Cloak & Dagger

Davey, a boy whose mother has died, retreats into spy games and an imaginary hero he calls Jack Flack. Then a video game cartridge carrying real military secrets falls into his hands, the danger he invented becomes actual, and no adult believes him. Dabney Coleman plays both Davey's distant father and Jack Flack, which is the whole idea of the film: what the boy has to escape is not the danger but his inability to accept the real father. The source is Cornell Woolrich's story about a child nobody believes. The game tie-in was commerce; Atari adapted an existing project and renamed it. It opened in July 1984 paired with The Last Starfighter. Who it is for: viewers who like eighties adventures with child protagonists. Who it is not for: anyone expecting credible espionage, since this runs on a boy's imagination.