A Letter for Joe (2013)

Denny Roberts and his college-age friends are somewhat jealous of Denny's underage brother, Joe, who idolizes them all. The older young men treated young Joe as a nuisance and spend much of their time trying to avoid him in the waning days of summer vacation in their small hometown of Mound City, Florida. With only a few weeks left before returning to college, Denny hits on an idea that he thinks will get the young pest out of their hair once and for all. The older boys produce a fake letter of introduction that fabricates a fictional friendship between the famous billionaire businessman Howard Hughes and the letter's signor. They give the letter to Joe and encourage him to go on what they believe will be an elaborate prank. Innocent Joe is grateful for the opportunity and spends all of his summer job earnings on an airplane ticket to travel from Florida to Nevada for a chance to meet Hughes at his Las Vegas penthouse hideaway. Armed with the phony letter and God's promises that all things work together for good, Joe, in fact, is able to meet the richest man in America and strike up a friendship. As Joe is prospering, the fortunes of the older boys go in the opposite direction. They lose track of young Joe while they focus on their very survival. In their minds, they wonder if God is punishing them for their deception of the younger Roberts? Never learning of Joe's success in meeting Hughes, they also fear that when Joe finally returns home he will retaliate for the elaborate ruse. The depth of God's forgiveness is put to the test by all of the young men, for several very different reasons. What started as a joke, turns deadly serious and it is determined that true forgiveness is no joke. Set in 1970, the film stars newcomer Evan Schwalb and features Miss Gena Burghoff and Jeff Wise, as Howard Hughes.