Running on Empty (1988)

Simply A Masterpiece

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

A pair of anti-war radicals on the run with their nuclear family, Annie and Arthur Pope (Lahti and Hirsch) are answerable for a napalm laboratory bombing in the 70s (with one casualty of injury), designated as an anti-Vietnam war protestation, and have been lying low with new identities every once in a while henceforth, until their eldest son Danny (Phoenix) reaches 17, a watershed is laying out, some big decision needs to contemplate by both parties. In Sidney Lumet's RUNNING ON EMPTY, River Phoenix starts his transition from child stardom to the perilous adult world, this is his only Oscar-nominated performance, although it is vexingly shunted to the supporting category as the default victim of the Academy's inherent bias towards tender-year performers or newcomers. Here, he is the bedrock of the movie, a piano prodigy in his making (hereditary from the mother side), but he cannot be forever cocooned in his family's unorthodox lifestyle, and the irony is pretty on the nose, this damning society is rife with all things against Annie and Arthur's counterculture tenets, yet in the context, there seems to be no better alternative at their disposal, making him a fugitive for something he hasn't perpetrated? That is just unfair, thus it is almost imperative that Danny must be released from the clutches albeit he is disposed to stick with the status quo in the end before bid farewell to his girlfriend Lorna (Plimpton, very good in her tomboyish, cool-girl complexion), whom he is besotted with. There is certainly a waft of elitism in the air, Danny is wanted by Juilliard, so how can any compos mentis parents thumb their noses at that proposition, which leaves them no choice but to cut their deeply bonded familial cord, it is very intriguing if there is a sequel to cover Danny's grown-up years, to see whether his parents' sacrifice is worthwhile. Apart from that, it is a thoroughly judicious melodrama and Lumet's low-key directorial gesture successfully elicits Phoenix's most touching persona as a youngster on the cusp of adulthood, whose caring nature is torn between the obligation to his family and a new world suddenly opens to him. The whole close-knit cast has done a cracking job, Judd Hirsch, although one can hardly condone that him and Phoenix are cutting from the same family tree from their physical appearances, pulls off an earnest father and an activist with ardor, whereas, Christine Lahti is viscerally sublime in her Janus-faced versatility: checking the scenes where Annie pseudo-cavalierly converses with Danny's teacher and later a lachrymose tête-à-tête with her own father for the first time in 15 years, that is the testimonial. Sensibly filleting the more sensitive political agenda (there are worms in their noble cause too) which is concomitant with the story-line, RUNNING ON EMPTY is in essence a well-meaning, good-natured encomium of family value and altruistic sacrifice, only its rushed finale (at least the logistics team could have packed some items in their departing truck considering they are fleeing from the place for keeps), hits like a fly in the ointment in a hearty 80s tale, incidentally, if the same story happens in a CCTV-rampant age like today, the family's fly-by-night endeavor will definitely not last such a protracted length to even face their offspring's growing pains.

I am honestly too riveted on River Phoenix to comment about anything else. He was like, the next generation James Dean. And a James Dean he was. I always think Phoenix, antemortem and postmortem both, resembles youth itself, a constant warzone between lethal solicitudes and all-conquering fierceness.First of all, the guy was cool as hell. Effortlessly so. He couldn't have helped it, he was born pretty. That's kind of a package deal when you choose to put him on screen: his screen presence is so strong that everything else would be dissected, personified through his sophisticated outlook. He'd be the centerpiece, the eye of the hurricane. Then suddenly, it all escalates into an assessment of identity. And you can identify with that.His signature specialties include the multifaceted ambiguity of his facial expressions and his innate magnetism. Had he not died I imagine he would've grown into a present day Leo di Caprio—if you know what I mean. An ever-evolving actor who keeps outstretching his limits despite, or perhaps even due to, his childhood acclaims.The movie's got some Rebel Without a Cause vibe, although it goes to the opposite direction. It's well-acted, it has a clear vision about what kind of movie it wants to be, everything is executed in the right amount. And of course Phoenix is pitch perfect in it.I really wish I could see every single thing he might've stored for us up his sleeve, but his death immortalized his youth, and I guess I can live with that.7/10.

Twenty years after Judd Hirsch and Christine Lahti were involved in the bombing of a factory that produced napalm they are still on the run. It's a way of life to them now, they are paying big time now for their misdeeds that went way beyond protesting the war in Vietnam. They've raised two sons, one they had while fugitives. Now however their way of life is going to have an impact on their older son particularly if he continues with them.Running On Empty is a film that will be particularly poignant for those who came of age in the Sixties. Hirsch and Lahti took action that probably many were tempted, but fortunately did not succumb. There might very well be an interesting back story as to just how the characters that Hirsch and Lahti play came to do what they did. I'm surprised a prequel was never made.But here we're concerned with older son River Phoenix who is a mostly self taught musical prodigy and who gets a chance to get a scholarship to Julliard. But he's going to have problems from Judd Hirsch who does not want to see the family unit broken up. That's important to him because it's all he has because of the life he has to lead. Not to mention having to document Phoenix's educational background which has been spotty and under various aliases. Whenever he abruptly leaves and moves to another school the records are always conveniently lost in a convenient fire. Could never use that excuse now with data now all on computers.In addition to which River's found himself a girlfriend in Martha Plimpton the daughter of the music teacher at his latest high school. Some critical decisions will have to be made by him and by his fugitive family.Running On Empty got two Oscar nominations for Best Original Screenplay and for Best Supporting Actor for River Phoenix. This was a breakout film for him, it was the first really serious part he ever essayed in his short life. His roles were as juveniles in teen oriented films before were nice and showed his potential. This one was the first that took advantage of said potential.I always thought that River drew from a vagabond background of his own which made Running On Empty so special for him and for us. His parents were children of the Sixties themselves, the tune-in, turn-on, drop out kind of hippies with a Christian flavoring. They were commune dwellers living in various places off the grid. I'm sure that background also prepared for the radically different part he played in My Own Private Idaho.Still for all the acclaim River got my favorite scene in the film and its climax involves Christine Lahti and her father Steven Hill when they reunite surreptitiously in a restaurant where all the pent up feelings on both sides get to hang out. She's come to ask her father to take Phoenix in and pull some strings to get him into Julliard. We're told he has the juice to do it. Hill is also playing with a lot of conflicting emotions, he remembers how his rebellious teen daughter was holding him and his entire generation personally responsible for the Vietnam War.Director Sidney Lumet put together an impressive cast with an array of impressive performances, each player stamping an individual seal on them. Running On Empty is a real classic for the decade it came out and the decade it hearkened back to.

Teenager Danny Pope (River Phoenix) notices that people are following him and he initiates the family to go on the run again. His parents Annie (Christine Lahti) and Arthur (Judd Hirsch) had set fire to a weapons lab credited with creating Naplam in the sixties. The family including youngest son Harry find help from supporters as they set up new identities. Danny's piano talents intrigue music teacher Mr. Phillips who pushes him to audition for Juilliard. He also catches the eye of the teacher's daughter Lorna Phillips (Martha Plimpton). River Phoenix is simply magnetic and Martha Plimpton is sweetly compelling. They have terrific chemistry together in a dramatic coming-of-age movie. The father son relationship could have been pushed harder but it has many interesting moments. This is really a great showcase for a rising superstar.