''Hide in Plain Sight'' is a 1980 American

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by and starring

James Caan James Edmund Caan ( ; March 26, 1940 – July 6, 2022) was an American actor. He came to prominence playing Sonny Corleone in ''The Godfather'' (1972), for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, Academy Award an ...

with the story line based on an actual case from the files of New York attorney Salvatore R. Martoche, who represented Tom Leonhard, a real-life victim from

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...

who had sued to recover contact with his children, estranged by the culpability of the new husband and government, soon realizing his own past is coming back to get him.

Plot

Divorced father Thomas Hacklin discovers, on visiting his children, that his ex-wife's residence has been abandoned; he is unable to locate or contact them. He is mystified after approaching the authorities, who refuse to assist, but speculates when he becomes aware that her new husband is in the

United States Federal Witness Protection Program The United States Federal Witness Protection Program (WPP), also known as the Witness Security Program or WITSEC, is a witness protection program codified through 18 U.S. Code § 3521 and administered by the United States Department of Justic ...

. As he makes inroads into finding their location, the police and authorities make it more difficult for him to make contact. He becomes determined upon discovering the government advised the low-tier mobster new husband to marry his ex-wife in order to disqualify her from testifying against him in the eventuality of a trial for his criminal activities. The mob follows Hacklin's actions for their own purposes.

Cast

as Thomas Hacklin, Jr. *

Jill Eikenberry Jill Susan Eikenberry (born January 21, 1947) is an American film, stage, and television actress. She is known for her role as lawyer Ann Kelsey on the NBC drama ''L.A. Law'' (1986–94), for which she is a five-time Emmy Award and four-time Go ...

as Alisa * Robert Viharo as Jack Scolese * Barbra Rae as Ruthie Hacklin * Joe Grifasi as Matty Stanke * Kenneth McMillan as Sam Marzetta * Josef Sommer as Jason R. Reid *

Danny Aiello Daniel Louis Aiello Jr. () (June 20, 1933 – December 12, 2019) was an American actor. He appeared in numerous motion pictures, including ''The Godfather Part II'' (1974), ''The Front'' (1976), ''Once Upon a Time in America'' (1984), ''Hide in ...

as Sal Carvello * Beatrice Winde as Unemployment Clerk * Andrew Gordon Fenwick as Andy Hacklin * Heather Bicknell as Junie Hacklin * David Clennon as Richard Fieldston

Reception

''Hide in Plain Sight'' received a mixed reception from critics.

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

of the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...

'' gave the film two out of four stars and praised the acting, but ultimately viewed the film negatively, calling it "a frustrating real-life thriller that makes the fatal mistake of being more true to real life than to the demands of narrative." ''Variety'' also wrote the film a mixed review, stating "''Hide in Plain Sight'' has some of the makings of a good, honest film. It tells the true story of a working man's fight against the system, features several poignant moments, and makes a number of political messages in an effective yet unobtrusive manner. But in his directorial debut, James Caan never musters the energy or emotion needed to break the unbearably slow, dismal tone." ''Filmink'' magazine wrote "Caan’s handling of the material is genuinely assured and interesting – he uses lots of masters and long takes (he seems influenced by

Claude Lelouch Claude Barruck Joseph Lelouch (; born 30 October 1937) is a French film director, writer, cinematographer, actor and producer. Lelouch grew up in an Algerian Jewish family. He emerged as a prominent director in the 1960s. Lelouch gained critical ...

). His acting is excellent too, although the script doesn’t quite work; it never seems to make up its mind if it wants to go realistic or Hollywood.

Production

The film was Caan's passion project, taking him two years to make. It was his intention to release the film without a music score, but MGM executives prevailed.

Release

Home media

The film was released on

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

in 1981 and 1992 by MGM/UA Home Video and on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

in 2010 by

Warner Home Video Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment, Inc. (doing business as Warner Bros. Home Entertainment; formerly known as Warner Home Video and WCI Home Video and sometimes credited as Warner Home Entertainment) is the American home video distribution ...

(Warner Archive).

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0080868 1980 films 1980 directorial debut films 1980 drama films 1980s American films 1980s English-language films American films based on actual events Drama films based on actual events Films about organized crime in the United States Films about witness protection Films based on non-fiction books Films scored by Leonard Rosenman Films set in 1967 Films set in New York (state) Films shot in New York (state) Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films