Robert Redford’s 1992 thriller-comedy Sneakers is lightly draped in San Francisco imagery, but it wouldn’t have worked if the action had been set anywhere else. To ensure authenticity, the production hired Leonard Adleman, a San Francisco computer scientist best known for being the “A” in the RSA encryption algorithm. A tight set piece shows the crew hacking, phishing, and phreaking their way into a FiDi bank and out again with a suitcase of cash. No longer a creative outlet or a form of self-expression, hacking became a way to mint credibility with capitalists. The movie anticipates and dramatizes this shift with a climactic showdown between Martin and Cosmo, who used his technical acumen to buy his way out of prison.