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.
Acting
River Phoenix and Martha Plimpton's kitchen scene — pure electricity
Direction
Lumet makes ordinary rooms feel like traps closing
Writing
No villains, just people destroyed by choices made before the film starts
Director
Sidney Lumet
Christine Lahti
Annie Pope
River Phoenix
Danny Pope
Judd Hirsch
Arthur Pope
Martha Plimpton
Lorna Phillips
L.M. Kit Carson
Gus Winant
Steven Hill
Donald Patterson
Augusta Dabney
Abigail Patterson
David Margulies
Dr. Jonah Reiff
Lynne Thigpen
Contact at Eldridge St.
Marcia Jean Kurtz
School Clerk
Sloane Shelton
Mrs. Phillips
Justine Johnston
Librarian
Herb Lovelle
Hospital Clerk
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
River Phoenix and Martha Plimpton dated in real life; their chemistry here launched both careers.
Based loosely on the real Weather Underground fugitives, the film asks whether sixties radicalism aged into tragedy or farce.
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