Capt. Horatio T.P. Webb

Computer Movies Parks -- Spring 2015 Version 5 -- 1/19/2015

While there are many movies that include computers in their plot lines, only a few (exactly four) are worth recommending. In my opinion -- they rank:

1. The Imitation Game 2014 (IMDB rating 8.2/10)

   This movie deserves to be my number one computer movie solely because of its content -- the story of Alan Turing and the breaking of the German Enigma code during World War II. It is a wonderful cinematic work. The acting is excellent and story is well told. But it is the content of the story that deserves most of the credit.

   I have for the past forty years opened every computing course I have taught with a whole lecture dedicated to the story of Alan Turing and his creation of the computer. I reference his work extensively in my classes and take numerous opportunities to credit his contributions. The book on which the movie is based is Andrew Hodges' 1983 book "Alan Turing the Enigma". It has been at the top of my recommended reading list on my course syllabus since it was published 31 years ago. The movie relies heavily on this book for its content -- but can only cover a small part of the book's voluminous history of Turing's life.

   The reason I am so enthralled with Turing's work (now with a Hollywood version) has to do with the intellectual contribution of Turing to the development of the computer. There is little else that compares with his intellectual achievements from their scientific, political, economic and social contribution. He is a study and role model for focus, energy, eccentricity, conviction and intellect. They will not be another -- he was a genius of unparalleled talent. He should the hero of every computer professional and every computer aficionado.

   There are many historical issues to quibble about in the movie: the false connection with John Cairncross; the isolation of Turing's small team in the movie vis-a-vis the huge intellectual effort at Bletchley Park; the omission of his Princeton years; the omission of the "On Comptable Numbers..." paper; omitting Kurt Godel; omitting Alonzo Church; omitting von Neumann, the overplaying of the Joan Clark story; naming the device "Christopher" rather than the "Bombe"; and the downplay of the Polish contributions of Marian Rejewski, Jerzy Rozycki and Henryk Zygalski. There were many other details that were liberally interpreted for artistic effects. This is somewhat understandable given the complexity of the story. But all in all the movie was excellent -- historical details not withstanding.

   Regardless of the validity of where Turing was and what Turing said in the movie, the fact that the movie brings to light Turing's story in a palatable and artistic fashion makes it all worthwhile. More people will know his name than I have ever been able to reach. Besides, everyone doesn't get as lucky as me to have Hollywood make your own personal hero into a movie star.

2. Blade Runner 1982 (IMDB rating 8.3/10)

   Ridley Scott directed this classic robot movie from the science fiction novel "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by American writer Philip K. Dick -- published in 1968. Harrison Fords plays "Rick Dekard" a futuristic (2019) "blade runner" with a license to kill rouge androids (called "replicants"). In post-apocalyptic Los Angeles he tracks down "Nexus 6 model" replicants who have been banned from earth after a mutiny in an off-world colony. Being virtually indistinguishable from humans, the plot follows the morality and implications of artificial intelligence. Dutch actor Rutger Hauer (1944-2019 pictured below below) plays android "Roy Batty" -- the chief antagonist to Ford's Decker. Hauer wrote the death scene monologue ("Tears in the Rain"):

   I've seen things you people wouldn't believe... Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion... I've watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate... All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in the rain... ...Time to die.

   Other versions I've known adventures, seen places you people will never see, I've been Offworld and back ... frontiers! I've stood on the back deck of a blinker bound for the Plutition Camps with sweat in my eyes watching stars fight on the shoulder of Orion... I've felt wind in my hair, riding test boats off the black galaxies and seen an attack fleet burn like a match and disappear. I've seen it, felt it...! And, the original script, before Hauer's rewrite, was: I've seen things... seen things you little people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion bright as magnesium... I rode on the back decks of a blinker and watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate. All those moments... they'll be gone.

3. Brazil 1985 (IMDB rating 8.0/10)

   Written and directed by Terry Gilliam (the only American in the Monty Python troupe). This plot follows Sam Lowry (played by actor Jonathan Pryce).

   The story is set in a futuristic society where technology has not progressed (like it was stuck in the 1970s -- retro-futurism). Lowry discovers a mistake caused by a computer "bug" -- in a scene reminiscent of the first "real" computer bug discover by Admiral Grace Hopper. The "bug" results in a mistake whereby "Archibald Buttle" -- a plumber -- is mistaken for the terrorist "Archibald Tuttle". The central issue of bureaucratic bumbling results in Buttle's death and ultimately Lowry's implication as a terrorist.

   Cameo appearances by Robert De Niro (Archibald Tuttle); Michael Palin (Jack Lint), Katherine Helmond, Ian Richardson and Bob Hoskins make an entertaining look at bureaucracy run amok.

   Jack Lint: "This is information retrieval not information dispersal." Harry Tuttle: "Bloody paperwork. Huh!" Sam Lowry: "I suppose one has to expect a certain amount." Harry Tuttle: "Why? I came into this game for the action, the excitement. Go anywhere, travel light, get in, get out, wherever there's trouble, a man alone. Now they got the whole country sectioned off, you can't make a move without a form."

4. 2001: A Space Odyssey 1968 (IMDB rating 8.3/10)

   Directed by Stanley Kubrick and co-written by Kubrick and by Arthur C. Clarke.

