Well they had 12 different steps in the chain of command to actually get the fact they weren't dead to be verified before they could say "yeah, still here". Military chains may make things safer etc but damn it sure adds a lot of wasted time between needs and actions.
One of the best things about this movie is that there really wasn’t a ‘villain’ outside the general scenario. Joshua is a child, who doesn’t understand the ramifications of its actions. The folks at NORAD were working off of incomplete information, and reacting in line with what they do know. If anything, it’s the information gaps that are the antagonists for our hero’s, all of them, have to work though.
What I thought was most magical about this movie is just that the AI is so powerful. It is far, far more powerful than anything that exists today. The AI is able to so convincingly do so much, and everyone is utterly deceived by it, and helpless against it. It is just this entity that can decide our future arbitrarily for us, all because it doesn't know or care about any difference between its simulation and reality.
The very scary thing is, about the time this movie came out a Soviet spy sat, sent to watch for missile launches from the US mistook the sun reflecting off of lakes in the American Midwest. It sent information that the US was launching a massive strike. Even worse, this happened not long after a Soviet fighter plane shot down a Korean 747 killing many Americans, including a US Senator. Regan had been on TV talking about the "Evil Empire" and Soviet-American relations were extremely high. Even the Soviet general in charge of launching the missiles felt launching a strike at this time made no sense. Even though he was ordered to launch his missiles at once, he refused that order and did not launch. It was only when those "missiles" failed to arrive at their targets did the Soviets realize they were false signals. So, if you were alive in 1983, your life was saved by a brave Soviet officer who refused to follow orders. Keep in mind, in the Soviet Union, such an act would not only end your career, it could lead to not only your own arrest and execution, but possibly your family's as well. And should your family survive, the children of traitors never had a good career for themselves. So he was taking a huge risk in disobeying his orders. Of course you could argue that if he had carried out his orders, his family would surly be killed.
@@samsunguser3148 Yes, sounds totally sensible. Humans are great at designing these things; then eventually, they can design themselves! Wow, sentient cars...toasters...
This is far more accurate than I'd like it to be. There are SEVERAL recorded incidents of identical situations from both sides. Where a computer glitch told the operators that the other side had launched nukes and the controller sat there waiting for either confirmation of launch from another party or confirmation of a detonation. And for nearly half a century, the order stood. Stand by.
In 1983, an exercise called 'Able Archer' very nearly brought the events depicted in this film to fruition. The Soviets intercepted transmissions not meant to be heard of Nato forces gathering missle systems on the border of Germany and such, not knowing it was actually an exercise in case the Soviets amassed their forces on the East. Unaware they could be heard, the Soviets then actually did amass their own missile systems on their border and pointed them toward the West. The whole thing was called off when someone called their bluff. Go find out and read up on it...scary stuff. In '83, no less! A year after this film!
I don't think it was even a computer glitch, it was actual human observations. Like there was some space probe that was launched, which the russians thought was a missile launch, and a bunch of russian generals came to Boris Yeltsin with, telling him he needed to counterattack, and he told them to wait, and it turned out to be nothing just like he thought. But you can't blame that on computers.
Matthew Broderick wasn't so righteous when he was killing 2 people by crashing his car headlong into theirs because he was driving on the wrong side of the road, and then got out of all responsibility for it because he was a famous celebrity.
I loved this movie. Even had a BBS called "The WOPR" in the 1980s. I've had a career in defense and I have used "... after careful consideration I've come to the conclusion your new defense system sucks" more times than I can count.
@@CrustyWhiteBread Airman had the confidence of the officer in charge that nothing serious was going to happen. Then while the officer is in the bathroom the airman gets a certain phone call
1983 right? The Soviets thought we launched during the NATO exercise and almost launched in response. Bad year, but I remember the TV movie The Day After came out and scared alot of people.
We've had several false alarms, one of which activated and sent out to every cell phone tv and computer a warning about a missle inbound to Hawaii just a couple of years ago!
I was here on Oahu when it did. Longest 30 minutes of my civilian life. My Navy buddy and I were trying to figure out where the impact would be, which military facility would be the higher target, so drive TO. We didn't want to survive the impact. If they hit a specific area, Hawaii's lifeline would be cut, and if the ships stopped there'd only be enough supplies for the islands for a week. Airport would be gone as well, so no leaving. We knew after 15 minutes it wasn't going to happen just because of the knowledge we had, still doesn't mean we weren't terrified. People shoved their kids into storm drains that go directly into the ocean, running off the beaches and causing car accidents because they weren't obeying traffic laws. It was a mess, few days after we were still walking with "did that really fucking happen" face. Still not convinced it wasn't a legit attempt.
We later took a drive that day, and we passed by what used to be Ward Warehouse which was in the process of being demolished. My daughter chimes from the backseat "Is that where the missile hit?"
@@Vara91391 check history boi at least two separate occasions the US and the USSR were literal seconds from launching nuclear missiles at each other one of them is the cuban nuclear crisis and by far the closest we have ever come to not being born the world owes its existence and you and me owe our lives to several people, one of them is an absolutely beautiful soviet gentleman by the name of Vassili Arkhipov who prevented Russia from nuking the US by mistake via a nuclear submarine
@@Vara91391 I wrote my doctoral thesis on Able Archer 83. That is likely the closest we have come since the cuban missile crisis, which was one cross word away from a nuclear strike.
@@norm2096 Yep, for that reason I often refer to those as "Royal Canadian Air Force Brantus-class Heavy Bombers." For their intensive carpet-bombing campaigns on any grassy area, especially my former university's campus. Though they're actually multi-role if you piss them off or get too close to their babies they become ground-attack.
Yeah, that's always stuck with me, too. Everyone else is stone-faced, but you can tell that she's watching what she believes is the destruction of her country.
I thought everyone was amazing except the dude playing Falkan. He seems jazzed about all the wrong things. I get that he's a nut, but a traumatized nut, not an amoral one. 🤔
@@johnmccnj Same thing with the man opening comms again after the first few detonations have or should have taken place. His posture right before he starts speaking just shouts 'please don't let this be for real' before he starts 'This is Crystal Palace are you still on?' So many people in this movie were excellent actors and Falken was just the right guy to find. A bit goofy, excentric to say the least. Liked that system-administrator guy as well, frantically running down the stairs shouting 'it's a simulation!' because that most likely is very close to reality how bad computer malfunctions were handled in that era by those people.
this movie was made way before its time. Also the guy with his thumb over the 'blow Earth up' launch button would never have opened the fail safe cover until the order was given.
