''Hiding Out'' is a 1987 American

comedy-drama film Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

starring Jon Cryer as a state's witness who disguises himself as a high school student in order to avoid being killed by the mob.

Plot

Revealed shortly into the movie, Andrew Morenski and two others, all stockbrokers, have passed bogus bonds for a mobster awaiting trial. After an evening out at a bar, one of them is killed in his home. The next morning, the FBI take the other two into

protective custody Protective custody (PC) is a type of imprisonment (or care) to protect a person from harm, either from outside sources or other prisoners. Many prison administrators believe the level of violence, or the underlying threat of violence within pris ...

. Convincing his FBI bodyguards to have breakfast out of the

safe house A safe house (also spelled safehouse) is, in a generic sense, a secret place for sanctuary or suitable to hide people from the law, hostile actors or actions, or from retribution, threats or perceived danger. It may also be a metaphor. Histori ...

, Andrew and the agents are followed by hitmen. One of the bodyguards is killed in the diner, the other injured, and Andrew flees the scene. While running from the hitmen, he boards a train, temporarily escaping. Andrew hitchhikes with a truck driver to Topsail, Delaware, where he phones his Aunt Lucy, who tells him to meet her at the high school where she is the nurse. Shaving his beard and bleaching the sides of his hair blonde give Andrew a punk look. He trades his $500 Italian sports coat for a peacoat from a bum to complete the look. Arriving at Topsail High School, the office personnel, mistake him for a new student and register him for classes. He takes the name of Maxwell Hauser (off a

Maxwell House Maxwell House is an American brand of coffee manufactured by a like-named division of Kraft Heinz in North America and JDE Peet's in the rest of the world. Introduced in 1892 by wholesale grocer Joel Owsley Cheek, it was named in honor of the M ...

coffee can). Andrew's cousin does not recognize him at first. He eventually pulls him aside, revealing himself. He also sleeps at Patrick's, unbeknownst to his aunt. Not willing to take the teachers' attitudes, Andrew becomes a hero to those tired of the school's status quo. This upsets Kevin O'Roarke, the current class president, and captures the heart of Ryan Campbell. During an afternoon at the local diner, he accidentally drops a birthday card meant for his grandmother (who had raised him) and it gets mailed. Later, a hitman posing as an FBI agent contacts his grandmother and sees the card and its postmark, telling him where Andrew is hiding. One night, back from a date with Ryan, Patrick stops Andrew from entering the house. FBI agents have arrived, knowing he is close because he used his ATM card. Patrick takes his mother's keys and Andrew ends up using the high school as his refuge. He meets the school janitor, Ezzard, and shares a drink with him, revealing who he is. Andrew embraces the opportunity to run for class president, not knowing the election committee has already decided to rig the results in favor of Kevin. Bored with high school, and realising he is the last witness against the mobster, Andrew decides to drop out. During the presentation of class election results, Kevin is announced the winner. However, he demands a recount, which reveals that most want Andrew as class president. As Andrew starts to address the crowd, a hitman begins firing at the stage. Ezzard, watching the proceedings, manages to dispose of one of the hitmen, while the other moves up into the rafters of the gym. Andrew chases him and Patrick uses a spotlight to blind the hitman, who loses his grip and falls to the gym floor below. Images of graduation are spliced into images of Andrew taking the stand in court against the mobster for whom he had sold the bogus bonds. After his testimony, Andrew is given a few minutes to say farewell to his grandmother before being placed in the

Witness Protection Program Witness protection is security provided to a threatened person providing testimonial evidence to the justice system, including defendants and other clients, before, during, and after a trial, usually by police. While a witness may only require p ...

. The last scene is of Ryan, sitting under a tree at a university. Andrew, now known as Eddie Collins, appears from behind the tree and tells her he has decided to become a teacher.

Cast

* Jon Cryer as Andrew Morenski/Maxwell Hauser * Keith Coogan as Patrick Morenski *

Annabeth Gish Anne Elizabeth "Annabeth" Gish (born March 13, 1971) is an American actress. She has played roles in films ''Shag'', ''Hiding Out'', ''Mystic Pizza'', ''SLC Punk!'', '' The Last Supper'' and '' Double Jeopardy''. On television, she played Specia ...

as Ryan Campbell * Claude Brooks as Clinton * Oliver Cotton as Killer *

Tim Quill Tim Quill (October 18, 1962 - September 25, 2017) Born and raised in Wilmington, Delaware, Quill relocated to New York City in the 1980s to pursue acting, and was trained at the William Esper Acting Studio. Quill made his debut in the Vietna ...

as Kevin O'Roarke *Tony Soper as Ahern * Ned Eisenberg as Rodriguez * Marita Geraghty as Janie Rooney * John Spencer as Bakey *

Gretchen Cryer Gretchen Cryer (née Kiger; born October 17, 1935) is an American playwright, lyricist, and actress. Early life Cryer was born Gretchen Kiger in Dunreith, Indiana, the daughter of Louise Geraldine (née Niven; 1911-1991) and Earl William "Bill" ...

