Runaway Daughters Information

Runaway Daughters is a 1994 television film by Joe Dante that originally aired on the cable television network Showtime as part of the anthology series Rebel Highway. It is a loose remake of an American International Pictures production from 1956, the year in which both the original and the remake are set. Much of the cast of Dante's The Howling is reunited on this film, including Christopher Stone, Dee Wallace, Robert Picardo, Dick Miller, and Belinda Balaski.

Plot

The title characters are Angie Gordon (Julie Bowen), Mary Nicholson (Holly Fields), and Laura Cahn (Jenny Lewis). Their picaresque adventure begins in 1956 when Mary has a pregnancy scare after letting Bob Randolph (Chris Young) go too far with her. Mr. Russoff (Fabian), named for Lou Rusoff who wrote the screenplay of the original version, is a widower from the wrong side of the tracks, and Bob seeks to cover his tracks by enlisting in the United States Navy. Angie and Laura accompany Mary in a flight from the suburbs as she decides what to do about her pregnancy. Along the way, they meet bully cops, one played by Courtney Gains from Dante's The 'Burbs, and redneck survivalists with rifles. Two of the latter are played by Dante stalwarts John Astin and Rance Howard.

Cast

Production

The Gordons are played by the Stones, the Nicholsons by Balaski and Innerspace's Joe Flaherty, and the Cahns played by Picardo and Wendy Schaal, also both late of Innerspace. Dick Miller plays Roy Farrell, a private detective hired to find the girls. Also in small roles are Dante regular Mark McCraken and the producer of the original version, Samuel Z. Arkoff. Roger Corman, along with his wife, Julie Corman, play the parents of the boyfriend of one of the title characters.

The script was written by Charles S. Haas and in many ways is a companion piece to his previous collaboration with Dante, Matinee.

Release

The film originally aired on Showtime on August 12, 1994. It was never released on VHS, and made its DVD debut in March 2005.