''The Heavenly Kid'' is a 1985 American

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typic ...

fantasy film Fantasy films are films that belong to the fantasy genre with fantastic themes, usually magic, supernatural events, mythology, folklore, or exotic fantasy worlds. The genre is considered a form of speculative fiction alongside science fiction ...

directed by Cary Medoway and starring Lewis Smith,

Jason Gedrick Jason Michael Gedrick (born February 7, 1965) is an American actor best known for his work on the television series '' Murder One'' and '' Boomtown'', and the motion picture '' Iron Eagle'' as Doug Masters. Early life Jason Michael Gedroic was ...

Jane Kaczmarek Jane Frances Kaczmarek (; born December 21, 1955) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Malcolm's mother Lois on the Fox television sitcom '' Malcolm in the Middle'' (2000–2006), which earned her three Golden Globe nominat ...

and Richard Mulligan.

Plot

In the early 1960s, Bobby Fontana ( Lewis Smith), a young greaser-type rebel, challenges Joe Barnes ( Mark Metcalf) to a game of

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adu ...

for making a pass at his girlfriend Emily (

). Bobby wins the race easily when Joe dives out of his car, but Bobby is unable to get out of the car in time due to his bracelet getting caught on the gearshift. He dies as his car plummets over the cliff into a fiery wreck. Bobby awakens to find himself aboard a speeding train, which stops at a station housing a huge escalator going up into a bright white light, which one of the attendants refers to as "Uptown". Bobby is denied entry, and Rafferty ( Richard Mulligan) appears and explains that he is not yet considered ready and needs to carry out an "assignment" in order to earn his ticket Uptown. After many years in

limbo In Catholic theology, Limbo (Latin '' limbus'', edge or boundary, referring to the edge of Hell) is the afterlife condition of those who die in original sin without being assigned to the Hell of the Damned. Medieval theologians of Western Euro ...

, Bobby is finally given his assignment: he is to return to Earth and act as a

guardian angel A guardian angel is a type of angel that is assigned to protect and guide a particular person, group or nation. Belief in tutelary beings can be traced throughout all antiquity. The idea of angels that guard over people played a major role in A ...

and friend for Lenny Barnes (

), a promising high school student who is constantly picked on in school, particularly by school bullies Fred Gallo ( Stephen Gregory) and Bill McIntyre ( Beau Dremann). However, Bobby is instructed that he is only allowed to reveal himself to Lenny and nobody else. Bobby helps Lenny by giving him a makeover, assisting him in dealing with Fred and Bill, and helping him win the affection of the hottest girl in school, Sharon (Anne Sawyer). However, Bobby comes to realize that the new lifestyle Lenny is leading is not noble, as it causes him to rebel against everyone, including his parents and long-time friend Melissa (

Nancy Valen Nancy Valen is an American actress and television producer. She is best known for portraying Captain Samantha Thomas on ''Baywatch''. Early life Nancy Valen was born in Brooklyn, New York and raised in Hallandale, Florida. By the time she was ...

). Bobby discovers that Lenny's mother is Emily, his former girlfriend, and is married to Joe, the man he was racing when he died. Bobby breaks the rules and reveals himself to Emily to confess his love for her, and Emily informs him that he is Lenny's father. In a scene reminiscent of the opening sequence, Lenny is challenged to a race of chicken at the local quarry by Fred, Sharon's former boyfriend. Having been told by Rafferty that Lenny will die just as Bobby did earlier, Bobby offers to trade his own chance to move Uptown (essentially, his own immortal soul) to save Lenny's life. Much like Bobby's car race, the race ends with Lenny and Bobby flying over the edge of a cliff, and the car exploding in a fiery wreck. However, Bobby prevents Lenny from dying, and they climb up the cliff together. Bobby helps Lenny see the error of his ways as Lenny reunites with Melissa. After bidding an emotional goodbye to Lenny, during which he tells him that they will always be best friends, Bobby offers himself to Rafferty to fulfill his end of the bargain by accepting a ride "Downtown" (essentially, to

Hell In religion and folklore, hell is a location in the afterlife in which evil souls are subjected to punitive suffering, most often through torture, as eternal punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hell ...

). However, Rafferty explains that this will not be happening. Bobby incredulously asks why, since he had made a deal to trade his own soul for Lenny's second chance at life. Rafferty explains to Bobby that he had learned to love and value someone more than himself, and that is how one earned a ticket Uptown. Bobby and Rafferty fly into the sky on a motorbike, and Bobby boards the escalator to Uptown.

Cast

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was produced by George Duke and consists of ten songs featured in the movie. The soundtrack was released on vinyl, cassette and as of 2013 it was available digitally through iTunes and Amazon MP3. The vinyl album was taken out of print almost as quickly as it became available due to manufacturing defects on the LP: during the tracks "Animal Attraction" and "Crusin' Tonight" there are several misaligned grooves that transferred to all copies of the LP which caused major skips.

Track listing

Joe Lynn Turner Joe Lynn Turner (born Joseph Arthur Mark Linquito, August 2, 1951) is an American singer known for his work in the hard rock bands Rainbow, Yngwie J. Malmsteen and Deep Purple. During his career, Turner fronted and played guitar with pop rock ...

- "Heartless" # Jon Fiore - "The Heavenly Kid (Out on the Edge)" # Jamie Bond - " Heart of Love" #

Howard Hewett Howard Hewett Jr. (born October 1, 1955) is an American singer–songwriter. Hewett rose to fame as the lead vocalist of the group Shalamar. In 1985, he left the group to pursue his solo career, but he later returned to the group in 2001. He sig ...

- "Obsession" #

Debra Laws Debra Renee Laws (born September 10, 1956) is an American singer and actress from Houston, Texas. She is best known for her 1981 R&B/soul ballad " Very Special". In her music career, she works closely with her siblings, Eloise Laws, Hubert Laws ...

- "Cruisin' Tonight" # Jamie Bond - "Animal Attraction" # Mickey Thomas - "Two Minute Love" # The George Duke Band - "So Mean to Me" #

George Duke George M. Duke (January 12, 1946 – August 5, 2013) was an American keyboardist, composer, singer-songwriter and record producer. He worked with numerous artists as arranger, music director, writer and co-writer, record producer and as a pr ...

- "Hamburgers" # Neko-Meka - "When the Children Make the Mighty Fall" #

Shandi Sinnamon Shandi Sinnamon (born 1952) is an American singer and songwriter. Career Shandi was born to a Huguenot family as Shandra Sinnamon in Miami, Florida. After dropping out of high school, she left home for Big Sur, California. Her ambition wa ...

- "So Far Away"* # Chris Farren - "Dream Machine"* # Stuffy Shmitt - "I Need The Touch"* #

Jerry Lee Lewis Jerry Lee Lewis (September 29, 1935October 28, 2022) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Nicknamed "The Killer", he was described as " rock & roll's first great wild man". A pioneer of rock and roll and rockabilly music, Lewis mad ...

- "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On"* * Song is featured in the movie but not on the soundtrack album.

Notes and references

"Seventh Annual Youth in Film Awards"
by Young Artist Foundation, ''http://www.youngartistawards.org/'', July 7, 2006, retrieved July 7, 2006

External links