Youthful computer ‘WarGames’

Press, 9 December 1983, Page 37 (Supplement)

Youthful computer ‘WarGames’

“War Games which starts today at the Avon, mixes fact and fantasy in a com-puter-age drama about what might happen if access to the American defence system falls into the wrong hands. Briefly, it is about a com-puter-crazed teenager, David (Matthew Broderick), who taps into the United States Defence Department wjir games computer. David is exhilarated by the idea of playing a mock World War 111 with this machine and initiates a match of global thermonuclear war. There is one catch, however: The government computer does not know that David’s war is just a game — it insists on playing to the end, setting off a panicky international incident.

Joanna Langfield, of WMCA Radio, New York, commented: “It is not only well made but also puts its finger right on the worried pulse of the nation, tapping into our compulsion with computers and our concerns about nuclear war.

“By using high school kids as the leading characters, ‘WarGames’ not only will excite teens but also remind us of the responsibility adults

have to future generations.

“Matthew Broderick is perfect as David. I don’t say that lightly: Broderick serves up just the right mix of innocence and arrogance so that while we may laugh as he has to put World War 111 on ‘hold’ so that he can take out the garbage, we also believe it when David ingeniously sneaks out of military security.