@@armynurseboy Then you didn't watch the film. The entire premise of the movie was to replace the silo crews (who refused to fire during simulations) with a computer relay so NORAD could fire them centrally.
0:23: I love the way he starts like a structured military communication, then he pauses and is like "to hell with it, we might all be about to die, so here it is in plain English"
Play Defcon for PC. It's a trip how they transferred this situation into a game with no real war imagery. It's an amazing, yet powerfully depressing look at the (nuclear) human condition
Sudan Surprise sounds like something we need to add to Urban Dictionary. I checked to see if it was already there and now I am severely shaken after reading about the Strawberry Sundae Surprise
Actually, it reminds me of in UHF when there's the supply closet, and the bad guy opens the closet door, and the martial arts teacher and some of his students are behind the door waiting for him and they yell "supplies!" and then kick his ass.
I always wondered if they got the names from some old declassified training manual, or something. They're silly, but just plausible enough to sound like actual war scenarios.
This movie scared the hell out of me as a kid. I saw it in the theaters and couldnt sleep for a week afterwards. Every jet trail in the sky was a nuclear launch. And since we lived super close to Macdill AFB, there would be dozens of trails in the sky when they were on alert. All I could ever think of was the big board at Norad and all the missiles in the sky.
I grew up in the missile fields of North Dakota. I always expected that that would be how it ended. I'm amazed we've made it this far. But the threat has not gone away.
Whilst I am not 100% sure, I think the sound is associated with plotting so much white instantly to screen, that sort of hum is why, back in the day, you bought a soundblaster card!
And now imagine hearing a single and loud "Oops!" from the Officer, who had his finger over the launch button, because somebody accidentally bumped into him and his finger went forward :D
To think that only a mere 65 years earlier most people in America & in Western Society were still living in a late 19th Century climate, ethos & society that lingered & brooded about most corners of the land, culturally, psychologically & technologically, while not a few people back in 1983 remembered life in the 1890s. Amazing! All the vast, incredible & mind boggling changes that were wrought & which quantum leaped into existence between 1918 & 1983, from the horse & buggy, embryonic radio transmissions on a local level & no electricity still being pervasive to people taking rocket trips to the moon, personal computers, computer operated cars, unmanned probes landing on Mars & super hi tech satellite readouts on big screens featured above. Just amazing! What momentous & stupendous technological transcendence took place between that 65 year interval. Quantum leap after quantum leap. Unreal!
Detach souls! Attach woke divisiveness! We are so very much worse off. A generation who was taught "close enough is good enough" and that the world owes them. We are slaves to the things we were told would end the problems that keep getting worse. 😓
@@christopherwood8425 when it came to “counterforce” targets, Loring had to be near the very top of the Soviet lists (right after Fylingdales, Thule, and Clear).
@@Mikey300 Rumor was that Loring and it’s nearby airspace would have been targeted by a minimum of six, possibly as many as ten SLBM warheads in the 250 kt range. Essentially, everything within 30 miles of the base would vanish
@@opusmax1 Ivan must have really been afraid of the 42nd Bomb Wing (with good reason as Loring was supposed to be the domestic SAC base closest to Moscow). 😊
Yeah. Personally, if I were David I would have invited Jennifer to a backroom. I wouldn't want to die a virgin or watch my own destruction on a monitor.
Damn I thought that was him. He looks way younger (this movie is a few years older than me). He also played the good General Carville in Westwood's Red Alert 1 (expansion) and Red Alert 2, he fits military roles really well.
I saw this in 84 at boy's breagade camp happy day's. Lol. Wen he goes No impact we're alive and well I shouts out Praise God with my fist in the air. Still makes me emotional after all these years. But here we are again talking about nuclear war as if nothing has been learned. Sad. But still a amazing film.
shame that now days if Russia sent nukes the state they would miss all military targets due to modern Russian incompetence and just hit empty parking lots and fields and the like
I still have my IMSAI, Joshua's computer. 64k of memory, a dual 8" floppy drive and a battery backed up 1 MB solid state drive consisting of dynamic RAM. If the power went out for more than three hours it all went into the bit bucket. But you could play Space Invaders, even with a 2 MHz CPU. Those were the days.
Yeah and the depressing thing is that even those primitive early systems were fast and responsive compared to today's "cloud" applications... despite gigahertz and terabytes of power and storage today, the computer experience is DOG slow compared to the 80s.
@@Rep0007 The problem is the cloud storage uses a slow system to transfer the data. If the data was stored on your computer, it should be faster. You would need a fast CPU chip, enough RAM and a big drive to store it. It's all those copper phone lines that telephone companies are using. Good idea wrong area code. Microsoft misjudged the infrastructure, Win 10 and 11 are a pain because of a new feature that doesn't clean the hardware properly.
The way he’s written and portrayed, both as a firm believer in deterrence, and as someone hopeful he never has to carry out his orders, is spot on. The Russians have historically been bullies, and deterrence was the only thing that kept them in-line. Hopefully, though, we’ll start developing the technology to intercept ICBMs with over 98% accuracy, and one day be able to retrofit all the Minutemen IIIs into a truly defensive system.
The soviets actually experienced something very similar for real. A computer misinterpreted sunrays as missile trails and alerted their missile command. Luckily their commander didn't have the guts to send retaliatory missiles the other way.
i loved this movie...i got a commodore vic-20 in 1982, and this came out in 83....it was like hell yeah!!!!! I was only 12, didnt know jack about computers, (nothings changed lol) but you knew the world was advancing with the computer stuff....miss those simple days....😕
I had a Vic 20 also. Got it to go RJE to the local university but we had the wrong type of telephone, so we had to hunt for the right one. I had a problem with invisible characters that made it difficult to work from home.
