L'impossible témoin

Actor James Caan made his directorial debut (and, to date, only directorial effort) with this compelling, believable adaptation of a true story. Caan stars as Thomas Hacklin, Jr., a regular-Joe working man (at a tire factory). His ex-wife Ruthie (Barbra Rae) is now involved with Jack Scolese (Robert Viharo), a Mafia goon who squeals on his associates after an arrest. As a result, Jack ends up going into the Witness Relocation Program - and he takes Ruthie and Thomas's two kids with him. An understandably angry and distraught Thomas tries to track down his family, while doing battle with a rather uncaring government.

There's something inherently appealing about seeing this blue collar guy struggle to overcome the immense amount of red tape facing him. Caan is excellent in the lead; he's low key and convincing, and on those few occasions when the character gives in to anger, you can hardly blame him. The film also strongly benefits from its location shooting (it takes place in Buffalo, NY in 1967) and local atmosphere. Caans' storytelling is efficient and to the point. There's no filler here, with "Hide in Plain Sight" clocking in at a refreshingly succinct 92 minute run time. The widescreen photography is first rate.

The cast is stacked with familiar faces. Jill Eikenberry is immensely appealing as Alisa, the new lady in Thomas's life. The under-rated Joe Grifasi is likewise engaging as his good buddy Matty Stanek. And get a load of this assortment of supporting and character actors: Kenneth McMillan, Josef Sommer, Danny Aiello, David Clennon, Peter Maloney, David Margulies, Leonardo Cimino, Tom Signorelli, Charles Hallahan, Alice Drummond, and Beatrice Winde.

While watching this, one may rightly wish Caan had tried directing more often during his career. He clearly had a knack for it.

Eight out of 10.

James Caan is Tom Hacklin Jr., a Buffalo factory worker whose divorced wife Ruthie has custody of their kids and is dating a Mafia thug Jack Scolese who goes into a witness protection program after getting busted for a poorly-executed bank robbery. When Ruthie and Scolese disappear into the program, they wind up taking Hacklin's kids with them and from there on out Hacklin has little recourse but to plead his case in court or pick up what little clues he can find in ascertaining his children's whereabouts.

Caan is quite good here as a respectful, hardworking ordinary guy who finds himself up against a combination of bureaucratic inertia and determined government stonewalling, not to mention the Mafia's menacing presence. In this emotionally charged struggle, he rarely loses his cool. The film's only major flaw is a pacing that occasionally feels too leisurely for a story about an aggrieved father trying to find his kids, although eventually it does pick up and become quite suspenseful. Recommended.

One of the great unsung directing debut's from a versatile character actor with stat status. I remember the mid to late 70's cinema scene with fondness and the prospect of James Caan directing as well as starring in a character-driven piece was like manna from heaven to me. Living in the UK I never got to see this release in the cinema (despite excellent coverage in UK's Films and Filming magazine), but I caught up on it during the 80's video revolution (in an un-hired ex-rental video). Unfortunately the video was panned and scanned to 4:3 thus diminishing the composition and I had to wait until the late 90's to catch this excellent drama on TCM where it was regularly screened in it's correct aspect ratio. Since purchasing a DVD recorder last year this title has not popped up on UKTV so I wait with baited breath for the return of "Hide In Plain Sight" to the TV screens.....hey! maybe someone will lobby for a DVD release because you've got to admit it's far superior the 95% of the dross that gets released every week of the year!

I thought the naturalism of the settings worked well for Caan. It's got that gritty 70's look. It's also interesting to see a film shot in Buffalo, NY during that period. The extras are good and some of the hairstyles and fashions are hysterical. I thought Caan did a good job considering this was the first and last movie he shot. Jill Eikenberry's acting is very natural. The climax is not exploitative and thus is believable. Not played very much on cable although the topic is timely, I forget which station I caught it on fairly recently. The character is played well by Caan and I identified with the working class element. I was also wondering why Hollywood never gave James Caan another directing job, was it because this fared poorly at the box office?

Compelling all the way through and based on a true story. Tom (Caan) wants his kids back after the Feds have taken them as part of a witness relocation program. Seems his ex-wife Ruthie (Rae) has hooked up with a minor gangster Jack (Viharo) who's testified against gang bosses. As part of his deal with the Feds, Jack's married Ruthie and they and her two kids by Tom are secretly spirited away to a new life. Trouble is no one, least of all the Feds, bothered telling Tom whose paternal interests have been totally ignored. A working stiff, Tom tries respectfully to work through the government bureaucracy to establish some kind of paternal rights for access to his kids. Nonetheless, his access could lead the gang to stoolie Jack's whereabouts, resulting in a central conflict of interests.

Clearly, there's a subtext to the storyline. Set in 1967, the narrative generally shows how uncaring Feds are about an average working guy's rights. Much of the proceedings are taken up with Tom being brushed off by ascending levels of government even up to his congressman. For Tom, it's ironic that the establishment he supports as an anti-hippie blue-collar conservative would treat him so cavalierly. In a sense, the movie suggests reasons for working class guys to despise government as much as do the anti-war hippies of the time. In effect, the governing agencies come across as basically uncaring about the broader consequences of their acts, seemingly either in Vietnam or Buffalo, NY. That's why Tom angrily identifies himself to a Fed as "Nobody" at movie's end. He's had an odd learning experience, but a learning experience it is. Perhaps I exaggerate some, but the subtextual core is definitely present in this adaptation of a real life event.

Anyway, Caan delivers an ace performance as Tom. Note how his lines are delivered in rather groping and not very articulate fashion, befitting a guy more skilled with his hands than his tongue. Thus, Caan manages a convincing role without special pleading. The rest of the rather large cast also performs ably, especially rotund McMillan as a street-wise cop and Viharo as the callous stoolie. But, as much as I wanted to hug her, I'm afraid Eikenberry is a shade too sweet and understanding as Tom's new girl friend.

On the whole, the movie comes across as very skillfully done, with a thought provoking storyline, and results that are generally underrated. So don't pass it up.