infamous hugh jackman "swordfish" hack scene

Neon Stowe · 447.2K views · 2014-04-17 · 2:00

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Overview

The scene from the 2001 film Swordfish in which Hugh Jackman's character is forced to hack while under pressure. The clip is widely known for its absurd depiction of hacking.

On Hacker News

Used as a joke or shorthand for ridiculous movie hacking and unrealistic depictions of software work.

Discussed on HN; no positive recommendation is recorded in this export · HN mentions 2019–2026

Topics

Film & TV clips Security & hacking

What people said

whynotmaybe · 2026-02 · Joke / meme
Just like watching the movie Hackers and hearing how he hacked the gibson or the 7 screens setup in swordfish : [VIDEO]
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acidburnNSA · 2022-09 · Joke / meme
That "building the worm" scene has got to be my favorite depiction of software development of all time. [VIDEO]
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vijucat · 2020-05 · Joke / meme
This article missed a great opportunity to post that hacking scene from Swordfish as a counterexample of what hacking does NOT look like: [VIDEO]
Read the original HN comment ↗

Sources

Video by Neon Stowe, played through YouTube.

HN Library · Source license

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