WarGames (1983)

Dabney Coleman: McKittrick

Photos 

Quotes 

• David Lightman : Joshua called me.

  McKittrick : [incredulous]  David, computers don't call people!

  David Lightman : [shrugs]  Yours did.

• McKittrick : General, the machine has locked us out. It's sending random numbers to the silos.

  Pat Healy : Codes. To launch the missiles.

  General Beringer : Just unplug the goddamn thing! Jesus Christ!

  McKittrick : That won't work, General. It would interpret a shutdown as the destruction of NORAD. The computers in the silos would carry out their last instructions. They'd launch.

  General Beringer : Can't we disarm the missiles?

  Pat Healy : Over a thousand of them? There's no time. At this rate it will hit the launch codes in... 5.3 minutes.

  General Beringer : [smiles sarcastically at McKittrick]  Mr. McKittrick, after very careful consideration, sir, I've come to the conclusion that your new defense system sucks.

  McKittrick : I don't have to take that, you pig-eyed sack of shit.

  General Beringer : Oh, I was hoping for something a little better than that from you, sir. A man of your education.

  Major Lem : [holding a telephone]  General, it's the president.

  McKittrick : What are you... what are you going to tell him?

  General Beringer : I'm ordering our bombers back to fail-safe. We might have to go through this thing after all.

• McKittrick : See that sign up here - up here. "Defcon." That indicates our current defense condition. It should read "Defcon 5," which means peace. It's still on 4 because of that little stunt you pulled. Actually, if we hadn't caught it in time, it might have gone to Defcon 1. You know what that means, David?

  David Lightman : No. What does that mean?

  McKittrick : World War Three.

• McKittrick : [McKittrick approaches Falken's group on stairs]  I don't know what you think you can do here, Stephen.

  Stephen Falken : [suddenly noticing]  John! Good to see you. I see the wife still picks your ties.

  McKittrick : What is- What has this kid been telling you?

  Stephen Falken : [looking at screens]  How far's he gone?

  McKittrick : Well the President about ready to order a counterstrike. That's what we're recommending he do.

  Stephen Falken : It's a bluff, John, call it off.

  McKittrick : No, it's not a bluff. It's real.

  Stephen Falken : [raising his voice from stairs]  Hello, General Beringer! Stephen Falken!

  General Beringer : [standing]  Mr. Falken you picked a hell of a day for a visit!

  Stephen Falken : Uh, uh, General, what you see on these screens up here is a fantasy; a computer-enhanced hallucination. Those blips are not real missiles. They're phantoms.

  McKittrick : [McKittrick approaches Beringer]  Jack, there's nothing to indicate a simulation at all. Everything is working perfectly!

  Stephen Falken : But does it make any sense?

  General Beringer : Does what make any sense?

  Stephen Falken : [points to the screens]  That!

  General Beringer : Look, I don't have time for a conversation right now.

  Stephen Falken : [Falken speaks as he approaches]  General, are you prepared to destroy the enemy?

  General Beringer : You betcha!

  Stephen Falken : Do you think they know that?

  General Beringer : I believe we've made that clear enough.

  Stephen Falken : [face to face]  Then don't! Tell the President to ride out the attack.

  Colonel Joe Conley : Sir, they need a decision.

  Stephen Falken : General, do you really believe that the enemy would attack without provocation, using so many missiles, bombers, and subs so that we would have no choice but to totally annihilate them?

  Female Airman First Class : [on loudspeaker]  One minute and thirty seconds to impact.

  Stephen Falken : General, you are listening to a machine! Do the world a favor and don't act like one.

  Female Airman First Class : [on loudspeaker]  One minute and twenty seconds to impact.

• John McKittrick : It all flows into this room and then into what we call the WOPR computer.

  Lyle Watson : WOPR? What is that?

  John McKittrick : It's a War Operations Planning Response. This is Mr. Richter. Paul, would you like to tell these gentlemen about the WOPR.

