River’s on a roll

River Phoenix — the 17-year-old heartthrob many call the most exciting teenage actor of the ’80s — is finally on the rise with the release of his long-awaited films Little Nikita (with Sidney Poitier) in January, and Jimmy Reardon (with Meredith Salenger) in late February [1988].

His next onscreen exposure will come next fall in Sidney Lumet’s Running on Empty (which wrapped last September) with girlfriend Martha Plimpton. River plays 17-year-old Danny Pope, the musically-gifted son of fugitive parents who bombed a research laboratory where napalm was being made.