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Pirates of Silicon Valley (1999)

TV Movie  |  Unrated  |   |  Biography, Drama  |  20 June 1999 (USA)
7.2
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Ratings: 7.2/10 from 19,163 users  
Reviews: 90 user | 13 critic

History of Apple and Microsoft.

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Title: Pirates of Silicon Valley (TV Movie 1999)

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Nominated for 5 Primetime Emmys. Another 2 wins & 4 nominations. See more awards »

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Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
...
...
...
...
...
...
Mrs. Wozniak
Gema Zamprogna ...
...
...
...
Ed Roberts
Allan Kolman ...
Therapist
Richard Waltzer ...
Homebrew Tech
Harris Mann ...
Longhair #1
...
Longhair #2
...
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Storyline

This is a semi-humorous biographical film about the men who made the world of technology what it is today, their struggles during college, the founding of their companies, and the ingenious actions they took to build up the global corporate empires of Apple Computer Corporation and Microsoft Inc. Written by Flotis

Plot Summary | Plot Synopsis

Taglines:

Good artists copy... Great artists steal.

Genres:

Biography | Drama

Certificate:

Unrated | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

 »
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Details

Official Sites:

Country:

Language:

Release Date:

20 June 1999 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

A Szilícium-völgy kalózai  »

Filming Locations:

 »

Company Credits

Show detailed on  »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

Color:

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1
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Did You Know?

Trivia

Steve Jobs was later portrayed again in another movie by Ashton Kutcher (Jobs (2013)) See more »

Goofs

The text of the newspaper article shown near the beginning ("Boy Laughs and Computer Burns") has a sentence that says "A suggestion that public hearings on applications be limited to one every six months was taken under advisement by commission." That text is copied and from the article shown directly above. See more »

Quotes

[first lines]
Steve Jobs: I don't want you to think of this as just a film - some process of converting electrons and magnetic impulses into shapes and figures and sounds. No. Listen to me. We're here to make a dent in the universe. Otherwise, why even be here? We're creating a completely new consciousness, like an artist or poet. That's how you have to think of this. We're rewriting the history of human thought with what we're doing.
Ridley Scott: Right. Well, Steven, at the moment I'm a touch more worried about getting...
See more »

Crazy Credits

Janja Vujovich is credited as "Post Sound Goddess". See more »

Connections

Spoofs Saturday Night Fever (1977) See more »

Soundtracks

Burning Down The House
Written by David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Jerry Harrison and Tina Weymouth
Performed by Talking Heads
See more »

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User Reviews

Awkward But Fascinating
2 April 2003 | by (Philadelphia, PA) – See all my reviews

This is an engaging historical-fiction look at the development of the famous computer companies Apple and Microsoft. The performances are terrific, but the film suffers from trying to handle several main characters and cover a lot of historical events. It is also unfortunate that there are three main characters all named "Steve."

The story is told from the perspective of Steve Wozniak (Joey Slotnik), who is portrayed as a gentle head and caring foil to Noah Wyle's brilliant but cruel portrayal of Steve Jobs, Wozniak's Apple co-founder. Anthony Michael Hall obviously has a wonderful time playing the weaselly Bill Gates.

The title is a pun referencing both the buccaneering style Jobs celebrated at Apple, and the idea of unethically 'pirating' the computer developments of other engineers. The film's main point is that both Apple and Microsoft gained their key functionality, the image-based screen display of a computer system (GUI) and the 'mouse' pointing device, by 'pirating' the ideas. Apple swipes them from Xerox, then Microsoft swipes them from Apple.

This is a personality study and not a technical review, and while that may make it more accessible the film doesn't make it entirely clear why Jobs provides so much access to Gates and his crew (presumably Gates is supposedly modifying his computer language, BASIC, to work on the Apple?)

I'd have to know a lot more about Wozniak, Jobs, and Gates before judging them from this film, which is especially hard on Jobs. Wyle portrays him as a selfish and arrogant adolescent, exploiting and manipulating friends and subordinates. Altogether the film is worth watching, but bittersweet and possibly slanted.


42 of 49 people found this review helpful.  Was this review helpful to you?

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