Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

‎Cracking the Code: Sneakers at 30

letterboxd.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 82 posts

Re: ‎Cracking the Code: Sneakers at 30

#21

Post by version_five »

caseysoftware wrote: post #19

Sneakers is one of the most fun and often under appreciated geek movies out there. Hackers got some points for including the Hacker Manifesto but was over the top to the point of comical. Sneakers captured the mindset, the vibe, and some of the mechanics.. a bunch of slightly odd guys driven by curiosity and skepticism. The fact that they got Redford, Poitier, Aykroyd, and many other greats made it shine. Edit: And f…

I own it on DVD and just watched the special feature a couple weeks ago. It was really interesting to hear them talk about the research for the script, including getting Prof Adelman (the A in RSA) to consult on the lecture the mathematician was giving, and even to draft slides for him to present, which were not used in favor of projecting a sea of equations on a white background

There are other cool tidbits in there, they got an phreaker (sp?, phone hacker) who had done time in prison to consult as well. His nickname irl was Captain Crunch, and when they sort through the guy's garbage (the guy who's office they need to break into, played by the same actor as Action Jack Barker in Silicon Valley), they pull out a captain crunch box

Re: ‎Cracking the Code: Sneakers at 30

#22

Post by AnimalMuppet »

I loved the bit about trying to guess the password from the video, and nobody being able to do it, and the blind guy hearing the sound over and over and figuring out that it's in the box on the desk. And the audience realizes, "Hey, we were so busy looking at stuff that we didn't listen."

Re: ‎Cracking the Code: Sneakers at 30

#23

Post by Stratoscope »

Here is a fun article by David July, who tracked down some of the filming locations. It has some nice photos of the iconic PlayTronics building at 400 National Way in Simi Valley:

https://mountsutro.org/2014/03/19/1089/

He did misidentify the bridge the white van drove over. It's the Dumbarton, not the San Mateo, and they are driving in the correct direction. (From SF you would take 101 to Marsh or Willow and get on the Dumbarton from there.)

A sad note: The PlayTronics building was converted to an Amazon distribution center a few years ago, and the entire front of the building was torn down and made into loading docks.

I suppose it is ironic that I watched Sneakers on Amazon Prime!

Re: ‎Cracking the Code: Sneakers at 30

#25

Post by LeoPanthera »

Stratoscope wrote: post #23

Here is a fun article by David July, who tracked down some of the filming locations. It has some nice photos of the iconic PlayTronics building at 400 National Way in Simi Valley: https://mountsutro.org/2014/03/19/1089/ He did misidentify the bridge the white van drove over. It's the Dumbarton, not the San Mateo, and they are driving in the correct direction. (From SF you would take 101 to Marsh or Willow and get on…

IMDB has a list of filming locations, as it does for most movies. Including the correct bridge.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105435/locations

Re: ‎Cracking the Code: Sneakers at 30

#26

Post by Stratoscope »

LeoPanthera wrote: post #25
Stratoscope wrote: post #23

Here is a fun article by David July, who tracked down some of the filming locations. It has some nice photos of the iconic PlayTronics building at 400 National Way in Simi Valley: https://mountsutro.org/2014/03/19/1089/ He did misidentify the bridge the white van drove over. It's the Dumbarton, not the San Mateo, and they are driving in the correct direction. (From SF you would take 101 to Marsh or Willow and get on…

IMDB has a list of filming locations, as it does for most movies. Including the correct bridge. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105435/locations

Nice! It's funny, of all the times I've visited IMDB I somehow never noticed this feature. Thank you for pointing it out.

Re: ‎Cracking the Code: Sneakers at 30

#27

Post by aspenmayer »

LeoPanthera wrote: post #25
Stratoscope wrote: post #23

Here is a fun article by David July, who tracked down some of the filming locations. It has some nice photos of the iconic PlayTronics building at 400 National Way in Simi Valley: https://mountsutro.org/2014/03/19/1089/ He did misidentify the bridge the white van drove over. It's the Dumbarton, not the San Mateo, and they are driving in the correct direction. (From SF you would take 101 to Marsh or Willow and get on…

IMDB has a list of filming locations, as it does for most movies. Including the correct bridge. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105435/locations

IMDb is owned by Amazon.

Re: ‎Cracking the Code: Sneakers at 30

#28

Post by Stratoscope »

version_five wrote: post #21
caseysoftware wrote: post #19

Sneakers is one of the most fun and often under appreciated geek movies out there. Hackers got some points for including the Hacker Manifesto but was over the top to the point of comical. Sneakers captured the mindset, the vibe, and some of the mechanics.. a bunch of slightly odd guys driven by curiosity and skepticism. The fact that they got Redford, Poitier, Aykroyd, and many other greats made it shine. Edit: And f…

I own it on DVD and just watched the special feature a couple weeks ago. It was really interesting to hear them talk about the research for the script, including getting Prof Adelman (the A in RSA) to consult on the lecture the mathematician was giving, and even to draft slides for him to present, which were not used in favor of projecting a sea of equations on a white background There are other cool tidbits in there…

The term you're looking for is "phone phreak". There's another reference to John Draper (Captain Crunch) early in the movie. When they are playing Scrabble, one of the words is SCRUNCHY - and the S and Y are separated from the rest of the word at first, so you see CRUNCH.

John was also a technical consultant for the film and appears in the documentary on the DVD.

For those who don't have it yet, I definitely recommend getting the DVD for the special features.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00008OE4W/

(The cheapest seller is GRUV which happens to be Universal Pictures.)

Re: ‎Cracking the Code: Sneakers at 30

#29

Post by hamburglar »

droidist2 wrote: post #13
cscheid wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1) Then Donald Logue got famous, and I'd be the idiot yelling "that's Gunter Janek!" at every episode of Grounded for Life. 2) I can't look at that screenshot and not hear "I leave message here on service but you do not call" 3) RSA's Adleman was the science advisor for the movie, so I'd guess he snuck in the Asiacrypt poster from the beginning

Donal Logue also played Kevin Mitnick's friend in Takedown. https://i.redd.it/s884e47lejv41.png (Also in that scene, a cameo by the real Tsutomu Shimomura)

Donal Logue was also Jimmy the Cab driver in a bizarre series of MTV commercials.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=d3o_N6r-wZ0

Re: ‎Cracking the Code: Sneakers at 30

#30

Post by predictsoft »

crmd wrote: post #12

I distinctly remember Sneakers DVD having a fabulous director’s commentary track, where they talk about writing and filming the movie shot-by-shot, however it doesn’t seem to be available in my Apple TV purchase. Does anyone know if it’s possible to hear the commentary track with any streaming service?

It's on the Canadian region 1 DVD not anywhere else.
Post reply on HN