The Heavenly Kid

Infobox Film
name = The Heavenly Kid


caption = DVD Cover of The Heavenly Kid
director = Cary Medoway
producer = Mort Engelberg
eproducer =
aproducer = Stephen G. Cheikes
Gabe Sumner
writer = Cary Medoway
Martin Copeland
starring = Lewis Smith
Jason Gedrick
Richard Mulligan
music = Kennard Ramsey
Roxanne Seeman
cinematography = Steven B. Poster
editing = Christopher Greenbury
distributor = Orion Pictures Corporation
released = July 26, 1985
runtime = 90 minu.
rating = PG-13
country = USA
awards = 1985 Young Artist Award - Best Family Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical [http://www.youngartistawards.org/pastnoms7.htm]
language = English
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0089265

"The Heavenly Kid" is a 1985 comedy film directed by Cary Medoway and starring Lewis Smith, Jason Gedrick, Jane Kaczmarek, and Richard Mulligan.

Plot

The story starts out showing a young greaser-type rebel, Bobby (Lewis Smith) racing a rival toward the edge of a cliff in a game of chicken. Bobby apparently wins as his rival "chickens" out by diving out of the car before Bobby does. Bobby is unable to get out of the car in time and dies in a fiery accident as his car falls over the cliff. Following a strange trip, Bobby learns from his new spirit guide Rafferty (Richard Mulligan) that he needs to earn his ticket "Uptown" by acting as a Guardian angel for nerdy Lenny Barnes. Bobby tries to help Lenny by giving him a makeover and attempting to help him win the affection of the hottest girl in school, Sharon. However, Bobby eventually realizes that the new lifestyle Lenny is leading is not noble, as it causes him to rebel against everyone including his parents. In doing so, Bobby eventually realizes that Lenny's mother (Jane Kaczmarek) is his former girlfriend and is married to the man he died racing against. Bobby breaks one of the Uptown rules and reveals himself to Lenny's mother. Bobby then learns that he is actually Lenny's father. In a scene reminiscent of the opening sequence Lenny has a car race against Sharon's former boyfriend. Much like Bobby's car race, the race ends with Lenny and Bobby flying over the edge off cliff and the car exploding in a fiery wreck. However, Bobby helps prevent Lenny from dying and they climb up the cliff together. Bobby helps Lenny realize the error of his ways as he reunites with his former girlfriend who was by his side even during his "nerdy years". They then watch Bobby and Rafferty fly into the sky on a motorbike, and Bobby eventually does go on the escalator to Uptown.

oundtrack

The soundtrack consists of 10 songs featured in the movie. It 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 mis-aligned grooves that transferred to all copies of the LP which caused major skips and poor quality sound.

In 2007 a digital copy of the soundtrack became available online on certain blogs for soundtracks. The soundtrack had been completely remastered by a fan and everyone who had commented on the quality was blown away by the perfection of it.Fact|date=July 2008

Track listing

# Joe Lynn Turner - "Heartless"
# John 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"

Trivia

*The high school scenes were filmed at North Miami Senior High School, in North Miami, Florida.
*The subway used in the film is the MARTA system in Atlanta, Georgia.
*The working title of the film was "Teen Angel."
*This is the second and last film from director Cary Medoway.

Notes and references

* [http://www.youngartistawards.org/pastnoms7.htm "Seventh Annual Youth in Film Awards"] by Young Artist Foundation, "http://www.youngartistawards.org/", July 7, 2006, retrieved July 7, 2006

External links

*imdb title|id=0089265|title=The Heavenly Kid