The Wizard (movie)

The Wizard is a 1989 movie starring Fred Savage, Christian Slater, and Beau Bridges.

Related Topics:
1989 - Movie - Fred Savage - Christian Slater - Beau Bridges

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Corey (Savage) lives with his father (Bridges) and his older brother (Slater). His younger brother, Jimmy, lives with Corey's mother and her new husband. Jimmy has some sort of learning disability — presumably autism, but this is never explicitly stated. Jimmy's mother has become frustrated with his treatment, so she decides to put him in a care facility. Corey decides to run away with Jimmy, and they set off for California with very little money and no idea how to get there.

Related Topics:
Learning disability - Autism - California

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Along the way, they meet Haley (played by Jenny Lewis), another runaway, and discover that Jimmy has an incredible talent for video games when he scores 50,000 points at Double Dragon. (In actuality, a score of 50,000 in that game is not terribly impressive.) Together, Corey, Jimmy, and Haley head for a video game tournament in California, while being pursued by Putnam (a bounty hunter), and their family. They also have a run in with Lucas Barton, who owns all 97 NES games. He tries to put the moves on Haley with his Power Glove, but Corey puts a stop to that.

Related Topics:
Jenny Lewis - Video game - Double Dragon - Bounty hunter - NES - Power Glove

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The movie features footage from many classic NES games, but this footage contains many factual errors. It also features a "preview" of sorts for Super Mario Bros. 3, which was to be released the following year. Though critically panned as a 90-minute video game commercial, it remains popular among video game fans, primarily for its value as camp.

Related Topics:
Super Mario Bros. 3 - Camp

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