Josh and S.A.M.

Infobox Film
name = Josh and S.A.M.


caption = DVD cover
director = Billy Weber
producer = Martin Brest
writer = Frank Deese
starring = Jacob Tierney
Noah Fleiss
Martha Plimpton
music = Thomas Newman
cinematography = Don Burgess
editing = Chris Lebenzon
distributor = Columbia Pictures
Castle Rock Entertainment
New Line Cinema
released = November 24, 1993
runtime = 96 min.
country = flagicon|United States
language = English
budget = $18,000,000
gross = $800,469
amg_id = 1:26541
imdb_id = 0107277

"Josh and S.A.M." is a 1993 American drama-comedy film revolving around two brothers who hate each other and how they react to their parents divorce. The MPAA rating system rated this film PG-13 for kids in jeopardy.

Plot

The film is a road-trip themed dark comedy about two young brothers who run away from home due to emotional conflict over the divorce of their parents. Jacob Tierney plays older brother Josh who unintentionally brainwashes his younger brother Sam (Noah Fleiss) making him believe that he was a genetically designed child warrior. Josh says that Sam is actually an acronym, and that he is a "Strategically Altered Mutant" that was designed by the government to fight in a secret war in Africa. After a series of various suspicious coinscidences in Josh's lies, Sam eventually believes that he is a S.A.M.

Josh says that he can be safely deactivated and turned back into a human if he reaches Canada. After being delayed in a hotel in Dallas Josh grows impatient with his mother and decides to abandon Sam. Blocked at all exits by hotel officials he heads into a high school reunion to seek refuge. He later lies that his mother was a graduate and he finds a drunken man claiming to be his father. Before Josh has time to clear his lie Sam appears and shortly thereafter the man drives them to his "grandparents" house to tell the good news. Upon entering the house the guy overreacts to a picture of the real family and begins to strangle Josh. Josh then knocks the man out and believes that he's killed him. In panic the two brothers steal his car and begin their trek to Canada.

After a day of Josh and Sam driving they encounter Allison (Martha Plimpton), who is an older teen runaway from Hannibal, Missouri. They pick her up due to a resemblance to another lie of Josh's, the Liberty Maid. According to the Liberty Maid's description she aids fleeing S.A.M's to Canada, in the similar way of Harriet Tubman. Allison travels with them as their driver and during the run develops a bond with Josh. After a run-in with a cop outside of Salt Lake City Sam flees causing a chase through the desert that nearly killed Sam as he crawled under a train. After Josh and Allison reach the car they high tail it to the road to continue their journey.

During a night stop in a motel, Sam decides to leave Josh and Allison as he steals the car. Josh is also abandoned by Allison later after she fails to convince him to live in Seattle with her. After a long walk he discovers the car crashed into the brush by the shoulder. Unfortunately Sam is not there, but he discovers a bus stop nearby and rides it the rest of the way to Canada. On the bus he sees Sam riding on the back of a Semitruck and after he and Sam reunite they walk across the border into Canada.

In Canada, (Calgary to be exact), Josh tries several attempts to un-brainwash him back to normal. Among those is a trip to a tanning booth, saying that it will deactivate him. After that Sam is sent back home to Orlando on a plane. Josh stays behind and later finds that the drunk man in Dallas was only knocked out and not killed giving him reason to return home. Among on of the advancements of the film was learning to trust and love one another in the face of the emotional turmoil of their new family situation.

Cast

*Jacob Tierney as Joshua "Josh" Whitney
*Noah Fleiss as Samuel "Sam"/"Killer Sam" Whitney
*Martha Plimpton as Alison (The Liberty Maid)
*Stephen Tobolowsky as Thomas "Thom" Whitney
*Joan Allen as Caroline Whitney LaTorette
*Chris Penn as Derek Baxter
*Maury Chaykin as Pizza Man
*Ronald Guttman as Jean-Pierre LaTorette
*Udo Kier as Salon Manager
*Jake Gyllenhaal as Leon