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infamous hugh jackman "swordfish" hack scene

infamous hugh jackman "swordfish" hack scene

Neon Stowe
0 HN recommenders · discussed 2019–2026
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About this video

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.

Why it appears in the archive

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

AI-generated summary and labels from the source dataset; verify important details against the video. Source & credits.

From the Hacker News discussion

MichaelApproved · 2019-12 · reference

This is a reference to the ridiculous scene from the 2001 movie Swordfish where Hugh Jackman is writing a program to hack into a bank network. [VIDEO]

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foxfired · 2020-04 · joke

And here I was making fun of the Swordfish hack scene [1]. Turns out he was just assembling the crypto algorithm using vim. [1]: [VIDEO]

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vijucat · 2020-05 · joke

This article missed a great opportunity to post that hacking scene from Swordfish as a counterexample of what hacking does NOT look like: [VIDEO]

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acidburnNSA · 2022-09 · joke

That "building the worm" scene has got to be my favorite depiction of software development of all time. [VIDEO]

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whynotmaybe · 2026-02 · joke

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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