''Patty Hearst'' is a 1988 American

biographical film A biographical film or biopic () is a film that dramatizes the life of a non-fictional or historically-based person or people. Such films show the life of a historical person and the central character's real name is used. They differ from docudra ...

directed by

Paul Schrader Paul Joseph Schrader (; born July 22, 1946) is an American screenwriter, film director, and film critic. He first received widespread recognition through his screenplay for Martin Scorsese's ''Taxi Driver'' (1976). He later continued his collabo ...

and stars

Natasha Richardson Natasha Jane Richardson (11 May 1963 – 18 March 2009) was an English actress of stage and screen. A member of the Redgrave family, Richardson was the daughter of actress Vanessa Redgrave and director/producer Tony Richardson and the granddaugh ...

Hearst Corporation Hearst Communications, Inc., often referred to simply as Hearst, is an American multinational mass media and business information conglomerate based in Hearst Tower in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Hearst owns newspapers, magazines, televis ...

heiress

Patricia Hearst Patricia is a female given name of Latin origin. Derived from the Latin word ''patrician'', meaning "noble"; it is the feminine form of the masculine given name Patrick. The name Patricia was the second most common female name in the United State ...

and

Ving Rhames Irving Rameses Rhames (born May 12, 1959) is an American actor. He is best known for his supporting roles as IMF Agent Luther Stickell in the ''Mission: Impossible'' film series and gang kingpin Marsellus Wallace in ''Pulp Fiction''. He also ap ...

Symbionese Liberation Army The United Federated Forces of the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) was a small, American far-left organization active between 1973 and 1975; it claimed to be a vanguard movement. The FBI and American law enforcement considered the SLA to be the ...

leader Cinque. It is based on Hearst's 1982

autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life. It is a form of biography. Definition The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...

''Every Secret Thing'' (co-written with Alvin Moscow), which was later rereleased as ''Patty Hearst – Her Own Story''. The film depicts the kidnapping of student Patty Hearst by the Symbionese Liberation Army, her transformation into an active follower of the SLA after a long-lasting imprisonment and process of purported

brainwashing Brainwashing (also known as mind control, menticide, coercive persuasion, thought control, thought reform, and forced re-education) is the concept that the human mind can be altered or controlled by certain psychological techniques. Brainwash ...

, and her final arrest after a series of armed robberies.

Cast

–

* William Forsythe – William "Teko" Harris *

– Cinque Mtume *

Frances Fisher Frances Louise Fisher (born May 11, 1952) is a British-born American actress. She began her career in theatre and later starred as record executive Suzette 'Red' Saxon in the CBS daytime soap opera ''The Guiding Light'' (1985). In film, she is ...

–

Yolanda Yolanda may refer to: * Yolanda (name), a given name derived from the Greek ''Iolanthe'' Places * Yolanda, California * Yolanda Shrine, monument located at Barangay Anibong, Tacloban, Leyte Film * ''Yolanda'' (film), a 1924 film starring ...

Jodi Long Jodi Long is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Madama on '' Cafe Americain'' (1993–1994), and Ok Cha on '' Sullivan and Son'' (2012–2014), and her role in ''Patty Hearst'' (1988). She won Best Supporting Actress at the Day ...

–

Wendy Yoshimura Wendy Masako Yoshimura (born January 17, 1943) is an American still life watercolor painter. She is known for her involvement with the leftist terrorist group, Symbionese Liberation Army, during the mid-1970s. She was born in Manzanar, one of ...

Olivia Barash Olivia Barash (born January 11, 1965) is an American actress. She began her career as a child actor, appearing in television series such as ''Little House on the Prairie'', '' Charlie's Angels'', and ''Soap''. She subsequently had a lead role on ...

– Fahizah *

Dana Delany Dana Welles Delany (born March 13, 1956) is an American actress. After appearing in small roles early in her career, Delany received her breakthrough role as Colleen McMurphy on the ABC television drama ''China Beach'' (1988–1991), for which s ...

– Gelina * Marek Johnson – Zoya * Kitty Swink – Gabi * Peter Kowanko –

Cujo ''Cujo'' () is a 1981 psychological horror novel by American writer Stephen King about a rabid Saint Bernard. The novel won the British Fantasy Award in 1982 and was made into a film in 1983. Background Cujo's name was based on the alias of Wi ...

(as Pete Kowanko) * Tom O'Rourke – Jim Browning * Scott Kraft – Steven Weed *

Jeff Imada Jeff Imada (born June 17, 1955) is an American martial artist, stuntman, and actor. He has performed stunts in over 100 films and television programs and authored one of the first books published in the US about the balisong. Jeff Imada is traine ...

– Neighbor * Ermal Williamson – Randolph A. Hearst * Elaine Revard – Catherine Hearst * Destiny Reyes Allstun - Vicky Hearst

Production

The film was written by

Nicholas Kazan Nicholas Kazan (; born September 15, 1945) is an American screenwriter, film producer and director. Early life Kazan was born in New York, the son of Greek-American director Elia Kazan and his first wife, playwright Molly Kazan (née Mary Da ...

(son of Oscar-winning director

Elia Kazan Elia Kazan (; born Elias Kazantzoglou ( el, Ηλίας Καζαντζόγλου); September 7, 1909 – September 28, 2003) was an American film and theatre director, producer, screenwriter and actor, described by ''The New York Times'' as "one o ...

) drawing narration from Hearst's memoir. ''Patty Hearst'' premiered at the

1988 Cannes Film Festival The 41st Cannes Film Festival was held from 11 to 23 May 1988. The Palme d'Or went to the '' Pelle erobreren'' by Bille August. The festival opened with ''Le Grand Bleu'', directed by Luc Besson and closed with ''Willow'', directed by Ron Howard. ...

on May 13 in the feature film competition. The film opened on September 23, 1988, in the US and grossed $601,680 in its opening weekend. It made a total domestic gross of $1,223,326.

Reception

The film garnered a generally mixed critical response, although Richardson's performance was applauded by most critics. Amongst credited critics, the film has a rating of 45% positive reactions on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, with 11 reviews counted.

Vincent Canby Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who served as the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' wrote that "''Patty Hearst'' is a beautifully produced movie, seen entirely from Patty's limited point of view. It is stylized at times, utterly direct and both shocking and grimly funny."

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

writing for the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...

'' praised Richardson's performance: "The entire film centers on the remarkable performance by Natasha Richardson as Hearst." but concluded that "This whole story seemed so much more exciting from the outside."Review
in the ''Chicago Sun-Times'', 23 September 1988.

Pauline Kael Pauline Kael (; June 19, 1919 – September 3, 2001) was an American film critic who wrote for ''The New Yorker'' magazine from 1968 to 1991. Known for her "witty, biting, highly opinionated and sharply focused" reviews, Kael's opinions oft ...

called the film "a lean, impressive piece of work" and even suggested that it answered the longstanding mystery about Hearst: "Did Patty Hearst become part of the S.L.A. willingly, out of conviction, or was she simply trying to save her life? The movie shows you that, in the state she was in, there was no difference. Natasha Richardson, who plays Patty, has been handed a big unwritten role; she feels her way into it, and she fills it. We feel how alone and paralyzed Patty is — she retreats to being a hidden observer. Patty is a girl who is raped in mind and body, and no longer knows when it started."

References

External links

*
New Yorker review by Richard BrodyOfficial site
{{Paul Schrader 1988 films 1988 drama films 1980s biographical drama films American biographical drama films Biographical films about criminals Biographical films about people convicted on terrorism charges Crime films based on actual events Films about kidnapping Films directed by Paul Schrader Atlantic Entertainment Group films Cultural depictions of Patty Hearst Films set in the 1970s 1980s English-language films 1980s American films