Running on Empty (1988 film)

Running on Empty is a 1988 film featuring River Phoenix, Judd Hirsch, Christine Lahti, and Martha Plimpton, directed by Sidney Lumet, and was produced by Lorimar. It is the story of a counterculture couple on the run from the FBI, and how one of their sons starts to break out of this fugitive lifestyle.

The story revolves around parents Annie and Arthur Pope Lahti and Hirsch who in the 1970s were responsible for the antiwar protest bombing of a napalm laboratory. The incident accidentally blinded and paralyzed a janitor who wasnt supposed to be there. Theyve been on the run ever since, relying on an underground network of supporters who help them financially. At the time of the incident, their son Danny Phoenix was two years old. As the film begins, he is in his late teens, and the family along with younger son Harry are again relocating and assuming new identities.As the film progresses, Dannys overwhelming talent as a pianist catches the attention of his music teacher at school. The teacher begins to pry into Dannys personal life, particularly questioning why records from his previous school are unobtainable. While he pushes Danny to audition for Juilliard, Danny also falls in love with Lorna Plimpton, the teachers teenage daughter. ........

Source: Wikipedia