Great Character Moment: Malvin Figures It Out All By Himself in ‘WarGames’

WarGames is a 1983 thriller about a young man who finds a back door into a military central computer in which reality is confused with game-playing, possibly starting World War III.

Most of us have a short list of go-to movies we fall back on for that oh-so-satisfying movie experience that only a few films can deliver. These are movies we might not necessarily claim as our favorites but titles we know so well and feel so comfortable with, it doesn’t matter if we’ve seen them dozens of times. No doubt a few of these movies are guilty pleasures (I’m looking at you, Van Wilder) but either way, there’s probably not a movie fan out there who doesn’t have a secret list of three or four or more movies they fall back on when nothing else hits the spot.

For me, wedged permanently in my top five of these films, is the 1983 thriller WarGames, the classic adventure movie starring Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy. It’s about this cocky high school kid named David (Broderick) who is a nut for the burgeoning home computer business, his bedroom stuffed with a big desktop model and all sorts of accessories that give him plenty to fiddle with, including nefarious access to the school’s home computer …. and his grades. He’s a little troublemaker with a good heart and a charming personality that finds classmate Jennifer (Sheedy) swooning. Their relationship goes nuclear, literally. By the time the movie’s over, they will have been instrumental in starting what might be World War III. Shall we play a game?

One day, using his phone modem, he discovers in a magazine something odd about a list of upcoming computer games releasing for the holiday season, wanting to play them before they hit shelves. Thing his, none of his tricks work in hacking into their system so he decides to get a little help, bringing Jennifer along to the nearby tech lab where they walk past rooms of massive computers and engineers blissfully tapping away at keyboards, snaking their way through the long corridors to a small back room where a few nerdy computer programmers are tucked warmly into the corner.

They are Jim Sting (Maury Chaykin), a hefy t-shirt wearing guy with a laid back attitude and Malvin (Eddie Deezen), a lanky, high-strung type with a checkered shirt and wire-rimmed glasses. Jim’s mostly the guy David’s come to see, but it’s Malvin who quickly stampedes into the conversation. See, David secretly slips Jim this list of games he’s printed from the game company, hoping Jim can hack his way into the system, but Malvin rolls into the room and snatches the paper from Jim’s hands and recognizes that this no ordinary list. So does Jim.

After the two techs bicker over Malvin’s rude behavior (“Remember when I told you …”), they agree that the list is more likely military based, beginning with tools to teach strategy, like checkers and chess. Either way, it ends with an ominous title called Global Thermonuclear War, and it’s this one that David still wants to play, not realizing what dangers lie in such ventures … yet. Jim ponders the first step, explaining that there’s no way they could get into the system through normal protocols, but does suggest that the program might have a ‘back door’ entrance, then revealing something that tips Malvin off, angry that Jim is spilling insider secrets with Jennifer in ear shot. “Mr. Potato Head” is what he gets in response. This is such a great scene.

Back doors aren’t secret, we learn, though David (surprisingly) has never heard of them, discovering that they are quick logins that bypass security, usually inserted by the original programmer. But how can he figure out the back door for this amazing list of military games? He doesn’t know anything about it or who made it. It seems a roadblock too high for the young hacker. Then Malvin has an idea.

I won’t spoil what Malvin says and instead encourage you to go and watch this ridiculously fun movie if you haven’t already. Malvin is only in the film for these brief few minutes but boy does he have impact. While the movie certainly puts David front and center in the action and has him do all the leg work in uncovering the terrifying secrets the list of games offers, it is entirely because of Malvin’s spot on observation that leads him there.

Deezen’s Malvin is basically a caricature of the prototypical ‘nerd’ of the times, his high-pitched nasally voice and gangly appearance helping to cement the media’s craze with painting tech guys of the period as pencil-headed Poindexters, made enteral the following year with Revenge of the Nerds, but in a way, he is the kickstarter for the hero, and while David is the counter to Malvin’s computer-crazed geek, they share a passion that leads David to great heights of adventure. I’ve always wonder what the film would have been like if it were Malvin instead who took that journey, filmmakers of course never willing to put a character like that in control, not ‘cool’ or handsome enough to carry a movie. Either way, I love Malvin and you will, too. This is a great movie character moment.