Hackers
Directed by	Iain Softley
Written by	Rafael Moreu
Starring	Jonny Lee Miller Angelina Jolie Jesse Bradford Matthew Lillard
Cinematography	Andrzej Sekula
Distributed by	MGM
Release date(s)	September 15, 1995 (USA)
Running time	107 min.
Language	English
IMDb profile

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. Hackers - Poster 1 File links The following pages link to this file: Hackers (movie) ... Iain Softley is a British film director. ... Rafael Moreu was the writer of the Hackers_(movie) from 1995. ... Jonny Lee Miller Jonny Lee Miller (born November 15, 1972) is an English actor. ... Angelina Jolie (born Angelina Jolie Voight on June 4, 1975) is an American film actress, a former fashion model and a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Refugee Agency. ... Jesse Bradford. ... Matthew Lyn Lillard (born January 24, 1970) is an American actor. ... Andrzej Sekula (born 1954 in Wroclaw, Poland) is a Polish cinematographer and film director. ... MGM logo Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer or MGM, is a large media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of cinema and television programs. ... September 15 is the 258th day of the year (259th in leap years). ... 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A motion picture rating system categorizes films with regard to suitability for children and/or adults in terms of issues such as sex, violence and profanity. ... British Board of Film Classification logo The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), originally British Board of Film Censors, is the organisation responsible for film and some video game classification and censorship within the United Kingdom. ... The MPAA film rating system is a system used in the United States and territories and instituted by the Motion Picture Association of America to rate a movie based on its content. ... 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Film is a term that encompasses motion pictures as individual projects, as well as the field in general. ... Hackers are sometimes portrayed as mysterious and strange. ... Jonny Lee Miller Jonny Lee Miller (born November 15, 1972) is an English actor. ... Angelina Jolie (born Angelina Jolie Voight on June 4, 1975) is an American film actress, a former fashion model and a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Refugee Agency. ... Rafael Moreu was the writer of the Hackers_(movie) from 1995. ... Iain Softley is a British film director. ...

The movie failed to make a profit at the box-office, but has developed a cult following from its video release despite (or, in many cases, because of) egregious inaccuracies in its portrayal of hacking and hacker culture. Metaphorical and graphical sequences are used as a substitute for the real actions involved in hacking and systems administration. In language, a metaphor (from the Greek: metapherin rhetorical trope) is defined as a direct comparison between two or more seemingly unrelated subjects. ... As a noun, a graphic usually refers to a computer image or picture, or an infographic, such as a chart. ... A system administrator, or sysadmin, is a person employed to maintain, and operate a computer system or network for a company or other organization. ...

It is the first major film to star future Academy Award-winner Angelina Jolie, and helped to launch the career of Matthew Lillard. The references in this article would be clearer with a different and/or consistent style of citation, footnoting or external linking. ... Angelina Jolie (born Angelina Jolie Voight on June 4, 1975) is an American film actress, a former fashion model and a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Refugee Agency. ... Matthew Lyn Lillard (born January 24, 1970) is an American actor. ...

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. Jonny Lee Miller Jonny Lee Miller (born November 15, 1972) is an English actor. ... The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), nicknamed the Big Board, is a New York City-based stock exchange. ...

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 television 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. Midtown Manhattan, looking north from the Empire State Building, 2005 New York City (officially named the City of New York) is the most populous city in the state of New York and the entire United States. ... A modem (from modulate and demodulate) is a device that modulates an analogue carrier signal to encode digital information, and also demodulates such a carrier signal to decode the transmitted information. ... Social engineering is the practice of obtaining confidential information by manipulation of legitimate users. ... The Outer Limits is an American television series. ...

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, Emmanuel Goldstein a.k.a. Cereal Killer, Ramon Sanchez a.k.a. Phantom Phreak, and Paul Cook a.k.a. Lord Nikon. Stuyvesant High School, commonly known as Stuy, is a New York City public high school that specializes in mathematics and science. ... Angelina Jolie (born Angelina Jolie Voight on June 4, 1975) is an American film actress, a former fashion model and a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Refugee Agency. ...

