A few observations.
1. "Jack Flack always escapes" is repeated in the opening, along with Kim saying she's ";sick a' getting killed". These things were story setup. Kim was apparently role playing the glamorous, bejeweled woman who was killed in the opening scene. You can see an action-figure player of her next to the Jack Flack figure that Davey picks up.
The story then proceeds to an adventure where Jack Flack does not manage to escape, and Kim does escape getting killed.
2. Osborne was the name of well known personal business computer of that era. Hal is also the name of a computer.
3. It looks like Henry and Christina are doing there own stunts, which involves running fast on sidewalks and down stairs. There's risk of road-rash and other injuries in that. Maybe that's why they were both wearing long jeans for their run-around day, when other young people were wearing shorts.
Also, the Christina dangling scene looks fairly real.
4. Henry appears to be a pretty fast runner, and Christina fairly competent physically for a eight-year-old (during filming).
5. It's a convenient coincidence that the bad guys' van was parked right behind where the bus stopped.
6. Aubrey Woods is supposedly an uncredited "F.B.I. Agent" in this but I can't find any F.B.I. agents in this. Maybe his scene was cut. (Aubrey Woods was Bill the candy store owner in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.)
Or, the FBI man would be the man on the stairs in the lab coat who had been shot, and hands Davey the C&D cartridge. Davey referred to him as "the FBI man", although he was wearing a Textronics emblem.
My first impression is that he didn't look much like the Aubrey Woods of Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. He looked younger, and the nose was different.
On close examination, the "FBI man" on the stairs looks like a younger Aubrey Woods with a nose job. And Bill the candy store owner was portrayed in 1970, the FBI man in 1983.
I'm wondering now if it might be his son who's in this movie.
7. Continuing the above observation, Davey refers to the murdered man as the FBI man, but in the scene he wore a Textronics lab coat. So there may have been a script change about that. This blog says something about changes to the C&D script (go to bottom): http://realmofryan.blogspot.com/2009/08/boy-cried-murder-aka-fire-escape.html
8. Why would the stolen game cartridge have a sticker on the back naming the retail outlet? It was sealed inside a shrink-wrapped box. Sorry if this has already been mentioned.
9. On that same note, even though Rice knew the decoy was bought at that mall store, it seems to me that he had no reason to believe that anyone at that store was involved with the other cartridge that he was looking for.
10. Was the name "Davey" chosen as homage to Davy Crockett?
11. Davey and Kim are unlikely companions. It's interesting they weren't written to be brother and sister.
12. I can imagine the hair person doting over Kim's gorgeous golden, curly hair. She wore a fancy hairdo throughout, unsurprisingly. Today, Hollywood seems to favor that straight, silky look, which at one time was targeted in hair product ads for being "limp" and "lifeless", and it was more important for hair to have "body".
13. Bad guys can't shoot straight, but in a crossfire situation they can hit their partners accidentally.
14. There seemed to be a red color theme for Davey, the red&blue striped shirt, red backpack, and then the red windbreaker--probably to signify the child in danger theme. Also, Kim had a red shirt while she was running away from the bad guys, but not before and afterward, when she was first white and blue (all's clear) and later purple covering the red--not being pursued but still in danger.
15. When Davey and Kim start out on their Twinkie mission, there is a closeup of Morris's game screen flashing the words "GAME START".
16. At the point in time when the old couple are revealed as bad-guys, the exterior goes from day to night instantly.
17. Coincidence: Morris the C&D hacker, 1984. The Morris Worm, 1988.
18. At 8:27, after Davey gives melodramatic walkie-talkie mission instructions to her, Kim says "This is what I meant by embarrassing." She says this somewhat to herself, and it might be construed as talking to herself.
However, if you step through you can see that she looks directly into the camera as she says it. I believe that makes it officially breaking the fourth wall.
It doesn't seem to fit the story, but either she was told to do it, or when they saw in the editing room that she did, they decided to leave it in. It's really cute how she looks right at us, and it does seem to work OK in the scene it's in.
19. Christina apparently has a microphone under her T-shirt, visible from 9:24--->.
And:
At 10:43, if you step through, you can see that Henry has a wire up his back under his shirt.
20. Great lines--
(Davey rushes through door.)
Kim: "Davey, what're you doing?"
Davey (Running): "They just killed a man, now there after me."
Kim: "I got Morris's Twinkies."
Davey: "HELP! POLICE! MURDER!"
I guess Kim is accustomed to Davey's melodramatics.
21: Production stills:
http://www.cineplex.com/Movies/Archives/BL4761122/Cloak-and-Dagger.aspx?photoPage=1&tab=&tab=
https://movieposter.com/poster/MPW-57440/Cloak_and_Dagger.html
22. Movie link (a long shot):
At 50:48, zfter Davey gives Kim some instructions, she asks him, in a fearful, uncertain voice, "Whadda YOU gonna do?"
In Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny (2006), after JB gives KG some instructions in the Rock and Roll History Museum, KG says the same thing to JB, in the same tone of voice and inflection, like he was copying this line from C&D.
According to the Tenacious D pseudo-biographical movie, Kyle Gass was into video games way back in the early 90's. So he might have been a fan of this movie.
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