The Prince of Pennsylvania (1988)

A teenager in love, who needs money to arrange his future life with his mistress, kidnaps his own father for ransom, but nobody cares.

Director:

Ron Nyswaner

Writer:

Ron Nyswaner

Stars:

Fred Ward, Keanu Reeves, Bonnie Bedelia

4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Fred Ward	...	Gary Marshetta
Keanu Reeves	...	Rupert Marshetta
Bonnie Bedelia	...	Pam Marshetta
Amy Madigan	...	Carla Headlee
Jay O. Sanders	...	Trooper Joe
Jeff Hayenga	...	Jack Sike
Tracey Ellis	...	Lois Sike
Joseph De Lisi	...	Roger Marshetta
Lauren Camp	...	Baby Sike
Demetria Mellot	...	Minister
Pam Call	...	Lucky Bell White
Kari Keegan	...	Biker Girl
Jeff Forman	...	Biker Boyfriend
Paul Palmer	...	Ed McLaglen
G. Ross Berger	...	Chester

Storyline

There's nothing wrong with the Marshetta family that a little felony can't cure. Rupert doesn't want to follow in his father's blue-collar footsteps, so he and his quirky friend kidnap his father for ransom, only nobody wants him back.

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Plot Keywords:

title in title | teenager | prom | older woman younger man relationship | mother son relationship | 

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Taglines:

He's The King Of The Badlands... The Rebel Of The Road...

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

October 1988 (USA)

Also Known As:

O Príncipe da Pensilvânia

Filming Locations:

Harmar Mine, Harmarville, Pennsylvania, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$3,174, 18 September 1988

Gross USA:

$5,415

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$5,415

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

87 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Fred Ward is first billed, while Keanu Reeves had a bigger role.

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Goofs

Earlier in the movie, Rupert puts a lighted electric ice cream cone on the roof of the Twin Twisters diner, and as he and Carla step back and admire it, we see that the sign on the rooftop of the diner reads "Carla's Twin Twisters" - with the name "Carla's" appearing in twinkling lights. Yet a few scenes later when Rupert drives up on his motorbike, the "Carla's" portion of the sign is no longer there, and the sign reads only "Twin Twisters."

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Quotes

Gary Marshetta: When you get drafted, you have to see a shrink, right? Well, I remember one of the questions he asked me was, uh, sitting on a beach, in the water there are two people drowning. Now, one of them has a cure for cancer. The other is your own son. Which one would you save? How would you answer that question, Rupert? Take your time.
Rupert Marshetta: Guy with the cure for cancer.
Gary Marshetta: Well, think for a second, will you? Your own flesh and blood.
Rupert Marshetta: But what if I saved my son and he grew up and got cancer?
Gary Marshetta: Can't just say ...
[...]

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Connections

Referenced in People Like Us: Making 'Philadelphia' (2003)

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Soundtracks

Hammerhead
Performed by Flotsam and Jetsam
Written by Eric Knutson, Edward Carlson, Kelly David Smith, Jason Newsted, Michael Gilbert
Courtesy of Metal Blade Records

User Reviews

family ties

This unlikely sleeper poses an essential question for disenchanted teenagers: is quality time with your family better than being chained to the door of a refrigerator? For coal-miner's son Keanu Reeves the answer is a no-brainer: his father is a Vietnam War veteran turned ultra-conservative; his feisty mother is having an affair with dad's best buddy; and his only friend is a socially marginalized, die-hard hippie. Meanwhile everyone thinks Reeves has problems, but he's only trying to avoid conforming to Middle America's messy ideas about normality. And since a rebel in the 1980s needs some sort of cause, he invents one: kidnapping his own father and holding him hostage. There's more than one contrivance in the otherwise original and unpredictable screenplay: the young protagonist's mechanical aptitude and closet intellect (he likens himself to Socrates, who was killed for daring to tell the truth) don't fit his delinquent image, and the kidnapping scheme carries the plot too far into fantasy. But if nothing else the film is an offbeat satire of modern domestic friction, and a refreshing change of pace from the usual condescending screen treatments of adolescent angst.