  Richter : Well, the WOPR spends all it's time thinking about World War III. Twenty-four hours a day, 365 days a year, it plays an endless series of WarGames using all available information on the state of the world. The WOPR has already fought World War III as a game time and time again. It estimates Soviet responses to our responses to their responses and so on. It estimates damage, counts the dead, and it looks for ways to improve the score.

• Major Lem : [D.S.P. registers a massive launch from Soviet ICBM fields]  We have a launch detection. We have a Soviet launch detection.

  Colonel Joe Conley : BMEWS confirms a massive attack.

  Major Lem : Missile Warning - no malfunction.

  Radar Analyst Kirkland : Confidence is high. I repeat, confidence is high.

  Airman Fields : Cobra Dane, is this an exercise?

  Colonel Joe Conley : Negative, this is not an exercise.

  Airman Fields : [to Beringer]  General, D.S.P. is tracking three hundred inbound Soviet ICBMs.

  General Beringer : [points at the C.C.P.D.S. screen]  Tell me this is another one of your simulations, Mr. McKittrick.

  McKittrick : It's not, Jack.

  General Beringer : Alright. Flush the bombers, get the subs in launch mode. We are at DEFCON 1.

  Major Lem : [buzzer sounds]  DEFCON 1.

• Lyle Watson : Gentlemen, I think I'm going to recommend McKittrick's idea to the President and I'll get back to you on this.

  John McKittrick : You won't - you won't regret this.

• John McKittrick : Why are we at Defcon 4?

  Pat Healy : The Soviets saw our bombers scramble until they went on alert. We told them it was just an exercise, but, we're waiting for them to relax their posture before we do. Wait. Wait... here.

  John McKittrick : Oh, Christ, another tour group, just what we need today. Why don't they go to Disneyland where they belong.

  Pat Healy : Well, I think they're going to tomorrow.

• McKittrick : It might help to beef up security around the W.O.P.R.

• Richter : [looking at a report]  There's just been a very serious penetration into our WOPR Execution Order file.

  Lyle Watson : What the hell's he saying?

  Arthur Cabot : Let's have it in English.

  General Beringer : I'll give it to you in English - somebody broke into Mr. McKittrick's well-known system and stole the codes that'll launch our missiles. That right, Mr. McKittrick?

  John McKittrick : There's no cause for alarm. The system won't accept the launch code unless we're at DEFCON 1. I can have those codes changed in less than an hour.

  Lyle Watson : Well, who did this?

  John McKittrick : I think the kid's got to be working with somebody on the outside.

  General Beringer : I don't know what they're up to, but I sure as hell don't want our bombers on the ground when it happens. Take us to DEFCON 3 and get SAC on the line...

  [looks around for Major Daves] 

  General Beringer : ... where are you?

  Major Daves : Uh, sir.

  General Beringer : Oh, uh, and get me a report on those subs. I want to know what those bastards are up to.

• John McKittrick : There's no way that a high school punk can put a dime into a telephone and break into our system! He's got to be working with somebody else. He's got to be!

  Wigan : He does fit the profile perfectly. He's intelligent, an underachiever, alienated from his parents, has few friends. A classic case for recruitment by the Soviets.

• McKittrick : Excuse me, sir. We can't send these men back to the President of the United States with a lot of head-shrinker horseshit!

• FBI Agent George Wigan : He does fit the profile perfectly. He's intelligent, but an under-achiever; alienated from his parents; has few friends. Classic case for recruitment by the Soviets.

  Lyle Watson : Now what does this say about the state of our country, hmm?

  [General Beringer rolls his eyes] 

  Lyle Watson : I mean have you gotten any insight as to why a, a bright boy like this would jeopardize the lives of millions?

  FBI Agent George Wigan : No sir. He says he does this sort of thing for fun.

  John McKittrick : What?

  Arthur Cabot : Dammit, John, I want some answers and I want them *now*!