Empire Records
| Empire Records | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Allan Moyle |
| Produced by | Tony Ludwig Arnon Milchan Michael Nathanson Alan Riche |
| Written by | Carol Heikkinen |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Walt Lloyd |
| Edited by | Michael Chandler |
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Production
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| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
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Release date
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Running time
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90 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $303,841 (United States) |
Empire Records is a 1995 American coming-of-age film that follows a group of record store employees over the course of one exceptional day. The employees try to stop the store from being sold to a large chain, and learn about each other along the way. The film was directed by Allan Moyle and stars Anthony LaPaglia, Robin Tunney, Rory Cochrane, Renée Zellweger, Ethan Embry, Johnny Whitworth and Liv Tyler. The film was a commercial and critical failure, generating largely negative reviews and losses at the domestic US box office.
Empire Records is an independent record shop managed by Joe (Anthony LaPaglia). The store is located in a fictional city in Delaware, and, like its employees, is eclectic and unique. The staff is very much a surrogate family, with Joe as the reluctant and perpetually exasperated but lovable father figure. When his young staff experience problems in their personal lives, he routinely reminds them they can seek him out for advice.
The film opens with store manager Joe allowing employee Lucas (Rory Cochrane) his first opportunity to close the store, an opportunity Lucas regards as an honor. While counting the day's receipts in Joe's office, Lucas snoops and discovers that Empire Records is about to be bought and converted into a branch of Music Town, a large national music store with many franchises. In an effort to keep the store independent, Lucas takes the day's cash receipts totaling $9,000 to a casino in Atlantic City in an attempt to quadruple it via gambling. Lucas believes this act will create enough money to allow Joe to save Empire Records. Though initially doubling the money, Lucas soon loses the entire amount in one bet on a dice table. Instead of going home he sleeps on his motorcycle outside the store, where he is found the following morning by opening manager A.J. (Johnny Whitworth) and fellow employee Mark (Ethan Embry). He confides in the pair about the previous night's events before riding away, seemingly for good. Joe arrives to help open the store and quickly receives phone calls from both the bank and the store owner, Mitchell Beck (Ben Bodé), regarding the previous night's missing deposit.
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Wikipedia