Semiquincentennial Project #1: Hiding Out

 

 

The Semiquincentennial  Movie Project is an ongoing celebration of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. During the course of this project your humble blogger is choosing a movie a week to represent each of the 50 states in the Union, as well as a movie scheduled for 4th of July weekend that will represent the nation's capitol, Washington D.C. The order of the weekly entries will coincide with the order of each state's entry into the fold (although, not necessarily coinciding with the date of their entry into said fold).

 

 

 

 Week #1: Delaware :

 

The state of Delaware was the first of the 13 colonies to be established as a state in the United States. It was established, as so proudly displayed on it's state flag, on December 7, 1787. 

Details about Delaware:

State bird: Delaware blue hen

State flower: Peach blossom

State tree: American holly

Delaware's biggest claim, of course is the fact that they were the first state to join the union, and that appears on all of it's official material.

 

 

 

It turns out that, although quite a number of films have utilized locations in Delaware for it's filming locations, there are surprisingly few films that are actually taking place in Delaware. You should be thankful, therefore, that I made "taking place in the state" a priority when making my choices, otherwise today's entry might well have been Redneck Zombies...

 

 

Hiding Out (1987): 

 

Imagine if Michael Douglas' Gordon Gecko was connected to the mob, and instead of just taking a swing at Charlie Sheen's Bud Fox in Wall Street, he actually sent a few of his underlings out to kill the sorry S.O.B. that was going to testify against him at the end of the movie.  That was what I thought of during the initial set up of this film.

It seems that Andrew Morenski (Jon Cryer) and his pals in the bond market have been pegged as key witnesses in the trial of a mob boss named Kapados. It turns out they, maybe or maybe not unknowingly, had been involved in a process of money laundering for the kingpin in said bond market, and are now not so good friends with the mob boss. A contract is out on each of them, and one of them is killed early on. 

 

The FBI have Andrew under tight rein, but Andrew is not happy staying under house arrest.  He convinces his keepers to take him to a diner. Bad move, as a couple of the hit men show up, and while trying to take out Andrew end up killing one of the FBI agents. Andrew makes his escape into Delaware where he plans to hide out with his Aunt Lucy (Gretchen Cryer, and yes that is Jon's mom in real life) and his cousin Patrick (Keith Coogan).

 

In the process to trying to hide out Andrew gets a self induced makeover by cutting and dying his hair. He calls his aunt, who is the local school nurse, and arranges to meet her at the school. But in the process he decides the best way to hide out is take on an entirely new identity. Thus the late 20's-something Andrew becomes the new 17 year old senior at the high school. (Really!) He also takes on a new name: Maxwell Hauser: inspired, on a whim, by seeing a can of Maxwell House coffee... (Really!)

 

OK, just so you didn't miss out on this for later, what we have here is a guy pushing 30 posing as a high school senior. Because some of this stuff is going to push some buttons. For one thing, the inevitable romance between our main character and a girl who really IS a high school senior. In terms of age difference it's only about 12 years, which may be fine and dandy if the guy was 35 and the girl was 23, but it comes off a little weird in retrospect.

Because he has changed his look, he is no longer recognizable to his aunt, but his cousin helps out by hiding him in his bedroom. This works out for a while, but it can't last. 

Anyway, Andrew/Max becomes the center of attention at the high school, especially after he confronts a history teacher, Mrs. Billings (Nancy Fish), who has some decidedly controversial opinions about former Richard Nixon. When he points out the bad side of the former President, he makes an an enemy of the teacher. But on the other hand, he becomes a hero to the class for his stance against the status quo of the school.

 

It ends up getting him more attention than he really wants as there is an effort to get him elected class president, something that the current class president, Kevin O'Roarke (Tim Quill) sees as a threat. Not to mention that Andrew/Max has been spending time with Ryan (Annabeth Gish), whom Kevin considers his own girl. 

