(1990)

Submitted by Tornado Dragon

Through some electronic trickery disguised as signs from God, Terry (Paul Hogan) manages to get Reverend Bealeman (Parley Baer) to meet with Rose (Linda Kozlowski) to discuss donating money to improve the children’s center. Also, he makes a dinner date with Rose for afterwards.

Meanwhile, at the Paradise Bar, Steve (Elias Koteas) overhears Detective Freebody (Michael Alldredge) and Detective Bill (David Alan Grier) asking the bartender questions about Terry. After seeing a photo of him, the bartender mentions that he had picked a fight with Steve a while back. Realizing that Terry is in trouble and that the cops will question him about him, Steve sneaks out. After the bartender notices that he just left, the detectives split up to try to find him, and Freebody finds him first. Steve leads him on a chase, which comes to an end in a warehouse area where Steve tricks him into running into a large wooden beam that knocks him flat. However, Steve then accidentally runs into some crates, breaking a bunch of bottles he is keeping in a bag on his lap, and a large shard of glass critically wounds his right thigh. Steve continues his escape, and Freebody considers himself beaten and walks away. 

Bealeman and Rose have their meeting in the center while Terry waits outside. After Bealeman leaves, Terry meets up with Rose inside and finds out that Bealeman is going to fund the construction of a brand new center. As they leave for dinner, Steve shows up, and after seeing his injury, Rose leaves to call an ambulance. Steve tells Terry that there are cops looking for him, so he’d better get out of town post-haste. He then tells Terry that he knows that he is going to die, but is scared, and Terry tries to soothe his fears by telling him that he gave his life for another, like he did, which is the noblest way to go, and that this will make him a real angel when he dies since he isn’t a scumbag like he was. When Steve still expresses fear, Terry asks God to give him a sign that everything will be alright and that he’s telling him the truth. The cross on the church (which he had earlier installed a lighting system into, with a universal remote as an on-off switch, to serve as another sign from God for Bealeman) then starts shining brightly, and this gives Steve assurance. Rose then returns, and he dies in her arms.

Terry tells Rose that Steve is with God now, and he knows that for a fact because he gave him a sign by making that cross glow. Rose looks at his universal remote and believes that he made that happen, but Terry tries to assure her that the cross lit up on its own, and he affirms that he is an angel (almost). As an approaching ambulance siren is heard, Terry tells Rose that he has to leave to continue his work, but God told him that he could return here if she wanted him to, and she admits that she does. He hands her the remote and departs.

After the EMTs arrive and take Steve’s body away, Rose tries to turn on the cross with the remote, but nothing happens. She then opens the battery compartment and discovers it to be empty, and the cross then starts to shine again. She runs after Terry and calls out to him, but when he attempts to wave at her, he slips and falls down an embankment into the path of an oncoming semi-truck. To the surprise of Rose and especially Terry, the truck passes right through him, meaning that he has passed his test and become an official angel. As he hitches a ride out of town from a passing motorist, he yells to Rose that he will be back, and after watching him go, she looks up to Heaven and smiles.