“WarGames” back in U.S. theaters for 25th anniversary

On July 24, there’s a great chance to revisit director John Badham’s cerebral 1983 thriller “WarGames” at theaters across the country . Those theaters will also be showing new interview footage with cast and crew and a preview of a new sequel “WarGames: The Dead Code,” a direct-to-DVD release being made available on July 29.

“WarGames” was just the second film for Matthew Broderick and what a script the young actor was handed. The screenplay earned an Oscar nomination for Walter F. Parkes and Lawrence Lasker, a team that also would go to produce the best-picture nominee “Awakenings” (1991).

Random trivia: Lasker is the son of Jane Greer. The actress was four-months pregnant with Lasker while filming “The Big Steal” (1949) in Mexico with the hard-living Robert Mitchum, who ended up in jail during filming. Director Don Siegel wrote in his 1993 autobiography that he fretted about Greer’s state: “With a little care in how I shot her, no one was aware; but I must confess that at times, I worried about a miscarriage."

-Geoff Boucher

photo of Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy before asking to play Global Thermonuclear War via MGM/UA