Running on Empty (film)

Infobox_Film
name = Running on Empty


caption = original movie poster
imdb_id = 0096018
producer = Griffin Dunne
director = Sidney Lumet
writer = Naomi Foner
starring = River Phoenix
Judd Hirsch
Christine Lahti
Martha Plimpton
music = Tony Mottola
cinematography = Gerry Fisher
editing = Andrew Mondshein
distributor = Warner Bros.
released = flagicon|USA September 9, 1988
runtime = 111 min.
language = English
budget = | "Running on Empty" is a 1988 film featuring River Phoenix, Judd Hirsch, Christine Lahti, and Martha Plimpton and directed by Sidney Lumet. It tells of a couple on the run from the FBI and how one of their sons starts to break out of this lifestyle.

Phoenix was nominated for an Academy Award as best supporting actor for his role in the film; Naomi Foner was nominated for Best Original Screenplay. Phoenix was nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role at the Golden Globes; Lahti was nominated for Best Performance by an Actress. The film was nominated for Best Director and Best Motion Picture (Drama,) and it won a Golden Globe for Best Screenplay. Plimpton was nominated for a Young Artist Award for Best Young Actress in a Motion Picture.

The film marked the second time Phoenix and Plimpton would play one another's romantic interest, having co-starred in the film The Mosquito Coast two years earlier.

Tagline: "In 1971, Arthur and Annie Pope blew up a napalm lab to protest the war... Ever since then they have been on the run from the FBI. They chose their lives. Now their son must choose his".

Plot

The story revolves around parents Annie and Arthur Pope (Lahti and Hirsch) who in the 1970s were responsible for the anti-war protest bombing of a napalm laboratory. The incident accidentally blinded and paralyzed a janitor who wasn't supposed to be there. They've been on the run ever since, relying on an underground network of supporters who help them financially. At the time of the incident their son Danny (Phoenix) was two years old. As the film begins he is in his late teens, and the family (along with younger son Harry) are again relocating and assuming new identities.

As the film progresses Danny's overwhelming talent as a pianist catches the attention of his music teacher at high school. The teacher begins to pry into Danny's personal life, particularly questioning why records from his previous school are unobtainable. While he pushes Danny to audition for Juilliard, Danny also falls in love with Lorna (Plimpton), the teacher's teenage daughter.

As the pressure to have his own life and realize his own dreams intensifies, Danny reveals his family secret to Lorna. Meanwhile Annie finds out about Danny's audition, and begins to come to terms with the fact that she must let her son go and find his own way. This does not sit well with Arthur, even as Annie risks their safety to contact her estranged father and arrange a home and life for Danny if they should decide to leave him behind.

In the end Arthur realizes that he is becoming the very type of authoritarian that he once rebelled against, and that he has no right to limit his son's freedoms. The family leaves Danny behind and heads off for their next identity in a new town.

Arthur and Annie Pope are loosely modeled after Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn of The Weather Underground. [http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1008/14321.html]

Cast

Christine Lahti.....................Annie Pope
Judd Hirsch.........................Arthur Pope
River Phoenix.......................Danny Pope
Martha Plimpton...................Lorna Phillips
Ed Crowley..........................Mr. Phillips
Jonas Abry..........................Harry Pope

External links

*imdb title | id=0096018 | title=Running on Empty

BFI synopsis

Allmovie

erasingclouds.com - Retrospective Article

Filmhai - info (German)

MovieMeter (Dutch)

Retro Junk

Trailerfan.com - Movie Info
Zelluloid.de (German)