This was a great movie for all the reasons stated. Likewise, “Failsafe” was also a great movie. Truly, both exemplify the reality of Joshua’s very mature conclusion: “The only way to win, is NOT to play”. When will those who seek power learn?
every day was an existential crisis growing up in a target zone, knowing you'd be vaporized or burnt so bad that you'd wish you had been fun times rather be back in the 80s than here in the 20s ;(
The bad thing is that both the USSR and the US have indeed had similar problems with their automated defense systems but luckily there was always a human being who ultimately had to push the button who ultimately had doubts about the reality of such attacks.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983_Soviet_nuclear_false_alarm_incident Yes. Russian alarms were in error, Russian officer did not follow procedure ... and therefore stopped WW 3.
yeah good things neither have had the missiles fired by accident by some rouge computer program that would be seriously embarrassing yeah the reason the us or Russia got nuked to hell and gone was our bad we thought we were under attack and fired off our missiles starting the real world war 3
Now to be clear, my following statement is related specifically to the worlds *these movies exist in*, not some social commentary about our own world (though you could certainly draw parallels, etc.) Speaking of the fictional universes like those in "The Day After..." and "WarGames". Whenever I watch movies like that (or read books for that matter) I always imagine I'm looking into a parallel universe, something very familiar but often just a little different. Imagine for humans civilization to have come as far as it had up to that point...tens of thousands of years to reach the Industrial Revolution and utterly transforming the planet in just a little over two centuries after...fighting two World Wars and the advancements in Law and World Order that brought (such as the U.N.) for it all to have been wiped away less than 40 years later in a cataclysmic nuclear exchange that surely would have left the vast majority of the world in utter ruins. Were I some alien race visiting in the future and discerned the history of the planet, I would think a very sad commentary indeed.
Or maybe there would be no aliens... Nuclear is a universal constant.. Any civilization out there with reasonably advanced tech would eventually discover the ability to make insanely powerful weapons by "messing with atoms". And certainly before they developed any technology to travel the stars.. Since one is far easier than the other, just due to the sheer size of the universe and distances involved. Then maybe once the cat is out of the bag on nukes, it's only just a matter of time before civilizations end up using them, whether on purpose or on accident. And maybe that's why we've never detected any "aliens" no matter how hard we try. Maybe the fate of every somewhat advanced civilization is to blow themselves up before reaching the stars.. Just because one is so much easier than the other.
@@blackhawks81H And if my mother had balls she'd be my father 😜 Yes, I'm aware of the Fermi Paradox, the point of my comment wasn't whether or not aliens exist, just that if this scenario ever occured, aliens would be the only possible intelligence that could ever learn what we were because there wouldn't be any of us left to say anything.
Yes and no. The tensions were as high as could be but no one actually thought a missile was in the air, or else there would have been a full nuclear war. A more accurate comparison 1983 false alarm. The Soviet air defense detected inbound American missiles but was able to guess that it was a false alarm. Turns out it was sunlight reflecting off some clouds that their satellites detected.
An irony behind this scene is that it runs directly contrary to the stated doctrine of the US nuclear deterrent, launch on warning. We would not wait out an attack before launching our missiles. Considering the incident in 1979 from which this movie draws inspiration, its a wonder how we haven't destroyed ourselves in a nuclear fire.
1:40 The impact circles are the size of entire Western states, lmbo. Legit all of Nevada shown blotted out by 1 nuke..i dont think so. However!! One of the best movies & best scenes, ever!
Good thing Joshua wasn't able to intercept the phone lines ^^ I love this concept of pretend ending. It's not over yet at this point, and a lot of more suspense to come.
This is a great scene because the actors really sell that they BELIEVED that nukes were on the way and then 100% stress relief when the attack is fake.
There's a bunch of bases and silos missing from upstate NY. 13 silos near Plattsburgh at the time this movie was made, plus the bases just west of Albany NY and the silos new Newburgh
Now, if this was the Ferrari F1 pit crew, it'd go somewhat different. General Berringer: "This is Crystal Palace, are you still on? Anyone there?" Pit Crew: "Stand by, we're checking."
I love how they thought this was the end, but they didn't realize the computer was about to counterattack with real missiles. The celebration that they were still alive was cut short when they realized a real live counterattack was about to take place.
Honestly, I would have told that guy with his finger over the launch button to flip the cover closed and “walk away from it” before celebrating or even just cracking a hint of a smile. 😬 Just my 2 cents
@ 1:26 the countown Officer speaking into the microphone is a direct copy of Actress Lynne Thigpen's scene broadcasting messages to the gang in 1979's "The Warriors."
Well, NORAD HQ was designed back in the 50s when Soviet missile accuracy and warhead strength was pretty low and it was assumed that it would survive the first few nukes. Even by the 80's when this movie was made, advances in targeting and warhead strength lead to assumptions that Cheyenne Mountain would be be destroyed in the first strike. At which point, command of the remains of the US military would be transferred to airborne command posts. If the incoming strike was real, the General knew he would be dead a few minutes after the bases he was talking to.
@@stvdagger8074 The warheads got better. But so did the bunkers. The deepest, most hardened levels might remain intact after multiple direct nuclear strikes, their occupants might remain safe. But all their connections and communications to the outer world would be slagged. And their particular location would be so saturated in dense background count that they wouldn't be able to open the door for centuries.
Nope. NORAD would've been a priority target for Soviet ICBMs. Either a relatively small number of multi-megaton warheads of a bigger number of less-powerful ones*, but the outcome would have been (and would be) the same: the complete destruction of Cheyenne Mountain. *In this case the impacts (and detonations) of the warheads would've been separated by a fraction of a second each time, allowing every explosion to literally vaporize a piece of the mountain, moving towards its center. It would have been over quickly for everyone inside, as the pressure from the shockwaves crushed them. The Soviets were going to go in full overkill-mode with NORAD and other installations.
@@pwnmeisterage No bunker, no matter how deep, how hardened or what kind of rock surrounds it, can survive a determined attack with MIRVs. The first warhead is going to burrow within the ground before it detonates, then it will be immediately (less than 0.5 seconds) followed by others, each of them annihilating a significant portion of material (rock, concrete- anything, really) and literally blasting their way through.
They took their sweet time to confirm they were fine after impact.
That's the "drama" part of fiction. Without it, the film is less impactful. You can always watch a documentary if you don't like it.
