This superbly acted political melodrama, directed by Sidney Lumet, centers on a counterculture couple on the run from the FBI, and how one of their sons starts to break out of this fugitive lifestyle.
Grade: B+
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Christine Lahti and Judd Hirsch play married couple Annie and Arthur Pope, who due to their left-wing politics and radical activities, have been on the run for years; as students, they blew up a building and accidentally killed an innocent man.
River Phoenix plays their son Danny, a talented musician about to graduate from high-school, who’s been accepted into the prestigious New York school of Julliard. Facing a moral and practical dilemma, the Popes need to make a painful, fateful decision about the future of Danny, who’s willing to stay underground with them, but they feel that perhaps he should separate from the troubled family nest.
The yarn is perfect material for Lumet, who was known for his leftist sympathies and humanist philosophy. However, at times, the drama feels a tad too predictable in its intergenerational conflicts and tensions.
Even so, superlative acting from the entire ensemble, which also includes Judd Hirsch as the father, and Martha Plimpton as Danny’s girlfriend, elevates the melodrama above the routine.
Detailed Narrative
Parents Annie and Arthur Pope are on the run as they were responsible for the anti-war protest bombing of a napalm laboratory in 1971. The incident accidentally blinded and paralyzed a janitor who was not supposed to be there. They have been on the run ever since, relying on underground network of supporters who help them. At the time of the incident, their son Danny was two years old.
As the film begins, he is in his late teens, and the family, now with younger son Harry, are again relocating and assuming new identities.
Danny’s talent as a pianist draws the attention of his music teacher Mr. Phillips, who begins to pry into Danny’s personal life, questioning the absence of his previous school records. While he pushes Danny to audition for Juilliard, Danny also falls in love with Lorna, the teacher’s daughter, Lorna (Martha Plimpton).
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, gradually and paimfully that they have to let Danny go.
In the film’s most empotionaly scene, Annie risks the family safety by contacting her estranged father, trying to arrange better life for Danny.
Spoiler Alert
When Arthur hears on the radio that an underground colleague has been killed running from the authorities, he realizes that it is better for his son to pursue his dreams than to continue living a dangerous life on the run for rimes he bears no responsibility for.
The family leaves Danny behind and heads off for their next identity in a new town.
Arthur and Annie Pope were loosely modeled after Weather Underground leaders Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, and the characters’ bombing of a napalm research facility was inspired by the Sterling Hall bombing of 1970.
Casting:
This film marked the second time that Phoenix and Plimpton played romantic interests, having previously co-starred in Paul Schrader’s disappoinmting film, The Mosquito Coast (1986).
Christine Lahti received the Best Actress kudo from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA, of whoch I am a member), but failed to win an Oscar nod.
Critical Acclaim Vs. Commercial Failure
The film received positive reviews from major citics, but failed to find an appreciative audience, with box-office gross that did not even cover the modest budget.
Why did it fail? Was the socio-political context in which it was released–Reagan/Bush were in power–wrong for this soul-searching movie? Was the end, with the family again on the run, too ambiguous? Did the viewers wish for the parents to confess and give themsleves up?
Cast
River Phoenix as Danny Pope
Christine Lahti as Annie Pope
Judd Hirsch as Arthur Pope
Jonas Abry as Harry Pope
Martha Plimpton as Lorna Phillips
Ed Crowley as Mr. Phillips (Lorna’s father)
Steven Hill as Donald Patterson (Annie’s father)
Augusta Dabney as Abigail Patterson (Annie’s mother)
L. M. Kit Carson as Gus Winant
David Margulies as Dr. Jonah Reiff
Lynne Thigpen as Contact at Eldridge St.
Marcia Jean Kurtz as School Clerk
Sloane Shelton as Mrs. Phillips (Lorna’s mother)
Oscar Context:
My Oscar Book:
Oscar Nominations: 2
Screenplay (Original): Naomi Foner
Supporting Actor: River Phoenix
Oscar Awards: None
Supporting Actor
Oscar Context
The most nominated film in 1988, “Rain Man,” received four Oscars out of its 8 nods, including Picture, Director, Actor, and Screenplay by Ronald Bass and Barry Morrow.
The other Best Picture nominees represented a mixed bag in terms of genre and quality: “Dangerous Liaisons” and “Mississippi Burning,” each with 8 nominations, Mike Nichols’s comedic fable “Working Girl,” with 6, and Lawrence Kasdan’s literary adaptation “The Accidental Tourist,” with 4.
This was River Phoenix’s first and only Oscar nomination, which made him one of the Academy’s youngest contenders. His category included Kevin Kline, who won for “A Fish Called Wanda,” vet Alec Guinness in “Little Dorrit,” Martin Landau in “Tucker: the Man and His Dream,” and Dean Stockwell in “Married to the Mob.”
As is well-known, Phoenix, touted as a brilliant actor in the vein of James Dean, died at age 23 from combined drug intoxication on Halloween (October 31) 1993, from overdose of cocaine and heroin at The Viper Room in West Hollywood.
Credits:
Directed by Sidney Lumet
Written by Naomi Foner
Produced by Griffin Dunne, Amy Robinson
Cinematography Gerry Fisher
Edited by Andrew Mondshein
Music by Tony Mottola
Production: Lorimar Film Entertainment
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release date: Sep 9, 1988
Running time: 116 minutes
Budget: $7 million
Box office: $2.8 million
