There is a scene in the film "Radio Flyer..."

[mreilly]

... a poignant, bittersweet film from the 90's where 2 boys build an airplane so one of them can escape their abusive POS stepfather.

At launch time the plane rolls downhill in preparation for takeoff and the angry drunken stepfather chases after it, then gets smacked in the head by the wing and is knocked out.

The sheriff (played by John Heard), is well aware what kind of scum this jerk is. He arrives on scene and cuffs the stepfather, muttering: "You're DONE!" to his inert form.

Yes, folks, Bob Mueller is that sheriff and Donny Two Scoops is the inert, drunken stepfather.

"You're DONE!"

[Shell_Seas]

1. I remember that movie

Now I want to see it again, haven't seen it in 20+ years.

[lunatica]

2. Wasn't the other boy like an invisible friend or something?

An imaginary friend who is really the abused boy?

[mreilly]

3. Sort of.. but debatable

... there is a school of thought that says little brother Bobby (the abused one of the two) never actually existed. That the abuse was heaped on the protagonist and he concocted the "fly away in a plane" story to try to escape his trauma from the abuse.

It's a good theory and maybe it's true; the protagonist telling the story (somehow Elijah Wood as the kid became Tom Hanks as the adult) kind of alludes to it.

[Shell_Seas]

4. Now I HAVE to re-watch it

Because I don't remember that. I was a kid back then, so I might not have even interpreted it like that. Thanks.

[lunatica]

7. See my response just below yours where

I recall that the roles were reversed. The kid that narrates seems to be the one that isn't abused, but in reality both the kids are really one kid. He just survives the abuse by pretending it happened to the other kid.

It shows how one movie can be for both children and for adults.

[lunatica]

6. That's it! The real one was the one who apparently wasn't the abused one

he managed to survive the abuse by pretending it didn't happen to him. I think you're right.

[byronius]

5. I know the guy who played the injured older mechanic guy who tried it first.

Rob Munich. I was in a great experimental theater project with him.

He also did a lot of commercials. Good actor.