The Children Nobody Wanted (1981)

Description

"If there's nothing wrong with him, why is he here?", college freshman Tom Butterfield asks a doctor about an orphaned little boy. "Rotten luck", is the reply. "Joey's mother and father were killed. The court couldn't find a foster home. They had to put him someplace". "Someplace" is the Missouri State Hospital, a facility for mentally ill men. Tom is appalled - then outraged when Joey is brutally raped by a patient. Tom and the doctor bend a few dozen rules to release Joey into Tom's care, an act of courage that starts Tom on a mission to provide hope and homes for more unwanted children. Fred Lehne ("Lost") stars as Tom in this inspiring real-life story about the founding of Missouri's respected Butterfield Youth Ranches. In one of her earliest roles, Michelle Pfeiffer costars as Tom's supportive girlfriend Jennifer. Pfeiffer would later bring to the big screen a tale of young lives transformed when she starred in "Dangerous Minds".