Hackers (film)

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Hackers is a 1995 film that follows the misfortunes of the young hackers Dade Murphy ("Crash Override"/"Zero Cool", played by Jonny Lee Miller), Kate Libby ("Acid Burn", played by Angelina Jolie) and their friends. It was written by Rafael Moreu and directed by Iain Softley.

The movie failed to make a profit at the box-office, but has developed a cult following from its video release despite (or, in some cases, because of) the lack of accuracy. Metaphorical and graphical sequences are used as a substitute for the real actions involved in hacking and systems administration. It is also known as the first major film to star future Academy Award-winner Angelina Jolie. It also helped to launch the career of Matthew Lillard.

Plot summary

In 1988, Seattle youth Dade "Zero Cool" Murphy (Jonny Lee Miller) is arrested and charged, at the age of 11, with crashing 1,507 systems in one day and causing a single-day 7-point drop in the New York Stock Exchange. Upon conviction, he is banned from owning or operating computers or touch-tone telephones until his 18th birthday.

Shortly before Dade turns 18, his mother (now divorced) takes a new job in New York City. Upon turning 18, Dade calls a local television station, dupes the security guard into giving him the modem's phone number (using a tactic known as social engineering) and successfully hacks into the station's computer network, changing the current tv program to an episode of The Outer Limits. However, Dade is "attacked" by a hacker on the same network, (who goes by the handle "Acid Burn") and is eventually kicked off.

Dade enrolls in the prestigious Stuyvesant High School, where he meets the beautiful Kate Libby (Angelina Jolie), who is responsible for taking him on a tour of the school. After being told of a "pool on the roof" (which results in Dade and several other students being locked on the roof during a rainstorm) a feud erupts between Dade and Kate. This duel, which spans most of the movie, is umpired by Kate and Dade's mutual friends in the hacking community, including Cereal Killer and Lord Nikon.

The real trouble erupts when Joey Pardella (Jesse Bradford), the younger, novice hacker of the group, successfully breaks into an oil company supercomputer to prove to the rest of the group that he is an elite hacker. In order to validate this feat, he downloads part of a garbage file. Unfortunately, the company's IT staff detects this unauthorized entry into their systems and summons computer security officer Eugene "The Plague" Belford (Fisher Stevens) to deal with the problem. He realizes that the file that is being downloaded can prove that The Plague is stealing money from the company via salami slicing. The Plague enlists the US Secret Service to recover the file by claiming that it is the code to a computer virus that will capsize the company's oil tanker fleet.

What follows is a frantic race against The Plague and the Secret Service to exonerate the hackers before Belford can unleash the virus causing a worldwide ecological disaster.

Background

The protagonist, Zero Cool, is based on Robert Tappan Morris. The Phantom Phreak, a character in the film, may have gotten his name from an early hacker who wrote for Phrack magazine.

The name for the Phantom Phreak, may have also come from the fact that gaining access to employee only features and the manipulation of phone systems in general is called "phreaking".

The film quotes the Hacker Manifesto (written by Loyd Blankenship, also known as The Mentor) from Phrack magazine, issue 07, file 03 in 1986. In the film, the character reading the manifesto was holding a copy of 2600 magazine, not Phrack. Also, the name of one character, Emmanuel Goldstein ("Cereal Killer"), is borrowed from the pseudonym of Eric Corley, one of the editors of 2600. Corley helped advise the filmmakers on the hacker subculture, but remains a critic of the film's accuracy.

The racing game briefly featured in the movie was a video prototype created during development of wipEout.

Trivia

• "Hack the Gibson" is a phrase used in the movie that refers to the hacking of a Gibson supercomputer, a fictional brand of supercomputer probably referring to science fiction author William Gibson, father of the cyberpunk genre and coiner of the term "cyberspace". It is used colloquially to impugn an achievement, particularly as regards to computers (for example, "Brian thought he was totally hacking the Gibson but ended up formatting his hard drive instead").
• The real name of Matthew Lillard's character, Emmanuel Goldstein, is taken from George Orwell's novel 1984, which Goldstein mentions at one point during the movie; the fact is also alluded to in a dream sequence when an image of Agent Richard Gill tells The Phantom Phreak (also known as Ramon Sanchez) that "I'm watching you." Emmanuel Goldstein is also the pseudonym of Eric Corley, who was a technical consultant for the film. A copy of Corley's also appears briefly hanging on a wall during the movie.
• When Eugene "The Plague" Belford, is on the plane near the end of the film, he uses the pseudonym "Mr. Babbage". This is a tribute to Charles Babbage, the inventor of the first finite state logic machine, a predecessor to the computer.
• In the climax of the movie one of the characters displays a sign saying "trust your techno lust"; this line has become the closing phrase to the hacker show Hak.5.
• The music soundtrack was released in 3 separate volumes over a number of years. The first volume was composed entirely of music featured in the film, while the second and third are a mix of music "inspired by the film" as well as music actually in the film. Among others, the song "Protection", by Massive Attack plays during the scene where Angelina Jolie's character is on a balcony during the party setting, and the song does not appear on any of the three soundtracks.
• The movie producers actually faked a hacking of their website near the release of the movie as a publicity stunt. It is commonly mistaken that this was actually hacked into and the hacked version was left up.
• The name Lord Nikon in the movie was given because of the character's photographic memory.
• Jonny Lee Miller was the first husband of actress Angelina Jolie.
• The English tagline (Their Crime is Curiosity) is taken from a line of the Hacker Manifesto ("My crime is that of curiosity").
• The handle Crash Override is taken from Flash Override, the highest priority level in the Autovon system.
• Hacker Bill From RNOC, also known as Dave Buchwald, worked as a techincal hacker consultant on set and behind the scenes, coaching the cast and assisting the crew during pre-production and filming.

Ratings

Argentina	13
Australia	M
Canada	PG
Germany	12
Ireland	15
Singapore	PG
Spain	13
UK	12
Denmark	13
USA	PG-13 (certificate #33561)
Netherlands	12

Technical

• Runtime: 107 min
• Country of origin: USA
• Languages: English / Italian / Japanese / Russian
• Color Format: Color (DeLuxe)
• Sound Mixes: DTS-Stereo / DTS

Soundtrack

Label: Edel America
Original Release Date: June 25th, 1996 (U.S.A.)

Tracks

1. "Original Bedroom Rockers" by Kruder & Dorfmeister
2. "Cowgirl" by Underworld
3. "Voodoo People" by The Prodigy
4. "Open Up" by Leftfield
5. "Phoebus Apollo" by Carl Cox
6. "The Joker" by Josh Abrahams
7. "Halcyon & On & On" by Orbital
8. "Communicate" (Headquake Hazy Cloud Mix) by Plastico
9. "Connected" by Stereo MC's
10. "Eyes, Lips, Body" (Mekon Vocal Mix) by Ramshackle
11. "Good Grief" by Urban Dance Squad
12. "Richest Junkie Still Alive" (Sank Remix) by Machines of Loving Grace
13. "Heaven Knows" by Squeeze

Non released tracks

Some musical pieces were not released on the official soundtrack, but do make a significant impact on the movie, such as the 'virus hacking' scene and the music around and in Grand Central Station

1. "Protection" by Massive Attack
2. "Inspection Check One" by Leftfield
3. "Original" by Leftfield
4. "Combination" (suggested title) by Guy Pratt
5. "Grand Central Station" (suggested title) by Guy Pratt
6. "Real Wild Child" (Wild One) by Iggy Pop, this song is sung by Joey under the shower

External links

• ["Hackers"] at the Jargon File
• ["Hackers"] at the Jargon Wiki
• [French Fan Forum]

 

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