| Captain Ron | |
|---|---|
Theatrical Release Poster |
|
| Directed by | Thom Eberhardt |
| Produced by | David Permut |
| Written by | John Dwyer |
| Starring | Kurt Russell Martin Short Mary Kay Place Benjamin Salisbury Meadow Sisto |
| Music by | Nicholas Pike |
| Cinematography | Daryn Okada |
| Editing by | Tina Hirsch |
| Distributed by | Touchstone Pictures |
| Release date(s) | September 18, 1992 |
| Running time | 104 min. |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $24 million |
| Box office | $22,518,097 |
Captain Ron is a 1992 American comedy film directed by Thom Eberhardt, produced by David Permut, and written by John Dwyer for Touchstone Pictures. It stars Kurt Russell as the title character, a sailor with a quirky personality and a checkered past, and Martin Short as a middle-class family man who hires him to sail a yacht through the Caribbean with the man and his family aboard. Mary Kay Place, Benjamin Salisbury, and Meadow Sisto also star as the man's wife and children.
Contents |
Martin Harvey (Short) is a middle-aged office worker who lives in Chicago with his wife Katherine (Place), 11-year-old son Ben (Salisbury), and 16-year-old daughter Caroline (Sisto). When Martin learns that his recently deceased uncle has bequeathed him a sailing yacht once owned by Clark Gable, he decides to take the family to the island of Ste. Pomme de Terre ("Saint Potato" literately "Apple of Earth" ) to retrieve the boat so he can sell it. At first, Katherine resists the idea of taking the family away from work and school, but she agrees after Caroline announces that she has just gotten engaged to an uncouth young man.
When the Harveys arrive at the island, they discover that the boat is in terrible condition. Upon hearing this, the yacht broker cancels his plan to send an experienced captain to help them sail to Miami, and instead hires a local sailor. Captain Ron (Russell) arrives at the dock a bit later. He is a one-eyed man with a very casual attitude, a Navy veteran who claims to have piloted the USS Saratoga. He initially plans to inspect the yacht before setting sail, but he decides to launch immediately when he discovers that the car he arrived in has fallen off of the dock. As the yacht motors out to sea, the man who owns the car arrives at the dock, shouts "You stole my wife!", and tries to shoot Captain Ron.
As the story progresses, we learn that Captain Ron is different from anything the family has ever experienced. He has no problem taking Ben's money in a game of Monopoly, giving him beers to drink and then charging him for them later, but shows a surprising loyalty to Martin, who he only refers to as "Boss". Martin, however, doesn't like Captain "Moron", as he calls him in his diary. It appears that he is getting strangely close to his family, and also believes that he doesn't know what he's doing. The other family members learn to love Captain Ron and his quirky life style.
While on their way to Miami, the family decides to make the most of it, and stop off at certain islands of the Caribbean, but learn that Captain Ron doesn't know how to navigate. While on a random island that they mistook for another place, Martin becomes infuriated with Captain Ron and decides to go on a "nature hike" instead of staying with his family to make the most of it. Captain Ron warns him to stay on the path, because of "guerrillas", which Martin shrugs off as ridiculous, believing him to mean "gorillas", but the angered Martin strays from the path only to run into guerrillas led by General Armando (Sunshine Logroño). Captain Ron eventually bargains for Martin's freedom by giving them a lift to the next island, and receiving some firearms in return to fight off pirates. This only angers Martin more, as he declares there will be no firearms on his boat and tosses them overboard, before realizing that without them, he is indeed going to be forced to give the revolutionaries a ride.
When the family arrives at their next destination, Martin and Katherine are arrested for smuggling revolutionaries onto the island. The children, however, have a great time partying with the locals on the island which ends with Caroline getting a tattoo and Ben breaking his glasses. Martin and Katherine are released from jail, but are forced to leave the island that night. Martin decides to leave Captain Ron behind and go on without him. Not soon after, they encounter pirates, have their boat stolen, and are stuck floating in the ocean on a raft. After some drifting, they land on the island of Cuba and discover that their boat is there. The pirates discover them, but with the surprising help of Captain Ron, they are able to escape with their boat. Ron learns that the family underrates Martin and decides to play hurt, forcing Martin to take control in the escape of the pirates. Using the skills that Captain Ron taught the family, they are able to get their sails up after their engine breaks from lack of oil to better the distance between them and the pirates. In the end, the United States Coast Guard fires once at the pirates, scaring them away and creating a safe passage to Miami for the family.
They arrive in Miami and part ways with Captain Ron. As they sail to their destination, they decide to turn the boat around and keep it. Then a couple in another boat who envy the Harvey Family see them sail off. To their surprise, Captain Ron, now cleaned up with his hair pulled back and wearing a suit, pops up and says they should take the boat out for a spin.
In the years subsequent to its release, Captain Ron has gained a large cult following due to its many quotable lines and strong comedic performance by Kurt Russell.
The film frequently places high in the Rotten Tomatoes "Ripe and Round" polling of great films.
On September 18, 2007, fans (wearing their best eye-patches and fake battleship tattoos) gathered for the first annual "Ron Con" to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the films release.
It was Kurt Russell's idea to have Captain Ron wear an eye patch, as a tribute to his Snake Plissken character from Escape from New York. Captain Ron also appeared in a non-canon to his universe, John Carpenter's Snake Plissken Chronicles.
|
|||||||||||