The real trouble erupts when Joey Pardella (Jesse Bradford), the younger, novice hacker of the group, successfully breaks into the supercomputer of a petroleum company, Ellingson Mineral Corporation, to prove to the rest of the clique that he is more than a mere script kiddie. In order to validate this feat, he downloads part of a garbage file. Unfortunately, the company's IT staff detect this unauthorized entry into their systems and summon computer security expert Eugene "The Plague" Belford (Fisher Stevens), himself a former hacker turned amoral corporate backstabber, to deal with the problem. Jesse Bradford. ... A supercomputer is a computer that leads the world in terms of processing capacity, particularly speed of calculation, at the time of its introduction. ... In computing, a script kiddie (occasionally script bunny, script kitty, script kiddo or skiddie) is a derogatory term for inexperienced crackers who use scripts and programs developed by others, without knowing what they are or how they work, for the purpose of compromising computer accounts and files, and for launching... This article is about the computer terms. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... Fisher Stevens, born Steven Fisher Ass Lick Penis Stroker, (November 27, 1963) in Chicago, Illinois is an American actor, living in New York City. ... Amorality is the quality of having no concept of right or wrong. ... Machiavellianism is the term some social and personality psychologists use to describe a persons tendency to deceive and manipulate others for personal gain. ...

Zero Cool and Acid Burn : Hackers

After investigating the matter, however, The Plague realizes that the seemingly innocuous file that was downloaded is more than just a garbage file - he himself had been using it as an unsuspect location, from which he had been running an illegal program for years, stealing money from the company via salami slicing. Knowing a hacker would instantly recognize the tricks of the trade and his otherwise cleverly disguised handiwork, The Plague resolves to cover his tracks. He creates an insidious virus ("The DaVinci Virus") and installs it across Ellingson's entire network, then enlists the United States Secret Service to arrest Joey, dismantle his equipment and confiscate the file for him. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (852x480, 54 KB)screenshot Hackers Copyright: United Artists source: [1] This image is a screenshot from a copyrighted film, and the copyright for it is most likely owned by the studio which produced the film, and possibly also by any actors... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (852x480, 54 KB)screenshot Hackers Copyright: United Artists source: [1] This image is a screenshot from a copyrighted film, and the copyright for it is most likely owned by the studio which produced the film, and possibly also by any actors... In computer crime, salami slicing is the illegal practice of stealing money repeatedly in extremely small quantities, usually by taking advantage of rounding to the nearest cent (or other monetary unit) in financial transactions. ... The United States Secret Service is a United States federal government law enforcement agency that is part of the United States Department of Homeland Security (prior to the founding of that department in 2003, it was under the United States Department of the Treasury). ...

In order to "motivate" Ellingson and the Secret Service in this matter, The Plague's virus leaves a message: unless Ellingson allocates five million US dollars into a numbered bank account within a week, the virus will capsize a large portion of Ellingson's automated tanker fleet, causing a global ecological catastrophe. The full source code for the virus, The Plague claims, is located in the file, and he will need it in order to track down and fully disable the virus that Joey allegedly distributed throughout the system. Capsizing refers to when a boat is inverted such that the bottom of the boat is on top. ... A tanker is usually a vehicle carrying large amounts of liquid fuel. ... Source code (commonly just source or code) is any series of statements written in some human-readable computer programming language. ...

When the file is not found, however, due to some quick thinking on Joey's behalf, he is released pending a trial regarding the many other illegal wares discovered in his possession. He brings the file to Kate, Dade and the others in order to see what they make of it in light of his computer having been stripped by The Plague. In doing so, he unwittingly invites the Secret Service and the sinister and driven Mr. Belford to target them one-by-one through arrest, intimidation, and blackmail in an attempt to dissolve all the evidence of the millions upon millions of dollars The Plague has secretly embezzled over the years.

What follows is a frantic battle against The Plague and the Secret Service to exonerate the six friends and reveal the truth before Mr. Belford's program can complete its run, allowing him to disappear with the money and engage his virus, causing untold devastation and permanently erasing all evidence of his crimes.

Background

Hackers movie poster (Germany)

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. Hackers - German Poster File links The following pages link to this file: Hackers (movie) ... Hackers - German Poster File links The following pages link to this file: Hackers (movie) ... The protagonist or main character is the central figure of a story. ... Robert Tappan Morris (b. ... Phrack is an underground ezine made by and for hackers that has been around since November 17, 1985. ... This article is about the magazine as a published medium. ...

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". In addition, the Phantom Phreak refers to himself as "The King of NYNEX" when he introduces himself to the protagonist, a reference to the telephone company which served the New York City area at the time the movie was produced. Phreaking is a slang term coined to describe the activity of a subculture of people who study, experiment with, or exploit telephones, the telephone company, and systems connected to or composing the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) for the purposes of hobby or utility. ... NYNEX Corporation (pronounced Nine-x) was a telephone company which served five New England states (Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont) as well as New York. ... Nickname: Big Apple, City that never Sleeps, Gotham Location in the state of New York Coordinates: Country United States State New York Boroughs The Bronx Manhattan Queens Brooklyn Staten Island Settled 1613 Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) Area    - City 1,214. ...

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 got the name from George Orwell's 1984). Corley helped advise the filmmakers on the hacker subculture, but remains a critic of the film's accuracy. The Conscience of a Hacker (also known as The Hacker Manifesto) is a small essay written January 8, 1986 by a hacker who went by the handle (or pseudonym) of The Mentor (born Loyd Blankenship). ... Loyd Blankenship (a. ... (Redirected from 2600 The Hacker Quarterly) Fall 2004 (21:3) 2600 Issue 2600: The Hacker Quarterly is a traditional (printed) magazine named for the fact that phreakers in the 1960s found that the transmission of a 2600 Hertz tone (which could be produced perfectly with a plastic toy whistle given... Emmanuel Goldstein is a key character in George Orwells novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. ... A pseudonym (Greek pseudo + -onym: false name) is an artificial, fictitious name, also known as an alias, used by an individual as an alternative to a persons true name. ... Left to right: Deth Vegetable, Eric Emmanuel Goldstein Corley and Joe630 in Freedom Downtime Eric Gorden Corley is viewed by some as a leader of the computer hacker community and goes by the name Emmanuel Goldstein, after the leader of the underground in George Orwells classic, Nineteen Eighty-Four. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

The racing game briefly featured in the movie was a video prototype created during development of Wipe Out. The movie also includes a fictional television show called Hack the Planet. Wipe Out is a song written by Bob Berryhill, Pat Connolly, Jim Fuller and Ron Wilson. ...

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 2600 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 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 technical hacker consultant on set and behind the scenes, coaching the cast and assisting the crew during pre-production and filming.
• Jolie filmed a topless scene for the film, but it was cut from the final print (although it can be glimpsed in the trailer for the film).
• From the DVD release booklet: "Hackers Hacked! When MGM/UA set up a website for Hackers, it was like dangling candy in front of a child. Soon after the site was established, it was hacked! A group calling itself the Internet Liberation Front managed to 'doodle' all over the photograph of Hackers stars Angelina Jolie and Jonny Lee Miller, and replaced verbiage, 'this is going to be an entertaining, fun promotional site for a movie,' with 'this is going to be a lame, cheesy promotional site for a movie!' The studio good-naturedly decided to maintain the site during the theatrical run of the movie in its altered form."

A hack in progress in Lobby 7 at MIT. Hack is a term in the slang of the technology culture which has come into existence over the past few decades. ... A supercomputer is a computer that leads the world in terms of processing capacity, particularly speed of calculation, at the time of its introduction. ... The Three Graces, here in a painting by Sandro Botticelli, were the goddesses of charm, beauty, nature, human creativity and fertility in Greek mythology. ... A supercomputer is a computer that leads the world in terms of processing capacity, particularly speed of calculation, at the time of its introduction. ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... William Ford Gibson (born March 17, 1948, Conway, South Carolina) is an American-born science fiction author resident in Canada since 1968. ... Berlins Sony Center in Potsdamer Platz reflects the global reach of a Japanese corporation. ... It has been suggested that Virtual world be merged into this article or section. ... Emmanuel Goldstein is a key character in George Orwells novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. ... Eric Arthur Blair (June 25, 1903[1][2] – January 21, 1950), better known by the pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist. ... Nineteen Eighty-Four (commonly abbreviated to 1984) is a dystopian novel by the English writer George Orwell, first published by Secker and Warburg in 1949. ... A pseudonym (Greek pseudo + -onym: false name) is an artificial, fictitious name, also known as an alias, used by an individual as an alternative to a persons true name. ... Left to right: Deth Vegetable, Eric Emmanuel Goldstein Corley and Joe630 in Freedom Downtime Eric Gorden Corley is viewed by some as a leader of the computer hacker community and goes by the name Emmanuel Goldstein, after the leader of the underground in George Orwells classic, Nineteen Eighty-Four. ... A consultant (from the latin consultus meaning legal expert) is a professional who provides expert advice in a particular domain or area of expertise such as accountancy, technology, the law, human resources, marketing, medicine, finance, public affairs, communication, or more esoteric areas of knowledge, for example engineering of different kinds... Fall 2004 (21:3) 2600 Issue 2600: The Hacker Quarterly is a traditional (printed) magazine named for the fact that phreakers in the 1960s found that the transmission of a 2600 Hertz tone (which could be produced perfectly with a plastic toy whistle given away free with Capn Crunch... Charles Babbage (26 December 1791 – 18 October 1871) was an English mathematician, philosopher, mechanical engineer and (proto-) computer scientist who originated the idea of a programmable computer. ... A BlueGene supercomputer cabinet. ... Massive Attack are a successful and critically acclaimed band from Bristol, England. ... Nikon Corporation ) (TYO: 7731 ), also known as Nikon or Nikon Corp. ... Photographic memory or eidetic memory is the ability to recall images, sounds, or objects in memory with great accuracy and in seemingly unlimited volume. ... Jonny Lee Miller Jonny Lee Miller (born November 15, 1972) is an English actor. ... Angelina Jolie (born Angelina Jolie Voight on June 4, 1975) is an American film actress, a former fashion model and a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Refugee Agency. ... The Conscience of a Hacker (also known as The Hacker Manifesto) is a small essay written January 8, 1986 by a hacker who went by the handle (or pseudonym) of The Mentor (born Loyd Blankenship). ... Autovon, the Automatic Voice Network, was an American military phone system built to survive nuclear attacks. ... Dave Buchwald, on the set of Urchin, July 2005. ...

