MovieChat Forums > Bad Ronald (1974) Discussion > Are there two versions of this movie?

Are there two versions of this movie?

posted 16 years ago by klantry
3 replies | jump to latest

I watched this movie when I was a kid, and it was my recollection that the girl took a fall off her bicycle after teasing Ronald. However, when I checked the YouTube excerpt at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnlec1SuGTs, it shows him committing manslaughter. You could edit either way I think, and I know some of the ABC Movies of the Week have alternate versions in syndication.

Part of my recollection is that there's a later scene where the dead girl's brother comes to visit the new neighbors, tells them "he killed my sister", and Ronald startles in a way they hear him.

Anyone remember it the way I do?

BTW: Revived interest - in the Ugly Betty episode on 12/4/2008, titled "Bad Amanda", Amanda tells Betty that "Bad Ronald" snuck in and emptied their refrigerator. http://us.imdb.com/title/tt1263596

"Well, there it is."

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] badponymedicine 16 years ago

No, just one version as far as I know. Carol Matthews comes up to him on her bike and says some nasty things, and he pushes her off her bike and she hits her head on a rock or chunk of concrete.

[–] VinnieRattolle 16 years ago

It's certainly not implausible that there was a different version of the scene with Carol Matthews' death in the original airing (which does happen now and then), but it's probably just a case of memory being a little bit off. In the only version I've ever seen, Ronald comes through the bushes and accidentally knocks over bicycling Carol, so she begins taunting him... which leads to her abrupt death.

The scene with Duane Matthews confiding to the Wood family that former resident Ronald Wilby murdered his sister is a little off too. Ronald is listening on the other side of the wall, and he looks perplexed by Duane's statement, but he doesn't draw attention to himself. Only the youngest Wood daughter, Babs, hears Ronald in the house, and no one believes her until it's too late.