Project X (1987 film)

Project X is a 1987 American science fictioncomedydrama film produced by Walter F. Parkes and Lawrence Lasker, directed by Jonathan Kaplan and starring Matthew Broderick and Helen Hunt. The plot revolves around a young USAF officer Broderick and a graduate student Hunt who are assigned to take care of chimpanzees used for a secret army project.

Airman Jimmy Garrett Matthew Broderick, as punishment for misconduct involving a romantic interlude in an aircraft cockpit, is assigned to the same chimp project to which Virgil was sent. Jimmy begins to bond with Virgil and they become attached to one another. Jimmy discovers that Virgil has been taught sign language. Jimmy informs his superior, Dr. Carroll William Sadler, but Dr. Carroll is not interested.Unbeknownst to Jimmy, the chimps trained on the flight simulators will be killed by radiation poisoning. Once they reach a certain level in operating the flight simulator, the chimps will be exposed to a lethal pulse of radiation in the simulator chamber to determine how long a pilot may survive after a nuclear exchange known as the secondstrike scenario. ........

Source: Wikipedia