BLOG: CLOAK AND DAGGER (1984) “Jack Flack ALWAYS Escapes!”
If like me, you grew up in the 80's loving video games, E.T. and for whatever reason Dabney Coleman, chances are you've seen Cloak & Dagger. It follows this kid named Davey (Henry Thomas) who's obsessed with an Atari game featuring super-spy Jack Flack (Coleman). In fact he's so into it that he actually runs around town acting out his own secret missions complete with an imaginary version of Flack popping up in his head to offer advice and support.
This is all fun of course until he gets tangled up in an actual web of dangerous mystery/intrigue and is forced to rely on the wits he's developed from playing the game if he wants to survive. Now that’s clever. I’m fairly certain that my small child brain thought that this was simply Elliot from E.T. having yet another awesome adventure. Talk about jealous!
Directed by Richard Franklin and written by Tom Holland (the duo behind the absolutely stellar Psycho II released the year before), Cloak & Dagger is a charming, witty and sincerely heartwarming little movie. While having a shall we say high concept premise, it still takes itself seriously enough to be enjoyed at any age. I hadn’t seen it in probably, what? some 30-odd years before my good friend the Nerdman Robman hooked it up with a very nicely packaged collector’s edition 4k Blu Ray this past year.
Thanks nerd!
While watching it again it was like a nostalgia bomb went off during the entire runtime as a rush of scenes and dialogue popped into my head right before they happened onscreen. If this movie does happen to rest in some corner of your childhood memory, I’d be willing to bet you haven’t thought of it in some time. And I’m very happy to say that whatever real estate however small it may occupy up there, is well deserved and a revisit will be rewarded!
Plus I mean come on, Dabney Coleman is one of the great all time hall of famer badasses.
Rent Cloak and Dagger on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Vudu, or buy it on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Vudu.
