A fired dad becomes the world's most unhinged paperboy—and it's weirdly beautiful.
After being fired after a dispute with his boss, Clark is free to take over his son's newspaper route during the boy's illness. Intending only to fill in for a few days, Clark quickly develops a manic enthusiasm for the job, and is even able to take revenge on his former boss (who is on the route) by tearing the comics page out of his newspaper.
Acting
Tim Halligan's desperate cheerfulness is uncomfortable art.
Direction
Ullendorff finds epic stakes in mundane suburban sprawl.
Director
David Ullendorff
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The CINE Golden Eagle was a major industry honor before being discontinued in 2016; winning put this obscure short in company with Spielberg's early work.
This captures peak late-Reagan America: the panic of white-collar obsolescence, the sacredness of the suburban paper route, and the belief that competence equals virtue.
US
