Steal This Movie (2000)

Five years after Yippie founder Abbie Hoffman goes underground to avoid a drug-related prison sentence, he contacts a reporter to get out the story of the FBI's covert spying, harassment ... See full summary »

Director:

Robert Greenwald

Writers:

Anita Hoffman (book), Abbie Hoffman (book),

Stars:

Vincent D'Onofrio, Janeane Garofalo, Jeanne Tripplehorn

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Vincent D'Onofrio	...	Abbie Hoffman
Janeane Garofalo	...	Anita Hoffman
Jeanne Tripplehorn	...	Johanna Lawrenson
Kevin Pollak	...	Gerry Lefcourt
Donal Logue	...	Stew Albert
Kevin Corrigan	...	Jerry Rubin
Alan Van Sprang	...	David Glenn
Troy Garity	...	Tom Hayden
Ingrid Veninger	...	Judy Albert
Stephen Marshall	...	Louis Wertzel
Joyce Gordon	...	Florence Hoffman
Bernard Kay	...	John Hoffman
Jean Daigle	...	Sheriff
Johnie Chase	...	Josh
Joshua Dov	...	Hippie Kid - NYC

Storyline

Five years after Yippie founder Abbie Hoffman goes underground to avoid a drug-related prison sentence, he contacts a reporter to get out the story of the FBI's covert spying, harassment and inciting of violence they then blame on the Left. The skeptical reporter interviews Anita, Hoffman's wife, a single mom on welfare in New York City; Hoffman's attorney, Gerry Lefcourt; and others. As they talk, we see Hoffman's career in flashbacks, from early civil rights organizing through the trial of the Chicago Eight. While underground, as mental illness takes its toll, he meets Johanna Lawrenson, and an odd family develops: Abbie, Anita, their son, and Johanna. Will vindication ever arrive?

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Plot Keywords:

reporter | civil rights | welfare | yippie | trial | 

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Genres:

Biography | Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

28 June 2002 (Spain)

Also Known As:

Abbie!

Filming Locations:

Brampton, Ontario, Canada

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$23,221 (USA) (18 August 2000)

Gross:

$76,053 (USA) (8 September 2000)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Ardent Films, Greenlight Productions, Lakeshore International

Technical Specs

Runtime:

107 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Second most stolen film in America, the first being Clerks..

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Goofs

Canadian road signs appear in several scenes including the early scene where Abbie is calling from the isolated phone booth. In the scene where Abbie's mother is driving down the road, a sign written in metric is clearly visible.

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Connections

Features The Roy Rogers & Dale Evans Show (1962)

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Soundtracks

"Mellow Yellow"
Written by Donovan (as Donovan Leitch)
Published by Peer International Corporation (BMI) o/b/o Donovan Music, Ltd.
Performed by Mary Chapin Carpenter
Mary Chapin Carpenter appears courtesy of Columbia Records, Sony Music Nashville

User Reviews

Good.

This film is about the activist years of Yippie Abbie Hoffman and the time after. People expecting to see a biopic about his activism, antics, or books will be dissapointed. The film is about Abbie Hoffman. Not about his efforts, but about him.

The editing is not that great, and the dialogue could have been better, but the scenes are entertaining even without good pacing. D'Onofrio also did his best to portray Hoffman, even though he's 9 inches taller and doesn't look like him. He seems to capture that charisma, that "mojo" that other people seem to like. He' also very good in the second half, when you can tell Abbie is pondering his life - if he's doomed to run forever, is he running from nothing, did he waste his life. He seemed very tortured.

A lot of people may be dissapointed, but this is still a good film. Such a shame it didn't get wide release.