Cloak & Dagger was a 1984 movie that was released as part of a double feature with The Last Starfighter. It was directed by Richard Franklin, and it was one of my favorite movies as a kid.
The movie is about a Davey Osborne played by Henry Jackson Thomas, Jr. (the E.T. kid) as he tries to deal with the loss of his mother, and he immerses himself in a spy role playing game that has a video game counterpart. He also uses the main character from those games Jack Flack (Dabney Coleman) as his imaginary friend. While doing a favor for the local game store owner Morris (William Forsythe) with his best friend Kim (Christina Nigra) he witnesses a murder by some spy thugs, and now he is playing Cloak & Dagger for real.
What I love about this movie is that Kim and Davey run around San Antonio all by themselves and no one seems to care. They have their bus passes and giant walkie-talkies, so they can get around. I also noticed that Louie Anderson plays a dirty cab driver in a bad part of San Antonio at midnight, and he refuses to give Davey a ride: shame on you Louie!
Even though this movie was mostly an excuse to sell Atari games like its double feature partner The Last Starfighter, they still made a pretty decent movie, and it holds up surprisingly well. They all act fairly well and even though hiding secret plans in a video game is the worst plan ever, and Davey could have been thwarted a couple of times if the thugs would just lock their doors every now and then. It is still a movie that I will watch with my kids someday.
I know nostalgia my be clouding my judgment, but it seems like in the 80’s that all kids movies didn’t have to be garbage like they are now, and I wish more people would take the time make some good ones.
I haven’t seen this one in years! I was thinking the same thing when watching Willow last night, Kids movies sure have changed, and not necessarily for the better. The 80s seemed to find a happy medium between violent action film and kids adventure flick. Quality seems to no longer be expected from films suitable for children, which is a real shame.
Yeah, to think this movie came out with The Last Starfighter, and I like that movie even more!
I think movie studios just believe that kids will see whatever they give them, provided there are enough colors and flashing lights to entertain them.
Back in my day movies had real gravitas.