TRON (1982)

A computer hacker is abducted into the digital world and forced to participate in gladiatorial games where his only chance of escape is with the help of a heroic security program.

Director:

Steven Lisberger

Writers:

Steven Lisberger (screenplay), Steven Lisberger (story)

Stars:

Jeff Bridges, Bruce Boxleitner, David Warner

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 2 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jeff Bridges	...	Kevin Flynn / Clu
Bruce Boxleitner	...	Alan Bradley / Tron
David Warner	...	Ed Dillinger / Sark / Master Control Program
Cindy Morgan	...	Lora / Yori
Barnard Hughes	...	Dr. Walter Gibbs / Dumont
Dan Shor	...	Ram / Popcorn Co-Worker
Peter Jurasik	...	Crom
Stuart Thomas	...	Peter / Sark's Lieutenant (as Tony Stephano)
Craig Chudy	...	Warrior #1
Vince Deadrick Jr.	...	Warrior #2 (as Vince Deadrick)
Sam Schatz	...	Expert Disc Warrior
Jackson Bostwick	...	Head Guard
David S. Cass Sr.	...	Factory Guard (as Dave Cass)
Gerald Berns	...	Guard #1
Bob Neill	...	Guard #2

Storyline

Hacker/arcade owner Kevin Flynn is digitally broken down into a data stream by a villainous software pirate known as Master Control and reconstituted into the internal, 3-D graphical world of computers. It is there, in the ultimate blazingly colorful, geometrically intense landscapes of cyberspace, that Flynn joins forces with Tron to outmaneuver the Master Control Program that holds them captive in the equivalent of a gigantic, infinitely challenging computer game.

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Plot Keywords:

computer | arcade | computer hacker | cyberspace | super computer | 

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Taglines:

The Electronic Gladiator

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Official Sites:

Disney's Official Site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

9 July 1982 (USA)

Also Known As:

TRON

Filming Locations:

1150 S Olive St, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$17,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$4,761,795, 11 July 1982

Gross USA:

$33,000,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Walt Disney Productions,Lisberger/Kushner

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) Dolby (35 mm prints)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Before the orange is "de-rezzed" at the beginning of the movie, the following commands appear on the screen on each side of the graphic of the orange:

LEFT SIDE:

MAG IOX MCP CNTRL ACTIVE INPT SERVO CNTR GRID MATRIX LOG DATA CONCE INPT STRGE CLRD

RIGHT SIDE:

MODE: SCAN TARGETING SERVO PWR PWR CPLING LOGIC BYPS GRID PROJ KZW CNTRL LSR RTRVL

As the orange is being de-rezzed, the commands change as follows:

LEFT SIDE:

ACTIVE INPT is replaced by ACTIVATE at bottom of commands

RIGHT SIDE:

MODE: LOCK TARGET LOCK ON

GRID PROJ KZW CNTRL LSR RTRVL

When they restore the orange, the commands are:

LEFT SIDE:

ACTIVATE is replaced by RUNNING

RIGHT SIDE:

MODE: RUN PROGRAM: ORANGE

ROM YORI KEY YORI PRIME

Digitalization of the orange goes into memory blocks 129-5233 to 129-5280 and then is read back from blocks 129-5272 to 129-5222.

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Goofs

When Alan walks to Dillinger's office at the beginning, the sounds of the footsteps do not match Alan's steps.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Boy in Video Game Arcade: All right, give me room. Here we go.

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Crazy Credits

There are no opening credits, save for the production companies (and the opening prologue in the English language foriegn version.) For the title, a pair of lightning bolts flare, forming a brilliant point of light, where various parts coalesce to form a human figure. The point of light flares, revealing the title TRON, which an electric point of light shimmering in the "O". The title TRON rushes toward the camera, rotating around the "O", and as the title gets closer, a landscape of three dimensional circuitry appears within the letters themselves. As the camera dives in, it levels off, and the circuitry turns into the lights of a cityscape, dissolving into the establishing shot of the arcade.

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Alternate Versions

Trailers feature a deleted scene, where Flinn de-rezzes an unknown program on the ring-game with a direct hit.

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Connections

Referenced in Saints Row IV (2013)

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Soundtracks

Only Solutions
Written and Performed by Journey

User Reviews

A Beautiful Film

More than just reminiscent of Lang's Metropolis, Tron is a beautiful, well made exercise from a main stream producer (Disney) which reminds us of the time before Jurassic Park and Episode One where creative skill was left to human perception rather than a computer's digitally correct ideal. Owing more to the human colourists than the now outdated computer effects, this film is evidence - similar in a way to Kubric's pre-Moon landing, pre-CGI 2001 - to the creative and more sensory-pleasing abilities of the human artist over soul-less programmers, from a time before when a box would 'parse' it all for you. It's difficult to express how high-powered computers fail to create an image that is satisfactory to the human eye; there is always something that rings false about it. Tron was created in a period of wire diagrams being the best you could coax from a computer; anything else was added by human hand. A film that makes you nostalgic for the time when Disney made films that were accessible for all, almost Bakshi-like in its disregard for the mainstream. There is struggle against adversity; there is an oppressive, evil regime; there are two heroes who survive despite all odds; and there is love conquering all (a token woman is included as love interest. Ironically like the IT industry). The naive use of technical jargon merely adds to the "computer program" style setting and this film is ideally suited for today's retro-chic society. As a Disney film this is aimed predominantly at children, so if you fail to understand the plot then I would recommend sticking to the Lion King or some other pabulum. This is a great film - watch it.