Running on Empty | Full Movie | Movies Anywhere

Name: Running on Empty
Released: 1988-9-9
Cast: Christine Lahti, River Phoenix, Judd Hirsch, Martha Plimpton, Jonas Abry

Running on Empty

PG-13
1h 53m
1988

79%

age 14+

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The '60s are past, and the Vietnam War they struggled against is long over, but the Popes have been on the run from the FBI for fifteen years--choosing to live as family of fugitives rather than be separated. Now 17-year-old musical prodigy Danny Pope must decide whether to accept a scholarship to Julliard or deny his talent to remain with his family... as his mother did for him.

Director:

Sidney Lumet

Producer:

Amy Robinson, Griffin Dunne, Naomi Foner

Writer:

Naomi Foner

Cast:

Christine Lahti, River Phoenix, Judd Hirsch, Martha Plimpton, Jonas Abry, L.M. Kit Carson, Ed Crowley, Steven Hill

Rotten Tomatoes® Score

TOMATOMETER®

79%

Critics Consensus: Running on Empty largely skims past its political themes, but River Phoenix's performance helps anchor the story's generational conflict.

Reviews

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Joe Pollack

"Running on Empty" is a brilliant movie, a gripping story that works on many levels.

Hirsch as a '60s radical is hard to swallow. He looks and moves more like a professor of American political history than someone who made history.

Its essential generosity is its most laudable aspect: its sympathy for the idealism of antiwar radicals seems like the real thing.

The dramatic possibilities are endless. For some reason, however, Lumet patches his film together with a quilt of cliches.

May 25, 2021

FULL REVIEW

San Francisco Examiner

Michael Sragow

The feel-indifferent movie of 1988.

May 25, 2021

FULL REVIEW

Common Sense Media

age 14+

Common Sense Says

Wraps around your heart and squeezes.

What Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that the movie features an emotionally intense theme -- two boys facing the loss of their parents at any time -- that may be unsuitable for younger or more sensitive kids. Other than that, there's one isolated outburst of profanity and a teenager crawls through a window into his girlfriend's room at night (only to talk).