Well they had 12 different steps in the chain of command to actually get the fact they weren't dead to be verified before they could say "yeah, still here". Military chains may make things safer etc but damn it sure adds a lot of wasted time between needs and actions.
Acoustic coupler lag. Lol
The Suspense was what moviegoers paid for
@Rideable Sun lol dude. Your possible last 15 seconds on Earth. Might as well go out doing something you love hahah
One of the best things about this movie is that there really wasn’t a ‘villain’ outside the general scenario. Joshua is a child, who doesn’t understand the ramifications of its actions. The folks at NORAD were working off of incomplete information, and reacting in line with what they do know. If anything, it’s the information gaps that are the antagonists for our hero’s, all of them, have to work though.
There were a lot more situations of a similar vein to this than we were ever told.
What I thought was most magical about this movie is just that the AI is so powerful. It is far, far more powerful than anything that exists today. The AI is able to so convincingly do so much, and everyone is utterly deceived by it, and helpless against it. It is just this entity that can decide our future arbitrarily for us, all because it doesn't know or care about any difference between its simulation and reality.
read the book, command control by eric schlosser for what really happened with close calls in the cold war
The thing is, everything in war happens with incomplete information, in no situation is full information available to anyone anywhere.
The very scary thing is, about the time this movie came out a Soviet spy sat, sent to watch for missile launches from the US mistook the sun reflecting off of lakes in the American Midwest. It sent information that the US was launching a massive strike.
Even worse, this happened not long after a Soviet fighter plane shot down a Korean 747 killing many Americans, including a US Senator. Regan had been on TV talking about the "Evil Empire" and Soviet-American relations were extremely high.
Even the Soviet general in charge of launching the missiles felt launching a strike at this time made no sense. Even though he was ordered to launch his missiles at once, he refused that order and did not launch.
It was only when those "missiles" failed to arrive at their targets did the Soviets realize they were false signals.
So, if you were alive in 1983, your life was saved by a brave Soviet officer who refused to follow orders. Keep in mind, in the Soviet Union, such an act would not only end your career, it could lead to not only your own arrest and execution, but possibly your family's as well.
And should your family survive, the children of traitors never had a good career for themselves. So he was taking a huge risk in disobeying his orders.
Of course you could argue that if he had carried out his orders, his family would surly be killed.
An AI controlled weapons defense system?
What's next, a dinosaur theme park?
Why not? What could possibly go wrong?
I've always fancied autonomous robot Police Officers...we should definitely try those - very safe. I want free entry to the Dino park, by the way.
Nah, that would be too unbelievable...
Sentient robots next (totally not a bad idea)
@@samsunguser3148 Yes, sounds totally sensible. Humans are great at designing these things; then eventually, they can design themselves! Wow, sentient cars...toasters...
This is far more accurate than I'd like it to be. There are SEVERAL recorded incidents of identical situations from both sides. Where a computer glitch told the operators that the other side had launched nukes and the controller sat there waiting for either confirmation of launch from another party or confirmation of a detonation. And for nearly half a century, the order stood. Stand by.
When it comes down to it, despite all the propaganda we don't want to believe humanity is capable of such senseless universal destruction.
In 1983, an exercise called 'Able Archer' very nearly brought the events depicted in this film to fruition. The Soviets intercepted transmissions not meant to be heard of Nato forces gathering missle systems on the border of Germany and such, not knowing it was actually an exercise in case the Soviets amassed their forces on the East. Unaware they could be heard, the Soviets then actually did amass their own missile systems on their border and pointed them toward the West. The whole thing was called off when someone called their bluff. Go find out and read up on it...scary stuff.
In '83, no less! A year after this film!
I think it is a miracle that we have not blown each other up. I mean that literally.
I don't think it was even a computer glitch, it was actual human observations. Like there was some space probe that was launched, which the russians thought was a missile launch, and a bunch of russian generals came to Boris Yeltsin with, telling him he needed to counterattack, and he told them to wait, and it turned out to be nothing just like he thought. But you can't blame that on computers.
@@thebigchecka Actually it was the *same* year as this film, four months after this movie came out no less.
That time Ferris Buehler saved humanity from total annihilation, he's a real righteous dude.
I had forgotten he was in this movie.
Haha
except when he killed those irish people
This is why he needed a day off.
Matthew Broderick wasn't so righteous when he was killing 2 people by crashing his car headlong into theirs because he was driving on the wrong side of the road, and then got out of all responsibility for it because he was a famous celebrity.
I still remember the sound of her voice... 'Impact...' In the theater that bass drone as each weapon struck was a LOT louder :)
Dunno about your setup but the bass is very loud on my system ;)
I wondered at the time, Did their simulation software actually include the sound effects of the bombs exploding? :)
Damn I feel old. I remember watching this in the theatre in 1983. I was 16 years old. Now I'm 54.
At least there wasn't a nuclear war, right?
Back when Michael Jackson was still considered a young kid.
Same! Fellow child of 1968. ❤
ok
Apparently, President Raegan loved this movie and asked NORAD to review their safety procedures with this movie in mind.
Her voice has stayed in my head for 40 years
3...2...1...Impact 💥
I think they ripped her off for the reactor explosion countdown in "Descent." 🎮
I loved this movie. Even had a BBS called "The WOPR" in the 1980s. I've had a career in defense and I have used "... after careful consideration I've come to the conclusion your new defense system sucks" more times than I can count.
Lol
My favorite line from the general was, "Awww. I was hoping for something better than that from you sir. A man of your education."
@N Fels lmao, good point/example lol.
Whuts a BBS? Was this ancient internet days? 🤓🤓🤓🤓
@@lawnmowermanTX the date is mentioned in the post. 🤡
Airman Dougherty earned his wings that day... as well as a new pair of underpants.
and the guy who should have been on the phone was sacked!!!
@@richardvernon317 IKR??? Derfak was an Airman taking that call??
ez epr bullet iyam
That poor airman!
@@CrustyWhiteBread Airman had the confidence of the officer in charge that nothing serious was going to happen. Then while the officer is in the bathroom the airman gets a certain phone call
Meanwhile , Stanislav Petrov , and Vasily Arkhipov , saved the real World. Never forget those Names.
Eh, 3.6 roentgen. Not great, not terrible
Cooler than the other side of the pillow.
