Didja ever notice – “hiding out in a small town” in film?

Posted by highhurdler on December 6, 2006

A plot device that one can find in many a classic movie is the premise that small towns are great places to hide out. Of course, in reality, such towns are terrible for this purpose precisely because they’re small! While I can’t claim to have ever really lived in a small town (such as those depicted in the films listed below), filmmakers would have us believe that everybody knows everyone else’s business in such locales … so why would anyone want to even try to hide there? Still, this idea does serve a useful purpose for a variety of stories. Though all but one of the following films are dramas, each uses the “hiding out in a small town” concept differently:

Dr. Socrates (1935) – Paul Muni (in the title role) was a big city doctor who’d had an argument with his fiancée that led her to getting in an automobile upset, driving too fast and nearly being killed in an accident. He was then unable to save her life on the operating table despite his skills as a surgeon, causing him to suffer a permanent case of the nerves (and shaky hands) such that his career was all but over. So Muni’s character, whose name is actually Dr. Lee Cardwell, escapes to find anonymity in Big Ben, “The Biggest Little City in Wayne County”, where his practice suffers as much for his lack of tact as it does because of his gregarious homegrown competitor, Dr. Ginder (played by Robert Barrat), whose dubbed him Dr. Socrates because his nose is always in books written by foreign scholars like Plato.
The Stranger (1946) – Orson Welles plays a Nazi war criminal who’d gone into hiding as a schoolteacher in Harper, Connecticut after World War II. In fact, he’s been so well accepted in the small town that he’s about to marry Loretta Young’s character, the daughter of a Supreme Court justice! However, a former colleague of his is let out of prison and followed to Harper by Edward G. Robinson, who plays a Nazi hunter.
Out of the Past (1947) – Robert Mitchum was a private eye that got mixed up in some nasty business while finding (femme fatale) Jane Greer for his client Kirk Douglas. Now he’s retired, hiding out and trying to live a simpler life pumping gas in a remote single stoplight town … that is until one of Douglas’s men finds him.
The Pirate (1948) – Walter Slezak is more or less hiding in plain sight as the mayor of a small town in the Caribbean, though no one knows his true identity as the formerly notorious (and titled) pirate. In fact, Gene Kelly even pretends to be the pirate, who no one seems to know by sight, in order to win Judy Garland’s character away from her dull fiancé, who is (you guessed it) Slezak!
Firecreek (1968) – sodbuster James Stewart is just one of many persons who have settled in the titled small Western town that’s invaded by Henry Fonda’s gang of outlaws. At a crucial moment in the film, Dean Jagger’s defeatist shop owner character reveals the truth to Stewart’s, the part time sheriff, that every member of their community has chosen to live there because it’s enabled them to hide from the real world, its challenges and disappointments, which energizes the lawman into standing up to the threat.
Tender Mercies (1983) – Robert Duvall earned his Best Actor Oscar playing a formerly famous country and western singer-songwriter who eventually emerges from an alcoholic haze, with help from a remote roadside motel owning war widow (Tess Harper) and her son, rediscovering his talent and working again with a local band after he’s found living in obscurity by a reporter.

What other (classic) movies can YOU think of which depict a “hiding out in a small town”?

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19 Responses Didja ever notice – “hiding out in a small town” in film?

Posted By Medusa : December 6, 2006 1:55 pm

Hi HighHurdler!Though perhaps the town is a little too big, maybe Hitchcock's "Shadow of a Doubt" might fit in. Joseph Cotten's murderer Uncle Charlie sort of hides out and intends to settle down in Santa Rosa, California, until his niece Teresa Wright figures him out. One of my favorite movies ever!Great topic!

Posted By julie : December 6, 2006 2:55 pm

Two film noirs of the 40's feature leading men who try to hide in small towns Impact starring Brian Donlevy and Danger Signal with Zachary Scott. Of course, both attempts are unsuccessful.s

Posted By Medusa : December 6, 2006 3:08 pm

Posted By Mosca : December 6, 2006 9:38 pm

When it comes to small town hideouts, I think my favorite is The Killers (1946).

Posted By D-Bey : December 6, 2006 10:47 pm

I was thinking the Killers too, which is one of my favorites of all time…

Posted By Twinkle : December 7, 2006 2:27 pm

Big city folks don't dig small towns, everything moves to slow, there's nothing to do and the people are different, some to clanish, others too friendly. Foods bad too!

Posted By Twinkle : December 7, 2006 2:28 pm

Big city folks don't dig small towns, everything moves too slow, there's nothing to do and the people are different, some to clanish, others too friendly. Foods bad too!

Posted By ben : December 7, 2006 5:23 pm

Witness with Harrison Ford hiding out among the Amish.

Posted By MDR : December 7, 2006 5:27 pm

These are all great additions to the topic; keep it going folks, and thanks!

Posted By David : December 7, 2006 5:27 pm

The whole world is too small these days for anyone to hide anywhere for long. Back in the mid 20th Century, when you had to walk a mile to smoke a Camel (sometimes even farther to make a phone call!) anonymity was a possibility. Too many cell phone cameras clicking and satellite photographs to bury yourself any more (watch Enemy of the State!) I lived 8 yrs. in D.C. and the last 10 yrs. in our town of 10,000… wouldn't go back for the world. What I lost in anonymity I sure gained in peace.

Posted By Wendy : December 7, 2006 7:55 pm

Shadow of a Doubt – Joseph Cotten hiding out as a "respectable" brother and uncle in Santa Rosa California.

Posted By MDR : December 11, 2006 8:47 pm

You've reminded me of another Joseph Cotten "hiding out in a small town" film, Walk Softly, Stranger (1950) with Alida Valli.

Posted By Joey Gee : December 15, 2006 1:11 pm

That was a pretty pathetic town where Spencer Tracy went to find out what happened to the family of a Japanese-American soldier he served with in WW2.It seems that the entire town of Black Rock was in hiding, from the outside world. "Bad Day At Black Rock" stands out as one of my favorite movies of all time.

Posted By Klondike : December 19, 2006 7:04 pm

As Joey Gee just pointed out, "Bad Day at Black Rock" fits this category, and I was just remembering that in that film, Dean Jagger played a frightened, defeatist small-towner . . . . as opposed to "Firecreek", wherein he played . . a whining, defeatist small-towner . . . . and Hey, didn't we just watch him, earlier this month, all bummed-out & complaining to Bing and Danny about how dismal business was for his ski lodge in the small of Pine Tree, Vermont?Just a thought, but maybe Hollywood's Big Lesson for Mr. Jagger was: stick to those Bright Lights & Big Cities!

Posted By addie : December 10, 2007 3:48 am

I like this topic, I can answer this one. "High Sierra"–Bogey and Ida (Lupino)"The desperate hours" –Humphrey Bogart and co. Laying low, waiting to meet up with a dame."key Largo" –The Magnificent Eddie G. Laying low and being rotten, waiting to meet up with some mug. Brother Orchid–Eddie G., again. "They Made Me a Criminal"–Darling, John Garfield, framed."They live by night"–Farley Granger and Cathy O' freak'n Donell, hiding out in a primitive cabin (better to give yourself up). —Isn't it much easier to hide out (disappear) in a big place like NY? although Garfield was only given away by his fighting style. You all, that give 80's and sometimes 90's movies as classics, I always think must be awfully young, although your comments, here are very smart. Maybe I am being a snob. To me part of being a classic is standing the test of time.

Posted By addie : December 10, 2007 4:15 am

"we're No Angels"–small island hide-out —Twinkle, you are right about some "big town folks" however, I'm from NY and I love a small town In vermont, so don't speak for all big towners, if I didn't live here I might live there, I certainly miss it when I am away.

Posted By Wendy : December 10, 2007 3:39 pm

"Hide-Out" is a charming little movie with Robert Montgomery as an impertinent gangster running from the law. He ends up at a small farm, where he is rehabilitated by hard work and Maureen O'Sullivan.

Posted By addie : December 10, 2007 9:25 pm

Wendy–"Hide out sounds cute and you made me think of another one, with Robert Mongomery"Night Must Fall"

Posted By addie : December 22, 2007 1:00 pm

"Escape By Night"

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