Daniel and the Towers

This is an entirely fictional story of Daniel. This is not a story about the Watts Towers or Sam Rodia although they are included in the story, again fictional.

Daniel is a troubled young boy who lives in Watts in 1954 with his grandmother. He and his friends make fun of Sam Rodia and even throw rocks at the Watts Towers. One day Daniel breaks the fancy window of a market with a rock. His grandmother gives him money to pay for the window but it's not nearly enough. He decides to ask Sam to make the window in exchange for helping him build the towers. A friendship develops but there is still trouble ahead.

The first half is almost all about how Daniel gets into trouble of his own doing and seems to hate everyone & everything. I almost couldn't get thru the first half. It was just too much of the same thing. And you knew where the story had to go from there. No surprises. The ending was cute but predictable. The acting was very mediocre.

I struggled to get thru the first half. The next quarter of the show was better but so predictable I quickly lost interest again. Can't recommend this.

This is a really nice movie adults and kids can watch together.

Daniel has some emotional problems, because his mother died, and his father left him. He lives with his kind, hard-working grandmother. He and his friends laugh at an odd older man who collects "beautiful" junk and uses it to make the unusual, odd, towers in his backyard. Daniel and his friends vandalize this man's work of art, and get into some other trouble in the neighborhood. But because of this man's kindness, Daniel learns to appreciate beauty where it can be found, and to take pride in personal work. Also, neighbors are shown helping each other, which is one of my pet themes.