Hacker Movies

by info

This is about "hacker movies."  Just a computer being used in a movie doesn't make it a hacker movie.  We all think of WarGames as a hacker movie (the computer voice thing was fake), and there are many "hacker/hacking movie" lists, but I think I can show that a true hacker movie is also often what many would not think of as one.  (I did not consult any existing movie lists before writing this.)

If a person used a rotary phone to mechanically record the last number dialed so the number could be figured out, would that be a "hack?"  Humphrey Bogart did just that in a 1940s gangster film.  Herein I give two films, in depth, for readers to contemplate just what a hacker movie is, ending with a list of a few others to consider.

First is 711 Ocean Drive, directed by Joseph M. Newman and starring Edmond O'Brien.  It came out in 1950.  It opens with a warning that "Because of the disclosures made in this film..." the production needed police protection.  (Whether just a stunt or not, I did not investigate.)  As the credits are wrapping up, a telephone is prominent.  In effect, a telephone is the first character of the film.

O'Brien plays Mal Granger, "just a guy working at the telephone company," who ends up in the "racing wire" racket.  When Mal first appears with a linesman's handset in his hands, he confesses of a "secret desire to cross up a few of these wires."  Not 10 minutes into the film we're in a room full of telephones at a racing bookie joint, predating The Sting by 23 years.  But in this film, it's all about Mal's "knowledge of telephones and electronics."  The telephone system which Granger hacks to help bookies get a knowledge advantage is the real star.

Then there is The Train, directed by John Frankenheimer, starring Burt Lancaster.  Not only is this a hacker film, it's one of the greatest films of all time.  It debuted in 1964 and took place during the end of (((World War II))).  Though telephones (and train equipment) do have roles here, this film has Lancaster and crew pulling off the best social engineering hack of all time.

Lancaster is forced to conduct a train from France to Germany, its cargo full of priceless stolen art.  What the hack is here is to convince the Germans on the train, and those they were in touch with, that they were going to Germany while actually going in the opposite direction.

With the help of the French Underground, as the train went East, the Germans on the train were duped at each stop, with changed station signs for example.  It's also just a great film, so that ain't too much of a spoiler.  (There are many other hacks in the film, mechanical in nature, but hacks just the same, that would be spoilers if I were to mention them.)

Also for consideration are the two great films, Three Days of the Condor (1975) and The Conversation (1974).  So too The Heroes of Telemark (1965), if one can think of sabotaging Germany's heavy water project as hacks of a sort.

Of note is Billion Dollar Brain (1967), in which Karl Malden really does hack a Honeywell 200 by replacing some of the cards in its batch.  (I once repaired a magnetic tape cleaner, having worked for the company that made it, in the 1980s.)  And just for kicks, The President's Analyst (1967) satires the CIA, the FBI, and TPC.

(Some, if not all, of these movies can be found online somewhere  711 Ocean Drive can be seen via the Internet Archive and is highly recommended.)

Thanks for listening.