Main Cast: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Rosanna Arquette, Joss Ackland, Ted Levine, Kieran Culkin, Tiffany Taubman
Release Year: 1993
Country: US
Run Time: 94 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
An escaped convict fights for his rights while hiding out from the law in this action drama. Sam Gillen (Jean-Claude Van Damme) is a thief who, despite his criminal past, is an essentially decent man; he ended up behind bars after taking a murder rap for his partner. Sam escapes from prison in a daring jailbreak, and he hides out on a remote farm while on the run from police. A young boy named Mookie (Kieran Culkin) finds the fugitive and takes him in; it seems that the farm belongs to his mother Clydie (Roseanna Arquette), and soon Mookie and his sister Bree (Tiffany Taubman) have become friends with Sam, and Clydie and Sam fall in love. However, Franklin Hale (Joss Ackland), an unscrupulous land developer, wants to buy Clydie's farm and isn't taking no for an answer. When Hale's thug Dunston (Ted Levine) tries to use force to drive Clydie off her property, Sam is ready to fight fire with fire. Nowhere to Run was co-authored by noted screenwriter Joe Eszterhas; Richard Marquand received his story credit posthumously. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
It's hard to pinpoint the most gloriously ludicrous element of this Jean-Claude Van Damme thriller, which was directed by Robert Harmon (The Hitcher) and co-written by Joe Eszterhas (Basic Instinct). Maybe it's the improbable casting of offbeat urban pixie Rosanna Arquette as Clydie, a proud, kindly widow fighting to save her farm from greedy real-estate developers. Possibly, it's the fact that Clydie's kids have been saddled with the names Mookie (Kieran Culkin) and Bree (Tiffany Taubman) -- unlikely monikers that seem downright preposterous when applied to a pair of precocious urchins. Perhaps it's the script's attempt to manipulate heartstrings via poor, fatherless Mookie's paternal longing for Sam, Van Damme's escaped convict with a heart of gold. Probably, though, it's Van Damme's frequent semi-nudity and the script's resulting sexual anxiety. We get Sam looking at porno mags in his woodland hideout. We get Bree and Mookie stumbling on the naked Sam as he bathes in a lake. And ultimately, we get a frank discussion about the size of Sam's manly endowments between Clydie, the kids, and Sam himself -- all over a hearty breakfast. If this film had starred Arnold Schwarzenegger and made 100 million dollars at the box office, these varied facts could have provided the basis for many interesting theories about gender roles and the state of the American family in the 1990s. Given that Nowhere to Run is a far more modest production, however, its many idiosyncrasies serve only to distract attention from the fact that it's not a very good action movie. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
Edward Blatchford - Lonnie; Anthony Starke - Billy; Robert Apisa - Prisoner; Tony Brubaker - Prisoner; Steve Chambers - Pick-Up Truck Thug; Tony Epper - Fire Thug "Al"; John Finn - Cop in Chase; Ron Howard George - Prisoner; John Kerry - Big Thug "John"; Gene Lebell - Bulldozer Man; Peter Malota - Prisoner; Sven Ole Thorsen - Prisoner; Kevin Page - Hale's Associate; Manny Perry - Prisoner; Jeff Ramsey - Bulldozer Man; Thomas Rosales, Jr. - Prisoner; John Rubinow - Clydie's Husband; Ron Stein - Prisoner; Leonard Termo - Bus Guard; Jack Verbois - Prisoner; Luana Anders - Town Meeting Chairwoman; Jophery Brown - Prisoner; Jack Gill - Bulldozer Man; Jack Lucarelli - Prisoner; Frank Orsatti - Prisoner; Stanley White - Cop in Diner; Stephen Wesley Bridgewater - Tom Lewis; Albie Selznick - Hale's Associate; Jackie Burch; Christy Botkin - Sarah Lewis; Chuck Zito - Prisoner; Allan Graf - Bus Driver; James Greene - Country Store Clerk
Credit
Joseph P. Lucky - Art Director, Eugene VanVarenberg - Associate Producer, Brian W. Cook - First Assistant Director, Robert Harmon - Director, Mark Helfrich - Editor, Zach Staenberg - Editor, Michael Rachmil - Executive Producer, Mark Isham - Composer (Music Score), Tony Mark - Production Designer, Dennis Washington - Production Designer, David Gribble - Cinematographer, Douglas Milsome - Cinematographer, Michael Benson - Cinematographer, Gary Adelson - Producer, Craig Baumgarten - Producer, Anne McCulley - Set Designer, Richard McKenzie - Set Designer, Jeff Jarvis - Special Effects, Billy Burton - Stunts, Leslie Bohem - Screenwriter, Joe Eszterhas - Screenwriter, Randy Feldman - Screenwriter, Richard Marquand - Screenwriter
