The film centers on the eldest son, Danny Pope (River Phoenix), a talented pianist and high school senior who is torn between loyalty to his family and his desire for a normal life, including pursuing music studies at Juilliard and a relationship with his music teacher’s daughter (Martha Plimpton). It explores themes of family, sacrifice, coming of age, and the long-term consequences of radical activism.

The film received critical acclaim for its performances (especially Phoenix and Christine Lahti), emotional depth, and Lumet’s direction. River Phoenix earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, and Naomi Foner was nominated for Best Original Screenplay. It also received multiple Golden Globe nominations, winning Best Screenplay.

Film critic Roger Ebert gave the film four out of four stars and called it “one of the best films of the year.” In her review for The New York Times, Janet Maslin wrote, “The courtship between Danny and Lorna is staged especially disarmingly, with Mr. Phoenix and Miss Plimpton conveying a sweet, serious and believably gradual attraction.” Newsweek magazine’s David Ansen wrote, “A curious mix of soap opera and social history, Lumet’s film shouldn’t work, yet its fusion of oddly matched parts proves emotionally overpowering. You have to be pretty tough to resist it.”

Running on Empty was released on September 9, 1988, in 22 theaters, where it grossed $215,157 on its opening weekend. It went on to make $2,835,116 in North America.

She joined the RSC around 1963–1964 (sources vary slightly on the exact start year, but it was for a four-year period) after an earlier unsuccessful audition and periods of repertory work and odd jobs. She was initially recruited for director Peter Brook’s experimental Theatre of Cruelty season, influenced by Antonin Artaud.

Jackson played Charlotte Corday, an asylum inmate portraying the assassin of Jean-Paul Marat, in Marat/Sade (1965–1965). This was her major breakthrough role. The production was highly controversial and innovative, blending theater with elements of cruelty and improvisation. It transferred to Broadway (her debut there) in 1965 and was filmed in 1967, bringing her international attention.

While her experimental work made headlines, Jackson also tackled traditional texts with a modernist, unsentimental edge. She played Ophelia in Hamlet (1965), opposite David Warner as Hamlet at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon (later transferring to the Aldwych Theatre in London). Critics praised her fierce, strong interpretation; Penelope Gilliatt noted she was “the only Ophelia she had seen who was ready to play the Prince himself.”

She starred in this controversial protest play against the Vietnam War in US (1966), which utilized avant-garde techniques to challenge British complicity in the conflict.

Her RSC work emphasized raw intensity, intellectual sharpness, and physical commitment, suiting the era’s experimental and politically charged theater. She left the company around 1967–1968 as her film career accelerated (e.g., Women in Love in 1969, for which she won her first Oscar). She later returned to the RSC for roles like Hedda Gabler (1975) and Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra (1978–1979).

Jackson’s time with the RSC in the 1960s was pivotal, showcasing her commanding presence in ensemble and experimental work alongside directors like Brook and Hall. It bridged her early repertory days and her status as a major star. Here are some stunning studio portraits of Glenda Jackson taken by John Hedgecoe in 1965 while she was working with the Royal Shakespeare Company.