Molly Ringwald Movies
From the mid- to late '80s, slender, carrot-topped, and luscious-lipped Molly Ringwald was the reigning teen queen of mainstream films. At the peak of her popularity, Ringwald was on the cover of Time magazine and even had groups of adolescent girl fans, called "Ringlets," who would emulate her every move.The daughter of jazzman Bob Ringwald, the leader of the Great Pacific Jazz Band, Ringwald was raised in Sacramento, CA, where she was born February 14, 1968. She started performing as a toddler, although not as an actress. She embarked on a very early and brief career as a singer after her parents discovered that she had a remarkable ability to perfectly match the tune and phrasing of almost any song she heard. Ringwald began singing jazz with her father at state fairs, and by the age of six, she already had a jazz album, I Wanna Be Loved By You--Molly Sings.
In the meantime, Ringwald began to develop an interest in acting: she was four when she started hanging around the local community theater and five when she started getting small parts, including the role of a preacher's child in Truman Capote's The Grass Harp. At the age of eight, Ringwald appeared on The New Mickey Mouse Club. Encouraged by her talent and driven by her father's desire to get better bookings for his band, Ringwald's family moved to L.A.'s San Fernando Valley. In 1979, the actress won a part on Norman Lear's sitcom The Facts of Life. Ringwald only lasted a season before she was let go, but her television work paved the way for subsequent screen roles.
In 1982, Ringwald made an auspicious film debut in Paul Mazursky's acclaimed Tempest, earning a Golden Globe nomination for her portrayal of John Cassavetes' daughter. In order to prepare for the role, Mazursky had Ringwald and her family move to a flat in New York's Greenwich Village to help her develop the necessary New York accent and attitude. Her performance in the film attracted the attention of screenwriter/aspiring director John Hughes who cast her as the protagonist of Sixteen Candles (1984), his wistful chronicle of suburban teenaged angst. The film was a hit, and so was Ringwald. Hughes would cast her in two more teen films, The Breakfast Club (1985) and Pretty in Pink (1986), both of which were hugely popular with teen audiences. In addition to a solid film career, Ringwald -- who had become a household name -- also occasionally appeared in television movies.
Despite her continued success through the early '90s, Ringwald felt her life had reached a crossroads; by 1992, she decided to sell her house, put her personal effects in storage, pack up seven suitcases, and exchange life in the L.A. fast lane for a more romantic existence in Paris, where she was busy shooting Seven Sundays (released in 1994). Ringwald, who had learned French while attending a French high school in Los Angeles, remained there, dividing her time between reading (she has been a voracious reader since childhood when she and her siblings would read stories to her blind father), writing short stories and screenplays, cooking, and hanging out with her French husband. She occasionally continued to act in American and internationally produced films and television projects that include George Hickenlooper's Some Folks Call It a Sling Blade (1993), Stephen King's The Stand (1994), and Teaching Mrs. Tingle (1999). Ringwald also continued to do stage work, appearing in an acclaimed 1998 off-Broadway production of Paula Vogel's How I Learned to Drive. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 2006
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You've met Samantha and Felicity, and in this, the third installment of the American Girl series, viewers are treated to an all-new family-friendly adventure that will warm your heart during the chilly holiday season. Molly Ringwald and Maya Ritter star as director Joyce Chopra brings the best-selling books about the lovable Molly McIntire to life on the big screen for the first time ever. The year is 1943 and war is raging across the globe. Molly's father is tending to wounded soldiers far from home, and all of the rubber rationing and turnips have gotten put the usually cheerful youngster into an uncharacteristically drab mood. To make matters worse, young Molly soon discovers that her father will not be able to return home for the holidays. But Molly isn't about to let her spirit be broken by the fact that her father is away performing his patriotic duties. Thanks to a little help from her family and friends, Molly is about to learn a lasting lesson about the importance of pulling together in times of need. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maya Ritter, David Aaron Baker, (more)
- 2002