I will never say a good word about any Communist. But I will never say a bad word about those men. Best I can do.
Yes, as always, the Russians are the real heroes…. 😆😂🤣
1983 right? The Soviets thought we launched during the NATO exercise and almost launched in response. Bad year, but I remember the TV movie The Day After came out and scared alot of people.
We've had several false alarms, one of which activated and sent out to every cell phone tv and computer a warning about a missle inbound to Hawaii just a couple of years ago!
Yeah. Someone got wind of the IRS was coming for them,and pushed the wrong button
GOD I remember that, that was a real scare
I was here on Oahu when it did. Longest 30 minutes of my civilian life. My Navy buddy and I were trying to figure out where the impact would be, which military facility would be the higher target, so drive TO. We didn't want to survive the impact. If they hit a specific area, Hawaii's lifeline would be cut, and if the ships stopped there'd only be enough supplies for the islands for a week. Airport would be gone as well, so no leaving. We knew after 15 minutes it wasn't going to happen just because of the knowledge we had, still doesn't mean we weren't terrified. People shoved their kids into storm drains that go directly into the ocean, running off the beaches and causing car accidents because they weren't obeying traffic laws. It was a mess, few days after we were still walking with "did that really fucking happen" face. Still not convinced it wasn't a legit attempt.
We later took a drive that day, and we passed by what used to be Ward Warehouse which was in the process of being demolished. My daughter chimes from the backseat "Is that where the missile hit?"
@@Fletchman1313 Awww, that's cute. Did you tell her, "Nope, just extremely greedy people destroying what's awesome about Kakaako."
The scary thing is how many times we've actually come this close to all-out war due to errors and misjudgments...
sources and proof please?
all out war? you mean complete fucking nuclear annihilation more like
@@Vara91391 check history boi
at least two separate occasions the US and the USSR were literal seconds from launching nuclear missiles at each other
one of them is the cuban nuclear crisis and by far the closest we have ever come to not being born
the world owes its existence and you and me owe our lives to several people, one of them is an absolutely beautiful soviet gentleman by the name of Vassili Arkhipov who prevented Russia from nuking the US by mistake via a nuclear submarine
@@Vara91391 I wrote my doctoral thesis on Able Archer 83.
That is likely the closest we have come since the cuban missile crisis, which was one cross word away from a nuclear strike.
And UFO sometimes.
Wouldn't it been faster to call Canada and be like "Not to alarm you but do you see any rockets in the sky?"
Well Canada is apart of NORAD so they would be seeing the same thing.
I don’t know, those Canadians are pretty shifty. They may be trying to sneak a couple of warheads across the border disguised as mooses.
Excuse me! No, we are Not!
@@robynharris7179 Actually, we use real goose s**t. The stuff eats through anything :)
@@norm2096 Yep, for that reason I often refer to those as "Royal Canadian Air Force Brantus-class Heavy Bombers." For their intensive carpet-bombing campaigns on any grassy area, especially my former university's campus. Though they're actually multi-role if you piss them off or get too close to their babies they become ground-attack.
Ally’s facial expression when the bombs are hitting - horror , fright , and sadness is spot on - tremendous acting .
Never noticed that before -- rewatched just looking at her face. She really sells the tension, fear, and then relief.
Yeah, that's always stuck with me, too. Everyone else is stone-faced, but you can tell that she's watching what she believes is the destruction of her country.
She was a great actress.
I thought everyone was amazing except the dude playing Falkan. He seems jazzed about all the wrong things. I get that he's a nut, but a traumatized nut, not an amoral one. 🤔
@@johnmccnj Same thing with the man opening comms again after the first few detonations have or should have taken place. His posture right before he starts speaking just shouts 'please don't let this be for real' before he starts 'This is Crystal Palace are you still on?'
So many people in this movie were excellent actors and Falken was just the right guy to find. A bit goofy, excentric to say the least. Liked that system-administrator guy as well, frantically running down the stairs shouting 'it's a simulation!' because that most likely is very close to reality how bad computer malfunctions were handled in that era by those people.
this movie was made way before its time. Also the guy with his thumb over the 'blow Earth up' launch button would never have opened the fail safe cover until the order was given.
I dunno man. Some people are just like that.
Achooo-oh shi-
Missiles aren't launched centrally anyways. ICBMs are launched by the two man team inside the silo command center.
@@armynurseboy Then you didn't watch the film. The entire premise of the movie was to replace the silo crews (who refused to fire during simulations) with a computer relay so NORAD could fire them centrally.
You can`t launch a nuclear missile by pressing button lol
0:23: I love the way he starts like a structured military communication, then he pauses and is like "to hell with it, we might all be about to die, so here it is in plain English"
I love some of the names for the scenarios. My favorite is "Sudan Surprise". Sounds like an African dessert.
Play Defcon for PC. It's a trip how they transferred this situation into a game with no real war imagery. It's an amazing, yet powerfully depressing look at the (nuclear) human condition
Like the Sahara? Oh. my mistake. You said "dessert". (LOL)
Sudan Surprise sounds like something we need to add to Urban Dictionary. I checked to see if it was already there and now I am severely shaken after reading about the Strawberry Sundae Surprise
Actually, it reminds me of in UHF when there's the supply closet, and the bad guy opens the closet door, and the martial arts teacher and some of his students are behind the door waiting for him and they yell "supplies!" and then kick his ass.
I always wondered if they got the names from some old declassified training manual, or something. They're silly, but just plausible enough to sound like actual war scenarios.
This movie scared the hell out of me as a kid. I saw it in the theaters and couldnt sleep for a week afterwards. Every jet trail in the sky was a nuclear launch. And since we lived super close to Macdill AFB, there would be dozens of trails in the sky when they were on alert. All I could ever think of was the big board at Norad and all the missiles in the sky.
I felt the same way .. This movie and the Day After . It compelled me to learn more about nuclear war and the chances of survival.
I grew up in the missile fields of North Dakota. I always expected that that would be how it ended. I'm amazed we've made it this far. But the threat has not gone away.
Lady's voice for countdown is wonderful 😍
Here for this! Totally agree.
Looks like girlfriend from "Thriller"(Michael Jackson) video.
General: Recall the bombers and stand down the missiles.
