Movie Name: The Heavenly Kid
Director: Cary Medoway
Producer: Mort Engelberg
Written: Martin Copeland and Cary Medoway
Starring: Lewis Smith, Jane Kaczmarek, Jason Gedrick and Richard Mulligan.
Introduction
Everyone has watched a B movie when they were a kid. Some of them are really bad and some of them do not age as well as remembered. However, there will always be a movie that everyone finds that it is bad but it is their guilty pleasure. For me one of those movies is The Heavenly Kid. This was a movie that we had recorded on VHS tape. I always had a hard time finding it at the video store and probably with reason. Rotten Tomatoes gave this movie a 22% which is not great. Let us see what this movie was about.
Story / Plot
This movie opens in 1968 and Bobby Fontana (played by Lewis Smith), which is a greaser type chaacter. He gets into a car race (game of chicken) with Joe Barnes (played by Mark Metcalf). This all stems from Joe making a pass by Bobby's girlfriend Emily. During the race Bobby was winning but unfortunately, he is unable to get out of his car. He ends up dying when his car goes off the cliff.
Now that he has died he is stuck in limbo. This is a place between Heaven (Uptown) and Hell (Downtown). He must prove himself worthy to go Uptown (Heaven). This is where he meets Rafferty (played by Richard Mulligan). Rafferty says that he will have to complete an assignment in order for him to go Uptown. So Bobby agrees.
Forward to 1985 and Bobby is to be a Guardian Angel to Lenny Barnes (Jason Gedrick). Lenny is the stereotypical nerd where he has good grades but is socially awkward. He also gets bullied at school. Bobby will try to make him a cooler kid.
While Bobby is teaching Lenny how to be cool, he realizes that Lenny is Emily's son, which was his old girlfriend. Also she is married to the adversary (Joe Barnes) that he died against in the race in 1968.
The movie comes full circle when Lenny is cool and challenges one of the bullies to a car race, similar to the opening sequence. However, this time, Lenny makes it with the help of Bobby. He was able to escape the car crash and survive.
In the end, Bobby earns his right to go to Uptown due to the fact that he showed that he could sacrifice himself for the love of someone else. You see the movie end with Bobby going to Uptown via escalators.
Soundtrack
For some reason I always liked the main theme (The Heavenly Kid by Jon Fiore) for this movie. It is a very cheesy 80's song but it is one of those, it is so bad that it is good.
Track listing[edit]
Joe Lynn Turner - "Heartless"
Jon Fiore - "The Heavenly Kid (Out on the Edge)"
Jamie Bond - "Heart of Love"
Howard Hewett - "Obsession"
Debra Laws - "Crusin' Tonight"
Jamie Bond - "Animal Attraction"
Mickey Thomas - "Two Minute Love"
The George Duke Band - "So Mean to Me"
George Duke - "Hamburgers"
Neko-Meka - "When the Children Make the Mighty Fall"
Shandi Sinnamon - "So Far Away"*
Chris Farren - "Dream Machine"*
Stuffy Shmitt - "I Need The Touch"*
Jerry Lee Lewis - "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On"
The Heavenly Kid Theme (Jon Fiore)
Conclusion
This is not a great movie by any means. The jokes have been done 3000 times. The nerd is a stereotypical nerd that fumbles everywhere. It is a classic Hollywood movie where the nerd gets the girl in the end. The story is somewhat original but the pieces that make up the movie are not. The movie did make only $3.9 Million at the box office.
For me it is a sense of nostalgia. It is a movie that I would watch with my brother from time to time. The graphics did not age too well but who cares. It was the 80's where only Sci-fi movies had great looking affects. This is a guilty pleasure of mine. yeah everything about this movie is cheesy but hey, the 80's were built on cheese. :)
You can watch the movie for free on YouTube. Below is the link to it if you feel like watching it.
The Heavenly Kid
Let us know if you like this movie or not?
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