 | Story of purity versus change part one:
RUNNING ON EMPTY centers around a couple and their children on the run for their protest actions in the sixties. The parents are the typical Marxist hippies who try to instill in the kids the values of the left, only to face the fact that the eldest child would rather play classical piano instead of the folk music of the oppressed. Eventually the son and the parents must choose between values, and the father, whose hippie view of questioning authority conflicts with his socialist views of staying true to the tribe, reluctantly allows his son to find his own path, and even learns to appreciate the bourgeois classics that he once rejected.
From IMDB: "Director Sidney Lumet writes in his book "Making Movies" about an argument between River Phoenix and writer Naomi Foner. A scene in the movie concerns the character played by Phoenix being interrupted while practicing a classical piano solo. In the script, when he is caught, he breaks into a jazz riff to cover his "embarrassment" at being caught doing something serious. Phoenix fought hard against this, feeling that his character would never be embarrassed about working at the piano. Lumet was so impressed by the point Phoenix made, he shot the scene the way Phoenix wanted it." |