The hectic early days of live television are spoofed in this irreverent made-for-cable movie. The story is told from the viewpoint of Audrey Drummond (Christina Hendricks), a naïve young script girl hired by the newly formed Empire Television Network in 1948. Among Audrey's colleagues are the network's owner, eccentric scientist Doc Powers (Christopher Lloyd); Doc's blonde, pneumatic young "trophy wife" Marion (Molly Ringwald); the Colonel (Dylan Baker), Empire's visionary programming chief; and Walt Kaplan (Michael B. Silver), a studio floor manager who aspires to be a director. The story revolves around Empire's efforts to stage the first live TV production of Thornton Wilder's Our Town, while trying desperately to adhere to Doc Powers' cast-in-stone broadcast edicts: "No profanity, no suicide, no cleavage." Amidst a flurry of missed cues, fainting actors, collapsing scenery, and malfunctioning equipment, the network also manages to outrage its sponsors by allowing a black musician (Sharif Atkins) to actually (gasp! egad!) speak directly into the camera. Co-executive produced by The West Wing's John Wells and ER's Carol Flint (who also wrote the script), The Big Time debuted October 21, 2002 on the TNT network. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Molly Ringwald stars in this Australian Scream-like horror flick that lodges a tongue in the cheek as much as a knife in the gut. The film opens in 1988 when director Hilary Jacobs (Australian uber-icon Kylie Minogue) is working on a slasher movie called "Hot Blooded" starring plucky American icon Vanessa Turnbull (Ringwald) as a teen who is being chased by a psycho with a mask and some wicked cutlery. After the climactic scene is shot, Jacobs shouts "Cut!" and then harangues the actor playing the killer. That night, the actor stabs the director and almost offs Turnbull. The film is never completed, and when a male director who takes over the project ends up dead too, "Hot Blooded" achieves a hallowed status in student film legend. Fast forward to the present -- Jacobs' assistant director Lossman (Geoff Revell) teaches at a film school and tells his favorite students -- Raffy Carruthers (Jessica Napier) and Hester Ryan (Sarah Kants) -- of his experiences on the doomed set. Raffy, who is itching to be the next Jane Campion, sets out to finish the notorious flick. She enlists Hester as a producer, assembles a crew of fellow students and manages to get Vanessa Turnbull, who hasn't worked much lately, to revisit her role as the film's main character. Of course, as soon as shooting commences, the killing begins anew. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Molly Ringwald, Jessica Napier, (more)
At a restaurant located somewhere in midtown New York, waiters, waitresses, cooks, a struggling playwright, and one exceptionally nasty restaurant owner serve up lavish helpings of food and mordant comedy. Among the players is a narcissistic would-be screen idol (Michael Buchman Silver), a naive and relentlessly eager young waitress (Ellen Pompeo), and an embittered veteran hash-slinger (Molly Ringwald). On the job, their lives tend to gravitate toward Adam (The Blair Witch Project's Joshua Leonard), a playwright who takes his job very, very seriously. They also find themselves continuously terrorized by Simon (Eric Bogosian), the restaurant's owner, and the psycho head chef, Kurt (Kirk Acevedo). Over the course of one night, a romance blossoms, Adam struggles to break free of his manipulative girlfriend, a diamond ring goes missing, and a creme brulee meets an unfortunate fate. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joshua Leonard, Molly Ringwald, (more)
Someone is poisoning beautiful women and influential men with a very rare vintage of red wine while listening to classical music on WZIN-FM, 95.8 on the Philadelphia radio dial. Detectives Lou Heinz (Chris Heyerdahl) and Samantha Parks (Lynne Adams) discover the rather elegant murders occur during the nighttime shift of disc jockey Anne Winslow (Molly Ringwald), and that the killer may be leading up to slaying Anne herself. Heinz decides to protect Anne personally and follow her on her date with the creepy music professor Richard Poe (Chris Mulkey) -- good thing, too, because Poe winds up attempting date rape. Poe seems the likely suspect for the murders, but Heinz can't make the charges stick, and the killings continue. Don't look now, but Anne and Poe are reunited as moderators for a big benefit concert, which gives Poe a very tempting opportunity to see his obsession through to the end. But then there's a twist. ~ Buzz McClain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chris Mulkey, Molly Ringwald, (more)
