Tron

Tron is a 1982 American science fiction film released by Walt Disney Productions. The film was scripted and directed by Steven Lisberger, based on a story by Lisberger and Bonnie MacBird. The film stars Jeff Bridges, Bruce Boxleitner, David Warner, Cindy Morgan, and Barnard Hughes. A computer programmer is transported inside the software world of a mainframe computer, where he interacts with various programs in his attempt to get back out.
Development of Tron began in 1976 when Lisberger became fascinated with the early video game Pong. He and producer Donald Kushner set up an animation studio to develop Tron with the intention of making it an animated film. Indeed, to promote the studio itself, Lisberger and his team created a 30 second long animation featuring the first appearance of the character 'Tron', (see Origins below). In the end, however, Lisberger decided to include live-action elements with both backlit and computer animation for the actual feature-length film. Various film studios had rejected the storyboards for the film before the project was set up at Disney. There, backlit animation was finally combined with the computer animation and live-action.
Tron was released on July 9, 1982 in 1,091 theaters in the United States. The film received positive reviews from critics who praised the visuals and acting, but criticized the storyline. The film was a box office success, grossing $33 million in the United States (approx. $74 million in 2010). Tron received nominations for Best Costume Design and Best Sound at the 55th Academy Awards, and received the Academy Award for Technical Achievement 14 years later. Over time, Tron developed into a cult film and eventually spawned a franchise, which consists of multiple video games, comic books and an animated television series. A sequel titled Tron: Legacy was directed by Joseph Kosinski and was released on December 17, 2010; it saw the return of Lisberger, Bridges, and Boxleitner to the franchise.
==Plot==
In 1982, computer software engineer extraordinaire and former ENCOM employee Kevin Flynn owns and operates a video arcade called Flynn's. During his time at ENCOM he wrote several video games and was about to start his own enterprise when Ed Dillinger, a colleague, stole Flynn's ideas and passed them off as his own, dishonestly earning himself a meteoric rise through ENCOM's ranks to Senior Executive VP, and the authority to fire Flynn to cover up his larceny. In the nearly three years since Flynn's dismissal, he has made attempts to obtain evidence of Dillinger's crime by hacking into the ENCOM mainframe, but despite his shrewdness Flynn keeps getting caught by ENCOM's Master Control Program ('MCP'), an AI software program which was originally a chess program created by Dr. Walter Gibbs, ENCOM's co-founder. But with Dillinger's modifications, the MCP has become sentient and power-hungry, unlawfully annexing personal, corporate, and even government and military programs, assimilating them to itself to increase its own capabilities. The MCP informs Dillinger of its plans to subjugate both the Pentagon and the Kremlin, and expresses interest in China with its request for Chinese language files, going so far as to blackmail Dillinger himself into compliance by threatening to publicly reveal records of his theft.
Flynn's ex-girlfriend Lora Baines and her current boyfriend, fellow ENCOM engineer Alan Bradley, visit Flynn at his arcade to warn him that Dillinger is aware of his hacking attempts and has tightened security at ENCOM. Flynn explains his situation to them and then persuades them to sneak him back into the facility where he forges access for the three. Lora takes Flynn to the terminal in her lab to continue searching for evidence of Dillinger's theft. In response, the MCP uses an experimental laser to digitize and download Flynn into the ENCOM mainframe, particularly an area the MCP calls the Game Grid, where programs are living entities appearing in the likeness of the human "Users" who created them. 
Once inside, Flynn quickly learns that the system is under the totalitarian rule of the MCP and its second-in-command, Sark, who enslave and intimidate other programs to renounce their "belief" in the Users; those who refuse are imprisoned in the Game Grid and forced to play in lethal competition against other programs. Flynn meets Tron and Ram as they are about to compete in a Light Cycle match; the three defeat their opponents and escape from the Grid and into the system, but Flynn and Ram are attacked by a pursuit force of game tanks that Flynn himself created; Flynn is only stunned, but Ram is mortally wounded. They stop to rest, but to Flynn and Ram's surprise, Flynn learns that as a User he can manipulate energy and matter within the system, effectively allowing him to control its environment. With his newfound User power Flynn reassembles a destroyed pursuit ship (called a "Recognizer"). Just before he de-rezzes, Ram begs Flynn to help Tron.
Separated from Flynn and Ram, Tron reunites with his love, Yori (an input/output program created by Lora), and they furtively make their way to an input/output junction where Tron makes contact with his User "Alan-1", who writes information on Tron's code disc that will erase the MCP, but only if Tron can get the disc to the MCP's base. Tron and Yori then steal a "solar-sail simulation" to travel to the MCP's core and are reunited with Flynn who unwittingly disguised himself as one of Sark's soldiers; Flynn then reveals to them that he himself is a User. Before they can reach the core, Sark's command ship overtakes and destroys the simulation, capturing Flynn and Yori and supposedly destroying Tron. Sark alights from his command ship and orders its de-resolution, but Flynn keeps it intact with his User power while Sark reaches the MCP's core on a shuttle carrying other captured programs slated to be subsumed by the MCP, making it complete. Tron then reemerges and critically damages Sark in a fierce disc fight, prompting the MCP to transfer its functions to Sark increasing his size and power. As Tron repeatedly hurls his disc at the MCP's base in an attempt to breach its shield and get to its core, Flynn leaps off the command ship into the MCP's beam, distracting it just long enough to reveal a gap in its shield; Tron then throws his disc through the gap which destroys the MCP and Sark.
As programs throughout the system are once again able to communicate with their Users, the laser that digitized Flynn reverses its function and restores Flynn's corporeal form, and a nearby printer provides the hard copy proving that Dillinger had stolen Flynn's creations. At daybreak, when Dillinger enters his office and finds the MCP deleted and proof of his theft now unrestricted, he slumps in his chair in defeat- but also in relief that the MCP is no more. Flynn later ascends to his rightful place as ENCOM's new boss and is greeted by Alan and Lora on his first day.
== Cast ==
* Jeff Bridges - Kevin Flynn/Clu
* Bruce Boxleitner - Alan Bradley/Tron
* David Warner - Ed Dillinger/Sark/voice of MCP
* Cindy Morgan - Lora/Yori
* Barnard Hughes - Dr. Walter Gibbs/DuMont
* Dan Shor - Ram
* Peter Jurasik - Crom
* Tony Stephano - Peter/Sark's lieutenant
* Craig Chudy - Warrior #1
* Vince Deadrick - Warrior #2
* Sam Schatz - Expert Disc Warrior
* Jackson Bostwick - Head guard
* Dave Cass - Factory guard
* Guards:
** Gerald Berns
** Bob Neill
** Ted White
** Mark Stewart
** Michael Sax
** Tony Brubaker
* Charles Piercini - Tank Commander
* Pierre Vuilleumier - Tank Gunner #1
* Erik Cord - Tank Gunner #2
* Loyd Catlett - Conscript #1
* Michael J. Dudioff - Conscript #2
* Boys in video arcade:
** Rick Feck
** John Kenworthy
Category:1982 films
Category:Science Fiction films
Category:Computer-animated films
Category:Cyberpunk films
Category:Walt Disney Pictures films
Category:Films about video games
Category:Tron (franchise)
Category:Films set in 1982
Category:Chase films
Category:Action
Category:1980s action films
Category:Rated PG
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