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5.1/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 5.1/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Hide-Out remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
If you are looking for a movie that makes total sense, you should probably keep walking. Hide-Out is for the people who want to see how weird movies were right after sound became a thing. 🏈
It is worth watching if you like those fast-talking 1930s crime movies that suddenly turn into a sports drama. You will probably hate it if you need realistic plot twists or characters who act like real humans.
James Murray plays Jimmy, a bootlegger who is clearly too old to be in college. He is running from the cops and ducks into a university to hide out.
His big plan is to just... blend in? He looks like a guy who has seen too many bar fights to be a freshman.
But the movie doesn't care about that. Within like ten minutes, he is the star athlete of the school.
I laughed out loud when he first tries to act like a student. He has this look on his face like he’s trying to remember what a book is.
The pace is actually pretty quick. It reminds me a bit of The Whirlwind in how it just moves from one scene to the next without much explanation.
One scene that really stuck with me is when he’s trying to romance Kathryn Crawford. She plays the co-ed who falls for his fake student act.
They are sitting there and the dialogue is just so clunky. It feels like they are reading the script for the first time while the camera is rolling. 🎙️
The sound quality is a bit rough in spots too. You can hear the background hiss whenever someone stops talking, which is kind of charming in a way.
Jimmy becomes the most popular man on campus almost by accident. It is the ultimate 'fake it till you make it' story before that was even a phrase people used.
The sports scenes are... well, they are something. You can tell they just filmed some guys running and spliced Jimmy in there.
He doesn't even look like he's breaking a sweat. It’s the kind of effortless cool that only exists in movies from this era.
I kept wondering when the cops were going to show up. They feel like an afterthought for most of the middle section.
It’s almost like the director forgot it was a crime movie and decided he wanted to make a movie about college pep rallies instead. 📣
Kathryn Crawford is good, I guess. She doesn't have much to do except look impressed by Jimmy's athletic skills.
There is a weird moment with a coach where the silence goes on way too long. I think someone missed a cue, but they just kept it in anyway.
It’s these little mistakes that make me like these old films. They feel alive and messy.
Unlike something like Don't, which is much more focused, this movie is just all over the place.
One minute he’s worried about being arrested, the next he’s winning a race. It’s high burstiness in plot form.
The supporting cast is full of faces you've seen in a hundred other black and white movies. Edward Hearn and Lee Moran do what they can with the thin material.
The writing is credited to a few people, including Arthur Ripley. You can tell it was a 'too many cooks' situation because the tone shifts every ten minutes.
Is it a comedy? A drama? A PSA about why you shouldn't sell illegal booze? Who knows!
The movie gets much better once Jimmy actually starts liking his fake life. You can see the internal conflict on James Murray’s face, or maybe he’s just thinking about lunch.
There is a scene near the end involving a big game that feels very predictable. You know exactly what is going to happen, but you watch anyway because the hats are great. 🎩
The fashion in this movie is top-tier. Everyone is wearing suits to things that definitely do not require suits.
I found myself distracted by the backgrounds a lot. The college sets look like they were built in a weekend out of cardboard and hope.
It’s a lot like Something Always Happens where the title is basically the whole plot. Things just... happen.
The ending is a bit of a rush job. It’s like they realized they were running out of film and needed to wrap up the bootlegging plot fast.
I won't spoil it, but let's just say the legal system in 1930 seems very forgiving if you are good at sports. 🏃♂️
It’s not a masterpiece, and it’s definitely not a 'profound exploration' of anything. It’s just a weird little time capsule.
If you enjoy seeing how the early sound era struggled to balance different genres, give it a look.
Just don't expect it to make any sense. Logic was clearly not invited to this party.
Anyway, it’s a fun way to spend an hour if you like old stuff. It’s better than sitting through a boring modern movie that tries too hard to be deep.
Sometimes you just want to see a criminal win a track meet. 👟
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