Factual error: As the computer repeatedly tries different bombing strategies, all resulting in "WINNER : NONE", one of the strategies it lists misspells "Israel" as "Isreal" and "Palestinian" as "Palistinian."
Directed by: John Badham
Starring: Matthew Broderick, Dabney Coleman, John Wood, Ally Sheedy
Factual error: As the computer repeatedly tries different bombing strategies, all resulting in "WINNER : NONE", one of the strategies it lists misspells "Israel" as "Isreal" and "Palestinian" as "Palistinian."
Plot hole: McKittrick says the computer will not accept the launch codes unless they are at DEFCON 1. At the end of the climax the computer is trying to guess the code while they are at DEFCON 1. So why couldn't they just go back to a different DEFCON before the correct code was guessed?
David: What kind of an asshole lives on an island and he doesn't even have a boat?
Jennifer: Maybe we can swim for it. How far do you think it is?
David: No, it's uh, 2 or 3 miles at least, maybe more.
Jennifer: Well, what do you say? Let's go for it.
David: No.
Jennifer: Come on!
David: No! I can't swim
Jennifer: You can't swim?
David: No, I can't. Okay, Wonder Woman? I can't swim.
Jennifer: Well, what kind of an asshole grows up in Seattle and doesn't even know how to swim?
Trivia: Broderick changes school information from his home computer just as he does in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Both mothers were also real estate agents.
Question: How could WOPR not know the difference between a game and real life?
Answer: While merely speculation, the WOPR is not alive and knows only what it's been programmed to do. It would have no concept of life or death, and as such would see no difference between the simulation and the real thing. That being said, an easy way to make it see the difference would be to program it to not waste physical resources. It would then see the use of all its actual warheads as less desirable.