W.O.P.R.: I am about to ruin this man's whole career.
DONCHA THINK I WULDOV TRIED DAT??
JOSHUA WHAT ARE YOU DOING?
“I’m sorry Dave, but I’m afraid I can’t let you do that.”
Just unplug the goddamn thing, Jesus Christ.
super cool infrasounds who ever audio fx designer came up with this idea is genius
What do you mean by infrasounds?
@@jeremygrigsby7456 really deep bass on the threshold of hearing,
@@jeremygrigsby7456 The "brrrrr" noise on impact.
Whilst I am not 100% sure, I think the sound is associated with plotting so much white instantly to screen, that sort of hum is why, back in the day, you bought a soundblaster card!
The dude lifted off the cover for missile launch during the last 30 seconds, right?
Imagine during the celebration, some random guy bumps into it
Oops, sorry I started a nuclear war. My bad 🤷
AAAAACHOOOOO! OOOPS! My bad!
Whomever you are, these words were my exact thoughts about the random celebration. Exact.
Someone did bump him, during one of the outtakes. But the movie wasn't supposed to end like that. :P my lips are moving *sonovabich*
Stephen Erkel grows up and gets a job at Norad. "Did I do that?"
And now imagine hearing a single and loud "Oops!" from the Officer, who had his finger over the launch button, because somebody accidentally bumped into him and his finger went forward :D
have you played Defcon? I mean global thermal nuclear war yet if not I seriously recommend you try it out it's a whole lot of fun
To think that only a mere 65 years earlier most people in America & in Western Society were still living in a late 19th Century climate, ethos & society that lingered & brooded about most corners of the land, culturally, psychologically & technologically, while not a few people back in 1983 remembered life in the 1890s. Amazing! All the vast, incredible & mind boggling changes that were wrought & which quantum leaped into existence between 1918 & 1983, from the horse & buggy, embryonic radio transmissions on a local level & no electricity still being pervasive to people taking rocket trips to the moon, personal computers, computer operated cars, unmanned probes landing on Mars & super hi tech satellite readouts on big screens featured above. Just amazing! What momentous & stupendous technological transcendence took place between that 65 year interval. Quantum leap after quantum leap. Unreal!
Detach souls! Attach woke divisiveness! We are so very much worse off. A generation who was taught "close enough is good enough" and that the world owes them. We are slaves to the things we were told would end the problems that keep getting worse. 😓
@@jamesmyszka4930 Boomers arguing to boomers, whats new?
@@m2heavyindustries378 Ok, and what makes them a Boomer?
I honestly wonder if the Roswell event had anything to do with it
@@Jimmyknapp2 It wouldn't surprise me if it did👽👽😜😊👍
i remember watching this movie as a kid at Loring AFB. boy that was a trip.
Tinker AFB for me... long time ago.
I was born at Loring AFB. Thought it was cool when I saw this in the theatre as a kid!
@@christopherwood8425 when it came to “counterforce” targets, Loring had to be near the very top of the Soviet lists (right after Fylingdales, Thule, and Clear).
@@Mikey300
Rumor was that Loring and it’s nearby airspace would have been targeted by a minimum of six, possibly as many as ten SLBM warheads in the 250 kt range. Essentially, everything within 30 miles of the base would vanish
@@opusmax1 Ivan must have really been afraid of the 42nd Bomb Wing (with good reason as Loring was supposed to be the domestic SAC base closest to Moscow). 😊
Who could act like a professional in a situation like that? The lady announcing “20 seconds to impact” was stone cold.
You said it, she's professionnal. In jobs like hers, people must be stone cold.
Same with the radio chatter during the Challenger explosion, always kept calm
Dabney acting in shock was good
Yeah.
Personally, if I were David I would have invited Jennifer to a backroom.
I wouldn't want to die a virgin or watch my own destruction on a monitor.
Some great acting in this movie, particularly in this scene. Jennifer's reaction at 1:58 sums up the palpable relief of the moment.
It's the possibility that they could be wrong -- and that there really are missiles flying!
“Mr Mckittridge, after careful consideration I’ve come to the conclusion that your new defense system - sucks!”
who else remembers seeing this in the theaters at the time. This was an intense moment when seeing it for the first time.
this movie was such a mindblower back then! great times!
❤ ONE OF THE MOST MAGNIFICENT MOVIES 🎥 EVER CREATED...IN OUR GLORIOUS AMERICA 🇺🇸 Period___
Barry Corbin is such a great actor.
Damn I thought that was him. He looks way younger (this movie is a few years older than me). He also played the good General Carville in Westwood's Red Alert 1 (expansion) and Red Alert 2, he fits military roles really well.
I saw this in 84 at boy's breagade camp happy day's. Lol. Wen he goes No impact we're alive and well I shouts out Praise God with my fist in the air. Still makes me emotional after all these years. But here we are again talking about nuclear war as if nothing has been learned. Sad. But still a amazing film.
A great movie from the Cold War era...powerful impact....it means more to me now as an Adult than it did back then as a Teen.
shame that now days if Russia sent nukes the state they would miss all military targets due to modern Russian incompetence and just hit empty parking lots and fields and the like
I still have my IMSAI, Joshua's computer. 64k of memory, a dual 8" floppy drive and a battery backed up 1 MB solid state drive consisting of dynamic RAM. If the power went out for more than three hours it all went into the bit bucket. But you could play Space Invaders, even with a 2 MHz CPU. Those were the days.
Yeah and the depressing thing is that even those primitive early systems were fast and responsive compared to today's "cloud" applications... despite gigahertz and terabytes of power and storage today, the computer experience is DOG slow compared to the 80s.
@@Rep0007
The problem is the cloud storage uses a slow system to transfer the data. If the data was stored on your computer, it should be faster. You would need a fast CPU chip, enough RAM and a big drive to store it. It's all those copper phone lines that telephone companies are using. Good idea wrong area code. Microsoft misjudged the infrastructure, Win 10 and 11 are a pain because of a new feature that doesn't clean the hardware properly.
Red Dawn, The Day After, Wargames
Some of the scariest movies of all times
"Failsafe" should be on that list. Everything that happened in that movie was entirely plausible
I loved Barry Corbin's General Beringer. Reminded me a little bit of real life General Curtis "Bombs Away" LeMay.
