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The Boy Who Could Fly

The Boy Who Could Fly is a 1986 American fantasy drama film written and directed by Nick Castle and produced by Gary Adelson for Lorimar Productions, about a teenage girl who befriends her mute, autistic neighbor, a boy who believes he can fly.1 • 2 It stars Lucy Deakins as Milly Michaelson, Jay Underwood as Eric Gibb, Bonnie Bedelia as their widowed mother Charlene, and Fred Savage as Milly's younger brother Louis in his film debut.1 • 3

Key factDetail
Release26 September 1986 (Los Angeles opening); New York opening 21 November 19861
Director/writerNick Castle; producer Gary Adelson; production company Lorimar Productions, Inc.1
Principal castLucy Deakins (Milly), Jay Underwood (Eric), Bonnie Bedelia (Charlene), Fred Savage (Louis), Fred Gwynne (Uncle Hugo), Colleen Dewhurst (Mrs. Sherman)3
ProductionPrincipal photography began 15 May 1985 in Vancouver, B.C.; thirteen-week schedule; $10 million budget1
Rating and lengthMPAA rating PG; AFI lists 110 minutes, while several reviews and streaming listings give 114 minutes1 • 3
Box office$6.3 million gross in the United States2
RecognitionWon the 1987 Saturn Award for Best Fantasy Film4

Spoilers

Plot

The Michaelson family, recently widowed mother Charlene, teenage daughter Milly, and young son Louis, moves into a run-down house in a modest neighborhood after the father's death.5 From her bedroom window Milly sees the boy next door, Eric, standing on his roof with his arms outstretched as if preparing to fly.3

Eric is a mute autistic teenager whose parents were killed in an airplane crash when he was five years old; from the moment of the crash he began trying to fly, as if he could have saved them.2 • 3 He lives with his hard-drinking uncle Hugo (Fred Gwynne), is obsessed with birds, and alarms his social workers by standing on rooftops and window ledges posed as if flying.2

At school, Milly's teacher Mrs. Sherman (Colleen Dewhurst), a former special-needs teacher, asks Milly to work with Eric, telling her that he does not need a doctor as much as he needs a friend.6 When Eric saves Milly from a potentially deadly fall, she begins to believe he really can take flight.2 After Eric is taken from his uncle and placed in an institution, a series of events leads to Milly and Eric being chased to the roof of the high school, where the two float off together before the astonished community.3 • 6 Eric speaks for the first time, tells Milly he loves her, and flies away forever; Milly understands why he had to leave when scientists and journalists arrive the next day.6

The film also follows parallel small stories: Charlene returns to her old insurance job and must learn to use a computer, Louis plots against the neighborhood bullies, and Milly befriends an understanding teacher.3

Production

A March 1985 Variety brief announced a thirteen-week schedule and a $10 million budget, and principal photography began 15 May 1985 in Vancouver, British Columbia.1 The film was shot in Dolby Stereo in selected theaters, with prints by Deluxe.7

Flying effects. According to an October 1986 American Cinematographer article, flying effects supervisor Bob Harman used his bag of tricks from Superman (1978) and other films to complete the film's flying sequences.1 Bruce Broughton composed the music, and the songs included "Walkin' On Air," written and performed by Stephen Bishop, and "Back Of The Bus," with music by Broughton and lyrics and vocals by Nick Castle.1

After the film, Castle and Adelson developed a working relationship that led to the tap-dancing film Tap (1989); Adelson's father Merv Adelson, then chairman of Lorimar, had wanted to make such a film.8

Reception

Critical response. The film holds a 59% Tomatometer on Rotten Tomatoes from 32 reviews, with a critics consensus crediting Castle's command of tone for keeping the film from surrendering to its sentimental tendencies, and a 69% audience score.2 On Metacritic it has a Metascore of 67, based on 9 positive and 4 mixed reviews with none negative.9 The Washington Post's Richard Harrington called it a lovely, engaging film that is at once funny, sad, moving, inspirational and revealing, and gave it 90.9 Roger Ebert, film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times and winner of the 1975 Pulitzer Prize for criticism, rated it 75 and wrote that it finds just about the right balance between its sunny message and the heartbreak always threatening to prevail.3 • 9 The Los Angeles Times's Kevin Thomas called it as fragile as a kite, kept aloft by Castle's commitment and Lucy Deakins's presence.9

Box office. The film grossed $6.3 million in the United States against its $10 million budget.2 • 1

Awards. It won the 1987 Saturn Award for Best Fantasy Film, and received Saturn Award nominations for Best Performance by a Younger Actor.4

Themes and legacy

The film deals with grief and disability alongside its fantasy premise: Milly is grieving her father, who died of cancer by suicide, and Eric's autism is central to the story, which Ebert noted gave the parable harder edges than a Capra-style fable of fifty years earlier.3 Common Sense Media, which recommends the film for ages 8 and up, describes it as a gentle fantasy about an autistic boy who has a strong positive effect on his neighbors, with themes of faith in oneself and bravery.6 The Australian Centre for the Moving Image catalogs the film under children's films and under the subject category Autism.10 A 2014 survey of films about mental illness lists it as a fantasy with psychological themes.11

The film has remained available on home video and streaming, and it is frequently cited in "identify this movie" discussions as the 1980s film about a special-needs boy who can secretly fly.12

References

  1. The Boy Who Could Fly (1986), AFI Catalog of Feature Films
  2. The Boy Who Could Fly, Rotten Tomatoes
  3. Roger Ebert, The Boy Who Could Fly (1986), Chicago Sun-Times / rogerebert.com
  4. The Boy Who Could Fly, TV Guide
  5. A Soaring "Boy Who Could Fly", The Washington Post, 25 September 1986
  6. The Boy Who Could Fly: Parents' Guide, Common Sense Media
  7. The Boy Who Could Fly (1986), AFI Catalog (details page)
  8. Tap (1989), AFI Catalog of Feature Films
  9. The Boy Who Could Fly critic reviews, Metacritic
  10. The Boy Who Could Fly, Australian Centre for the Moving Image collection
  11. Movies and Mental Illness (Wedding & Niemiec, 2014), excerpt
  12. The Boy Who Could Fly streaming, JustWatch

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026

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The Boy Who Could Fly

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