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* AintToProudToBeg: The King tearfully grovels to Mary to forgive him and take him back after she throws him out for severely beating up Bobby. It turns out to be a ruse, however, and she falls for it hook, line, and sinker.
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* EasilyForgiven: Mary does this to The King. Sadly, can be TruthInTelevision.
** Probably only in the hopes that things will change though, unfortunately they do not.
* TheFaceless: The King. Believed to be because Adam Baldwin didn't want his face associated with child abuse, but could also be the director's way of portraying The King as an almost mythic figure.
** Probably only in the hopes that things will change though, unfortunately they do not.
* TheFaceless: The King. Believed to be because Adam Baldwin didn't want his face associated with child abuse, but could also be the director's way of portraying The King as an almost mythic figure.
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* EasilyForgiven: Mary does this to The King. Sadly, can be TruthInTelevision.
** ProbablyKing, probably only in the hopes that things will change though, unfortunately change. Unfortunately, they do not.
not. Sadly, both can be TruthInTelevision.
* TheFaceless: The King. Believed to be because Adam Baldwin didn't want his face associated with child abuse, but could also be the director's way of portraying The King as an almost mythicfigure.figure from the boys' point of view along with everything else in the film.
** Probably
* TheFaceless: The King. Believed to be because Adam Baldwin didn't want his face associated with child abuse, but could also be the director's way of portraying The King as an almost mythic
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* TheAlcoholic: The King.
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* TheAlcoholic: The King.
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Young Mike (Creator/ElijahWood), his little brother Bobby (Creator/JosephMazzello), their mother Mary (Creator/LorraineBracco) and their German Shepherd Shane move to a new town after their father/husband leaves them. There, Mary marries a new man (Creator/AdamBaldwin), who likes the others to call him "The King". Unbeknowst to Mary, The King is an alcoholic who often gets drunk and beats Bobby. The two boys, seeing that their mother has found happiness at last with The King, are reluctant to tell either her or the police about the abuse. They instead try to avoid The King by exploring and having adventures in amidst the local environs. In the process, the two concoct a plan for Bobby to escape The King once and for all. Inspired by the urban legend of a boy named Fisher who attempted to fly away on his bicycle, the two convert their epononymous Radio Flyer toy wagon into an airplane. With it, Bobby flies away. Though Mike never sees him again, he continues to receive postcards from him from places all over the world.
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Young Mike (Creator/ElijahWood), his little brother Bobby (Creator/JosephMazzello), their mother Mary (Creator/LorraineBracco) and their German Shepherd Shane move to a new town after their father/husband leaves them. There, Mary marries a new man (Creator/AdamBaldwin), who likes the others to call him "The King". Unbeknowst to Mary, The King is an alcoholic who often gets drunk and beats Bobby. The two boys, seeing that their mother has found happiness at last with The King, are reluctant to tell either her or the police about the abuse. They instead try to avoid The King by exploring and having adventures in amidst the local environs. In the process, the two concoct a plan for Bobby to escape The King once and for all. Inspired by the urban legend of a boy named Fisher who attempted to fly away on his bicycle, the two convert their epononymous Radio Flyer toy wagon into an airplane. With it, Bobby flies away. Though Mike never sees him again, he continues to receive postcards from him from places all over the world.
airplane.
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* BigDamnHeroes: Shane, twice. Ordinarily watching a big, powerful dog like him mauling somebody would be completely horrifying. Not so much when it's [[AssholeVictim The King]]. Once after he beats Bobby to hear death and once more when he ambushes the boys on the hill.
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* BigDamnHeroes: Shane, twice. Ordinarily watching a big, powerful dog like him mauling somebody would be completely horrifying. Not so much when it's [[AssholeVictim The King]]. Once after he beats Bobby to hear near death and once more when he ambushes the boys on the hill.
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** Be more careful in choosing your spouse. A lesson Mary learns the hard way.
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* AssholeVictim: The King more than deserved getting attacked by Shane and arrested. Twice each.
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* BigDamnHeroes: Shane, twice. Ordinarily watching a big, powerful dog like him mauling somebody would be completely horrifying. Not so much when it's [[AssholeVictim The King]]. Once after he beats Bobby to hear death and once more when he ambushes the boys on the hill.
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* HeroicDog: Shane, 100%.
