Bad Ronald (1974) (TV)

Director:

Buzz Kulik

Writers:

John Holbrook Vance (novel)
Andrew Peter Marin (teleplay)

Release Date:

23 October 1974 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

The Wilby place is haunted... by a ghost who isn't dead!

Plot:

A shy teenager accidentally kills a mocking peer, and his mother helps him hide in a spare room in their house...

Plot Keywords:

House | Fantasy World | Teen | Teenager | Hiding

Cast

Scott Jacoby	...	Ronald Wilby
Pippa Scott	...	Mrs. Wood
John Larch	...	Sgt. Lynch
Dabney Coleman	...	Mr. Wood
Kim Hunter	...	Elaine Wilby
John Fiedler	...	Mr. Roscoe
Linda Watkins	...	Mrs. Schumacher
Cindy Fisher	...	Babs Wood
Cindy Eilbacher	...	Althea Wood
Lisa Eilbacher	...	Ellen Wood
Ted Eccles	...	Duane Mathews
Lesley Woods	...	Aunt Margaret
Aneta Corsaut	...	Mrs. Mathews
Shelley Spurlock	...	Laurie Mathews
Angela Hoffman	...	Carol Mathews

Runtime:

74 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Unrated | Iceland:12

Filming Locations:

Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA

Company:

Lorimar Productions

Goofs:

Continuity: When Babs runs downstairs in Mrs. Schumaker's house, the basement door opens out into the kitchen and the hinges are on the kitchen side. When Ronald shuts that door, the scene shows him pulling it shut from the kitchen side. When Babs knocks the hinge pins out to escape, the hinges are on the basement side.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Ugly Betty: Bad Amanda (#3.10)" (2008)

"Bad" is good

I grew up watching ABC TV "Movie of the Week" and I especially loved the ones that were scary, like Gargoyles & things like that, so how I missed this one at the time, I'll never know. Ronald is a boy who lives with his divorced mother, who is a bit eccentric (played by Kim Hunter), and Ronald is a good son & a very talented artist. Unfortunately he's also shunned by his classmates because he's not "cool". Ronald accidentally kills a young girl and panics and buries her in a shallow grave, where she is found shortly after. He's already confessed to mom who decides that they will wall up a bathroom under the stairs to make a hiding place for Ronald, till things blow over. The police, of course, are looking for Ronald but he's got a safe little hideaway. Mom, however, has been ill and must have gall bladder surgery, so she prepares Ronald with lots of canned goods & powdered milk & then checks into the hospital but never checks out again. So Ronald is left there while the house is cleaned out, sold, and a new family, The Woods, move in. Ronald has by then made spy-holes and takes every opportunity to raid the fridge, but he's also become a bit obsessed with one of the young daughters, which proves to be his undoing. This is very well done for a TV movie and is quite suspenseful. Probably one of the better "made for TV" films I've seen and like I said, I don't know how I missed this one "back in the day". 8 out of 10.