Running on Empty (1988)

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Absolutely brilliant

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Mom and Dad -- Judd Hirsch and Christine Lahti -- were members of an anti-war group that blew up a napalm factory many years ago and are now on the run with the FBI in pursuit. Their elder son, River Phoenix, is now about to graduate from high school.The family is thoroughly paranoid by now, perhaps with good reason, and they move around a lot, switching identities, leaving no traces, which is not helpful to Phoenix. He's a talented pianist and in their newest home, in small-town New Jersey, he meets a music teacher who mentors him and arranges for an audition at Julliard. Kids, Julliard is a famous school for the performing arts in New York. Lots of celebrated people went there -- Yo-Yo Ma, Wynton Marsalis, Bernard Herrmann, Leonard Slatkin, Itzhak Perlman, and -- well, forget it. Monsters, all. You have to be really good to get in.There is a slight problem in that Hirsch considers the family a unit, kind of like Bonny and Clyde, only morally upright. It's time for Phoenix to start his own life, but how can he? Hirsch excoriates him for every involvement outside the home; not just his music but his affair with the nubile young Martha Plimpton.The first time we become aware of the fact that Phoenix is not just another confused kid is when he takes a music class in his new high school, the teacher plays some rock music that the kids love, and then plays a string quartet without identifying any of the music. "What's the difference between the two?", asks the teacher. The kids come up with dumb answers like, "One's good and one's bad." When the teacher finally gets around to Phoenix, he replies shyly, "You can't dance to Beethoven." WELL! I mean, how did this ordinary, somewhat neurotic kid ever get any exposure to Beethoven's late quartets? If I may be editorial for a moment, I personally can't manage ten fingers or even one. I don't believe anyone can. Forget eighty-eight keys. Piano playing is a huge hoax perpetrated on a gullible public. Those pianos you see in movies like this are actually computer-generated images. I suppose we've all seen live recitals. You ask how those can be faked, and I ask, "Have you ever heard of PLAYER pianos?" Q. E. D. It's all part of a gigantic conspiracy by the Amalgamated "Pianists" of America, sprung from the loins of the Illuminati. Conspiracy theories abound these days and I think it's catching.Thanks for your indulgence. The award for best performer goes to -- envelope, please -- Christine Lahti! She's really quite good. She's attractive without being pretty, and demonstrates a considerable range, not all of it coming from the role. Judd Hirsch may be hobbled by his character. Even when he's trying to be nice and accommodating, he seems abrasive in speech and demeanor. And for someone who's into liberation, he's given to flinging orders around like a Marine Corps drill sergeant. I understand that River Phoenix gets a good deal of applause but my impression was that he was okay without being exceptional in any way. He does have the role captured -- the reticent, winsome adolescent but it's not a very challenging role.I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. I don't usually find stories of family heartbreak appealing unless they're real bulldozers like "Streetcar Named Desire." And rural New Jersey is not Sidney Lumet territory. But this film was well conceived and executed. I wonder what would have happened if Phoenix had been just an ordinary ignorant high schooler and not a genius. And I wonder if the FBI is really so intent on capturing two college kids who blew up a lab twenty years ago.

Outstanding drama with incredible performances. The story it tells of radicals in hiding and on the run while trying to raise a family but actually living the half life of the hunted is compelling enough but contributions of cast, director and script make it something extraordinary. Lumet was an erratic director but when he was on his A game his films are some of the best around, this one ranks up with his masterworks Dog Day Afternoon and Murder on the Orient Express. Taut yet accessible you really care for this family, warts and all.Beautifully acted by all but there are several standouts. Christine Lahti, a great unsung actress, is achingly real in her conflicted duty to her family and sense of frustration at their rootlessness. The scene between she and her father in a restaurant is one of the most moving you'll ever see in any film. Her work her really deserved an Oscar nomination, in my opinion she should have won but an acknowledgment was at least her due. River Phoenix did receive a nomination and along with Martha Plimpton they offer the other really fine performances. His desires to remain loyal to his family and their situation versus his yearning for roots, the exploration of his talents and a chance to find his own way in the world make compelling viewing. The movie doesn't move at breakneck speed but for those viewers willing to invest in it's deliberate pace this is a great film.

