Cloak & Dagger (1984)    Universal/Suspense-Thriller    RT: 102 minutes    Rated PG (violence, children in peril, a few tense moments)    Director: Richard Franklin    Screenplay: Tom Holland    Music: Brian May    Cinematography: Victor J. Kemper    Release date: August 10, 1984 (US)    Cast: Henry Thomas, Dabney Coleman, Michael Murphy, Christina Nigra, John McIntire, Jeanette Nolan, Eloy Casados, Tim Rossovich, William Forsythe, Robert DoQui, Shelby Leverington.    Box Office: $9.7M (US)

Rating: *** ½

 I was 16 when I saw Cloak & Dagger, but it put me in the mindset of a 10YO as I watched the young hero played by Henry Thomas (E.T.) dodge bullets, bad guys and repeated attempts on his life. It’s kind of like a Hitchcock thriller with Thomas in the Jimmy Stewart role. He plays Davey Osborne, a 10YO boy with an active imagination. It’s his way of coping with the recent death of his mother. In his mind, he’s living out a life of espionage and adventure like his hero Jack Flack, the main character in his favorite video game Cloak & Dagger. He frequently has conversations with Jack who typically accompanies Davey on his adventures. His father is aware of this and has the boy in therapy. He doesn’t know what else to do. Then one summer day, fantasy becomes reality when Davey finds himself in a real situation involving spies and bad guys. As expected, nobody believes him.

 It all starts when Davey and his best friend Kim (Nigra, Twilight Zone: The Movie) run an errand for their adult friend, computer geek Morris (Forsythe, Raising Arizona). He sends them on a “mission” to pick up new catalogues at a computer company and a secret message in a pack of Twinkies. Armed with his toy gun (water pistol filled with fake blood), hand grenade (softball) and a pair of two-way radios borrowed from Morris, Davey sets off on the mission with Kim.

 While there, he witnesses a murder. Before he dies, the victim gives Davey a Cloak & Dagger video game cartridge supposedly containing sensitive military information. When Davey tries to report the murder, the body has mysteriously vanished. The police take him home to his father who also doesn’t believe his son’s story. An air traffic controller at a nearby Air Force base, he doesn’t know how to relate to his son, especially after the death of his wife who typically dealt with such matters. His solution is to confiscate the boy’s games and send him to bed.

 Davey’s real troubles begin the next day when the bad guys come after him for the game cartridge. Led by a Dr. Rice (Murphy, The Year of Living Dangerously), they chase him all over San Antonio while Jack appears periodically to offer advice on how to evade his pursuers. At one point, Rice and his two goons snatch Kim and offer to trade her for the cartridge. Of course, Jack shows him how to trick them into giving back his little friend without him giving up the cartridge. Now I could sit here and go on about the cartridge and what’s on it, but it doesn’t matter because it’s nothing more than a McGuffin, a plot device to get the action going. The movie knows it too; it’s never actually revealed what information is on the cartridge. All we know for sure is some really bad people want it and are willing to kill for it. Since he can’t rely on any adults for help, it’s up to Davey alone to prevent the cartridge from falling into the wrong hands.

 One of the most interesting aspects of Cloak & Dagger is both Davey’s dad and Jack Flack being played by the same actor, Dabney Coleman (Nine to Five). In the boy’s mind, he’s trying to create the ideal father figure by combining his father’s physical appearance and Jack’s spirit of adventure. Dad works a lot while Jack stays close by offering advice when needed. Jack’s there when Davey needs a father (or father figure) most. I realize the target audience for Cloak & Dagger won’t get this, but it gives adult viewers something to consider. But why would they want to when the movie is so darn entertaining? It’s both exciting and thrilling, especially the finale involving a time bomb with a red digital read-out counting down the seconds until KABOOM! Sure, it’s a cliché, but at least director Richard Franklin (Psycho II) doesn’t resort to the Talking Villain as well. It further benefits from a well-written screenplay by Franklin’s Psycho II collaborator Tom Holland, future director of Fright Night and Child’s Play.

 Thomas, playing a boy not too different from Elliott in E.T., does a good job. He has an Everykid quality that makes him relatable. Coleman is very good in both roles; the distant dad and brave action hero. Nigra is a little show-stealer. Her character Kim may be younger than Davey, but she’s more firmly grounded in reality. She sounds like a mini-Janeane Garofalo with her smart alecky remarks. At one point, she comments to her mother than she likes hanging out with Davey because he’s not boring like the other boys in the neighborhood. She’s eight going on 40. Murphy is perfect as the cold, heartless villain. The fact that he’s willing to kill a child is just chilling. One of my favorite movie heavies, Tim Rossovich (Avenging Angel), does his usual great job as one of Rice’s goons.

 I saw Cloak & Dagger at a special advance sneak preview alongside Meatballs Part II. I honestly thought it would be a hit, but it failed to catch on with audiences. Maybe it came out too close on the heels of The NeverEnding Story, another movie about a motherless boy who prefers fantasy to grim reality. Either way, it deserved to do better at the box office. I like to revisit it every now and then. It reminds me of a more innocent time when summer meant great movies and frequent trips to the cinema. Cloak & Dagger is a lot of fun, but I don’t want to see a remake any time soon.