Technical

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

The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Color photography was explored throughout the 1800s. ... DTS (formerly known as Digital Theater Systems), owned by DTS, Inc. ...

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. "One Love" by The Prodigy
10. "Connected" by Stereo MC's
11. "Eyes, Lips, Body" (Mekon Vocal Mix) by Ramshackle
12. "Good Grief" by Urban Dance Squad
13. "Richest Junkie Still Alive" (Sank Remix) by Machines of Loving Grace
14. "Heaven Knows" by Squeeze

Kruder & Dorfmeister, named after Peter Kruder and Richard Dorfmeister, is an Austrian duo most known for their downtempo-dub remixes of pop, hip-hop, and drum and bass songs. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... The Prodigy (or just Prodigy) are an English band, whose music consists of various styles ranging from rave, hardcore techno and industrial in the early 1990s to alternative rock and bigbeat with punk vocal elements in later times. ... Leftfield are a duo of electronica artists and record producers, Paul Daley (formerly of A Man Called Adam and the Brand New Heavies) and Neil Barnes formed in 1989 in London, England. ... Carl Cox (born July 29, 1962 in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England) is a popular international techno and house DJ. He began as a hardcore and acid house DJ in the mid 1980s, making a name for himself as the Three Deck Wizard in 1988, when, during the Second Summer of... Puretone (an alias of musician Josh Abrahams) is an Australian electronica/drum and bass artist. ... Orbital were an English techno duo formed in 1989, consisting of brothers Paul (born 19 May 1968) and Phil Hartnoll (born 9 January 1964). ... The Prodigy (or just Prodigy) are an English band, whose music consists of various styles ranging from rave, hardcore techno and industrial in the early 1990s to alternative rock and bigbeat with punk vocal elements in later times. ... Stereo MCs are an British rap group. ... Urban Dance Squad was a Dutch band, celebrated as being one the most innovative and important music groups to come from The Netherlands. ... Machines of Loving Grace in 1995. ... Squeeze was a British rock music band that came to prominence in the New Wave period of the late 1970s. ...

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 'worm 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

Massive Attack are a successful and critically acclaimed band from Bristol, England. ... Leftfield are a duo of electronica artists and record producers, Paul Daley (formerly of A Man Called Adam and the Brand New Heavies) and Neil Barnes formed in 1989 in London, England. ... Leftfield are a duo of electronica artists and record producers, Paul Daley (formerly of A Man Called Adam and the Brand New Heavies) and Neil Barnes formed in 1989 in London, England. ... Guy Pratt is a well-known session bassist, songwriter, actor and comedian. ... Guy Pratt is a well-known session bassist, songwriter, actor and comedian. ... James Newell Osterberg, Jr. ...

External links

• Hackers at the Internet Movie Database
• Hackers on Hackers recorded at PhreakNIC X
• Original MGM/UA website (on Archive.org)
• Hacked website - Original MGM/UA website after defacement by the Internet Liberation Front (on Archive.org)