Photographer Cindy Sherman, who often uses motifs from exploitation films in her work, pays witty tribute to slasher films in this satiric horror-comedy. Dorine Douglas (Carol Kane) has spent 16 years at the bottom of the totem pole as a copy editor for Constant Consumer magazine when, due to budget cuts, she's downsized into a contract employee and forced to work out of her home. Dorine isn't at all happy about this, and when she's called back into the office to help obnoxious writer Gary (David Thornton) fix a glitch in his computer, she's not at all upset when he's accidentally electrocuted. Dorine brings Gary's corpse home to join her in front of the TV. When pushy publisher Virginia (Barbara Sukowa) orders Dorine and overly ambitious Kim (Molly Ringwald) to salvage Gary's story from his notes, Dorine snaps, and soon Gary has some company in Dorine's increasingly crowded home office. Office Killer also stars Jeanne Tripplehorn and Michael Imperioli as more of Dorine's co-workers. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carol Kane, Molly Ringwald, (more)
- 1996
In a Brussels courthouse, notoriously brutal killer Julius Mandenne stands trial for dismembering a woman and cryptically painting the letter "s" on a wall with her tongue. Attending the gruesome trial are his four illegitimate off-spring, none of whom knew the other existed. With grim Gallic humor, this serpentine tale follows what happens when the four team up to learn more about their enigmatic sire. The now-grown children couldn't be more different. Forty-four-year old Parisian barmaid Sylvette loves life and free-love while 41-year-old Sophie is utterly bourgeois and uptight. Twenty-eight-year old Susan is a radical American feminist who wants to be an actress. After their father is sentenced to 20-years in jail, the threesome encounter their half-brother Sandro who at 39, works as an auto mechanic. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anémone, Nathalie Baye, (more)
An up-and-coming baseball player has a fling with a woman who doesn't want it to be a one-night stand. She starts to obsess over him and move into his life until she finally becomes dangerous. This standard "psycho-chick" movie is one of the better of its kind, even though it's awfully hard to take lead Molly Ringwald seriously. ~ Sean D. MacLaggan, All Movie Guide
Originally aired as a television mini-series, this all-star filmization of Stephen King's gripping epic of good versus evil chronicles the episodic adventures of a disparate group of people who struggle to reestablish civilization after a man-made catastrophe wipes out most of the world's population. The world abruptly ends when a deadly virus accidentally escapes from a government sponsored biological warfare laboratory. Soon people are dropping like flies from the plague, but a few survive and find themselves strangely compelled to head into the West. Good-hearted people follow the voice of an ancient black woman and head for Boulder, Colorado. Bad people follow the enigmatic Walkin' Dude to Las Vegas. It is only a matter of time before the two sides are forced into a climactic battle over the final fate of humanity. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gary Sinise, Molly Ringwald, (more)
- 1994
This Italian comedy was filmed in Sarasota, Florida and features the exploits of a would be gigolo and a violinist. Dodo, a Frenchman, is the gigolo, and Jesus is the Italian violinist who pursued his girlfriend to Florida to marry her. When Jesus finds that his gal is helping to support Dodo he is appalled. Suddenly the girlfriend mysteriously disappears. In her wake the two become fast friends and decide to both pursue a career in getting women to support them. At one point, Jesus loses his life savings to a con artist. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Thierry Lhermitte, Maurizio Nichetti, (more)
- 1993
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A disturbed man looks back at his past as he faces an uncertain future in this dramatic short subject. Teresa (Molly Ringwald), a young journalist, is sent on assignment to a state-run mental hospital, where she is to interview Karl Childers (Billy Bob Thornton), soon to be released after spending 25 years in the facility. While Jerry Woolrich (Jefferson Mays), the hospital's administrator, isn't sure that it's a good idea for Karl to be questioned by a young woman, he allows a compromise -- Teresa will be permitted to hear Karl tell the story of how he came to be committed, but she can't ask him questions. Teresa is then ushered into a dimly lit room, where Karl relates the harrowing tale of his miserable childhood and how, at the age of 13, he killed his mother and her lover with a kaiser blade. Star and screenwriter Billy Bob Thornton and director George Hickenlooper originally produced this short film in hopes of expanding the story into a full-length feature; the award-winning Sling Blade followed three years later, but by that time, Thornton had opted to direct the film himself. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Billy Bob Thornton, Molly Ringwald, (more)
- 1992
