Cloak & Dagger (1984)

“Jack Flack always escapes. ” – Davey

Number of Times Seen – Between 5-10 times (cable in the 80’s and 15 Nov 2016)

Brief Synopsis – A young boy obsessed with video games who has an imaginary spy friend try to stay away from real spies when he gets possession of top secret plans hidden on a video game disk.

My Take on it – This was a film that I loved as a kid and have such great memories of pretending to be like the kid in the movie.

Unfortunately, the film doesn’t really stand up as well when rewatching it as an adult along with the advances in technology in the 32 years since it was made which make it look even sillier.

Really enjoyed the message about finding your own hero within those you know to be a great one and I wonder if I even noticed that aspect of this film when I saw it years ago.

Having visited San Antonio a few years back, I was able to recognize some of the places I had visited and that made things even more interesting for me.

Was nice to see Dabney Coleman in this because he was given the opportunity to play a nice character instead of the “jerk” kind of characters he was quite often known for.

The action and dialogue is quite 80’s and would be so different if it were to be made today instead.

The plot also feels quite dated and “dumb”ed down for the audience and what would seem as fun film in the 80’s, leaves one feeling something is missing just a few decades later.

Bottom Line – Wasn’t as good as I recalled from seeing it as a kid. The film has a very 80’s vibe to it that really “dates” the film and it wouldn’t work as well now as it did then.  Really enjoyed the message about finding our own personal hero  from those around you.  Nice to see Coleman in a role where he isn’t the “jerk”.  Works for the 80’s, but not as much so nowadays.  Great to see some of the hot spots of San Antonio after having visited the city a few years back.

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – The elderly couple in the film (John McIntire and Jeanette Nolan) both had parts in the original Psycho (1960). Richard Franklin directed the sequel, Psycho II (1983). Henry Thomas would go on to play young Norman Bates in Psycho IV. (From IMDB)

Rating – BAFTA Worthy

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