Running on Empty is a gem of film, with some great performances, especially the late River Phoenix.This is one of those films in the late 1980s that looked back on the recent past. Mississippi Burning is another film that springs to mind.The Pope family are fugitives.They have been on the run from the FBI since the early 1970s.Arthur(Judd Hirsch)and Annie (Christine Lahti) were once student radicals who blew up a lab that produced weapons, as a protest against the Vietnam War. Think Weathermen Underground and you get the picture.Their act of terror resulted in a fatality. We meet met them years later, when they are the parents to two boys. One of them, Danny played by River Phoenix, is now a teenager. He is tired of running, never having time to put down roots or make real friends. Danny also has to assume a new identity each time the family move. Whilst enrolled at his latest school, Danny, under the alias of Michael Manfield comes to the attention of a music teacher who notices what a gifted piano player he is. The teacher's daughter Lorna(Martha Plimpton) also notices Danny and begins to fall for him.The scenes between Danny and Lorna are well done. He slowly lowers his guard and starts to trust herThis film covers so much ground. Its about identity, love and how your past can both trap and mould you. Danny learnt to appreciate music through his mother, Annie who was from a wealthy middle class family. She knows how good he could be, but can she and Arthur let him go? Can he keep running forever without being able to live his life?There are two stand out scenes for me in this film. Annie meets her father for the first time in years. She clearly rejected everything he stood and yet there is so much emotion between them. The other scene is the pivotal one where the Popes make a decision about Danny. It is a clear indication that River Phoenix would have been huge had he lived.Just watch the look in his eyes as they bid farewell.To execute that range of emotions, you got to have acting chops. River definitely had it.The late Sidney Lumet shows what a skilled film maker he was, taking a difficult subject matter and getting great performances from the main players.

This is a powerful movie about the lives of people on the run for their anti-war activities during the 1960's and 70's. These acts of protest at times crossed the line of legitimate protest and resulted in death and tragedy. The director, Sidney Lumet, has directed some great American films dealing with important issues, including Twelve Angry Men, Fail-Safe, The Pawnbroker and Network, among many others; he was no doubt aware of the lives of fugitives whose criminality came to haunt them because of social alienation or contempt for waging war in the Vietnam. In the opening scene of this movie about one such family, we find the elder son, played by River Phoenix, coming home to a comfortable house only to find FBI agents driving around the property. This is the signal that his parents are once more being stalked by the federal government for a crime that they have been avoiding for many years. The parents have paid a heavy price that has exacted a toll on them and their children. The movie is somewhat slow for the first half as we get to know this family, which has managed to eke out a comfortable life despite having to pull up stakes as they migrate from one community to another. The parents, played by Judd Hirsch and Christine Lahti, have the know-how and social skills to make the best for their tight-knit family of four. I thought that Judd Hersch and Christine Lahti were excellent trying to protect themselves from arrest while being caring parents and active members of their communities. The crisis comes to a head when the older son is urged to pursue his talent as a gifted pianist. This could force the parents into the open or stop his progression to a career as a very talented pianist. The choice is agonizing but it cannot be avoided. The encounter between Annie, the mother (Christine Lahti) and her father, played by Steven Hill, is the most moving scene in this movie, bringing together regrets, heartbreak and lost opportunities. Another moment shows River Phoenix pretending to deliver pizza to his grandmother just to catch a glimpse of her.Together, these episodes capture the dilemma of the family. They have become a strong unit, but must now deal with the fact that their children's lives are entangled in the web of deception they have constructed. It is a moving film that comes face to face with the lingering reality of a traumatic time in history.