Radio Flyer

Radio Flyer
Theatrical Release Poster
Directed by	Richard Donner David M. Evans (uncredited)
Produced by	Lauren Shuler Donner
Written by	David M. Evans
Narrated by	Tom Hanks
Starring	Elijah Wood Joseph Mazzello Lorraine Bracco John Heard
Music by	Hans Zimmer
Cinematography	Laszlo Kovacs
Editing by	Stuart Baird
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date(s)	February 21, 1992
Running time	114 min.
Country
Language	English
Budget	$35 million
Box office	$4,651,977

Radio Flyer is a 1992 drama-fantasy film from Columbia Pictures. It is a Stonebridge Entertainment Production in association with Donner/Shuler-Donner Productions (now known as simply The Donners' Company).

The film, directed by Richard Donner and, as uncredited, David Mickey Evans, is executive produced by David Mickey Evans and Michael Douglas; and stars Elijah Wood, Joseph Mazzello, Tom Hanks, Lorraine Bracco, Adam Baldwin, and Ben Johnson.

Filming locations included Novato, California, and Columbia Airport, California.

Plot

Mike (Tom Hanks) is observing his two sons fighting; with one insisting that a promise doesn't mean anything. To make them understand that a promise does mean something, he tells them the story of his youth. Young Mike (Elijah Wood), his little brother Bobby (Joseph Mazzello), their mother Mary (Lorraine Bracco) and their German Shepherd Shane move to a new town after their father/husband leaves them. There, Mary marries a new man named Jack (Adam Baldwin), who likes the others to call him "The King". Unbeknowst to Mary, the King is an alcoholic who often gets drunk and beats Bobby. The two boys, seeing that their mother has found happiness at last with the King, are reluctant to tell either her or the police about the abuse. They instead try to avoid the King by exploring and having adventures in amidst the local environs. In the process, the two concoct a plan for Bobby to escape the King once and for all. Inspired by the urban legend of a boy named Fisher who attempted to fly away on his bicycle, the two convert their epononymous Radio Flyer toy wagon into an airplane. With it, Bobby flies away. Though Mike never sees him again, he continues to receive postcards from him from places all over the world.

Cast

• Elijah Wood as Mike
• Joseph Mazzello as Bobby
• Tom Hanks as Older Mike / Narrator (uncredited)
• Lorraine Bracco as Mary
• John Heard as Jim Daugherty
• Adam Baldwin as Jack "The King"
• Ben Johnson as Geronimo Bill
• Garette Ratliff as Chad
• Thomas Ian Nicholas as Ferdie
• Norman D. Wilson (extra) (uncredited)

Production and Reception

The film was originally to be directed by screenwriter David Mickey Evans, but he was later replaced by Richard Donner, due to Evans' inexperience. Re-shoots followed after poor test screenings and the budget jumped from $15 million to $35 million. The original script called for more fantasy sequences involving a worm man and zombies. These ideas were scrapped when Richard Donner replaced Evans. The film opened to mostly mixed reviews from critics and lackluster box office results. It currently holds a 41% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Roger Ebert and Leonard Maltin both vilified this film for presenting fantasy as a way of escaping child abuse. Said Ebert, "I was so appalled, watching this kid hurtling down the hill in his pathetic contraption, that I didn't know which ending would be worse. If he fell to his death, that would be unthinkable, but if he soared up to the moon, it would be unforgivable—because you can't escape from child abuse in little red wagons, and even the people who made this picture should have been ashamed to suggest otherwise." ^[1]

Because the film in fact ends with Bobby successfully evading his stepfather forever, viewers (including Ebert himself) have taken to speculating on the "true" ending, assuming that the one presented was a case of an unreliable narrator. In interviews, director Richard Donner has insisted that there is no cryptic, implied ending to the film.^{[citation needed]} Bobby simply flies around the world in the Radio Flyer wagon.

Dedication

The film is dedicated to the memory of script supervisor Nancy Benta Hansen and uncredited production assistant Simone Fuentes, "whose professionalism and humor we miss."

References

External links

• Radio Flyer at the Internet Movie Database
• Radio Flyer at Rotten Tomatoes
• Radio Flyer at Box Office Mojo