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

Troy Garity, who plays Tom Hayden, is the son of the real Tom Hayden and Jane Fonda.

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Goofs

Hoffman asks a young soldier what he thought about Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock. Hoffman talks about Jimi playing before half a million people. In fact, Hendrix was one of the last acts to play - on Monday morning of the weekend concert. About 40,000 - 50,000 people were left to see his performance.

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Connections

Referenced in Dinner for Five: Episode #1.4 (2002)

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Soundtracks

"My Back Pages"
Written by Bob Dylan
Performed by Jackson Browne & Joan Osborne (as Joan Osbourne)
Jackson Browne appears courtesy of Elektra Entertainment
Joan Osbourne appears courtesy of Womanly Hips Records

User Reviews

Biased but Should be

I feel compelled to comment about both the movie and the bias in the movie. As someone who studies Abbie Hoffman I thought that the movie stayed pretty true to what Hoffman wrote in his autobiography, the letters that he and Anita shared that were eventually published, and the transcripts of the court testimony of the Chicago Trial. I think that knowing the movie is based on documents written by Abbie himself makes any bias in the movie seem appropriate or at least more acceptable. Also, I would argue that it is helpful to have a portrait of Abbie that is mostly positive, considering all of the trouble the government went to in order to paint him in a bad light to the public. I think Hoffman was an extremely interesting, albeit troubled character, and I think that D'Onofrio portrayed him well.