Ron Moler Movies

The first volley in the never-ending "Presley movie" blitzkrieg, the made-for-TV Elvis: The Movie stars Kurt Russell as the King, Season Hubley as Priscilla, Pat Hingle as Col. Parker, Shelley Winters as Elvis' mom, and Bing Russell (Kurt's real-life father) as Elvis' dad. The film recounts Presley's life from age ten to his 1969 Vegas comeback. Presley imitator Ronnie McDowell expertly dubs in Kurt Russell's renditions of "Love Me Tender," "Heartbreak Hotel," et al. When first telecast on February 11, 1979, the ratings for Elvis: The Movie went through the roof, even beating out a competing telecast of Gone With the Wind. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Lawrence Kasdan's black comedy about a wife's ultimate revenge against her womanizing husband is based on a true story about the wife of a pizzeria owner who decided to kill her cheating husband. When her attempt to murder him failed, the husband refused to press charges against her because he felt she had done the right thing. Kevin Kline is the pizzeria owner Joey Boca in I Love You to Death. Joey is a smooth Italian lothario, modeled after Marcello Mastroianni, who cheerfully dons his plumbers overalls to repair his female tenants' plumbing in the rental apartments the family owns. Joey feels he is justified in bedding down countless numbers of women because of all the hours he puts in day after day at the pizzeria. Plus, as he tells one of his women friends, "I'm a man. I got a lotta hormones in my body." His wife Rosalie (Tracey Ullman) sweetly ignores her husband's philandering -- that is until she visits the public library and sees Joey fondling one of tenants in the book stacks. At first Rosalie considers suicide, but finally, egged on by her mother Nadja (Joan Plowright), she determines that Joey must be the one to face the music. But the people Rosalie hires to do Joey in are of the cut-rate variety and are unsuccessful. They then try to knock Joey off by feeding him barbiturate-laced spaghetti, but also to no avail. Rosalie then enlists pizzeria employee Deco Nod (River Phoenix), who has a crush on Rosalie, to do the job. But even then, they have no luck. As a last resort, they try to hire professionals. What they get instead are two drugged-out junkies -- Harlan (William Hurt) and Marlin (Keanu Reeves) -- who arrive at the home and blast at a slumbering figure in the bedroom. Then, while they report on their progress downstairs, Joey ambles into the living room, very much alive. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

This is literally a homemade documentary comprised of home video footage taken by Chris Hume during a year long trip to Cuba where he quietly filmed everything he could find with his Hi-8 camcorder using store-bought tape. Later the films were edited and a professional soundtrack, beginning and end credits, a voice over and other touches were added for big-screen viewing. The result is a moving commentary on the sad, repressive state of mid-1990s, post-Soviet Cuba. Castro still continues his oppressive rule and the country is quickly falling to economic and cultural ruin as the population (only 20% of which still supports Castro). Though he claims that things will soon improve, many hungry, out of work Cubans are unconvinced and so would rather brave the unpredictable shark filled Gulf waters on battered inner tubes than remain in their island homeland. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Eric Christian Olsen and Jeremy Sumpter star as brothers Randy and Skeet Dobson in this coming-of-age surfer movie from director Ron Moler. With their widowed mother working to provide for the family, Randy is left to look after 12-year-old Skeet. Despite the fact that a kid brother is a bit of a style-cramper, Randy lets Skeet tag along with him to the beach where he and his friends surf the summer days away. But trouble begins to brew when a pretty girl named Samantha (Shelby Fenner) chooses Randy over the leader of a rough-and-tumble surfer gang. Meanwhile, all is not well at home either when Skeet befriends Jim Wesley (Mark Harmon), a legendary surfer who begins a romantic relationship with the boys' mother, Jessica (Stacy Edwards), much to Randy's chagrin. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide