Patty Hearst (1988)
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38% of critics liked it
(8 reviews) -
44% of users liked it
(694 ratings)
A newspaper heiress is kidnapped, brainwashed, and forced to join a group of terrorist bank robbers in this docudrama, based on the saga of Patricia Hearst. In 1974, Hearst (Natasha Richardson), the granddaughter of publishing tycoon William Randolph Hearst, was a student at the University of… More A newspaper heiress is kidnapped, brainwashed, and forced to join a group of terrorist bank robbers in this docudrama, based on the saga of Patricia Hearst. In 1974, Hearst (Natasha Richardson), the granddaughter of publishing tycoon William Randolph Hearst, was a student at the University of California. On February 4, members of the Symbionese Liberation Army, a radical political group, broke into the Berkeley home she shared with her boyfriend and kidnapped her. Hearst then allegedly spent 57 days locked in a closet as she was indoctrinated into the group's revolutionary beliefs by their charismatic leader, Cinque (Ving Rhames). Eventually, Hearst joined (or at least pretended to join) the SLA, adopted the name Tania and participated in a number of high-profile bank robberies. After several SLA members died in a police fire storm, Hearst and fellow members Bill and Emily Harris (William Forsythe and Frances Fisher) went on the lam and were later arrested. Although she claimed her participation in the group was a ruse carried out to protect herself from further rape, torture, and mind control, Hearst eventually served several years in prison after her 1976 conviction for bank robbery. Based on the novel Every Secret Thing, Hearst's own account of the events, Paul Schrader's film tells the story from the heiress' own viewpoint, with little in the way of conflicting evidence. After President Carter ordered her release from prison in 1979, Hearst went on to act in several films, including Cecil B. Demented, a John Waters spoof whose plot bears some resemblance to her own life story. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi
- Directed By
- Paul Schrader
- Written By
- Nicholas Kazan
- Genres
- Drama
R,
- In Theaters
- Sep 23, 1988 Wide
- Studio
- Media Home Entertainment
Critic Reviews
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Dan Lybarger, Lawrence Journal-World
Schrader's low-key approach to the tabloid story is refreshing. Richarson is magnificent.
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Cast
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Natasha Richardson
as Patricia Hearst
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William Forsythe
as Toko
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Ving Rhames
as Cinque
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Frances Fisher
as Yolanda
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Jodi Long
as Wendy Yoshimura
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Olivia Barash
as Fahizah
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Dana Delany
as Celina
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Marek Johnson
as Zoya
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Kitty Swink
as Gobi
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Pete Kowanko
as Cujo
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Tom O'Rourke
as Jim Browning
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Scott Kraft
as Steven Weed
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Ermal Williamson
as Randolph A. Hearst
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John Achorn
as Al Johnson
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Jeff Allin
as Assistant D.A.
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Erich Anderson
as 1st Male
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Bradford Bancroft
as 3rd Male
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James Bershad
as 2nd Male
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Byron Clark
as Psychiatrist #2
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Robert Dickman
as Doctor
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Gerald Gordon
as F. Lee Bailey
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Hawthorne James
as Tall Muslim
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Marta Kober
as 2nd Female
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Thomas Wagner
as Juror Wright
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Jeff Imada
as Neighbor
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John Petievich
as Policeman
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Ron Boyd
as FBI Man #2
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Anne Marie Gillis
as Juror Wentz
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Mayah McCoy
as Girl #3
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Jeanne McGuire
as Booking Officer
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Nora Meerbaum
as Psychiatrist #3
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Moss Porter
as FBI Man #1
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Jack Slater
as Psychiatrist #1
- Pam Rack
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Carey Fox
as Hippie
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Steven Anderson
as Psychiatrist #5
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Marc Siegler
as Charles Gould
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Maurice Hill
as Judge Carter
