Running on Empty (1988) Review

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(More customer reviews)I recently watched this film again, as I do periodically, and thought I'd comment. Several reviewers have pointed out that although the film is uniformly excellent, the DVD presentation is lacking, and I am of mixed feelings on that point. While it's true that the DVD doesn't offer more than the film, it's a film of such understated perfection and poignant brilliance that I wonder if we have the right to demand more. Sure, a director's or screenwriter's commentary track, or even a quick comparison of this to Lumet's earlier and similarly-themed Daniel, would be nice, but sometimes a movie is so good it doesn't need help.
I saw this movie on HBO as a kid, probably soon after it came out. I feel certain that I must have seen it several times, but although I vaguely recalled liking it immensely, I went for some years without thinking of it much. Then I went on a huge Sidney Lumet kick in 1997/1998 (owing to his compelling appearance on Inside the Actor's Studio and his intriguing book) and rediscovered this. To my utter astonishment, I began to see that the film had transformed me when I saw it as a kid, and it would be months before I unraveled all its subconscious shaping of my pysche.
This is a gorgeous, unflinching and aching film about tough choices and living with consequences, and I'm glad to say that despite numerous opportunities, it never once sinks into the chasm of Hollywoodisms that have capsized most films that even attempt something like this. It manages constantly to be honest and to present the gray areas of its characters, rather than letting them fit into simple archetypes of hero/protagonist, etc. I like that, because I don't find it helpful to understand the world in black and white, and clearly Lumet doesn't either. Even the most villainous character is given the opportunity to express his point of view, and although I don't sympathize with it, I at least understand it.
In short, there are really only a small handful of 'family' dramas that I would argue are completely genuine, and this is in that august company. (Ordinary People is the only other that leaps to mind at this moment.) It is a rare accomplishment indeed, and everyone in it is at least superb, with a couple of performances managing to go even beyond (Lahti's multiple, and heart-wrenching, inner conflicts toward the end are all clear without being tediously overacted -- an amazing feat, while Phoenix's Danny captures not only the torment of his character that's in the script, but the added burden of being a 17-year-old boy in general).
So would it be nice if they gave this the Special Edition treatment? Of course, and I'll replace my copy if they decide to. But is the lack of special features an excuse for not owning this? An unequivocal no. That's like declining to purchase an original Michaelangelo because the frame isn't perfect.

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Two fugitive radicals must face the painful consequences of their teenage son striking out on his own. Year: 1988 Director: Sidney Lumet Starring: Christine Lahti, River Phoenix, Judd Hirsch, Martha Plimpton

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Swing Shift (1984) Review

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(More customer reviews)"Swing Shift" has proven to be a marvelous nostalgia trip for those who remember the '40s, and for those self-proclaimed nostalgia buffs like myself who enjoy the music of the era.
Goldie Hawn has a childlike innocence as a housewife to Ed Harris in a working class neighborhood in 1941 California. Jack and Kay Walsh deal with Jack's having to work on Saturdays, a rather vampy neighbor at whom they make derogatory remarks when they see her going to work, and enjoy time at the roller rink.
While they are at the roller rink, the attack on Pearl Harbor is announced and their world changes. Jack enlists in the Navy and Kay decides to work as riveter, who helps to build airplanes at a local munitions plant.
She develops an antagonistic relationship with her neighbor, Hazel(Christine Lahti), the singer-turned riveter, whom she and her husband used to taunt, and an even closer relationship with a plant worker named Lucky (Kurt Russell)who repeatedly invites her out to hear him play his trumpet at club leading to gossip and speculation about their relationship among their co-workers.
During the course of the film, we see the reluctance of the women's male co-workers to accept them as equals in the workplace, and one of the male instructors gets a little too familiar with Hazel while instructing her on how to drill.
The unspoken problem in all this is the women's inability to defend themselves against sexual harrassment in the workplace at that time. In modern times, Lucky never would have been able to make the kind of advances that he made towards her in this film, at least not without Kay filing a complaint. This film suggests that such situations may have been common back then, largely because of this fact.It leads a viewer to wonder how many affairs between the female swingshifters and their male counterparts took place at that time, regardless of the marital status of either of them.
But we share the triumphs as well as the tragedies of the swing shifters; Holly Hunter, as Jeanne Sherman, receives her husband's death notice while at work, but later gives the audience a lesson in how life can go on afterwards.
Jack discovers his wife's affair when he comes home on furlough, and is heartbroken. As Kay tries to figure out how best to resolve the situation, Hazel and Lucky begin a dallience of their own after Hazel's relationship with her former boss appears to be over.
After the inevitable fight between the two women, they avoid each other at work. Lucky gets his big break as a musician, and leaves the plant, which makes it easier for Hazel and Kay to eventually make peace with each other.
I found this film--a counterpart to that other portrayal of life in World War II California, "Racing With the Moon", which was released the same year--to be a fine tribute the the women who helped win World War II--to their endurance of heartache and sacrifice, demeaning treatment, the realism of the marginalized treatment of the African American women at the plant, and the support that women in general can give each other in times of crisis. When Kay is promoted after saving a co-worker's life, we see how the men begin to respect their female co-workers for their intelligence. Interestingly, these themes were later echoed in the 1992 film, "A League of Their Own".
Sadly, these women had to give up their jobs once the men returned home from the war. But those who see this film should come to appreciate the way the women of this era paved the way for equality in the workplace.

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A film about World War II that examines what happened to the men and women in the factories making weapons rather than following the troops.Genre: Feature Film-DramaRating: PGRelease Date: 8-FEB-2005Media Type: DVD

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