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‎Cracking the Code: Sneakers at 30

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Re: ‎Cracking the Code: Sneakers at 30

#61

Post by throw0101a »

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…

> The fact that they got Redford, Poitier, Aykroyd, and many other greats made it shine.

Reminder that Poitier died fairly recent: January 6, 2022 (at 94).

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidney_Poitier

Re: ‎Cracking the Code: Sneakers at 30

#62

Post by Minor49er »

jmcgough wrote: post #42
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 have a younger partner who does infosec - she's never seen Hackers and I skimmed it, thinking about showing it to her. It's fun, but it's aged poorly to the point that it'd be too cringe to show her. Sneakers, in contrast, has aged really well. It's the only film I've seen that "gets" the hacker ethos, its culture and history... and has relatively realistic depictions of hacking (a lot of social engineering, resear…

I showed Hackers to my girlfriend a few years ago. I am a software developer who has seen it multiple times. She isn't into computers at all and had never seen it before. But we both really enjoyed it. It's a fun movie that fantastical enough to be fun and engaging while grounded enough to be believable. The less-realistic parts didn't break the immersion for her but were a source of amusement for me that didn't ruin the overall experience

Re: ‎Cracking the Code: Sneakers at 30

#64

Post by [deleted] »

mjg59 wrote: post #49
jmcgough wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a younger partner who does infosec - she's never seen Hackers and I skimmed it, thinking about showing it to her. It's fun, but it's aged poorly to the point that it'd be too cringe to show her. Sneakers, in contrast, has aged really well. It's the only film I've seen that "gets" the hacker ethos, its culture and history... and has relatively realistic depictions of hacking (a lot of social engineering, resear…

I absolutely love Sneakers, but I think you're writing Hackers off too easily - my experience is that it's widely loved within the infosec community, not because it's accurate in any way (it is extremely obviously not) but because it captures what people want hacking to be. You should absolutely watch it together, and if she hates it you should just blame me.

[deleted]

Re: ‎Cracking the Code: Sneakers at 30

#65

Post by atchoo »

jmcgough wrote: post #42
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 have a younger partner who does infosec - she's never seen Hackers and I skimmed it, thinking about showing it to her. It's fun, but it's aged poorly to the point that it'd be too cringe to show her. Sneakers, in contrast, has aged really well. It's the only film I've seen that "gets" the hacker ethos, its culture and history... and has relatively realistic depictions of hacking (a lot of social engineering, resear…

Sneakers is an unambiguously fantastic thriller with god tier cast.

But Hackers is a classic too and always meant as over the top fun. I don't think it's aged badly, it was ludicrous at the time too. It's now a period piece that captures the imagination of the moment. If you can't find joy in people hacking while roller blading as The Prodigy blasts man... I don't know, shame. The 90's sure feel like a lot more fun than today. There are a lot of things that work in the film and have stayed with me over the decades. Whether it's Joey at AA for computer addiction, everyone geeking out over a laptop, "ugly red book that won't fit on the shelf" or "It's in that place I put that thing one time".

Re: ‎Cracking the Code: Sneakers at 30

#66

Post by amatecha »

jmcgough wrote: post #42
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 have a younger partner who does infosec - she's never seen Hackers and I skimmed it, thinking about showing it to her. It's fun, but it's aged poorly to the point that it'd be too cringe to show her. Sneakers, in contrast, has aged really well. It's the only film I've seen that "gets" the hacker ethos, its culture and history... and has relatively realistic depictions of hacking (a lot of social engineering, resear…

No way, definitely watch Hackers! It's actually a really great capture of the kinda wild computing/hacker culture of the 90's, super on-point aesthetically. Plus the plot is pretty fun. It's a super cult classic for a reason, and gets so many things right. The cheesiness is actually not too bad and IMO a key part of the charm. There are some really cool scenes too.

Re: ‎Cracking the Code: Sneakers at 30

#67

Post by alasdair_ »

themodelplumber wrote: post #3

> It’s also not difficult to imagine Bishop as an older version of the more principled protagonists he played in Three Days of the Condor and All the President’s Men. That's a fun idea. If only the movie ran for just a bit longer and mega-casual assassin Max Von Sydow and spooky garage conversation informant Hal Holbrook could've been in on things somehow. "You've got to follow...the macguffin!" (Also this clock towe…

As a random aside, Day of the Condor is Kevin Mitnick’s favorite movie. Mitnick was probably the most famous hacker in the world at the time Sneakers was being cast.

Re: ‎Cracking the Code: Sneakers at 30

#68

Post by schwartzworld »

hamburglar wrote: post #29
droidist2 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Donal Logue was also the guy from The Dao of Steve. What are we doing?

Re: ‎Cracking the Code: Sneakers at 30

#70

Post by plapsley »

Stratoscope wrote: post #41
plapsley wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Phone freak (with an f) was the original term, in the late 1960s. When Ron Rosenbaum wrote "Secrets of the Little Blue Box" he made it into "phone phreak". "Phreaker" came a bit later (1980s is about right). Shameless plug -- I wrote a history book about this whole subject, "Exploding the Phone": https://www.amazon.com/Exploding-Phone-Phil-Lapsley/dp/08021... My website, such as it is, offers additional goodies, incl…

Phil (with a ph), it is so nice to run into you here! I had no idea about the 1960s spelling - thanks for mentioning it. As it happens, I bought your book in February 2013, only a couple of weeks after it was released. I will have to re-read it now. :-) I highly recommend the book to anyone interested in this bit of hacking history.

Thank you!
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