Actors - Running on Empty

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	Actors - Running on Empty

Running on Empty is a 1988 film featuring River Phoenix, Judd Hirsch, Christine Lahti, and Martha Plimpton and directed by Sidney Lumet. Phoenix was nominated for an Academy Award as best supporting actor for his role in the film; it was also 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.

The story revolves around parents Annie and Arthur Pope (Lahti and Nelson) who in the 1970's were responsible for the anti-war protest bombing of a napalm laboratory. The incident accidentally blinded and paralyzed a janitor whose presence was unknown. 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 relocating and assuming new identities.

As the film progresses Danny's overwhelming talent as a pianist catches the attention of a music teacher at school. The teacher begins to pry into Danny's personal life, particularly questioning why records from his previous school are unobtainable. While he pushes Danny to audition for Juilliard, Danny also falls in love with Lorna (Plimpton), the teacher's teenage daughter.

As the pressure to have his own life and realize his own dreams intensifies, Danny reveals his family secret to Lorna. Meanwhile Annie finds out about Danny's audition and begins to come to terms with the fact that she must let her son go and find his own way. This does not sit well with Arthur, even as Annie risks their safety to contact her estranged father and secure a home and life for Danny if they should decide to leave him behind.

In the end Arthur realizes that he is becoming the very type of authoritarian that he once rebelled against, and that he has no right to limit his son's freedoms. The family leaves Danny behind and heads off for their next identity in a new town.

The film marked the second time Phoenix and Plimpton would play one another's romantic interest; this lead to a highly publicized relationship culminating in their break-up due to Plimpton's objection to Phoenix's drug use.

Tagline: In 1971, Arthur and Annie Pope blew up a napalm lab to protest the war... Ever since then they have been on the run from the FBI. They chose their lives. Now their son must choose his.

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