WarGames premiered on June 3, 1983. The movie was one of the first to feature computer hacking, which wasn't illegal until after this film. In fact, approximately 4 minutes of the film was used in the opening proceedings that lead to the Comprehensive Crime Control Act in 1984. It was also the first time a computer "firewall" was mentioned in a film. David (Matthew Broderick) was supposedly based on real-life hacker David Scott Lewis, Professor Falken (John Wood) on Stephen Hawking, and the WOPR NORAD computer on the BRGR NORAD computer. The NORAD set cost 1 million dollars, becoming the most expensive set at the time (those in the know have said it was more impressive than the real NORAD war room). Ally Sheedy, who played Jennifer, would go on to also star in Short Circuit (1986), which was directed by WarGames director John Badham. Screenwriters Lawrence Lasker and Walter F Parkes spent time with real hackers and would go on to make the hacking film Sneakers (1992). Matthew Broderick would also play a hacker in Farris Bueller's Day Off (1986). The largest hacker convention, Defcon, was named in honor of the film. WarGames was about a teen who thought he was hacking into a beta version of a new video game, but instead had hacked into a war simulator in NORAD, possibly leading the country into a nuclear war. ("WarGames" Movie Event)
