Running on Empty Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		4.0

Running on Empty Blu-ray Movie Review

The Fugitive Kind

Reviewed by Michael Reuben July 10, 2017

When River Phoenix died of a drug overdose at the age of 23, he had already amassed a remarkable body of film work for someone so young, with credits ranging from blockbuster franchises (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade) to edgy independents (My Own Private Idaho). In 1989, Phoenix received an Oscar nomination—probably the first of many, if he'd lived—for Running on Empty ("RoE"), an unconventional family drama directed with quiet assurance by Sidney Lumet (Network, Serpico and many more). Based on an original, Oscar-nominated screenplay by Naomi Foner, who is best known today as the mother of Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal, RoE feels like a throwback to the intimate character studies of the Seventies, even though it couldn't have been made then, because crucial events forming its backstory were still unfolding. RoE was badly treated on DVD by Warner Home Video, but the Warner Archive Collection stepped up several years ago with a remastered DVD-R that restored the film's original aspect ratio. Now WAC has returned to RoE, transferring the film anew for Blu-ray with the care and attention this understated treasure deserves.

RoE centers on the Pope family, who have spent fifteen years on the run from federal law enforcement. Arthur and Annie Pope (Judd Hirsch and Christine Lahti) were student activists whose opposition to the war in Vietnam escalated into bombing a napalm research facility. They thought the building would be empty, but the explosion badly injured a janitor who wasn't supposed to be there. The couple fled with their two-year-old son, Danny, and the family has been living on society's fringe ever since, assuming a succession of identities and prepared to flee on a moment's notice. Ten-year-old Harry Pope (Jonas Abry) was born a fugitive, and he and his older brother are thoroughly steeped in the fine points of maintaining a low profile and remaining alert for any sign that the authorities are closing in. As the film opens, the Pope family is forced to abandon its current home in the Florida countryside and reinvent themselves as recent arrivals in a New Jersey suburb.

But unavoidable cracks are forming in the family's unity. At age 17, Danny Pope (Phoenix) is surrounded by high school classmates who are thinking about college, and his new music teacher, Mr. Phillips (Ed Crowley), is pressing him to apply to The Juilliard School in New York, having discovered that this reserved student whose former school records never seem to arrive is a gifted pianist with a love for classical music. Danny is intrigued by the prospect of artistic education, and he is even more intrigued by the music teacher's daughter, Lorna (Martha Plimpton), with whom he begins a sweetly awkward teenage romance. The longer the Popes remain in their latest abode, the more Danny finds himself torn between family loyalty and the urgent longing to restore his true identity and seek his own place in the world.

RoE is told largely from Danny's point of view, so that we see the Pope family as Danny sees it, alternately accepting their furtive and vagabond existence and rebelling against constraints that threaten to cut him off from the inviting possibilities now expanding before him. He finds a reluctant ally in his mother, who struggles with remorse over the life she and Arthur have imposed on their children. Torn between allegiance to her husband and maternal devotion, Annie Pope will eventually take risky action to do what she thinks is right for her elder son.

Phoenix may have been nominated as a supporting actor for RoE, but he's the film's true lead, drawing your attention toward him whenever he's onscreen and exercising a gravitational pull on the other characters when he's off. Danny is never more eloquent than when he's silent, because Phoenix shows you the conflicting thoughts and emotions rioting below the surface of what many around him assume to be a typical sullen teenager. He also shows you the stress and pain as Danny tentatively explores the possibility of pulling away from the parents he reveres, sneaking off to Manhattan for a Julliard audition and using the trip as an opportunity to investigate family history that, up until this point, has only been the stuff of legend and rumor.

As Danny's parents, Lahti and Hirsch provide a study in contrasts. Hirsch, who usually plays fundamentally decent men, is cast here against type, and he gives Arthur Pope a dogmatically unrepentant edge as a patriarch exercising dictatorial control over his family. ("Who do you think you are, General Patton?", Danny demands of his father in an uncharacteristic moment of rebellion.) Arthur clearly regrets nothing and seems perfectly content with the prospect of remaining a fugitive, regardless of the impact on his wife and children. Meanwhile, Lahti's Annie maintains a surface solidarity with her husband, but is filled with regret that spills out at odd moments, like the sudden reappearance of Gus (L.M. Kit Carson), a former comrade from their student days who tempts her with the prospect of romantic renewal. One of the film's most emotional scenes occurs near the end, when Annie Pope is unexpectedly reunited with the wealthy father (Steven Hill) she hasn't seen in years, and every word—and even the pauses—are freighted with densely layered emotion.

