War Stories

Earlier this year, the UK’s primo home video label Arrow Video asked me, due to my Cinefex credentials, if I would like to contribute to an upcoming video remaster they were preparing for a 1980s classic: WarGames.

Cinefex never covered the film, but I’d seen it back in 1983. The movie combined the zeitgeist of backyard fantasy films like E.T., Poltergeist and Gremlins –– with ordinary kids thrust into extraordinary adventures –– and mixed that with fears of the Reagan/Gorbachev era. It was a fun, smartly done film, so I said ‘yes’ and started my research.

Here are notes that I jotted on my phone:

• Release June 3, 1983 (one week after Return of the Jedi).

• Three Oscar nominations: original screenplay, cinematography, sound.

• Reagan-era Cold War and the Strategic Defense Initiative.

• Apple released first graphic user interface Apple IIe with 64KB of RAM.

• Microsoft Word released.

• ARPANET standardized its IP system.

• Ms. PacMan was the most popular home video game.

• U.S. gallon of gasoline cost $1.25.

• Motorola released the first commercial cell phone, the Dynatac, cost $4000, weighed 2.5 pounds, the size of a brick.

Hardly any of those factoids made it into my commentary. Instead, I focused on Cinefex-esque aspects of WarGames’ production. It was fun, if a bit nerve-wracking, speaking to my DSLR camera, trying to evoke a sense of how the film was made.

Key ingredients to the film's success, I surmised, were the cracking script by Lawrence Lasker and Walter F. Parkes, directed with panache by John Badham (and briefly his predecessor Martin Brest), and the charming chemistry of teenage Ally Sheedy and pre-Bueller Matthew Broderick. 43 years later, WarGames holds up as a clever and entertaining film, and it hits home today with the current wonky state of the world.

Preparing my commentary also gave me an excuse to reconnect with the movie’s visual effects supervisor, Michael Fink (The Golden Compass, Constantine, Buckaroo Banzai). Mike is a smart and witty fellow who I’d interviewed before for Cinefex. Mike didn’t join me on camera, but I took notes as he shared stories about what he got up to for Brest and Badham in the summer of 1983, and Mike’s info became the main part of my chatter to camera.

The Arrow WarGames video has now been announced as a November 15, 2026, release. Thanks to Sam, Scott and Mike.

Shall we play a game?

• Order your 4K WarGames here

• WarGames trailer on YouTube