Ron Dean Movies

An infertile husband and his wife go to extreme measures to have the baby they so desperately want. When they find adoption is not viable, the woman goes to a singles bar for a one nighter. When that fails, she visits a male prostitute. Meanwhile the husband tries to cope with his sterility. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A Chicago cop is wrongly accused of theft and dismissed from the force. In order to clear his name, he goes after the real culprits -- without the extra baggage of police regulations that might have made his task more difficult if he were still active in the department. This script was originally intended for a Dirty Harry vehicle, but was never realized. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide

Written for television by Gary Devore, Heart of Steel concentrates on a societal dilemma that has only gotten worse since 1983. Second-generation steelworker Peter Strauss loses the job he's held all his life when the mill closes down. Unable to find work, Strauss takes to drink, then vents his frustration on his family. A personal tragedy snaps Strauss out of his self-pity and renews his will to survive. Only the "feel good" ending strikes a false note in the otherwise grimly persuasive Heart of Steel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

There was once a time within living memory when people eagerly awaited a TV-movie starring Mister T. The Toughest Man in the World casts the former Laurence Turand as nightclub bouncer "Bruise" Brubaker. Marshmallow-soft on the inside, Bruise befriends a group of underprivileged kids at a youth center. The film bears a marked resemblance to Mister T's Saturday-morning cartoon series; whether it is better or worse is left to the viewer. I pity the fool who missed The Toughest Man in the World when it was first telecast on November 7, 1984. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

James Belushi, king of the direct-to-video film, stars in Birthday Boy. Actually, the film first appeared on cable TV, but it was consigned to video shortly thereafter. This time around, Belushi plays an inept salesman who undergoes an epiphany upon reaching his 30th birthday. The catalyst for his "change of life" is a bizarre and oftimes disastrous business trip. Lifting this minor effort out of the ordinary is the fact that Belushi wrote the script himself. Ron Dean, Dennis Farina, and Michelle Riga costar. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

John Hughes wrote and directed this quintessential 1980s high school drama featuring the hottest young stars of the decade. Trapped in a day-long Saturday detention in a prison-like school library are Claire, the princess (Molly Ringwald); Andrew, the jock (Emilio Estevez); John, the criminal (Judd Nelson); Brian, the brain (Anthony Michael Hall); and Allison, the basket case (Ally Sheedy). These five strangers begin the day with nothing in common, each bound to his/her place in the high school caste system. Yet the students bond together when faced with the villainous principal (Paul Gleason), and they realize that they have more in common than they may think, including a contempt for adult society. "When you grow up, your heart dies," Allison proclaims in one of the film's many scenes of soul-searching, and, judging from the adults depicted in the film, the teen audience may very well agree. Released in a decade overflowing with derivative teen films, The Breakfast Club has developed an almost cult-like status. ~ Dylan Wilcox, All Movie Guide

Crime Story was a valiant attempt by Miami Vice producer Michael Mann to present a compelling police drama series in a serialized fashion. Introduced as a two-hour TV movie on September 18, 1986, the weekly, hour-long series was initially set in Chicago in 1963. Dennis Farina, a former cop in real life, starred as Lt. Mike Torello, head of the windy city's Major Crime Unit (MCU), who carried on a blood feud with young, ambitious gangster Ray Luca (Anthony John Denison). Assisting Torello in his efforts was prosecuting attorney David Abrams (Stephen Lang), a mobster's son who had "seen the light" and switched sides. Others on Torello's team included Sgt. Danny Krychek (Bill Smitrovich), and detectives Nate Grossman (Steve Ryan), Joey Indelli (Bill Campbell), and Walter Clemmons (Paul Butler), while Luca was backed up by his faithful but dangerously stupid henchman Paulie Taglia (played by John Santucci, who, in a perverse spin of the Dennis Farina situation, had been a genuine criminal before turning to acting).

