This is an official "Donald P. Borchers Production." Music by Andy Summers.
Steven Bratter (https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0105581/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cr) and I were both interested in making "Desire & Hell at Sunset Motel" (1991): https://youtu.be/0fxQElucR6I. After I actually produced it, Steven brought me the second draft screenplay for this project, which Warner Bros. owned, through a development deal for Sandra Bernhard. I purchased the rights to the original spec script directly from Joseph Minion. As I undertook the production, my thinking was that since the protagonist, being 10-years-old, would not have any so-called "marquee value," that every other part should have celebrity recognition to a rainbow of demographics. To get the casting rolling I offered Drew Barrymore her role in what would be our third and final collaboration, while Steven Bratter enlisted hie friend Craig Sheffer to appear, albeit uncredited.
A 1991 American black comedy road movie directed by Barry Shills, produced by Donald P. Borchers, written by Joseph Minion, cinematography by Joseph Yacoe, starring Jordan Christopher Michael, Martha Quinn, Flea, Michael J. Pollard, Meat Loaf, Drew Barrymore, Garrett Morris, Susan Tyrrell, Mary Woronov, Allyce Beasley, Shelley Berman, Jack Nance, John Laughlin, Dick Miller, John Diehl, Robert Picardo, Charles Tyner, Sandy Baron, Vince Edwards, Paul Willson, Robin Duke, Irwin Keyes, and Craig Sheffer (uncredited).
After a night of hearing his parents fight about the possibility of another mouth to feed and their lives so far, ten-year-old Gus (Jordan Christopher Michael) decides to cash out his piggy bank and take off in a stolen Ford Mustang. He plans to collect all the MOTORAMA cards, participating gas stations across the country, and claim the grand prize, which might set him up for a promising future.
Everyone treats Gus like an adult. At a gas station, he indirectly causes an attendant, Phil (John Laughlin), to be hit by a truck. That night, he encounters the Motel Clerk (Jack Nance), who captures squirrels.
Running low on money, Gus steals gas. However, the couple (Sandy Baron & Mary Woronov) catches him and knocks him out, damaging his eye socket. They realize he's a kid and call a doctor. But, instead of allowing surgical repair of the eye, they decline an operation.
The next morning, in low spirits and very low on money or gas, Gus stops for food, wearing an eye patch over his lost eye. A biker, Vern (Meat Loaf), identifies him as a pirate and challenges him to arm wrestle for money. Gus loses. The bikers brand him with a tattoo.
Stopped at a rest stop, still desperate for money, he gambles with a father (Dick Miller) over a game of horseshoes and wins. Then the father and his wife take off, abandoning their children.
His journey nears completion with one letter remaining. Gus drives onward, through Essex, an industrial park where people fight, burn crosses, and take drugs. On a rain soaked highway he swerves to avoid a truck and drives his car off an unfinished bridge, damaging it so he can no longer drive.
Walking along the road he encounters an older version of himself, driven crazy by the fact that he never found the last letter, the same one Gus is missing. At the next Gas Station Gus comes across a Hunchback Attendant (Irwin Keyes), buys gas, and receives just one card. However, it turns out to be the final letter he needs. His hair now gray, and viewed by everyone as an old man, Gus heads off to the company offices to claim his prize.
At the company headquarters, the Receptionist (Allyce Beasley), explains in the lobby that collecting all the letters does not make Gus a prize winner; he is just 'eligible' for the prize. Not giving up, Gus tries to meet with the company executives, but only gets as far as the secretary, Miss Lawton (Robin Duke). Everyone now sees him as the small child he is, and treats him as such. The secretary explains that nobody is supposed to win Motorama. She congratulates him on collecting the letters, but says that there will be no prize. A security guard (Marvin Elkins) throws Gus out of the skyscraper window.
Gus lands in a pool of water, then emerges from the same river that he stopped at after the first diner. His car is good as new, and his health is restored. His eye is back and his tattoo is gone. He throws away the metal leg extensions he made to enable himself to drive the car and hitchhikes back towards home. En route, he finds Phil has survived being hit by the truck, but is severely injured. Lacking other options, Gus decides to stay in Phil's gas station and work there to aid him. He is now back to being viewed as an adult, despite still being a child.
Gus later fills up the car of a gambler (Shelley Berman). He claims to have just won a million dollars and shows the cash to Gus. The gambler then drives away, only to die from the same accident Phil endured, hitting a truck head-on. Gus remains at the desolate gas station with Phil.