Patty Hearst (1988)

The true story of a rich girl who was abducted by American revolutionaries in the 1970's. Her time spent with her captors made her question herself and her way of life and she joined forces... See full summary »

Director:

Paul Schrader

Writers:

Patricia Hearst (book), Alvin Moscow (book),

Stars:

Natasha Richardson, William Forsythe, Ving Rhames

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Natasha Richardson	...	Patricia Hearst
William Forsythe	...	Teko
Ving Rhames	...	Cinque
Frances Fisher	...	Yolanda
Jodi Long	...	Wendy Yoshimura
Olivia Barash	...	Fahizah
Dana Delany	...	Gelina
Marek Johnson	...	Zoya
Kitty Swink	...	Gabi
Peter Kowanko	...	Cujo (as Pete Kowanko)
Tom O'Rourke	...	Jim Browning
Scott Kraft	...	Steven Weed
Jeff Imada	...	Neighbor
Ermal Williamson	...	Randolph A. Hearst
Elaine Revard	...	Catherine Hearst

Storyline

The true story of a rich girl who was abducted by American revolutionaries in the 1970's. Her time spent with her captors made her question herself and her way of life and she joined forces with the cause that her abductors were fighting for. This created a US scandal and Patty Hearst has become a pop culture fixture.

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Plot Keywords:

1970s | abductor | patty hearst | kidnapping | female nudity | 

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Taglines:

Heiress... kidnap victim... turned urban terrorist... bank robber

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Genres:

Biography | Drama

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 September 1988 (USA)

Also Known As:

Patty

Filming Locations:

38th And Balboa Branch - 3701 Balboa St., San Francisco, California, USA

Box Office

Gross:

$1,223,326 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Atlantic Entertainment Group, Zenith Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The real Patricia Hearst was pardoned by President Bill Clinton on January 20, 2001 - his last official act before he left office.

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Goofs

After the shooting at the sporting goods store, Patty says it was "just like Starsky and Hutch". Starsky and Hutch debuted in 1975, a year later than the events in that scene.

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Quotes

Patricia Hearst: [to Cinque] I'm really struggling to overcome my bourgeois upbringing.

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Connections

Spoofed in Citizen Tania (1989)

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Soundtracks

"Way Back Home"
Performed by The Crusaders
Written by Wilton Felder
Published by Four Knights Music
Courtesy of MCA Records

User Reviews

Shadow, light and gibberish

California is drenched in sunshine. But Patty Hearst, member of one of the most famous and in the public opinion most wealthy families of the USA is brutally thrown into darkness. The California sun is still out there, you can almost feel it, some rays come through, but the light is most of the time shut out by walls or curtains. Once the nineteen-year-old woman reemerges, she is a revolutionary, called Tanya – like Che's lover, you dig?

This highly interesting, very stylish and well crafted movie tells about the ordeal, the disorientation, the reprogramming and the re-reprogramming of a young person who seems to be very much alone while trying to endure these transformations that are forced upon her. Any notion of society seems to dissolve into sheer madness. This retelling of actual facts, which is done exclusively and in straight chronological order from Patty's point of view, might or might not be a „doctored" account of events, it certainly is convincing and allows the viewers to commiserate with the main protagonist. She concludes at the end that society probably would have preferred her dead, and after seeing the movie one must say she has a point there (for this aspect it might be interesting to check out Robert Aldrich's The Grissom Gang).

The group dynamics and the insane pseudo revolutionary gibberish (sounds terribly dated!) has a real feel to it, all actors are believable in their roles. I thought that Ving Rhames was particularly effective as the group's leader, Cinque (and now I know that the name is not pronounced like the Italian word for the number five). Besides Natasha Richardson the performance of Jodi Long also caught my attention. Reminded me a little of Mercedes McCambridge. I hope I will be able to see her in other roles.