 

In the meantime, both the FBI and the crime boss' hit men are on the search for the missing Andrew.  The hit men meet up with Andrew's grandmother, Jennie (Anne Pitoniak), and come across a recently mailed birthday card from Andrew which has the cancellation code clearly stamped as coming from Top Sail, DE. Thus the hit men now know where he is. Of course, they are looking for Andrew before his transformation makeover, so a couple of times they are right next to him but don't know who he is.

Andrew/Max finds out that the FBI has found out who is his aunt is and are at the house looking for him. He has to ditch hiding in her house, and with the help of Patrick ends up hiding out in the last place anyone would look, the school's doctor's office. This goes well until the janitor, Ezzard (Lou Walker) discovers him. The janitor is a good soul and a former boxer who now lives in digs himself at the school.  (Just what kind of security does this school have, anyway..) Andrew lets Ezzard  in on his secret, and Ezzard  lets him in on a secret hideaway in the basement where he can stay. 

Eventually Andrew's conscience gets the better of him and he lets Ryan in on the secret, too.  But all this comes to a head when the hit men really learn exactly where Andrew disappeared to and what he looks like now. At a school assembly announcing the results of the school officers elections, one of the hitmen decides to dispute the election in his own manner.

 

Several things seem to gel to make this movie, but a lot of it is far from unique. We've seen, dozens of times, that old yarn about a "well past high school age" adult trying to pass himself off as a high school student. (While the episodes might have been interesting on occasion, the entire concept of 22 Jump Street was just too unbelievable, even if Johnny Depp did "sort-of" look like he was high school age.)

On the other side of the coin, the teen life in school aspect of the film never really came off for me. Admittedly, in 1987, I was 7 years past my own high school experience, so a lot of the inner relationship angle of school never got me involved. I was much more into the theme in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, even though at the time of THAT movie I had been out of high school for 4 years.

The only part of the movie that really connected with me was the experience of young Patrick trying to get his learner's permit. His mishaps while trying to learn to drive were not like mine (believe it or not, I was driving expertly by the time I took my first driving test), but I could still relate. The only down side to that part is he seems to catch on pretty quick over a brief period, since at the end of the movie he drives up to the graduation in a limo...   

The mob connection part of this movie is what makes this film worth watching, but even that part has some retread sense to it.  

But the main part of the movie, involving Andrew's attempts to try to stay incognito despite his having 10 years of experience in the outside world (you know, like being a working man with an education that far exceeds what any high school boy might be familiar with) sometimes falls flat. For instance, Ryan's father is impressed by "Max's" knowledge of tax codes that helps him save $1000 on his tax return, but he never really becomes entirely suspicious of this kid (which any normal adult would probably do without hesitation). The movie never really plays up on this within the context of the film itself, leaving only the audience to cringe in anticipation of someone actually saying "Hey! Just who the Hell are you.. really?" Most adults in the film seem to just think "hmm... that's a really bright kid..."

Still, all in all, it's not a bad movie. You could be forgiven if your first reaction to this review was "Hiding Out ? Never heard of it." Some of the top films of the year, such as Three Men and a Baby, The Untouchables, and Beverly Hills Cop raked in tons of cash, but Hiding Out only made a paltry $200,000 over it's original budget. And it wasn't entirely well received. Roger Ebert only gave it 2 out of 4 stars, who at least admitted that "the plot continued to intrigue me even after I'd more or less given up on the movie's ability to find anything interesting in it's material". According to one review I read this film barely cracked the top 90 in terms of ticket sales. (And just how many movies were released in 1987, anyway...?)

For those of you who are fans of Cryer's portrayal of Alan in Two and a Half Men, you may find this movie a welcome refresher into the actor. For those of you who like the idea of a 30 year old man trying to pass himself off as a high school student, it may fall a bit short, because, even though Cryer was only 22 when the film was made, I personally found it hard to see him effectively convincing as a 17 year old. But, as for the driving force that brings this situation to it's necessity, the fact that there are some goons out to cut him down, that part I did like.

That's it for this week. Drive safely.

Quiggy