The way he’s written and portrayed, both as a firm believer in deterrence, and as someone hopeful he never has to carry out his orders, is spot on.
The Russians have historically been bullies, and deterrence was the only thing that kept them in-line. Hopefully, though, we’ll start developing the technology to intercept ICBMs with over 98% accuracy, and one day be able to retrofit all the Minutemen IIIs into a truly defensive system.
And in the excitement of that moment, old Harry stumbles forward and hits the launch button.
Haha “gee sorry guys”
The soviets actually experienced something very similar for real. A computer misinterpreted sunrays as missile trails and alerted their missile command. Luckily their commander didn't have the guts to send retaliatory missiles the other way.
That, and he figured that if the Americans were going to launch a first strike they weren't going to do it with a mere handful of missiles.
You missed out the most important part - it happened in the same year of this movie's release...
And the Soviets punished him for not following protocol.
and then figured out that by not shooting he didn't look like a moron one of Russia's brighter moves in military history🤣
i loved this movie...i got a commodore vic-20 in 1982, and this came out in 83....it was like hell yeah!!!!! I was only 12, didnt know jack about computers, (nothings changed lol) but you knew the world was advancing with the computer stuff....miss those simple days....😕
You have me beat. I got a C-64 in March 1985 and was connected at 300 baud to Quantum Link the summer of 1986.
Old cassettes loading time 20-30 min just to play a game
I had a Vic 20 also. Got it to go RJE to the local university but we had the wrong type of telephone, so we had to hunt for the right one. I had a problem with invisible characters that made it difficult to work from home.
trop proche d un jeu avec des acteurs humains et leur réflex à la con. navré, présentation correcte, j aime et un sentiment correct.
Always proud to see s Sistah in a position of leadership!!! Impact❤
The female Airman vocalizing the countdown stole this scene. That "Impact" line was perfect.
This was a good movie.
This was a great movie for all the reasons stated. Likewise, “Failsafe” was also a great movie. Truly, both exemplify the reality of Joshua’s very mature conclusion: “The only way to win, is NOT to play”. When will those who seek power learn?
Never, as long as currency exists.
Growing up in the 80's There were 150 of these in underground silos sprinkled around the countryside and backroads within 100 miles of our house.
This one, back to the future and E.T, what a films, such a nostalgia, no times like the eighties, films, music, wear...
I remember having nuclear nightmares about this sort of thing. The 80s were weird.
1981 full court propaganda.
every day was an existential crisis
growing up in a target zone, knowing you'd be vaporized or burnt so bad that you'd wish you had been
fun times
rather be back in the 80s than here in the 20s ;(
@@ColleenTRaney "Full court propaganda"....sounds a lot like today.
@@ShenMerrick nixon, reagan, bush, and trump's behind the scene guys are all the same people. Same with the people who run right-wing media.
@@kanaric What would you call "right wing media"?
Actually, Crystal Palace would be one of the first to know if the strike was real. Several missiles would be targeted at Cheyenne Mountain.
The look on Falken's face is perfect.
and it really happened on the Soviet side...R.I.P. Lt. Col. Stanislav Petrov, the World is forever in your debt.
This movie is a masterpiece
The bad thing is that both the USSR and the US have indeed had similar problems with their automated defense systems but luckily there was always a human being who ultimately had to push the button who ultimately had doubts about the reality of such attacks.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983_Soviet_nuclear_false_alarm_incident
Yes. Russian alarms were in error, Russian officer did not follow procedure ... and therefore stopped WW 3.
yeah good things neither have had the missiles fired by accident by some rouge computer program that would be seriously embarrassing yeah the reason the us or Russia got nuked to hell and gone was our bad we thought we were under attack and fired off our missiles starting the real world war 3
Airman Dougherty experienced maximum pucker time on THAT morning.
He would have created that much suction, they would have had to order a new seat cover.
The dude with him thumb on that button... one sneeze and it's lights out - for real.
Describe WarGames as simply as possible: “Why so serious?”
realized that jennifer (Ally Sheedy) is in "The breakfast club" and the YingYang Killer in Psych.
Like most I grew up with these films. War games the day after, threads, when the wind blows.
Does anyone else’s hair stand on end during this whole scene? Especially when the impacts happen? Good Grief!😳
You worry about global warming, we worried about global extinction ☢️
When there was no internet, no world wide web and you connect your computer to another computer directly via dial up modem
This has actually happened, several times NORAD almost fired due to false information.
It's nice they have an officer with a perfect announcer voice to read the countdown. It's almost like she was cast for that task only.
Now to be clear, my following statement is related specifically to the worlds *these movies exist in*, not some social commentary about our own world (though you could certainly draw parallels, etc.)
Speaking of the fictional universes like those in "The Day After..." and "WarGames". Whenever I watch movies like that (or read books for that matter) I always imagine I'm looking into a parallel universe, something very familiar but often just a little different. Imagine for humans civilization to have come as far as it had up to that point...tens of thousands of years to reach the Industrial Revolution and utterly transforming the planet in just a little over two centuries after...fighting two World Wars and the advancements in Law and World Order that brought (such as the U.N.) for it all to have been wiped away less than 40 years later in a cataclysmic nuclear exchange that surely would have left the vast majority of the world in utter ruins.
Were I some alien race visiting in the future and discerned the history of the planet, I would think a very sad commentary indeed.
Or maybe there would be no aliens... Nuclear is a universal constant.. Any civilization out there with reasonably advanced tech would eventually discover the ability to make insanely powerful weapons by "messing with atoms". And certainly before they developed any technology to travel the stars.. Since one is far easier than the other, just due to the sheer size of the universe and distances involved. Then maybe once the cat is out of the bag on nukes, it's only just a matter of time before civilizations end up using them, whether on purpose or on accident. And maybe that's why we've never detected any "aliens" no matter how hard we try. Maybe the fate of every somewhat advanced civilization is to blow themselves up before reaching the stars.. Just because one is so much easier than the other.
@@blackhawks81H And if my mother had balls she'd be my father 😜 Yes, I'm aware of the Fermi Paradox, the point of my comment wasn't whether or not aliens exist, just that if this scenario ever occured, aliens would be the only possible intelligence that could ever learn what we were because there wouldn't be any of us left to say anything.
