Although there had been hints of it before with Kurt Russell, in Captain Ron he breaks out with a full blown comedy. In the title role Russell creates a character, a raffish sort to rival Cary Grant in Father Goose and Charles Laughton in The Beachcomber. Not to mention Lee Marvin in Cat Ballou, John Wayne as Rooster Cogburn and the best of all Humphrey Bogart in The African Queen.
Martin Short and his wife Mary Kay Place inherit a yacht that was once owned by Clark Gable and I'm sure if the boat could talk it could tell some fabulous tales. It's in dry dock in The Bahamas and in need of repair to put it mildly. But fix it and flip it as they say in today's world and get someone to pilot it to Florida.
Who Short and Place get is Kurt Russell the legendary Captain Ron who's seen and done all. At least according to him and the tales get taller as Russell imbibes. But he sure has Place enchanted their daughter Meadow Sisto is a believer and he's really got their young son Benjamin Salisbury ready to go to far away places with him.
I won't go into it, but the castaways on Gilligan's Island never faced anything like what Kurt Russell puts Short and his family through in their '3 hour tour'. I'm sure Clark Gable and Carole Lombard and anyone else whoever sailed on this craft never had a saga like Short, Place and their kids have.
Everyone performs well and I have to say Martin Short must have been a great sport about essentially being Kurt Russell's straight man. As for Russell you can see what attracted him to the part, a chance to have a seven course meal on the scenery and not be criticized for it as the role calls for it. It's an actor's dream.
Kurt Russell is having fun and the fun is infectious for the viewer.