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** Deliberately used by him when begging Mary to take him back, drunkenly sobbing out crocodile tears and fake promises to change. Sadly, she caves in.
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* BitchInSheepsClothing: The King initially seems like a decent, friendly guy and solid stepfather material for Mike & Bobby. Until the drinking starts...
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* TheDreaded: How Mike and Bobby come to view The King once his true colors show.
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* JustPlaneWrong: No way could the souped-up Radio Flyer fly in real life. (In his review, Creator/RogerEbert saw the whole business as a case of MortonsFork -- it would be horrible to see it fail and kill the kid, but worse for it to succeed because it would suggest to ''real'' kids that they could use fantastic devices to escape their problems.)
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%% * JustPlaneWrong: No way could the souped-up Radio Flyer fly in real life. (In his review, Creator/RogerEbert saw the whole business as a case of MortonsFork -- it would be horrible to see it fail and kill the kid, but worse for it to succeed because it would suggest to ''real'' kids that they could use fantastic devices to escape their problems.)
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* KickTheDog: Two examples side by side. One is literal as The King abuses Shane when Bobby and Mike aren't around. The other is when he starts hurting Mike while he tries to start the plane. [[spoiler: [[TheDogBitesBack Shane bit back]]]] during the second kicking.
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* KickTheDog: Two examples side by side. One is literal as The King abuses Shane when Bobby and Mike aren't around. The other is when he starts hurting Mike while he tries to start the plane. [[spoiler: Shane [[TheDogBitesBack bit back]]]] during the second kicking.
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* KickTheDog: / TheDogBitesBack: Two examples of the former side by side. One is literal as The King abuses Shane when Bobby and Mike aren't around. The other is when he starts hurting Mike while he tries to start the plane. [[spoiler: [[BigDamnHeroes Shane]] [[LaserGuidedKarma bit]] back ]] during the second kicking.
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* KickTheDog: / TheDogBitesBack: Two examples of the former side by side. One is literal as The King abuses Shane when Bobby and Mike aren't around. The other is when he starts hurting Mike while he tries to start the plane. [[spoiler: [[BigDamnHeroes Shane]] [[LaserGuidedKarma bit]] back ]] [[TheDogBitesBack Shane bit back]]]] during the second kicking.
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* [[AbusiveParents Abusive Parent]]: The King. He even has [[ICallItVera a pet name]] for his favorite appliance to beat Bobby with!
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* [[AbusiveParents Abusive Parent]]: Dad]]: The King. He even has [[ICallItVera a pet name]] for his favorite appliance to beat Bobby with!
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* ForTheEvulz: The King is not given a FreudianExcuse for his actions.
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* HateSink: The King is a world class asshole.
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* TragicMistake: Mary accepting The King back into the family with the hopes that he's changed for the better, and that the abuse would finally stop. It does not, and the abuse escalates to the point where Bobby runs away from home and never returns.
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* ICallItVera: Old Trusty, the cord The King uses to beat Bobby.
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* ICallItVera: Old Trusty, the cord The King uses to beat Bobby. Funnily enough, The King is played by the same actor whose character would provide the trope name later on.
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Behind-the-scenes, the film is better known for its TroubledProduction that saw the would-be directorial debut of screenwriter David Mickey Evans, whose original script was purchased in a record-breaking bidding war, quashed mid-way through principal photography by the studio. Several of the lead actors were recast and Evans was replaced in the director's chair by Richard Donner, who made him rewrite large chunks of the script, resulting in a film many critics said was filled with clashing tones.
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Tear Jerker is an YMMV trope. It should be in the YMMV page.
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* {{Tearjerker}}: So, so many. The beatings, Shane's death [[spoiler:until it's revealed he's alive]], and Bobby's departure.
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** Probably only in the hopes that things will change though, unfortunately they do not.
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Changed line(s) 13,14 (click to see context) from:
* AdultsAreUseless: Played straight with the mother; she seems oblivious about The King's abuse of her children, but she later requests a divorce due to the numerous times he beat Bobby and for his heavy drinking. The sheriff knows something is amiss, and is caring enough to intervene on behalf of the brothers, but does not succeed.
** Unfortunately, Mary does forgive Jack and allows to take him back after the arrest, but probably in the hopes that he will stop his drinking and abuse towards his son. Unfortunately, he does not.