@@blackhawks81H im not sure humankind even needs nukes to kill itself :D
@@nucflashevent What we were would clearly be evident by our absence.
Best part is. This isn't even far from how close it actually was. The Cuban missile crisis was this close to be lit. Literally.
Yes and no. The tensions were as high as could be but no one actually thought a missile was in the air, or else there would have been a full nuclear war. A more accurate comparison 1983 false alarm. The Soviet air defense detected inbound American missiles but was able to guess that it was a false alarm. Turns out it was sunlight reflecting off some clouds that their satellites detected.
To me, this is the best "nuclear war wake-up call" movie ever made
“Morning after” scared the crap out of me a lot worse
"I'd piss on a spark plug, if I thought it would help." - Gen. Berringer.
The sad part is how easily the destruction of the entire world could be
The scary part is that it has almost happened...a few times.
@@nointegritydotorg Worst of all some old Soviet loonies are mad it never came to be
It almost happened: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislav_Petrov
I need the "Impact" actor's voice as a ringtone. Let's see how bad I can increase people's blood pressure around me when I get a text.
0:16 That actor played General Carville in the Red Alert games! Guess it fits.
Most hair-rising moment in the history of film making.
Fun fact: The black lady was the DJ from The Warriors. Lookin gooooood babies....
Its funny she is not credited for this movie even if she had a few shots in the movie
@@warvamp2 Crappy agent?
@@leftcoaster67 maybe
"Alright we're safe!"
*Slaps desk and accidentally hits the Launch button*
I love these movies under the Pentagon umbrella.
An irony behind this scene is that it runs directly contrary to the stated doctrine of the US nuclear deterrent, launch on warning. We would not wait out an attack before launching our missiles. Considering the incident in 1979 from which this movie draws inspiration, its a wonder how we haven't destroyed ourselves in a nuclear fire.
The senior controller at Loring saw the shit hitting the fan and ran home to grab his family and run for it lol.
30 seconds to impact? He wouldn't even have gotten out of the door.
"Permission to change my underwear, Sir?"
1:40 The impact circles are the size of entire Western states, lmbo.
Legit all of Nevada shown blotted out by 1 nuke..i dont think so.
However!! One of the best movies & best scenes, ever!
Guy with moustache looks like the hotel owner from ghostbusters who refuses to pay them after they trash the hotel
It is.
Thats a really great film.
THE WOPR (bacon lettuce 🥬 and tomato 🍅 and cheese 🧀 ) 😂
Note the Tears in ALLEY SHEEDYS Eyes
Good thing Joshua wasn't able to intercept the phone lines ^^ I love this concept of pretend ending. It's not over yet at this point, and a lot of more suspense to come.
Really well done graphics and for that year.
Not graphics at all. Each video display was back-screen projected film. Apparently it took ages to resync all the projectors for a retake!
I think it won an award that year.
Ally was a tremendous actress. Perfectly captured the emotions someone should have in this situation. Young actresses today are incredibly lame.
Such innocent times....now our enemies have viruses and hypersonic missiles!
We have the virus, too, comrade. OUR virus
This is a great scene because the actors really sell that they BELIEVED that nukes were on the way and then 100% stress relief when the attack is fake.
Damn, general Carville was so young and innocent back there
Such a great movie of it s time.
There's a bunch of bases and silos missing from upstate NY. 13 silos near Plattsburgh at the time this movie was made, plus the bases just west of Albany NY and the silos new Newburgh
Now, if this was the Ferrari F1 pit crew, it'd go somewhat different.
General Berringer: "This is Crystal Palace, are you still on? Anyone there?"
Pit Crew: "Stand by, we're checking."
I love how they thought this was the end, but they didn't realize the computer was about to counterattack with real missiles. The celebration that they were still alive was cut short when they realized a real live counterattack was about to take place.
Honestly, I would have told that guy with his finger over the launch button to flip the cover closed and “walk away from it” before celebrating or even just cracking a hint of a smile. 😬 Just my 2 cents
It's a deadlock of a paradox how much money and effort has gone into something that people never want to use.
Imagine if the General said "Ok, Lunch time" and the guy heard "Launch time" - hahahahaha
I love how the launch button is just an inch away from his thumb with no redundancy. Let's hope no one bumps into him... :D
@ 1:26 the countown Officer speaking into the microphone is a direct copy of Actress Lynne Thigpen's scene broadcasting messages to the gang in 1979's "The Warriors."
"We're right there with you." Except for us hiding inside a mountain, protected from nuclear annihilation.
Well, NORAD HQ was designed back in the 50s when Soviet missile accuracy and warhead strength was pretty low and it was assumed that it would survive the first few nukes. Even by the 80's when this movie was made, advances in targeting and warhead strength lead to assumptions that Cheyenne Mountain would be be destroyed in the first strike. At which point, command of the remains of the US military would be transferred to airborne command posts. If the incoming strike was real, the General knew he would be dead a few minutes after the bases he was talking to.
@@stvdagger8074 The warheads got better. But so did the bunkers. The deepest, most hardened levels might remain intact after multiple direct nuclear strikes, their occupants might remain safe.
But all their connections and communications to the outer world would be slagged. And their particular location would be so saturated in dense background count that they wouldn't be able to open the door for centuries.
Nope. NORAD would've been a priority target for Soviet ICBMs.
Either a relatively small number of multi-megaton warheads of a bigger number of less-powerful ones*, but the outcome would have been (and would be) the same: the complete destruction of Cheyenne Mountain.
*In this case the impacts (and detonations) of the warheads would've been separated by a fraction of a second each time, allowing every explosion to literally vaporize a piece of the mountain, moving towards its center. It would have been over quickly for everyone inside, as the pressure from the shockwaves crushed them. The Soviets were going to go in full overkill-mode with NORAD and other installations.
@@pwnmeisterage No bunker, no matter how deep, how hardened or what kind of rock surrounds it, can survive a determined attack with MIRVs. The first warhead is going to burrow within the ground before it detonates, then it will be immediately (less than 0.5 seconds) followed by others, each of them annihilating a significant portion of material (rock, concrete- anything, really) and literally blasting their way through.