As a director, Lumet was often attracted to tales of rebels and outsiders, whether they were turncoat cops (Serpico and Prince of the City), oddball crooks (Dog Day Afternoon and The Anderson Tapes), a washed-up lawyer (The Verdict) or just plain crazy (Network). He was also fascinated by troubled family dynamics, whether of the classical vintage in his filmed adaptation of Long Day's Journey into Night or the pulpy variety in his final film, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead. Both of these interests coalesced in Foner's script for RoE, and Lumet approached the material with a clear-eyed appreciation of the Pope family's dilemma that allowed him to inspect it from all sides—but his sympathies clearly remain with Danny, whose teenage rebellion is fraught with unique risks. "Why do you have to carry the burden of someone else's life?" Lorna asks him at one point, and Phoenix's performance conveys Danny's struggle with that question with a quiet passion that retains its emotional resonance today, even as RoE's underlying conflicts have faded into history.

Running on Empty Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

"I hate style that shows" was one of director Sidney Lumet's mantras, and his refusal to indulge in "look at me" cinematography and camera work during an era dominated by technical virtuosos like Spielberg and Scorsese often caused viewers to overlook the quiet care with which Lumet designed his visuals. In Running on Empty, the director worked with British cinematographer Gerry Fisher, who could deliver visual extravagance when asked (e.g., Highlander) but who here adapted his lighting to Lumet's preference for understatement. RoE's image is mostly flat, dull and ordinary, reflecting the aggressively average surface that the Pope family works so hard to maintain. Pay close attention, however, and you begin to notice visual subtleties like the recurring intrusion into the frame of rich greenery suggesting youth and fresh life; it's a deliberate contrast to the dull tones of the faded homes, cracked walls and peeling wallpaper that are the Pope family's standard environment. (It's no accident that Danny's and Lorna's romance blossoms in a densely leafy forest.)

For this 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray from the Warner Archive Collection, WAC commissioned a new scan, which was performed by Warner's Motion Picture Imaging facility at 2K using an interpositive recently 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 of any flaws caused by dirt, damage and wear. The resulting image won't be anyone's idea of "demo" material, but it faithfully reproduces Lumet's and Fisher's quiet imagery, while retaining the original's film-like texture. Sharpness and detail are superior, black levels are accurate, and the presentation is free of artifacts, distortion or inappropriate digital manipulation. WAC has mastered RoE at its usual high average bitrate, here 34 Mbps.

Running on Empty Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

RoE's mono soundtrack has been taken from the original magnetic master and encoded on Blu-ray in lossless DTS-HD MA 2.0. Lumet cared as little for hyperbolic soundtracks as he did for showy photography, and he was famous for using little or no underscoring. (RoE's limited cues were composed by jazz guitarist Tony Mottola.) The Blu-ray's soundtrack capably renders the film's dialogue and supplies essential sound effects like Danny's piano performances (dubbed by a professional but convincingly mimed by Phoenix) and various sounds of small-town life and, briefly, residential Manhattan. The track's dynamic range won't challenge anyone's audio system, but it's presented on Blu-ray exactly as it should be.

Running on Empty Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The sole extra is a trailer (1080p; 1.78:1; 1:31), which has been remastered in 1080p. That's more than could be found on Warner's 1999 1.33:1 DVD, which had no extras at all. WAC's 2014 DVD, which restored the film's theatrical framing and aspect ratio, was similarly devoid of any extras.

Running on Empty Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Lumet insisted on extensive rehearsals with his cast before the cameras rolled, which is almost unheard of today, but the results of his directorial approach are apparent in his films' consistently superior performances and numerous nominations for acting awards. His meticulous attention to characters and their interactions was often taken for granted during a long and productive career, but those skills drew renewed admiration as they became an increasingly scarce commodity among Hollywood directors. The re-evaluation of Lumet began with the appearance of Before the Devil Knows You're Dead in 2007, and WAC's new Blu-ray of RoE supplies further evidence of this major filmmaker's stature. Highly recommended.