Radio Flyer is a 1992 American drama-fantasy film directed by Richard Donner and written by David Mickey Evans. It stars Lorraine Bracco, John Heard, Elijah Wood, Joseph Mazzello, Adam Baldwin, and Ben Johnson and is narrated by Tom Hanks. Evans was to make his directorial debut on the film but was replaced by Donner. Michael Douglas and Evans were executive producers. Filming locations included Novato, California, and Columbia Airport in Columbia, California.
Radio Flyer was released by Columbia Pictures on February 21, 1992. The film received mixed reviews from critics and was a box office bomb, grossing $4.6 million against a $35 million budget.
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Plot
Mike observes his two sons fighting, with one insisting that a promise doesn't mean anything. To help them understand that a promise does mean something, he tells them the story of his youth. In 1969, 11-year-old Mike, 8-year-old Bobby, their mother, Mary, and their German Shepherd, Shane, relocate from New Jersey to Novato, California after their father leaves the family. There, Mary weds Jack MacKenzie, who demands the children call him "The King". Unbeknownst to Mary, Jack is an alcoholic who often gets drunk and beats Bobby. He also repeatedly plays Hank Williams's "Jambalaya (On the Bayou)" on his record player.
Thinking that Mary has found happiness at last with Jack, Bobby swears Mike to secrecy about the abuse. Instead, the two boys seek adventures to occupy the time that would otherwise be spent around Jack; they recount the "seven great abilities and fascinations" of childhood while exploring their new surroundings and dealing with the neighborhood bullies. An unsupervised incident in the kitchen in which the boys attempt to create an anti-monster potion to get rid of Jack leads to Bobby being hospitalized by Jack, but Shane gets revenge by biting him hard on the arm. After spending time in jail, Jack is released following the death of his mother and returns to their house with flowers and chocolates, promising never to drink or abuse Bobby again; he violates his promise while the boys are at school and nearly kills Shane. The brothers devise a plan for Bobby to escape Jack once and for all. Mary also starts to catch on to Jack's true nature and finally tells him she wants a divorce.
