This film got me into computer programming. As a young kid, I was mesmerised by it. Matthew Brodrick saved the world, got the girl and got to play with the coolest tech at the time. What more could any boy want?
I still think I owe Matthew a pint of good Ale or a Raspberry Pie for single handedly launching my career.
My father only agreed to have kids if we lived near what's now known as the research triangle. Same line of thinking as prof. Falken: go out early. I was born in '78, so guess I don't owe my life to a movie, but it's an interesting tie in.
To be honest, I'd probably end up where I am with or without that film but the early memory of it is so strong with me that I keep making that connection (for that warm fuzzy feeling). I was born at '76 and that tech to me seemed so far out futuristic for many years. It was only in the 90s that before I got my first modem.