Who directed the 1983 computer-hacker film WarGames?

John Badham directed the 1983 computer-hacker film WarGames.

The film follows David Lightman, a Seattle teenager who accidentally accesses a military supercomputer while searching for games. His seemingly harmless actions trigger a simulated nuclear-war scenario that military systems begin treating as real.

WarGames was written by Lawrence Lasker and Walter F. Parkes and stars Matthew Broderick, Ally Sheedy, and Dabney Coleman. The film became an important early portrayal of computer hacking for a mainstream audience, even though its technology is partly fictionalized.

A common mix-up is confusing WarGames with Tron, another influential early-1980s computer film. Tron was directed by Steven Lisberger, while WarGames was directed by John Badham. WarGames was released in the United States on June 3, 1983, and its story helped popularize concerns about computers, automated weapons, and accidental nuclear escalation.