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Introduction to Sunshine Superman

               Robert Lee Shearer, Executive Producer            Russell Mentzer, Executive Producer

When I was a young man I did some very foolish things for the love of a
woman. I am not proud of them and have never told anyone. This story is true
although if asked I will most likely deny it. I have changed all the names
to protect the guilty as well as the innocent. There may still be people out
there who would not take kindly to the mention of their names.
Sunshine Superman is an anti-drug statement although it may not appear so at
first. Many parents tell their children not to touch drugs but they have no
practical experience in the matter. Other parents are afraid to admit to
their children that they have practical experience and therefore avoid the
subject. And "Just Say No" doesn't really work for anyone over the age of
seven! So this story is for all the kids who are considering drug use for
whatever reason, from peer pressure to boredom to depression, and for all
the parents who don't know how to discuss the subject with their children.
Yes, drug abuse can ruin your life and drug abuse can take your life, and
you don't even have to stick a needle in your arm.
This is also a statement against child-abuse. Sometimes the causes of drug
abuse are right under our noses but like the forest, they can't be seen for
the trees.
I am presently a chemist for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of
Environmental Protection and have been employed there for almost twenty-four
years. I have no education beyond high-school other than a few credits at a
local community college, but through determination and much perseverance I
have worked my way up from a lab technician to a robotic chemist. Before
then I was much less than an asset to society.
Lastly I am a drummer. I have always been a drummer as far back as I can
remember and my mother can produce pictures of me playing drums at the age
of two. Sadly she can't produce any pictures of me at a later stage of my
childhood, as we were separated from the time I was nine years old until I
was eighteen. Those nine years were pure hell for me, filled with physical
and psychological abuse from my stepmother. Through it all I found escape in
the drums although I was never permitted to have a set at home. Strangely I
never missed a day of school. It was more pleasant to attend a boring
History class than to stay home with the Flu and suffer through the abuse I
received there.

Sunshine Superman starts sixteen years in the future with sixty-six year old
Brandon Reed, now known as Pop, sound asleep on his reclining chair. He is
awakened by his visiting grandson Lee, and is more amused than offended by
Lee's appearance as he recalls his own appearance almost fifty years ago.
His Grandson has come to Pennsylvania because he was caught with a small
amount of marijuana by his mother, an officer on the Cody, Wyoming police
force. His mother is at a loss for a solution to the problem so she asks her
father to help. Lee is expecting some sort of punishment from his
grandfather but is surprised when nothing is mentioned.
Instead Lee finds an old photo album containing snapshots of his grandfather
as a teenager, in the accompaniment of a beautiful young woman who is
definitely not his grandmother. His grandfather appears to be very clean-cut
and respectable in the photos and the girl is gorgeous. He asks his
grandfather who and where she is and his grandfather proceeds to tell the
story of his abusive childhood, his love for the young woman, their marriage
and the story of how he lost her.
The old man is constantly complaining of various aches and pains throughout
the story, especially his sore elbow. He tells of his senior class trip and
the trouble he got into, the abuses he suffered under his stepmother and his
escape from an unpleasant home life. He describes the peer pressure that
made him decide to try marijuana for the first time and the depression he
felt from the loss of the girl he loved that drove him to try other drugs
and stop caring about himself.
He describes the pit he descends into when he drops out of college, loses
his job at the local hospital and becomes homeless. Through it all he yearns
for his lost girlfriend as he descends farther into darkness and begins to
peddle LSD. He is soon suspected of selling drugs and leaves town in an old
VW to avoid arrest. He gets to Key West and runs out of cash but panhandles
and deals LSD to get enough money to return home.
When he gets home he finds his long lost girlfriend Valerie, waiting for him
and he discovers the police have no interest in him. Brandon and Valerie
soon wed but he spends all his time and money getting high. She buys a
mobile home and pays all the bills while he returns to college only to flunk
out again.
They get evicted from the trailer court and buy a small piece of ground
where he finally decides it's time to get his act together and quit getting
high. He returns to the hospital where he once worked and acquires another
job there. The length of his employment is cut short when his best friend
slips some LSD into a cup of coffee and abandons him. He struggles to get
himself to the emergency room at the very same hospital where he works, but
never fully recovers from the bad trip. He soon quits his job.
He becomes a hypochondriac, violent at times, disoriented and unable to
maintain steady employment. The mobile home blows over in a windstorm and
they build a new house on the same spot, but he quits another job at the
same time. That is the last straw for Valerie and she leaves him and he
never sees her again. The shock of her leaving is the one thing he needed to
get him back on track. Despite the loss, he finally becomes determined to
get and hold a good job and become an asset to society.
When he finishes telling his story he falls asleep, only to be awakened by
his daughters who are once again teenagers. He sees the icepack on his elbow
and realizes he has been dreaming and as of yet he has no grandson. He is
once again a forty-seven year old musician who played the drums a little to
long and hard the day before. He remembers visiting a physician and taking
some Tylenol for the pain and he now realizes the Tylenol was a prescription
pain killer with codeine in it. He begins to understand why his dreams were
so vivid.
Many of the anti-drug programs tell our children why they shouldn't take
drugs and how drugs can kill. They would like everyone to simply turn their
backs when offered the opportunity but they never say how to do it. Perhaps
this story will help.
I hope you enjoy viewing this story more than I enjoyed living it!
Sincerely,
Robert L Shearer
Chemist

You can view Robert Lee Shearers website here.

film info

SUNSHINE SUPERMAN

“Sunshine came softly through my window today,

I could’a tripped out but I changed my ways.”

  Donovan

PRODUCERS

• Robert Lee Shearer: Executive Producer
• Russell Mentzer: Executive Producer
• Michael Babalola: Producer, Director 

STATS:

Genre: Drama, Coming of Age

Running Time: 120 Minutes

Release Date: 2008-2009