Bad Ronald
| Bad Ronald | |
|---|---|
The cover of home video versions of Bad Ronald.
The tag-line reads: "The Wilby place is haunted... by a ghost who isn't dead!" |
|
| Genre | Drama Horror Thriller |
| Written by |
John Holbrook Vance (novel) Andrew Peter Marin (teleplay) |
| Directed by | Buzz Kulik |
| Starring |
Scott Jacoby Kim Hunter Pippa Scott John Larch Dabney Coleman John Fiedler Lisa Eilbacher Roger Aaron Brown |
| Music by | Fred Karlin |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Lee Rich |
| Producer(s) | Philip Capice |
| Location(s) | Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California |
| Cinematography | Charles F. Wheeler |
| Editor(s) | Samuel E. Beetley |
| Running time | 74 min |
| Production company(s) | Lorimar Productions |
| Distributor | ABC |
| Release | |
| Original network | ABC |
| Original release |
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Bad Ronald is a 1974 American made-for-television thriller film starring Scott Jacoby, Kim Hunter, Dabney Coleman and sisters Lisa and Cindy Eilbacher. It is based on the book of the same title by Jack Vance.
After being out of print for years following its initial VHS release in the 1980s, the film was reissued on DVD in August 2009, as part of the manufacture-on-demand Warner Archive Collection.
Ronald Wilby (Scott Jacoby) is a socially inept, awkward high school youth with budding artistic talent and a predilection for fantasy, who is often ridiculed for his behavior and mannerisms. His overprotective mother, Elaine (Kim Hunter), is in need of surgery and plans for Ronald to become a doctor and cure her illness. Ronald's father has not been heard from in years, having divorced his mother and then agreeing to terminate his parental rights in exchange for not having to pay child support.
One afternoon, while asking out Laurie Matthews (Shelley Spurlock), he is rejected and then ridiculed by her friends. As he returns home, he accidentally knocks over her younger sister Carol (Angela Hoffman). Carol, like Laurie, also taunts Ronald, at which point he pushes her over, inadvertently killing her when she strikes her head on a concrete block during the fall. He buries the body and confesses to his mother, but fearing the police will not believe that it was accidental, Ronald and his mother wallpaper the door frame to the downstairs bathroom and convert the closed-off space to a living quarters for Ronald, with a concealed trapdoor in the pantry through which Ronald can escape in an emergency. The plan is for him to hide in the room until the incident blows over, and Mrs. Wilby tells the police that Ronald ran away.
Ronald's mother keeps paying attention to what neighbors, particularly the nosy Mrs. Schumacher (Linda Watkins), and others are saying about the young girl's disappearance and tells Ronald that when it's safe, he can return to a normal life. One afternoon, she is taken into a hospital for gallbladder surgery, from which she unexpectedly dies. In the meantime, Ronald has created a fantasy world in his own head consisting of a prince and a princess that live happily until a devil appears and a struggle begins.
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Wikipedia