Synopsis
The Popes are a family who haven't been able to use their real identity for years. In the late sixties, the parents set a weapons lab afire in an effort to hinder the government's Vietnam war campaign. Ever since then, the Popes have been on the run with the authorities never far behind. Their survival is threatened when their eldest son falls in love with a girl, and announces his wish to live his life on his own terms.
Votre Filmothèque
Cast
- Christine LahtiAnnie Pope
- River PhoenixDanny Pope
- Judd HirschArthur Pope
- Jonas AbryHarry Pope
- Martha PlimptonLorna Phillips
- Ed CrowleyMr. Phillips
- L.M. Kit CarsonGus Winant
- Steven HillDonald Patterson
- Augusta DabneyAbigail Patterson
- David MarguliesDr. Jonah Reiff
Recommandations
- 100
Chicago Sun-Times
There are great performances in the central roles. Phoenix essentially carries the story; it's about him. Lahti and Hill have that shattering scene together. And Lahti and Hirsch, huddled together in bed, fearfully realizing that they may have come to a crossroads, are touching; we see how they've depended on each other. This is one of the best films of the year. - 90
Los Angeles Times
Sophisticated, uncompromising and refreshingly original, it is one of those rare films which is likely to mean as much to teens as it does to their parents. - 90
Time Out
Both acting (particularly Phoenix) and characterisation are top-notch. A film about lives indelibly marked by the past, and by the lies we tell each other just to protect ourselves, it displays the narrative sophistication and ironic grasp of moral and emotional nuances characteristic of Lumet's best work. - 80
The A.V. Club
The film is first and foremost a family drama, where the politics that led to this predicament take a back seat to the people who find themselves in it. - 80
Variety
A complex, turbulent tale told with admirable simplicity. Film successfully operates on several levels – as study of the primacy of the family unit, an anguished teen romance, a coming-of-age story and a look at what happened to some political radicals a generation later. - 70
The New York Times
Running on Empty works best when it plays upon emotions generated by the Popes' unique predicament, something that it often does rather shamelessly. It helps that Sidney Lumet has directed the film in a crisp, handsome style that diminishes the maudlin or unlikely aspects of its story, even when they threaten to intrude. - 60
Empire
Despite Lumet's home-spun pincer movement on the espionage/conspiracy genres, cliché still sneaks up and nips the film into submission. - 60
TV Guide Magazine
Lumet develops his story at a leisurely but effective pace, allowing the dynamics of a family in transition--not the sudden appearance of the FBI or an action-paced chase--to give the film its tension. Phoenix delivers a convincing, serious performance, and the rest of the cast, save for the miscast Hirsch, is also strong.
