Running on Empty (1988).
Read Blu-ray
Running on Empty is an unconventional family drama, a subgenre that I normally don’t gravitate towards. I was unfamiliar with this one, it’s not one we had on the video store shelves, but I saw it at Amoeba and decided to pick this up on a whim because it starred River Phoenix.
It’s a film about the Pope family. Annie and Arthur, the parents, blew up a napalm factory in the early 70’s as part of a far-left militant organization to protest the war. The lab was supposed to be empty, but a janitor who was inside at the time was left paralyzed and blind, so the FBI has been hunting the couple ever since. At the time, their son Danny was two. While on the run, they had another child, Harry. The two kids have only known a life on the lamb, switching towns and schools when they start to feel the heat, and using a network of like-minded activists to get dental work and other necessary care while pillaging the lost and found buckets at businesses in order to snag things like gloves and hats. They’re used to leaving everything behind. In the first scene of the film, they need to ditch their home and they leave the family dog behind, saying, “He’ll be fine. He’ll find a home.” It seems like something that would tear the kids up, especially 10-year-old Harry…but he’s oddly okay with it. He’s used to it. The family works as a unit, and it’s worked well; it’s kept the parents out of prison for fifteen years…but as Danny starts to desire his own life - one with teenage normalities like a girlfriend and the possibility of college, things start to get a little messy.
As the film started, I saw that it was directed by Sidney Lumet, and I knew that I was in good hands, but make no mistake about it - this was the River Phoenix show. He plays Danny, the good looking, whip smart kid who’s adapted his father’s fortress mentality - he does everything he can to blend into the background, never bringing attention to himself. In his spare time, he practices the piano on a non-functioning practice board, the one thing he totes with him from town to town. This role earned him a Best Supporting Actor nod at the Oscars, for his pained, extremely vulnerable performance. When his music teacher takes a very supportive interest in him, he meets his daughter Lorna who goes to the same school, opening up the door to secrets that you know will eventually rear their ugly head. Both Judd Hirsch and Christine Lahti are amazing as the parents, and this is where the real dramatic tension happens…but it’s not overt, it’s simply the pair realizing that as long as they’ve been on the run, working odd jobs to survive and support their family, a time they dreaded is finally here. There’s a scene in which Arthur is reading the paper when Danny walks in late at night. He’s not in trouble, he just sits down to talk. At the end of a very short conversation, he asks Danny, “Are you sleeping with her?” Danny simply replies, “Yes.” And Arthur just says, “Alright, head on up to bed.” But the “Shit…” look you see in his eyes tells us all we need to know. Christine Lahti simply owns the last fifteen minutes of the film with emotional moments with her son and her father. That well hidden angst turns more explosive later on when he finds out Danny took a Juiliard audition.
The film is extremely well directed and subtle. The filmmaking doesn’t get in the way, it just lets us observe the rich characters. I’ve seen in reviews online that the film feels a bit long, and that’s true, but at the same time I think it’s important, because we start to get comfortable, as the characters do in their new lives…and when it’s time to drop everything and leave, it’s as jarring for us as it is for them. But make no mistake, while the filmmaking might not be flashy, it’s incredibly calculated and extremely powerful. If you need proof of this, there’s a scene in which Danny invites Lorna over for his mother’s birthday dinner. Everything goes well, and after cutting the cake, they all dance in the kitchen together to James Taylor’s Fire and Rain, but subtly, naturally, Danny and Lorna start slowly dancing together, migrating away from the rest of the family who’s oblivious to the divide between them. There’s an invisible line in the middle of that kitchen, telling us that from this point, things can never go back to the way they were. It was a scene so beautifully done that I’m not ashamed to say I teared up…and it wouldn’t be the last time that happened while watching Running on Empty. It’s not a film with surprises…you know what’s going to happen - Danny is going to go his own way - but you don’t know how. Will the parents end up in jail? Will Danny rebel and stay behind, or will his parents be the ones to leave him behind like the family dog they eschewed at the beginning of the film?
This was a Warner Archive disc and, unfortunately has no special features. It does look and sound good. The Blu-ray picture is the result of a new scan from Warner’s Motion Picture Imaging facility at 2K using an interpositive struck from the camera negative. An original answer print made on Eastman LPP low fade stock was used as a reference for color-correction, followed by cleanup for dirt, damage and wear. Although there’s not much other than the film to see here, it’s worth it for the film alone. If you’re into family dramas or just want to be reminded of we lost when River Phoenix died so young, you should pick this up.
