Richard Franklin
Cast
Henry Thomas - Davey Osborne
Dabney Coleman - Hal Osborne/ Jack Flack
Christina Nigra - Kim Gardener
Michael Murphy - Dr. Rice
William Forsythe - Morris
Video Rental Chicken Fat?
Recently, some sad news broke that marks the final leg of an era. One of the last (if not the last) chains of video rental stores closed its doors - another victim of the havoc-wreaking Covid19 epidemic.
All of the Family Video locations are closing after 42-years of business.
In a January 5 letter posted on the business's website, the company said that thanks to Covid19, both foot traffic and movie releases grew slim.
There happens to be a Family Video across the street from my place of employment. They're selling all...and I mean "all"...their inventory at largely discounted prices.
So, I meandered through their aisles of former rentals for the last time in my life looking for hard-to-find movie titles to claim as my own.
Among the lot was the 1984 movie Cloak & Dagger. Finding this particular movie, and carrying it to the check out took me back to those elementary school days when, on some Fridays after school, I'd fling myself into the family Toyota van while still in my parochial school uniform to go rent a movie for the weekend at the local video store. Family movies was what I was limited to. Occasionally I'd sneak over to the horror section to look at the tape covers. Some of those have stayed with me to this day. That's another post for another time.
California Video was my local rental place at the Lincoln Square Shopping Center along Mountain Boulevard in Oakland, California. Even now, I have a nostalgic love for video rental stores. And with the closing of Family Video, I get a sense this is truly the end of movie rental locations. Things change. Better things come along. Still, someday I'll make it to Deschutes County, Oregon to visit the "last" Blockbuster Video.
Before that ever happens, I'm going to check out some movies I recall once warming the shelves of California Video. Some I've seen before. Others, I only remember the pictures on the tape covers. I'll set these particular posts "Video Rental Chicken Fat."
These titles somehow lasted this long on rental shelves. I know because I picked up a few of them at Family Video last month.
Ok, so...why "chicken fat?"
One of my favorite sources of news and information was and still is Mad Magazine. Anyone who has ever read Mad should remember those small background gags or side-cartoons drawn on the blank margins outside the actual comics thanks to the artistry and wit of cartoonists Sergio Aragones or Will Elder. These are referred to as "chicken fat." They're just as present as the main course on each page, but off to the side. They're more like the desert to Mad's main content. You could cut it out of the main strips and gags, and they become their own things.
Today, the more common term is "Easter Egg." These movies are kind of like that. They're the movies that were in the background warming the shelves of California Video. I don't recall ever having to be on a waiting list to rent them. Some of these are favorites from my past. They're titles I haven't forgotten despite not having watched them in years.
My labeling these movies "chicken fat" certainly isn't a reflection of the film being good or bad, or unnecessary. I need to make that clear.
~The Review~
With 1980s pop culture still flooding toy aisles, current social trends, YouTube commentary videos, and our general nostalgic reverie, some movies of that decade still don't seem to get as much attention as other movies. I mean, there's so many after all.
Cloak & Dagger is one of those movies. Sure, some remember it. But it doesn't seem like it's as fondly celebrated through merchandising and what not like other films of the 1980s.
This is a little odd to me. The movie is as 1980s as it gets. It stars Henry Thomas who played Elliott in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial two years before.
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| Henry Thomas as Davey in Cloak & Dagger |
It's also tied in with an Atari 5200 game also called Cloak & Dagger.
At the time of the movie's release, the game was still underdevelopment with the working title called Agent X.
When the movie producers heard about the game, both they and Atari collaborated with each other's project. Videogame-based movies were pretty novel at the time, especially as other movies such as Tron (1982) and The Last Starfighter (1984) were hitting theaters. In fact, Cloak & Dagger was released along with The Last Starfighter as a double feature.
In this movie, Henry Thomas plays 11-year old Davey Osborne who's often within his own imagination along with the fictional spy Jack Flack (Dabney Coleman), and making up adventures. He pretends Jack Flack is accompanying him where ever he goes. Davey even carries around a realistic looking water gun because a good spy always has protection.
Davey's real friend, Kim Gardener (Christina Nigra) tags along with him on daily routines, reluctantly playing along as "Lady Ace" in Davey's Jack Flack imaginings.
He and Kim stop by a gaming store in the mall as they do regularly, operated by their friend Morris (William Forsythe). He's a video game expert and software engineer. Morris, jealous of how well Davey plays the Atari, sends the kids on a "mission" to buy some Twinkies at the vending machine inside the offices of a game developing company nearby.