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Something to Live For: The Alison Gertz Story was one of a myriad of early 1990s TV movies centering around the AIDS issue. Molly Ringwald stars as Alison Gertz, an upscale Manhattanite who thinks she knows her way around. Still, Alison conducts an "unprotected" one-night affair, which results in her contacting the AIDS virus. Despite her alleged smarts, Alison continues to seek out sexual partners and can't understand why they're reluctant to sleep with her, even though she belatedly offers to use contraceptives. Perhaps if it had been made five years earlier, and perhaps if it didn't have its characters speaking fluent pop profundities, Something to Live For might have been one of the truly important made-for-TV AIDS sagas. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Originally aired on HBO, Women and Men: Stories of Seduction is a short-film anthology that brings to life three famous short stories. Mary McCarthy's "The Man in the Brooks Brothers Shirt" stars Elizabeth McGovern and Beau Bridges. The second, Dorothy Parker's "Dusk Before Fireworks," features Peter Weller and Molly Ringwald. The third, "Hills Like White Elephants," stars Melanie Griffith and James Woods as a couple trying to convince themselves that her abortion will not affect their relationship. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- 1987
Two highly talented and innovative directors -- filmdom's Jean-Luc Godard and the theatre world's Peter Sellars -- join forces in this unusual (to say the least) slant on Shakespeare's King Lear. This offbeat adaptation gives the viewer a postmodern taste of Shakespeare through the eyes of a deliberately obscure auteur. The film is set some time after Chernobyl has wiped everything out, and the world is trying to set itself right again. William Shakespeare Jr. the Fifth (Peter Sellars) is faced with the task of restoring his famed ancestor's lost works. He visits a resort in Switzerland and becomes fascinated with a visiting gangster, Don Learo (Burgess Meredith) and his lovely daughter, Cordelia (Molly Ringwald), who converse in actual Shakespearean lines. That's as close to the bard as this King Lear gets. It also includes appearances by Woody Allen, Norman Mailer, and director Godard himself as "The Professor," a deranged individual who seems fascinated with Xeroxing his own hand. ~ John Voorhees, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Burgess Meredith, Peter Sellars, (more)
- 1986
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This 45-minute retelling of the Johnny Appleseed story was produced for Shelley Duvall's American Tall Tales and Legends. Martin Short is beautifully cast as John Chapman, the legendary figure who planted apple trees all over country. The story's lighthearted approach makes even the "death" finale palatable. Molly Ringwald plays Johnny's lost love, while Rob Reiner makes a supporting appearance, probably as a favor to his friend and colleague Christopher Guest, who directed. Johnny Appleseed was originally telecast on Showtime Cable. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1985
Originally telecast in a three-hour network slot, Surviving is virtually two films in one. In the first 90 minutes, we see the identity crises and outside pressures that propel a "normal" teenaged boy (Zach Galligan) and a "disturbed" teenaged girl (Mollie Ringwald) into committing suicide together. The second portion of Surviving explores the emotional residue left behind by the youngsters' deadly pact. Specifically spotlighted are Zach's parents (Len Cariou and Ellen Burstyn), who feel that Molly goaded their boy into killing himself; and Molly's parents (Paul Sorvino, Marsha Mason) who are consumed with guilt over not catching on to the warning signs of their daughter's despair. Though the acting is overly ripe at times, Surviving never loses dramatic focus throughout its 150 minutes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1983
In this serio-comic made-for television adventure, an L.A. family gets more than it bargained for when it abandons the smog and hubbub for the peace of rural Oregon. Unfortunately, instead of finding a violence-free environment, they discover that they are surrounded by ultra-right-wing survivalists. