80 Steps To Newton

80 STEPS TO JONAH-1969-Chubby Wayne Newton plays Mark Winters, an itinerant worker involved in a car chase with police that ends in a crash. He's ok but the guy with him (Sal Mineo) dies. He's arrested but on his way to the hospital he jumps out of the ambulance and escapes into the Utah desert with his guitar in tow. After sleeping in a haystack he stumbles upon a special summer camp for blind children (including future TV kid stars Erin Moran and Brandon Cruz). The school is run by Tracey (Diana Ewing ) and Nonna (Jo Van Fleet, EAST OF EDEN). Using the name Jonah he becomes the resident handyman. R.G. Armstrong and Slim Pickens are the local police looking for him. Keenan Wynn is Barney Glover a gambling plainclothes detective. Nonna is just about the only person at the place who can see so she knows Jonah's secret. Butch Patrick (THE MUNSTERS) is a kid neighbor who can see.

Wayne and the kids sing "Tender Loving Care" while planting a garden. Meanwhile Tracey does a sculpture of Jonah and falls in love with him. She gets so excited she kisses the clay head! Newton croons several other songs (a couple which he co-wrote). Jonah does a lot of chores and the kids really like him but when he's shooting at a marauding mountain lion Kim (Moran) is accidentally shot in the leg. He fixes her and croons a song on the guitar. (Kim mentions something about strange noises right after this) From the weird bust Tracey made Glover deduces that Jonah is Mark and arrests him. A flashback which features Mickey Rooney as a drunk shows how Mark/Jonah/Newt was held up by knife toting Jerry (Mineo) and caused the car crash. Fortunately Mickey shows up in the present to exonerate Jonah so he can return to Tracey and the kids and build a merry go round.

This tearjerker, feel good movie was directed by busy TV director Gerd Oswald between making episodes of GENTLE BEN and IT TAKES A THIEF after working on THE OUTER LIMITS and movies like A KISS BEFORE DYING and AGENT FOR H.A.R.M.

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