Radio Days (1987)

This is one of the greatest movies I have ever experienced. Every thing about this movie works, the players, the music, the scenery. New York has never appeared lovelier, just beautiful shots of Times Square supposedly in the 1940's. There isn't much of a plot, just loosely joined vignettes, but that is enough. When the end of the movie comes, it makes you wish it would go on and on. Do yourself a favor and catch this movie if it ever comes on TV.

One of Woody Allen's best films, Radio Days is a lovingly detailed and authentic portrait of a 1940s childhood in Rockaway Beach, NY, cleverly built around memories of the popular music of the day, which was universally listened to on the radio. The conceit works, and the result is one of Allen's least neurotic, least pretentious, and funniest works. It's interesting that it's a thoroughly Woody Allen movie in which Allen doesn't actually appear, though he does a running voice-over. I'd recommend it even to people who don't usually like Allen movies. The MGM DVD is of good quality; no particular advisories, except for some brief mild nudity.

This movie starts with two burglars answering the phone during a break-in. They win the radio contest and the next day, the homeowners are shocked by the arrival of the winnings after finding their home robbed. Woody Allen narrates this nostalgic recollection of vignettes during his childhood. Joe (Seth Green) lives in Rockaway Beach with his parents Tess (Julie Kavner) and Martin (Michael Tucker) as well as an extended family. His imagination and his memories deliver stories about the people in his life and the radio they listen to. There is the War of the Worlds broadcast. Joe's favorite character is the Masked Avenger. There are also stories about the radio peronalities and aspiring actress cigarette-girl Sally White (Mia Farrow).Woody delivers a loving tribute to the concept of radio through the eyes of childhood. This has a large cast with wide ranging vignettes. It's imaginative, touching, and fun. The characters are specific and compelling. There is a terrific veneer of memory. Through all the surreal and the real, there is the love of family and radio that transcends the screen onto the audience.

Every time I see this film I find myself enjoying it, as it has to do with one the periods in history that is a favorite: the Second World War. I like the movies from the era, and the music, and it is nice to see a film that goes into what life was like for a certain family in Brooklyn and how they handle their many problems and still continue to care and love another. Besides the nostalgic aspects of the film, another thing that I like about it (and I know that others will likely hate me for this) Allen is no where to be found! He is only the narrator, and I have no problem with that, considering that his acting is stupid and awful. It is a good family film, and should be shared in this setting, because it exhibits what we were and what we may become again. Then I see that Seth Rogan is the kid in this, and realize that he should have never been offered the role in Green Hornet (which was a radio show back in the thirties and forties, which is the era that this film is based in) and that movie was a Hollywood turd, but I digress.