25:49):
it's here in this movie as well.
But to this movie's point, itholds up beautifully. I gotta
say, is good now is any viewingsession I've had because I
periodically check in you know,once every 5678 years it comes
on, I put it on and like oh mygosh, you just forget how good
it is and how young everybody isright? Like look at Damn you

(05:26:11):
look at Matthew, but look atAlly Sheedy. But it is
fantastic. And although not acomedy, it has just the right
amount of comedy in it. Oh,there is some comedy in it. Not
from Matthew Broderick. Hereally plays it straight. Yeah.
Barry Corbin brings some comedy,okay. And I read the he ad
libbed a lot of his lines.
There's this great line in themovie where he's like, Well,
they're always going to a DEFCON level. So like, I think they

(05:26:33):
got it backwards, though. Ithink in real life. Five is the
scariest it whatever it is thereal military, they got it
wrong. Because on the audiocommentary, like we got that
wrong, but whatever. So there'sDEF CON 1234 And five. It's our
defense conditions. That's whatit stands for. For a high alert.
The whole world's on panic andfighter pilots are standing by

(05:26:54):
and they're getting ready tolaunch the missiles. And this
movie gets to those points.

Well, the idea would be that it's like a burn
first degree burns second degreethird. Yeah, right. Yeah. murder
in the first degree murder. It'slike, the higher the number, the
greater the threat we wouldthink. Right?

I would think but whatever they go to. Yeah, it's
like, oh, here we go. We're onthe verge of world war three. If
we get to that DEF CON level.
It's on and what's happening isthis doomsday clock, right,
exactly. Yeah, I mean, I gottasay there's other memorable
scenes, anything at NORAD. Theydid an incredible job. There's
computer screens everywhere,people everywhere, but like I
was trying to say, and I cut myown self off, but there is

(05:27:31):
comedy Barry Corbin there'sthere's a sense of panic and
Dabney Coleman's great in themovie and all these other
aspects. But Corbin has lineslike, well, I piss on a
sparkplug. If I think it wouldhelp, he brings that Texas kind
of twang and logic, and thenhe's real serious again. So
there's moments of likereprieve, and then it's like,
intense again.

Yeah, no, I've learned to appreciate when they
relieve the tension, theyrelease that pressure valve. I
think we as audience, we needthat. We can't be you know,
clenching our teeth through twohours, you know,

well, I won't ruin the ending, but there's a
lot going on the computersimulating things. They think
they're seeing reality. Andthey're not because the
computers kind of taken over andit's simulating this war. And
that's the beauty. So yeah,we're on the verge of meltdown
constantly in this film. Andthat's another great scenes
really cool technology, analog,cool stuff. David, Matthew

(05:28:26):
Broderick, he like opens alocked door with a micro
cassette recorder, because helike figures out the tone. And
that sequence alone blew my mindlike he's behind some door that
has like a keypad, and he rigsup a micro cassette recorder and
then learns the code and playsit back to itself and it opens
it like MacGyver stuff beforeMacGyver.

Jason, the closest I ever got to that was
when I was a kid. I used to putnickels on the train tracks. The
train would run over the nickelsand those nickels I would put
into the V chains. I would notput them they they would work in
the Donkey Kong machine. Wow.
And I was the only I didn't tellanybody. I didn't want to burn
the spawning of a conch SalRodriguez but yeah, that's what
it's that's the closest I'veever gotten to what's clever

(05:29:08):
hacking and

that's good.
Well, David also uses a payphonewith no money. He like takes a
receiver off kind of does someold traipse clip.

I know we used to do that the pit you put the pig
shorts are sicker than you putit Yeah, we used to do that.

Hey, man, you should have been more than I
was. I didn't even know he'sthere was something else really
cool because earlier there was avoice talking but in In this
movie, we actually see and hearcomputers talking. And listen to
that commentary. I pickedsomething up how they did it,
you know, computer voices, butthis is before you could even do
it. It was readily available,right? Even David's computer in

(05:29:45):
his house, but they took theactor who was a British actor
who we lost passed away,unfortunately, who played Falken
was John Wood. And he basicallyhad a really great British
accent. And he said words, buthe would say sentences and
reverse. This is what thedirector Batum had him do.
Basically he this great phrasein the movies, shall we play a

(05:30:06):
game because this computer justwants to play these games?
Because Broadwick kind of stokethe fire. And so he would have
this actor, John would say itreverse like game a play. We
shall. And then he play itnormal, but just that structure,
saying it in reverse gave it thewrong shortness. Yeah, the
cadence it was like, shall weplay a game. And that's how it

(05:30:29):
came out. And it's beautiful,because his voice also is just
so distinct. So I didn't knowthat I thought it was some, you
know, emulated real computervoice. But that was very clever.
And I

reminisce Greek and spell member Speak and
Spell. Exactly, yeah.

Yeah. So a lot of the good stuff to look forward
to. I know that we gave somehints away here. But again, it's
hard to not have spoilers afteralmost four decades. But but
incredible movie, I hope thatyou're more excited than ever
now to see itself. And yet nowyou're two for two on breakdowns
of the opening scene. But I'mhoping these leads to your hit

(05:31:07):
list of movies, and you're gonnafollow through and watch them.
And we'll keep having you back.

Your list you you are bringing things to my
attention, you are showing methe first scenes of movies, and
now I want to see more of them.
But I like the idea that I'msitting here almost kind of
clueless for the rest of themovie and just solely focused.
And I only know the openingscene, which is I kind of liked
that angle, too.

I do too. Now I'm going to have other people on
the show that actually have seenthe opening scene of maybe the
movie as a whole, I should say,but I like your angle. We like
it, we're exploring it. This isgood. And now that we're only
going to do opening scenebreakdowns, but on this show,
I'm trying new formats. And I'mgoing to do a few of these and
then we'll go back and do a fullmovie breakdown and we'll have
another interview. Hey, it's amixed bag here. We have lots of

(05:31:52):
fun and we do what we do. Wealways talk movies. That's what
we do. Yeah. So without furtherado, please enjoy wargames. So
thank you so much for listening.
And please be sure to subscribeto the let's talk movies podcast
as well as the let's talk moviesYouTube Live Channel. You can
also really help us by givingthe show a five star rating on

(05:32:14):
Apple podcast.

And for all you listeners that enjoy sharing
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WarGames (1983) - Opening Scene Breakdown

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