Halfway through season one, Luca and Paulie moved to Las Vegas, only to be closely followed by Torello and his men, who had become federal agents. The season ended with literal bang, as Luca and Paulie took refuge in a small house in the Nevada desert that turned out to be smack-dab in the middle of a nuclear testing site. Miraculously, the two gangsters managed to survive an atomic explosion with nary a scratch, and spent the series' second and final season playing a game of hide and seek with the Torello forces. Ultimately, the "good guys" bearded their prey in Mexico. In the course of events, Torello's marriage to his wife, Julie (Darlanne Fluegel, broke up, whereupon he entered into a relationship with Inga Thorson (Patricia Charbonneau). Also, both the cops and the robbers had brief encounters with the mob's "big boys," portrayed by such diverse actors as Joseph Wiseman and Andrew Dice Clay. Although the ratings for Crime Story were mediocre, NBC had faith in the series and kept it alive for two years. Like many other Michael Mann productions, the series was rich with authentic period detail, and came equipped with wall-to-wall vintage music, including the theme tune "Runaway", re-recorded (and recreated) by its original artist, Del Shannon. But for all of NBC's promotional skills and Michael Mann's production expertise, the series never caught on (more's the pity), and last aired on May 10, 1988. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Season one of the serialized cop drama Crime Story begins in the Chicago of 1963, with Lt. Mike Torello (Dennis Farina) of the city's MCU (Major Crime Unit) deeply committed to bringing his longtime nemesis, youthful gangster Ray Luca (Anthony John Denison) to justice. The effort exacts a heavy toll on Torello's private life, destroying his marriage to his wife, Julie (Darlanne Fluegel), and not doing much good for his subsequent fling with Inga Thorson (Patricia Charbonneau). Meanwhile, the ruthlessly ambitious Luca seems to thrive on being pursued, gleefully eluding arrest at every turn and merrily mowing down anyone who threatens to impede his rise to the top of the mob. Along the way, Luca comes in contact with an impressive array of "celebrity" gangsters and lesser hoodlums. Midway through season one, Luca and his loyal but dim-bulbed henchman Paulie Taglia (John Santucci) leave Chicago to pursue new vistas in Las Vegas. To keep the hunt alive, Torello and his assistants all become Federal agents, a la "The Untouchables." Throughout the season, a number of future stars appear in guest roles, among them David Caruso, Michael Madsen, Ray Sharkey, Lorraine Bracco, and Julia Roberts. Season one concludes on an explosive cliffhanger, as Ray and Paulie try to escape across the Yucca Flats in Nevada -- just as an atom bomb test is about to begin! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A brother and sister grapple with family and lifestyle issues in this rock-n-roll drama. Real-life rocker Joan Jett stars as Patti Resnick, an unwed mother who sings and plays guitar in a Cleveland bar band with her brother Joe (Michael J. Fox). Estranged from her parents and struggling to make ends meet, Patti decides to dive headlong into a carefree rock-n-roll lifestyle. Good-guy Joe pulls away from music to provide some stability for her tiny son. It takes a family crisis to bring Patti back home and force her to face the prickly past with her devoutly Christian mother (Gena Rowlands). Despite a somewhat thin story, the film has solid performances all around, most especially from the refreshingly compelling Jett. Bruce Springsteen penned the title song. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide

Martial arts hero Steven Seagal developed, co-wrote, co-produced, choreographed, and debuted in this thrill ride -- a cop film with more attitude, and more plot, than its star had duties on the set. Seagal is Nico Toscani, an Italian immigrant, American patriot, ex-CIA agent, aikido specialist, and unorthodox Chicago policeman. He is as committed to his job as he is to his personalized brand of justice: expert and thorough bone-crushing. When the FBI orders his squad to ignore the mysterious shipment of military explosives they seized from a notorious narcotics dealer, Nico defiantly pursues his own investigation. With the help of his partner Jax (Pam Grier), he sifts through a tangled web of Catholic priests, illegal immigrants, and trained assassins to uncover a drug cartel run directly out of the CIA by an official named Zagon Henry Silva. Nico remembers the man from his CIA days in Vietnam, when Zagon used the agency (and the war) as a front for smuggling opium. At the time, Nico was too outranked to thwart him, but he will no longer let Zagon abuse his position to remain immune from prosecution -- especially now that the official has plans to murder a U.S. senator. Zagon may be above the law of most men, but he is certainly not above Nico's. ~ Aubry Anne D'Arminio, All Movie Guide

The Package, a thriller involving political assassination and intrigue, is an excellent action feature using a familiar theme and providing good performances by the cast. Boyette (Tommy Lee Jones) is a prisoner entrusted to Gallagher (Gene Hackman) for transportation back to the United States. Boyette escapes and Gallagher must find him. In doing so, Gallagher finds himself getting into far more than he had bargained for as he becomes involved in a political assignation plot that he must stop. Both Hackman and Jones are excellent in reprising familiar roles. Hackman is never better than when portraying the decent man in a precarious position, and Jones plays Boyette with the same cunning and intelligence that he brought to The Executioner's Song. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide

In this detective drama a mismatched pair of lady gumshoes are forced to team up to survive and solve cases in the uncaring city. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Michael Ontkean stars as Zack Resnick, an honest Chicago cop drawn into a political assassination who discovers some shocking information about himself and his family. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide