In 1967 Tom Hacklin (James Caan) leaves his Dunlop tire factory job at the end of a miserable drizzly day in Buffalo, New York. He is divorced from his flighty wife Ruthie (Barbra Rae). Tom stops by Ruthie's rental house to baby sit for his son Andy and daughter Junie. Ruthie is going out with low-level hood Jack Scalise (Robert Viharo) for the evening. Jack likes to make nasty comments to Tom. Not long after, Tom's friend Matty (Joe Grifasi) introduces him to nice and unmarried teacher Alisa (Jill Eikenberry) at a restaurant. Tom is clumsy, to say the least.
Things happen. One day Tom stops by to see his kids and discovers that Ruthie's apartment is empty and deserted. We discover that hood Scalise, who had recently committed a bungled bank robbery, had turned state evidence against some mob bosses. So Ruthie, the children, and Joe have been placed in a Federal Witness Protection Program at some unknown location. No one with any knowledge will reveal anything: authorities, police, politicians, etc. Tom becomes desperate but determined to track down his children. Much is done on his own although he obtains a lawyer. Meanwhile the mob follows Tom for its own purpose of locating squealer Jack. Anyway, it takes Jack one and one-half years to find Andy and Junie. It certainly was a dramatization.
The acting in the movie is at a high level, and the film is certainly genuine. Buffalo locations are used well: Erie County Courthouse, Delaware Park, and the Buffalo Zoo.
Now for the rest of the story:
Tom Hacklin is really Tom Leonhard, who did live in Buffalo, but was a cement mason after his plant (Western Electric) left the city around 1975. It took actually eight years - in state and federal courts - before he was able to track down his ex-wife Rochelle (Ruthie in the movie) and his two kids. Rochelle didn't want Tom to see his children ever. By the Tom saw his kids, they were teenagers who had lost touch with him. As Tom was strict with them, they chose to go back to their mother after a year. The movie does not say that Rochelle actually had two children with Scalise (actually Pascal Calabrese). Alisa, Tom's girl in the movie, was Joanne DiVita, who was actually divorced. And she became pregnant after they were married, not before. And Tom never smashed a window with a shovel.
Tom Leonhard sued the federal government for $10.5 million but lost the case. He died in 2014 leaving three children and five grandchildren. His wife Joanne predeceased him. And so is life.
Things happen. One day Tom stops by to see his kids and discovers that Ruthie's apartment is empty and deserted. We discover that hood Scalise, who had recently committed a bungled bank robbery, had turned state evidence against some mob bosses. So Ruthie, the children, and Joe have been placed in a Federal Witness Protection Program at some unknown location. No one with any knowledge will reveal anything: authorities, police, politicians, etc. Tom becomes desperate but determined to track down his children. Much is done on his own although he obtains a lawyer. Meanwhile the mob follows Tom for its own purpose of locating squealer Jack. Anyway, it takes Jack one and one-half years to find Andy and Junie. It certainly was a dramatization.
The acting in the movie is at a high level, and the film is certainly genuine. Buffalo locations are used well: Erie County Courthouse, Delaware Park, and the Buffalo Zoo.
Now for the rest of the story:
Tom Hacklin is really Tom Leonhard, who did live in Buffalo, but was a cement mason after his plant (Western Electric) left the city around 1975. It took actually eight years - in state and federal courts - before he was able to track down his ex-wife Rochelle (Ruthie in the movie) and his two kids. Rochelle didn't want Tom to see his children ever. By the Tom saw his kids, they were teenagers who had lost touch with him. As Tom was strict with them, they chose to go back to their mother after a year. The movie does not say that Rochelle actually had two children with Scalise (actually Pascal Calabrese). Alisa, Tom's girl in the movie, was Joanne DiVita, who was actually divorced. And she became pregnant after they were married, not before. And Tom never smashed a window with a shovel.
Tom Leonhard sued the federal government for $10.5 million but lost the case. He died in 2014 leaving three children and five grandchildren. His wife Joanne predeceased him. And so is life.