Steal This Movie! is a dramatic account of the tumultuous life and times of Abbie Hoffman, one of the most visible and influential figures of America's 1960s counter-culture. (Its title was inspired by Hoffman's irreverent "survival guide," Steal This Book.) Hoffman's founding of the Youth International Party (better known as the "Yippies") and inventive acts of street theater -- including an "exorcism" of the Pentagon and the riotous protests at the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago -- made
him a household name and a star of the anti-war movement. They also earned him enemies, and he was eventually arrested for trying to sell cocaine to an undercover cop, a bust that he contended was a set-up meant to discredit him. Rather than face a long prison sentence, Hoffman went underground, leaving behind his wife and children and posing as "Barry Freed," who became a respected environmental activist. In time, Freed acknowledged that he was Hoffman, spent two months in jail, and returned to activism full-time until his 1989 death. Steal This Movie stars Vincent D'Onofrio as Hoffman, Janeane Garofalo as his wife Anita, Kevin Corrigan as Jerry Rubin, Troy Garity as Tom Hayden, and Jeanne Tripplehorn as Joanna Lawrenson, who became romantically involved with Barry Freed. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
There might have been a better, more involving method of telling Hoffman's story, but it is expressed with a firm sense of commitment to accuracy and authenticity.
For those who regarded Hoffman as the Bugs Bunny of radicalized Amerika, he wasn't the person played by Vincent D'Onofrio in Steal This Movie, good intentions notwithstanding.
Information enters the screen from too many directions ...This is distracting at first, but the movie smooths out and finds its rhythm, and the closing passages are quite moving.
In his attempt to capture Abbie, D'Onofrio ends up with an accent that not only doesn't sound like the way Abbie spoke, but in fact doesn't sound like the way anybody ever spoke.
Steal This Movie is an interesting, captivating, and for the most part unknown biopic of Abbie Hoffman. I will watch anything Vincent D'Onorfio is in; no matter if it's a critically acclaimed film like Full Metal Jacket, a television show(Law and Order) or a unknown movie like this or Staten Island. He's a very good
and under appreciated actor. Once again he gives an eccentric and flawless performance as a leader of the counter-culture movement of the 1960's. I won't go into the full details of Abbies life, but basically the government started to perceive him as dangerous and forced him to "go underground." He left behind a wife and son who he could only talk to through letters as he was being searched for by the FBI. The last half of Steal This Movie is damn near flawless. The movie features a great soundtrack featuring "Season of the Witch," "The Star Spangled Banner"(Hendrix style) and many protest songs that we've all heard throughout the years. Steal This Movie is definitely a movie that deserves some respect.
July 8, 2011
Melvin White
Super Reviewer
Good movie based on the life of Abbie Hoffman. Most of it is told in flashbacks. A journalist is writing a piece on Abbie Hoffman, and through interviews with him, his wife, friends and lawyers we see what happened to make Abbie go "underground"...which is where he is at the beginning of the film. This covers the time
from his first arrest, to his coming out of the underground. Vincent D'Onofrio does a great job as the man himself, and Janeane Garofalo is wonderful as his wife Anita.
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