Audiences Love War Games
#kspscinema

Much has been said about the impact of our feature “WarGames” on the cultural zeitgeist, particularly in regards to computer security and fears of thermonuclear war (check out our Survey question).  So instead, we’ll focus on director John Badham, who enjoyed a string of hits on the big screen from the mid-seventies to the late eighties.

His first big success was the blockbuster “Saturday Night Fever” in 1977, a pop culture phenomenon across theatres, radio, and dance-floors.  His follow-up movie, 1979’s “Dracula” with the great Frank Langella, was less popular, but only because few films could live up to the appeal of “Saturday Night Fever”.

From there he made box-office favorites “Blue Thunder”, “WarGames” (replacing fellow director John Brest), “American Flyers” with a young Kevin Costner, “Short Circuit”, surprise hit “Stakeout”, and finally “Bird on a Wire” with Mel Gibson and Goldie Hawn in 1990.

Badham continues to direct to this day, mostly on episodic television, but unfortunately never reached the heights as he did with “WarGames”.  He also published 2 books on his experiences in Hollywood, the latest in 2013 called “On Directing”.

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