** Unfortunately, Mary does forgive Jack and allows to take him back after the arrest, but probably in the hopes that he will stop his drinking and abuse towards his son. Unfortunately, he does not.
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* AdultsAreUseless: Played straight with the mother; she seems oblivious about The King's abuse of her children, but though she later requests does request a divorce later on due to the numerous times he Jack beat Bobby and for heavily drunk (after she found out), after the arrest she tries to reconcile with him. It is sad she does after he what he has done, but she probably does it in the hope he would stop his heavy drinking. bad behavior, unfortunately he does not. The sheriff knows something is amiss, amiss and is caring enough to intervene on behalf of the brothers, brothers few times, but he does not succeed.
** Unfortunately, Mary does forgive Jack and allows to take him back after the arrest, but probablysucceed in the hopes that he will stop his drinking and abuse towards his son. Unfortunately, he does not.doing so.
** Unfortunately, Mary does forgive Jack and allows to take him back after the arrest, but probably
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** Unfortunately, Mary does forgive Jack and allows to take him back after the arrest, but probably in the hopes that he will stop his drinking and abuse towards his son. Unfortunately, he does not.
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* AdultsAreUseless: Played straight with the mother; she seems oblivious about The King's abuse of her children, but she requests a divorce due to the numerous times he beat Bobby and for his heavy drinking. The sheriff knows something is amiss, and is caring enough to intervene on behalf of the brothers, but does not succeed.
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* AdultsAreUseless: Played straight with the mother; she seems oblivious about The King's abuse of her children, but she later requests a divorce due to the numerous times he beat Bobby and for his heavy drinking. The sheriff knows something is amiss, and is caring enough to intervene on behalf of the brothers, but does not succeed.
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Changed line(s) 13 (click to see context) from:
* AdultsAreUseless: Played straight with the mother; she seems oblivious about The King's abuse of her children, and once she realizes what has happened, she reconciles with The King anyway. However, the sheriff knows something is amiss, and in two of his three appearances intervenes on the brothers' behalf. Also, the kids ''are'' actively trying to conceal the abuse.
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* AdultsAreUseless: Played straight with the mother; she seems oblivious about The King's abuse of her children, but she requests a divorce due to the numerous times he beat Bobby and once she realizes what has happened, she reconciles with for his heavy drinking. The King anyway. However, the sheriff knows something is amiss, and in two is caring enough to intervene on behalf of his three appearances intervenes on the brothers' behalf. Also, the kids ''are'' actively trying to conceal the abuse.brothers, but does not succeed.
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* TitleDrop: Of course.
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* TitleDrop: Of course. There are several close-ups on the wagon's brand throughout the film.
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* UrbanLegend: An InUniverse one about how the Fisher kid tried to use the hill next to the airfield as a ramp for a flying stunt that went horribly wrong is talked about at the beginning of the film, and later on Mikey and Bobby remember it and decide to try to fly themselves... of course, after making sure that they have something better than a cape and a bike to try it with.
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* PinkySwear
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* PinkySwearPinkySwear: What makes the whole mess happen, from an Aesop point of view. The plan of transforming a wagon into a functional airplane is the one option that fulfills the promise between the brothers to protect each other that ''doesn't'' breaks the promise to make their mother sad... somehow.
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* [[WickedStepmother Wicked Stepfather]]: The King.
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* [[WickedStepmother Wicked Stepfather]]: The King. He's wicked enough that running away from him would be a pretty good idea in the sense of "he's going to kill my brother, I have to do ''something''"... if not, you know, the fact that calling the police is a million times better.
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* [[WickedStepmother Wicked Stepfather]]
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* [[WickedStepmother Wicked Stepfather]]Stepfather]]: The King.
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* [[AbusiveParents Abusive Parent]]
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* [[AbusiveParents Abusive Parent]]Parent]]: The King. He even has [[ICallItVera a pet name]] for his favorite appliance to beat Bobby with!
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* ShoutOut: The theatre is showing "X-15" in the marquee. The film was Richard Donner's first film.
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* UnnamedParent: Bobby and Mikey call their stepfather The King, "because that's what he liked to be called."
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* FreeRangeChildren: Mike and Bobby. After the abuse starts, Mike invokes this trope as a deliberate way to keep Bobby out of the house and out of The King's crosshairs as much as possible.
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* TheUnfavorite: Bobby is the target of The King's abuse. Mikey has some SurvivorGuilt over this.
