Dana Delany Movie:

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		MPAA Rating: R (Restricted) Media: DVD

Patty Hearst [Region 2] Reviews:
A must see for anyone
2007-11-07 - Paul Schrader's superb direction and Natasha Richardson's hard hitting performance as Patty should have been a shoe-in to win on Oscar night. Film captures in great detail the terror felt by Hearst, tortured by kidnappers and forced to participate in bank robberies. Ending also is effective in the way it redicules the state's case at her trial (ex. The DA asks if she ever sent her parents any birthday cards) but I won't give the rest away. Like most movies, the lack of backing from a major studio probably reduced critic's reviews by a few stars.

A Good Film
2005-05-02 - This film shows the story from the side of the only person that can tell the story, Patty Hearst.

I was on set of this film to be an extra (the bank robbery) but didn't make the cut.

The film is very acturate in facts and the performances are great. Ms. Richardson gives a great performance as Patty and from what I recall from the filming, a nice woman and beautiful.

What I love about this film is that at the Cannes Film Festable, Patty Hearst herself met John Waters and became friends. Since then she now has had rolls in all of his films. Good for Patty. The SLA may have taken years of her life, but in the end Patty has the last laugh. Go on Patty!

Paul Schrader's best film
2005-04-07 - This movie is hard to take at times. The first part of the movie puts you right inside Patty's head which isn't a nice place to be. The movie asks some really hard qestions like what would I have done if I was Patty? How far is to far to take your beliefs?

Over all the movie is a good one. But if you are looking for some cheap made for TV movie of the week skip this one. If you are looking for a thought provoking, well acted movie this is the one for you.

Patchily brilliant
2000-07-24 - "Patty Hearst"'s title is about as self-explanatory as they come. Natasha Richardson (Vanessa Redgrave's elder daughter) plays the eponymous, uhhh, heroine, kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army (don't even ask...) and eventually brought round to the point of joining them on a bank robbery.

The second half of the film, in which Patty and the gang are on the run from the cops, is exciting enough in its way. Schrader's trademark willingness to explore what many people would regard as total amorality enables him to make us care for this raggle-taggle bunch of outlaws, as one after another they're arrested, gunned down or burned. Richardson herself is very good as Patty, having to run the gamut from spoiled heiress via terrified captive to bitterly experienced convict.

It's the first half, though, that makes the second half work. Patty's captivity is rendered in a dark, surreal, almost theatrical way; we are locked in a room with her for much of the first half an hour, experiencing her captors only as black silhouettes against white light. The stylisation that worked so well on Schrader's "Mishima" is here employed to other ends, and suprisingly successfully. If the earlier portions of "Patty Hearst" weren't so good, the later part wouldn't carry the charge that it has; Patty's wish to join the SLA only makes sense in terms of the extreme experience she's been through.

The real Patty Hearst went on to act in a John Waters movie, which must make Schrader wince whenever he thinks of it. This is, by virtue of the subject matter, somewhere between drama-documentary, art film and chase flick, and some of the genre trappings hold it back a bit, but few directors would have this kind of understanding of where he wanted an audience to go. 3 stars if only because this is one of the less distinguished films in an illustrious career. But 3 stars for Schrader are worth five for the vast majority of directors. (Note to Amazon: need more stars!)