   Dave Bowman: "Hello, HAL. Do you read me, HAL? " HAL: "Affirmative, Dave. I read you. " Dave Bowman: "Open the pod bay doors, HAL. " HAL: "I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that. " Dave Bowman: "What's the problem? " HAL: "I think you know what the problem is just as well as I do. " Dave Bowman: "What are you talking about, HAL? " HAL: "This mission is too important for me to allow you to jeopardize it." Dave Bowman: "I don't know what you're talking about, HAL. " HAL: " I know that you and Frank were planning to disconnect me, and I'm afraid that's something I cannot allow to happen." Dave Bowman: "[feigning ignorance] Where the hell did you get that idea, HAL? " HAL: "Dave, although you took very thorough precautions in the pod against my hearing you, I could see your lips move. " Dave Bowman: "Alright, HAL. I'll go in through the emergency airlock. " HAL: " Without your space helmet, Dave? You're going to find that rather difficult. " Dave Bowman: "HAL, I won't argue with you anymore! Open the doors! " HAL: "Dave, this conversation can serve no purpose anymore. Goodbye. "

   ---

   My Favorite Real movies -- no computers:

   1. "Casablanca" 1942 (IMDB rating 8.6/10, 28th on the top 250 off IMDB users list, 3rd on the AFI.com list) --Directed by Michael Curtiz. The best love story on film. Humphrey Bogart plays Rick Blaine owner of the Casablanca nightclub "Rick's". Set in World War II, Rick accidentally meets his old flame Ilsa Lind (played by Ingrid Bergman) who is travelling with her wanted freedom fighter husband Victor Laslo (played by Paul Henreid). The plot centers on the love relationship between Rick and Ilsa, the complication of her marriage to Laslo and the possession of exit visas that allow only two people to leave Casablanca. Great quotes like:

   • Ilsa: "Play it, Sam. Play 'As Time Goes By.' "

   • Rick: "Who are you really, and what were you before? What did you do and what did you think, huh?"

   • Rick: "Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine."

   • Rick: "We'll always have Paris. We didn't have, we, we lost it until you came to Casablanca. We got it back last night."
     Ilsa: "When I said I would never leave you."
     Rick: "And you never will. But I've got a job to do, too. Where I'm going, you can't follow. What I've got to do, you can't be any part of. Ilsa, I'm no good at being noble, but it doesn't take much to see that the problems of three little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. Someday you'll understand that."
     [Ilsa lowers her head and begins to cry]
     Rick: "Now, now..."
     [Rick gently places his hand under her chin and raises it so their eyes meet]
     Rick: "Here's looking at you kid."

   • Ilsa: "Oh, it's a crazy world. Anything can happen. If you shouldn't get away, I mean, if something should keep us apart, wherever they put you and wherever I'll be, I want you to know that ... Kiss me. Kiss me as if it were the last time."
   
   Great performances by Claude Rains (as Captain Louis Renault); Sidney Greenstreet (as Signor Ferrari); and Peter Lorre (as Ugarte). See the latter pair below.

   2. "The Maltese Falcon" 1941 (IMDB rating 8.2/10, 149th the top 250 off IMDB users list, 31st on the AFI.com list) -- Directed by John Houston and based on the novel by Dashiell Hammett, Humphrey Bogart starts as Sam Spade. The plot centers on the recovery of the Maltese Falcon -- a gold and jewel encrusted statuette shipped as tribute by the Knights Templar of Malta to Charles V -- 16th century emperor of the Holy Roman empire. The plot is fast, clever and full of great dialogue. Great performances by Peter Lorre (as Joel Cairo); Sydney Greenstreet as Kasper Gutman (the "fat" man); Mary Astor (as Brigid O'Shaughnessy) and Elisha Cook Jr. (as Wilmer "the gunsel" Cook). Great quotes:

   • Sam Spade: "The, uh, stuff that dreams are made of."

   • Brigid O'Shaughnessy: "I haven't lived a good life. I've been bad, worse than you could know."
     Sam Spade: "You know, that's good, because if you actually were as innocent as you pretend to be, we'd never get anywhere."

   • Joel Cairo: "You always have a very smooth explanation ready."
     Sam Spade: "What do you want me to do, learn to stutter?"

   • Sam Spade: "You won't need much of anybody's help. You're good. Chiefly your eyes, I think, and that throb you get in your voice when you say things like 'Be generous, Mr. Spade.' ""

   • Kasper Gutman: "By Gad, sir, you are a character. There's never any telling what you'll say or do next, except that it's bound to be something astonishing."

   • Kasper Gutman: "These are facts, historical facts, not schoolbook history, not Mr. Wells' history, but history nevertheless."

   • Sam Spade: "All we've got is that maybe you love me and maybe I love you."
     Brigid O'Shaughnessy: "You know whether you love me or not."
     Sam Spade: "Maybe I do. I'll have some rotten nights after I've sent you over, but that'll pass."

   The first "film noir".

   The thing about these two movies is that you can watch them a hundred times and still enjoy them.

   ---

   Wired Magazine's 2002 "THE WIRED SCI-FI TOP 20"

   None of these movies are worth a second viewing except the three above.

   1. Blade Runner
   2. Gattaca
   3. The Matrix
   4. 2001: A Space Odyssey
   5. Brazil
   6. A Clockwork Orange
   7. Alien
   8. The Boys From Brazil
   9. Jurassic Park
   10. Star Wars
   11. The Road Warrior
   12. Tron
   13. The Terminator
   14. Sleeper
   15. Soylent Green
   16. RoboCop
   17. Planet Of The Apes
   18. The Day The Earth Stood Still
   19. Akira
   20. Barbarella