While inside the building, Davey and Kim separate. Rather than take the elevator, because Jack Flack would know better than to place himself in such a vulnerable position, Davey takes the stairs where he overhears two spies talk about smuggling secret U.S. information out of the country. He then witnesses a murder.
The victim dressed in a white lab coat stumbles down the staircase and gives Davey a Cloak & Dagger video game cartridge telling him to keep it safe. The spies burst through the door at the top of the landing, and finish off their victim.
They see Davey, and begin shooting at him. Luckily he escapes.
Davey tells the building's security about what he witnessed, and leads them to where the victim was killed, but his body isn't there.
The police take him home to his father, Hal (also played by Dabney Coleman).
Meanwhile, both he and his father are dealing with the loss of Davey's mother.
Hal, who works as an Air Force pilot, is struggling at being a single parent. His job requires him to leave Davey alone much too often.
When Davey tells his dad about what he witnessed, he thinks his son is acting out one of his Jack Flack fantasy adventures. Hal sees these fantasies as Davey's way of coping with the loss of his mom.
Nevertheless, those same spies, led by a guy named Dr. Rice (Michael Murphy), find Davey and break into his house while his dad is at work.
He escapes, and the pursuit is on. The spies want the game cartridge and are willing to do whatever they can to get it. Davey wants to figure out what national secrets are hidden and then turn it into the proper authorities.
Davey often looks to his imaginary companion, who looks exactly like his father, for help along the way.
Jack appears while Davey is trying to convince his dad about what he witnessed. Jack tells Davey that his dad is useless when it comes to any kind of help.
Davey continues running and hiding throughout the city, narrowly escape bullets, hitmen, chasing, kidnapping, and close calls.
He then takes the cartridge to Morris, who plays through the game and figures out how to access the secrets.
Rice and the spies kidnap Kim and hold her until Davey hands over the game.
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| Dabney Coleman and Henry Thomas |
Coleman is great acting as two different characters distinctly. Jack is the leadership Davey is thriving for as his dad is struggling to be the support Davey needs. Yet, his words are clearly out of the mind of 11-year old Davey. Jack's actions and instructions reflect what an 11-year old would expect his hero to say. Coleman pulls that off well.
One scene that left me confused occurs during a stand-off between Davey and Dr. Rice. As Rice has a gun pulled on Davey, cornering him against a concrete wall, Davey also has a gun but is afraid to shoot first. Jack appears to Davey, encouraging him to hurry up and fire.
Rice watches as Davey talks to someone he can't see. Jack then attempts to save Davey by becoming translucent and grab Rice's attention. Or so Davey is imagining.
But Rice turns towards Jack and fires several times, hitting the cement wall.
So, could Rice suddenly see Jack, whom the audience is led to believe is Davey's imaginary friend? That entire scene threw me off.
But the love between Davey and his father unfolds well in the story, and both Thomas and Coleman depict their character's respective struggles with each other convincingly.
Though Hal doesn't believe Davey's tale of murder, and being chased down by spies to capture government secrets hidden in a video game, he still shows the support Davey needs, especially in one scene were Davey asks his dad if he could sleep in his bed for the night. Hal agrees to it.
Christina Nigra plays a character who's just a typical kid. It's not a stand-out performance, nor does it need to be. But she plays her character as both exasperated and purposely trying to be as normal and straight and she can alongside Davey. Kim wants the adults to know Davey is the abnormal one, and she's there to watch over him.
It's cute, just as it's meant to be.
Cloak & Dagger was a favorite of mine growing up. Watching it more than 30 years later, there's certainly more to appreciate.
The movie is based on Cornell Woolrich's novelette The Boy Who Cried Murder. And it's not the first screen adaptation of his story.
The 1949 film noir The Window starring Barbara Hale and Arthur Kennedy is the first. The 1966 British thriller The Boy Who Cried Murder is a remake of The Window. And the 1970 film Eyewitness has a similar plot to the original story.
My mind lumps Cloak & Dagger with the movies Monster Squad (1987) and Flight of the Navigator (1986). These were titles that graced the family section of my old video rental store which caught my 10-year old attention. They were the movies I'd watch when I was home sick from school, or while stuck inside on a rainy weekend.
It's a fun movie. Cloak & Dagger is, however, a family movie that's dated in its violent depictions and use of guns. A few characters are shot and killed. Some might find Davey being shot at by adults rather disturbing.
It doesn't necessarily standout for its somewhat predictable story elements. What does stand out is its depiction of family first through adversity, as well as trust.
And somehow, this movie hasn't fallen into the nostalgic limelight among sentimental enthusiasts of pop culture from 30 years ago. It has some memorable parts. It's a bit haphazard at times but makes up for it with good acting and intense action for a family picture - action that doesn't slow down.
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