Radio Days
Radio Days
PG | 30 January 1987 (USA)
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The Narrator tells us how the radio influenced his childhood in the days before TV. In the New York City of the late 1930s to the New Year's Eve 1944, this coming-of-age tale mixes the narrator's experiences with contemporary anecdotes and urban legends of the radio stars.

Reviews
Protraph

Lack of good storyline.

Btexxamar

I like Black Panther, but I didn't like this movie.

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Cooktopi

The acting in this movie is really good.

Celia

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

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RashidsFilms

Radio Days is a cozy and nostalgic look of Woody's childhood. Unlike other Woody's features, this is the warmest work he has done. He pictured every detail of radio's influence during the 40's, including Orson Welles' "War of the Worlds" radio broadcast of the alien invasion. In fact, the death scene of Polly Phelps was one of the saddest (if not the most) in all woody's films. In Radio Days, Woody also depicted his family, parents who constantly arguing with each other, his lonely aunt who continually looks for a lover, and even his uncle who brings fish from his friends at the docks. In films, there should be a new genre include films where directors try to a make semi-autobiographical story of their life.

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suite92

The Three Acts:The initial tableaux: This is a two-tier movie. One layer is a blue collar story of young Joe growing up in NYC starting around 1942: his school life, home life, and time spent with the radio. The upper layer is about the stars of the radio programs. Sally White starts in one layer, as a cigarette girl in the nightclubs, who wants a life more like the stars she serves.Delineation of conflicts: Sally White has a rough start climbing to the top, but she perseveres. Joe's family contends with strange neighbors, the coming of the war, an additional child, the national rationing programs, underemployment, and a single aunt who cannot catch a break in terms of romance.Resolution: Time marches forward. The story threads interact this way and that in dozens of vignettes. This movie is more about nostalgia than about giant climaxes. Sally's long thread comes the closest to having a big payoff circa New Year's 1944.

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LeonLouisRicci

Slightly Overrated Woody Allen Movie that is not as Funny or Sharply Witted Woodster as some of His others. The Film couldn't Look better and the Soundtrack has Over 40 Songs interspersed among the Nostalgic Narrative. There are some Drop on the Floor Laughs, like the Bill Stern Sports Parody. The rest of the Jokes are Labored at times (the fat uncles fixation on fish) and are Hit and Miss. What Allen Hits Out of the Park is the Period Flavor and, as usual, a Wonderful Cast of Actors.The Short Running Time is a Blessing because if You are not fully Invested in the Time Period, it tends to Run On and On with its Dysfunctional but Loving Family Affairs. But the Film is so Beautiful to Watch that it is Joy for the Eyes with its Warm, Soft Color and Attention to Detail.It's a Woody Allen Movie that by Definition has a Narrow Audience, but Woody does His Best to bring Everyone along on His Trip Down Memory Lane. It's Far from His Best, but a Glorious Picture Nonetheless. That's Genius when a Lesser Effort in a Creator's Canon can be this Good.

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Gideon24

1987's Radio Days is Woody Allen's nostalgic look at an era gone by, when families used to gather in front of the radio instead of the television.Woody's imaginative, Oscar-nominated screenplay recalls his childhood in Brooklyn, weaving family stories with radio programs that ignite certain memories for him.Seth Green had one of his first major film roles as Joe, a fictionalized Woody, whose loopy behavior with his family generates big laughs and connections with radio shows of the period and certain fictional and non-fictional radio personalities.Michael Tucker and Julie Kavner are wonderful as Joe's parents...his dad spends the story trying to hide what he does for a living and Mom loves to listen to a morning radio program hosted by glamorous Irene and Roger, a glamorous couple who it is revealed has an open relationship, resulting in Roger's affair with a cigarette girl named Sally (Mia Farrow), a character who becomes central to multiple story lines.Josh Mostel and Renee Lippin are funny as Joe's aunt and uncle. Aunt Ceil drives her hubby crazy because her favorite radio program stars a ventriloquist. Dianne Wiest plays Joe's other aunt, who loves to listen to music on the radio and wants nothing more than a husband. Since the story is centered around radio, music is a key element of the story and Woody's wonderful taste in music is utilized to great effect here and if you don't blink, you will catch a musical cameo by Woody's favorite leading lady, Diane Keaton.Woody scores big here with a winning comedy that produces equal doses of laughter and warmth.

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