as Lucy Morenski *

Anne Pitoniak Anne Pitoniak (March 30, 1922 – April 22, 2007) was an American actress. She was nominated twice for Broadway's Tony Award as Best Actress (Play) in 1983 for night, Mother'' and as Best Actress (Featured Role – Play) in 1994 for a revival o ...

as Grandma Jennie * Beth Ehlers as Chloe * Richard Portnow as Mr. Lessig *

Gerry Bamman Gerald G. Bamman (born September 18, 1941) is an American actor and playwright. He is best known for playing Uncle Frank in the films ''Home Alone'' (1990) and '' Home Alone 2: Lost in New York'' (1992), and has also guest starred in several tel ...

as Mr. Stevens * Jack Gilpin as Dr. Gusick *

Joy Behar Josephine Victoria "Joy" Behar (; née Occhiuto) is an American comedian, television host, actress, and writer. She co-hosts the ABC daytime talk show '' The View'', where she is the only original panelist still regularly appearing. She hosted ...

as Gertrude *Lou Walker as Ezzard

Soundtrack

Four songs from the film's soundtrack entered the record charts in the United States: "

Crying Crying is the dropping of tears (or welling of tears in the eyes) in response to an emotional state, or pain. Emotions that can lead to crying include sadness, anger, and even happiness. The act of crying has been defined as "a complex secr ...

" by

Roy Orbison Roy Kelton Orbison (April 23, 1936 – December 6, 1988) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician known for his impassioned singing style, complex song structures, and dark, emotional ballads. His music was described by critics as ...

(re-recorded as a duet with k.d. lang); "Live My Life" by

Boy George George Alan O'Dowd (born 14 June 1961), known professionally as Boy George, is an English singer, songwriter, DJ, author and mixed media artist. Best known for his soulful voice and his androgynous appearance, Boy George has been the lead singe ...

; "

Catch Me (I'm Falling) "Catch Me (I'm Falling)" is a song released by American group Pretty Poison in 1987. It was included on the soundtrack to the film ''Hiding Out'', which starred Jon Cryer and came out the same year; the song later appeared on Pretty Poison's deb ...

" by Pretty Poison, which went top ten in the US and also topped the Billboard

Hot Dance Club Play Dance Club Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It is a national look over of club disc jockeys to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the country. It was launched as th ...

chart in September 1987; and the top-20 U.S. hit "You Don't Know" by

Scarlett and Black Scarlett and Black were a pop duo from the UK, whose birth names were Robin Hild and Sue West. Robin Hild was previously the keyboard player for the Big Supreme; Sue West was a former backing vocalist for Doctor and the Medics. They release ...

. The UK hit "Seattle" by

Public Image Ltd. Public Image Ltd (abbreviated and stylized as PiL) are an English post-punk band (and incorporated limited company) formed by singer John Lydon (previously known as the singer of Sex Pistols), guitarist Keith Levene, bassist Jah Wobble, and dr ...

was also recorded in 1987 and featured in the film.

Reception

Roger Ebert compared the film to '' Like Father, Like Son'', also released in 1987, in that it was an "example of the newest Hollywood genre, the Generation Squeeze, in which plots artificially combine adult and teenage elements" in order to attract the latter to the movie theater while attracting enough of an adult audience for the success of the rental market.Review of ''Hiding Out''
by

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

Ebert describes as "dumb" the main

plot device A plot device or plot mechanism is any technique in a narrative used to move the plot forward. A clichéd plot device may annoy the reader and a contrived or arbitrary device may confuse the reader, causing a loss of the suspension of disbelie ...

involving the gangsters' continuing pursuit of Andrew, and the

story arc A story arc (also narrative arc) is the chronological construction of plot in a novel or story. It can also mean an extended or continuing storyline in episodic storytelling media such as television, comic books, comic strips, board games, vid ...

about the janitor he befriends, and notes that the film fails to depict how the 29-year-old protagonist could have much in common with Gish's character, who is more than 10 years younger than he is. He credited the film with getting him to wonder what it would be like to revisit one's high school years, but cites '' Peggy Sue Got Married'' from 1986 as a film that had portrayed that scenario much more successfully. Janet Maslin called the film "pleasant enough" with "mild" jokes that "revolve around things such as Mr. Cryer's accidentally giving tax advice to the father of a teenage girl he's dating, or his feeling out of place at the roller rink." She thought the film's conclusion suggested that Cryer "could have unexpected charm in more adult roles." The ''

Time Out Film Guide Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to c ...

'' called the film "predictable, slackly plotted nonsense, marginally redeemed by a genial young cast."Review of ''Hiding Out''
from the

References

External links

* * * * {{rotten-tomatoes, hiding_out 1987 films 1980s teen comedy-drama films 1987 independent films American independent films American teen comedy-drama films Films about organized crime in the United States Films shot in Massachusetts Films shot in North Carolina De Laurentiis Entertainment Group films Films scored by Anne Dudley Films set in Delaware 1987 directorial debut films 1987 comedy films 1987 drama films 1980s English-language films Films directed by Bob Giraldi 1980s American films