Product Details

• Actors: Julie Bowen, Holly Fields, Jenny Lewis, Paul Rudd, Chris Young
• Directors: Joe Dante
• Writers: Charles S. Haas, Lou Rusoff
• Producers: Amy Grauman Danziger, David Giler, Debra Hill, Llewellyn Wells, Lou Arkoff
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Surround Sound, Full Screen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: Dimension
• DVD Release Date: April 5, 2005
• Run Time: 83 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000765IRC
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #108,418 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Runaway Daughters" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Dimension Home Video presents RUNAWAY DAUGHTERS, the sassy comedy about three teens in the fabulous '50s who set off on a highway adventure. Paul Rudd ("Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy"), Julie Bowen (TV's "Ed,"), and Dee Wallace-Stone ("E.T.") star in this fun comedy, based on a 1956 drive-in classic. Stuck in 1950's suburbia, Angie, Mary and Laura are best friends and tired of the same old things. Everything changes when Mary's deadbeat boyfriend skips town, prompting the girls to break all the rules by faking their own kidnapping, stealing a car and chasing him down the highway. But their dangerous travels put them in peril, and they realize that their sheltered lives may not have been so bad after all.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars great art direction, cute cameos, but a slight story, December 12, 2006

By 

Thomas M. Sipos (Santa Monica, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Runaway Daughters (DVD)

This DVD is full screen, but that's because it was originally part of a TV series for Showtime cable network. The series, called DRIVE-IN THEATER, was a series of remakes of 1950s/60s exploitation films. And that's what RUNAWAY DAUGHTERS is. A remake of the 1950s film of the same name.

One of its strongest points is the way it recreates the 1950s. Set in 1957, the art direction uses bright, cartoonish colors (much like the similiar but darker 1950s satire, PARENTS, and like David Lynch's 1950s inspired satire of suburbia, BLUE VELVET).

I also enjoyed the cameos by such icons as Samuel Z. Arkoff and Roger & Julie Corman. And it was cute, the way the characters are watching I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF at a drive-in. Surprisingly, Julie Moriarty has a supporting role but is uncredited.

However, as with many "gimmick" films, the gimmick wears thin after 10 or 15 minutes. Then we're left with the story, which isn't much. I mean, many of these exploitation films had slight stories when they were first released in the 1950s, so why bother with a remake? At least when they were initially released, they had the virtue of originality, which remakes lack.

The film is short, about 75 minutes, not including a very long credits role. But it feels longer. One gets bored before the ending. Not many surprises (when the two men were killed, I immeadiately saw the twist coming, even though I hadn't seen the original RUNAWAY DAUGHTERS).

As usual, the high school teenagers are played by well endowed twentysomething actors.

This film is visually nice, with cute cameos and attractive actors, but not much entertainment value. Some, not a lot. I can see why this remake was made-for-cable rather than the big screen.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just exactly my kind of movie!, July 14, 2010

By 

Slick - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Runaway Daughters (DVD)

What fun! This is a 1994 remake of an American International Pictures Drive In movie from 1957. It is an homage to AIP from beginning to end. I bought it because it starred a teenage JULIE BOWEN and I know director Joe Dante always puts actor DICK MILLER (a particular fav of mine) in all his movies. I wasn't disappointed. It was cool to see the young Julie and Dick playing a private detective was a hoot. Lot's of AIP in jokes thruout. Male lead's last name is "Rusoff" ... Lou Rusoff penned the 1957 original screenplay and many AIP movies. (Kid's dad is played by FABIAN, former 1960's heart throb and AIP star). Roger Corman and his real life wife, Julie, play parents. I always wondered what Julie Corman looked like. AIP VP SAM ARKOFF has a cameo. Need a fill up? Buy American International gasoline. The daughters live in Alta Vista. The film is set in the mid-1950's, true to the original. I loved this as it was like discovering a lost '50's movie. I wonder if Dante made more of these? If, like me, you grew up on AIP, you won't want to miss RUNAWAY DAUGHTERS.

4.0 out of 5 stars A Who's Who of the Dante Universe, April 21, 2011

By 

Wes Saylors Jr. (Boone, North Carolina) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Runaway Daughters (DVD)

Joe Dante's remake of the AIP classic (?) Runaway Daughters is fun ... really fun. Coming off the heels of 1993's 'Matinee' (my all time favorite Joe Dante movie) this little tele-film feels a lot like it. The plot is slight (Mary thinks she's pregnant and so road-trips it to San Diego with her two friends to confront the boy who did the deed), but the plot really isn't the thing. This film exists to bathe the viewer in a feeling, an atmosphere -- namely, late 1950s America as filtered through a drive-in B-movie. And this film does that very well. The costumes, the sets and the caricatures of B-movie, stock characters is spot on. It's clever (Charlie Haas penned the script), campy and almost over before you know it. But the REAL fun is seeing all the Dante Players in their little roles: Dee Wallace Stone and her husband Christopher (The Howling), Dick Miller (everything Dante's ever done), Robert Picardo (also everything, but namely The Howling and Matinee), Wendy Schaal (The Burbs), Belinda Belasky (like Dick Miller, she seems to be Dante's good luck charm), Roger Corman, and an uncredited Cathy Moriarity (Matinee). It's like a tiny tele-dream come true. Joe Dante takes the golden age of the American International Picture and pays cute homage to it. The movie doesn't have the sweetness and depth of, say, Matinee or even Explorers, but it successfully justifies its existence ... and that's to have 80 minutes of fun with all the friends Joe Dante could get together. A really good time.