Released By:	Lorimar Film Entertainment
Year:	1988
Director:	Sidney Lumet
Screenplay:	Naomi Foner
Awards:	Nominated for Best Performance By an Actor in a Supporting Role (River Phoenix) Nominated for Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen (Naomi Foner)

Christine Lahti as Annie Pope

River Phoenix as Danny Pope

Judd Hirsch as Arthur Pope

Jonas Abry as Harry Pope

Martha Plimpton as Lorna Phillips

Ed Crowley as Mr Phillips

River Phoenix as Danny Pope in Sidney Lumet's 1988 movie Running on Empty.

Never far from the surface - the pain of River Jude Phoenix.

Judd Hirsch and Christine Lahti portray parents who find themselves still on the run from the F.B.I. seventeen years after blowing up a building as radical students and accidentally blinding a janitor. The film examines how events that happened in the 1960's effect the family's present day children portrayed by River and Jonas Abry.

Whilst several of his previous films had surprising similarities with his own life, when questioned if the trend continued in this film River would become annoyed. "People think the Popes are like my family but they aren't," he would say. "My parents were never on the run! We moved because we couldn't pay the rent or something." River would admit to there being a "connection" with his family's ideals though.

"The concerns of these parents are something I could see my own parents dealing with. My parents would sympathize with the Popes, but they are pacifists. My mother would never throw a bomb, it's just not in her nature."

"Also, my family are brutally honest with each other," continued River. "We don't hide our feelings the way the Popes did. And I don't think letting go would ever hurt my family. It's the other way round really. We've never had this kind of stable family life before and I'm enjoying it. I like coming home and having members of my family around."

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