WAR GAMES (1983)

When I was a boy, my family would visit my mother's parents every Sunday after attending church service. We lived in southwest Houston, which meant we took a thirty minute drive across town to see grandma and grandpa. Over the course of our weekly route, we would pass a few movie theaters. My parents would take various routes to Houston's 'Northside'. Some weeks we'd pass the Meyerland 3, or Gulfgate Mall. Sometimes Southway 6, mostly Meyerland 3 though. The marquee was planted next to the freeway and I would dutifully check to see what was playing no matter what marquee we passed.

     I was five years old when I saw The Empire Strikes Back and like the rest of the world, I was chomping at the bit to discover what fate awaited the scoundrel Solo. When finally Return of the Jedi was released, I would watch for weeks as we passed the Meyerland marquee making sure the film was still playing, hoping that one of those Sundays my father would pull into the theater and treat us to the dramatic conclusion of the Star Wars trilogy. I was raised to not pester my parents for what I wanted. I made it clear in other ways and they knew I could be incorrigible when it came to Star Wars above all else. So, I dared not ask my father to take us. I knew that he knew.
     My dad loved the Star Wars films as well. He and his older brother got me way in deep to sci-fi, his older brother especially. I wrote about these two and their influence a bit more in our entry on Burning Glacier about The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951). I could not conceive a why or how my father could not set aside what I perceived as a lesson in delayed gratification, dignity and self-control for being first in line. I dared not press the issue for fear that I would not be allowed to see it at all!
     Sundays came and went. Still no Jedi. Every kid in my peer group had seen the shit but me. I'm pressing friends to explain the story to me much to my dissatisfaction. But this entry is not about Return Of The Jedi. No, we were talking about War Games. So on that Sunday evening returning from grandma's house, we exit the Loop and good god almighty, pull into the theater parking lot.

     I was terrified of my father. I made no passive aggressive moves, not a hint of disappointment in my attitude. No sighing, no eye-rolling. No sass. I kept my mouth shut. This mother fucker had me on mind-lock. I should've pouted my way through those two hours, taken a bathroom break to sneak into Jedi for a few minutes.

     War Games smashed the competition being the ubiquitous Star Wars and delivered the goods with quality story, characters, music and images. There are many excellent examples of stories involving artificial intelligence. No one ever calls out War Games, it seems. A thoughtful twist on the Frankenstein myth, War Games relies on substance rather than effects to deliver its didactic axiom.