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Former MTV executive Joel Gallen makes his feature directorial debut with this broad spoof of the popular teen comedy genre, lampooning dozens of movies including American Pie (1999), American Beauty (1999), Bring It On (2000), Clueless (1995), She's All That (1999), Road Trip (2000), Can't Hardly Wait (1998), 10 Things I Hate About You (1999), Never Been Kissed (1999), and even the teen films of an earlier era such as The Breakfast Club (1985). At the aptly titled "John Hughes High School," aspiring artist Janey Briggs (Chyler Leigh) is an outcast because of her plain, bespectacled looks and paint-splattered overalls. Football hero Jake Wyler (Chris Evans) makes a bet that he can transform Janey into a gorgeous prom queen, a wager he may come to regret as he discovers Janey's true inner beauty. As their relationship blossoms, several other characters are limned, including a Nasty Cheerleader (Jaime Pressly), a Token Black Guy (Deon Richmond), a Stupid Fat Guy (Ron Lester), an Obsessed Best Friend (Eric Jungmann), an Undercover Reporter (Beverly Polcyn), the Cruelest Girl in School (Mia Kirshner), a Cocky Blonde Guy (Eric Christian Olsen), and several others. A nod to the multiple films that inspired it, Not Another Teen Movie (2001) was originally to have been entitled "Ten Things I Hate About Clueless Road Trips When I Can't Hardly Wait to Be Kissed." ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chyler Leigh, Chris Evans, (more)
In this comedy, teamwork takes on a new meaning when four friends fall in love with the same woman. Four guys with an interest in competitive rowing -- ad executive Scott (Jason Lewis), architect Michael (Chris Rydell), stockbroker Bob (Sean Astin), and college professor Walter (Robert Mailhouse) -- decide their crew needs some help. They learn that the daughter of an Olympic rowing champion lives in town, and she's no slouch at the sport herself. The four approach Kimberly (Gabrielle Anwar) and discover that she happens to be a very beautiful woman; for the sake of the team, all four make a solemn vow not to make any romantic overtures to Kimberly while they're in training, but predictably the flesh is weaker than the spirit and all four end up dating her at one time or another. The real dilemma comes when Kimberly becomes pregnant, and she isn't sure which one of the four men is the father. Rather than fight, all four take turns guiding Kimberly through pregnancy and childbirth as she continues to guide the rowing team. The supporting cast includes appearances by Patty Duke as a doctor and Molly Ringwald as Walter's significant other. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gabrielle Anwar, Sean Astin, (more)
A group of high school friends converge for their 10 year reunion, to re-experience the violence and sexual intertwinings of their youths. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christina Applegate, Molly Ringwald, (more)
- 1995
- R
After a drug deal goes horribly awry, Bebe and Alex (Molly Ringwald and Donal Logue) flee to Baja where they wait for money and passports to arrive. Bebe's father (Corbin Bernsen) sends Bebe's not-yet-divorced ex-husband Michael (Michael Nickles) after her, hoping he can talk some sense into Bebe. While Bebe and Alex get increasingly irritated and Michael searches the streets of Baja, a ill-tempered and cut-throat hitman (Lance Henriksen) shows up and befriends Michael. Eventually, all the characters collide in the desert in an explosive confrontation. Typical Elmore Leonard-type plot situation among criminals, but the lush photography of Baja and the competent performances keep this film taut and fresh looking. Henriksen in particular breathes life into a very cliched character making the audience wish the whole film was about him. ~ Sean D. MacLaggan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Molly Ringwald, Lance Henriksen, (more)
Offbeat fashion student Betsy Hopper (Molly Ringwald) and her straight-laced investment-banker fiancé, Jake Lovell(Dylan Walsh), just want an intimate little wedding reception, but Betsy's father, Eddie (Alan Alda), a Long Island construction contractor, feels so threatened by Jake's rich WASP parents (Nicolas Coster and Bibi Besch) that he blows the ceremony up into a bank-breaking showpiece, sending his wife, Lola (Madeline Kahn), into a financial panic. Pressure from Betsy's extended family to include their joint Jewish and Italian-Catholic heritage in the ceremony doesn't do much to assuage the title character's worries, nor does the lovelorn bitterness of her older sister, Connie (Ally Sheedy), who's single, her parents assume, because she has the audacity to pursue the unfeminine profession of police officer. With all of his funds tied up into the money pit of a house he's building, Betsy's dad has to turn to his crooked brother-in-law, Oscar (Joe Pesci), for financial assistance, and soon a soft-spoken but menacing young mobster named Stevie Dee (Anthony LaPaglia) is supervising Eddie's construction project and casting his romantic aspirations toward the clueless Connie. Underworld hijinks and unconventional matrimonial practices ensue in this broad domestic comedy written and directed by star Alan Alda. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alan Alda, Madeline Kahn, (more)
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
- Starring:
- Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, (more)
