80s movie about a kidnapping/road trip: What's the title?
March 10, 2015 9:25 AM   Subscribe

I'm trying to remember the name of a movie I saw when I was young. It was the first movie I saw by myself at a theater so it must have been late 80s, and was probably rated PG. What I can remember of the plot (spoiler alert, I guess), a young boy is kidnapped by a much older man who takes him on the road. The boy is resistant at first but eventually forms a bond with his kidnapper, maybe seeing him as a father figure. The law eventually catches up with them and somehow they end up in the water (a lake?) where the kidnapper is wounded (shot?) and eventually, I assume, dies. That's all I've got. Any ideas? I'm sure it's NOT "A Perfect World", although the plot sounds similar.
posted by subtlemel to Media & Arts (10 answers total)
 
Was it The War.

On second read it's not, sorry.
posted by Cosine at 9:53 AM on March 10, 2015


Was it Terminator 2?
posted by Potomac Avenue at 9:55 AM on March 10, 2015 [2 favorites]


Response by poster: Not "The War". 1994 is too recent and I'm pretty sure Kevin Costner wasn't in it.
posted by subtlemel at 9:55 AM on March 10, 2015


Response by poster: Heh, I'm pretty sure I would remember Terminator 2...
posted by subtlemel at 9:56 AM on March 10, 2015


This is a wild guess and doesn't fit your description, but DARYL fits some of the scenes (older man getting shot in a car, ending in a lake, but not a kidnapping)
posted by thewumpusisdead at 10:00 AM on March 10, 2015


Are you sure it's not A Perfect World? All the details are exactly the same. Do you remember the Casper ghost costume? And Kevin Costner is the lead.
posted by mrfuga0 at 10:07 AM on March 10, 2015


Any chance you're mis-remembering and the child was a girl? Because if so, it might be "Savannah Smiles."
posted by jbickers at 10:08 AM on March 10, 2015


Best answer: Martin's Day?
posted by fourpotatoes at 10:09 AM on March 10, 2015 [1 favorite]


Ah! A Perfect World is the one I was thinking of, not The War.
posted by Cosine at 10:12 AM on March 10, 2015


Response by poster: Yes! Martin's Day!
posted by subtlemel at 10:40 AM on March 10, 2015 [1 favorite]


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