Running on Empty (1988 film)
| Running on Empty | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Sidney Lumet |
| Produced by |
Griffin Dunne Amy Robinson |
| Written by | Naomi Foner |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Tony Mottola |
| Cinematography | Gerry Fisher |
| Edited by | Andrew Mondshein |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
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Release date
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Running time
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111 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $3 million |
| Box office | $2,835,116 |
Running on Empty is a 1988 drama film directed by Sidney Lumet and starring River Phoenix, Judd Hirsch, Christine Lahti, and Martha Plimpton. It was produced by Lorimar Television. It is the story of a counterculture couple on the run from the FBI, and how one of their sons starts to break out of this fugitive lifestyle.
Phoenix was nominated for the Academy Award for 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. In a backstage interview on March 21, 1989 at the 61st Annual Academy Awards Nominees Luncheon, Phoenix expressed his wishes for the film to have a sequel.
The film marked the second time that Phoenix and Plimpton played romantic interests, having co-starred in the film The Mosquito Coast two years earlier.
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.
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