Trenchcoat (1983)

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Best movie ever!

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Made just before the Disney company started its own adult movie division (Touchstone Films), "Trenchcoat was one of several movies the company made in a desperate attempt to change the image of its product while trying to appeal to both adults and kids. Despite the great effort, the end result is a complete misfire. The script is the greatest offender - it is a deadly mix of tired clichés (like when the heroine kills a bad guy but the body disappears when she goes for the police), stupid characters, and a really slow moving (and predictable) plot. The insulting script might explain why the cast doesn't really give any effort to try and liven things up - Margot Kidder is abrasive and annoying, and Robert Hays is vanilla bland. And under the direction of Michael Tuchner, the entire enterprise feels not only very subdued, but cheap and tacky despite the studio filming on location in Malta. The acting careers of the two leads never recovered from this embarrassment, and it's easy to see why.

I saw this film many years ago and loved it immensely...much better than the current "Stranger than Fiction" which follows a similar theme. My question now is, "When is it coming out on DVD???" This is one film I would purchase in a flash and I'm a bit disappointed that it has not yet been released on DVD and even the VHS release has been out of print, so to speak, for many years. Time to write Disney again! The coupling of Margot Kidder and Robert Hays is brilliant and the intrigue is captivating. The tension builds when Kidder's "novel" ends up in police evidence files and is taken literally but all along the banter between hers and Hays' roles is delightful. A definite keeper!

I think that putting this movie under the Disney label even with controversy surrounding it was a good move. That is just what the studio needed at a time when people were straying away from the usual cutsie "Disney" movies, like "The Rescuers"(1977), or even "petes Dragon"(1977) for that matter. This is more of an adult centered film, and that is what makes it special. Parents will enjoy this film more than their kids. But any children watching this film under about the age of 12 or 13, SHOULD have parental guidance, because the film does have some suggestive content. Over all, I gave it 8/10, mostly for the story line and character situations. It was GOOD!!!

Margot Kidder is unstoppable. She will always be there when you need to be entertained. This film was one of the Disney film which were made to change the image of the company. Needless to say by the films controversy, it did.Kidder is ambitious, hard edged writer on her way to write her first big mystery novel, when she stumbles upon Hayes, a lier and fraud, who turns out to be working for... Leave that up to audiences. Kidder falls upon a real plot of terror and adventure when she is kidnapped and taken to a hotel where murder and mayhem ensues. Then things get really ugly. Hayes and Kidder have great chemistry together. Intellect and acting makes up for some lulls earlier on in the film, and when you see the "Club scene" with "Princess Aida"... Laughs and even a bit of tension highlight this film with strange yet watchable locations, and bit of Italian! 8/10