Customer Reviews

Radio Days [VHS]

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1 star:		(2)

 

 

I'm a huge fan of Woody Allen (even his "clunkers"), but this is my absolute favorite Woody film. All of his films are personal, but none as personal and revealing as this...and ABSOLUTELY entertaining. Seth Green, Woody's young character, is perfect, justifying his current success. Wonderful performances from Woody's usual stock troupe (Kavner, Wiest, etc) are all in tune with the goings-on. Mia Farrow, in particular, is a hoot, especially her scenes with Danny Aiello. Woody even managed to squeeze a cameo from Diane Keaton at the end ("You Be So Nice to Come Home To"). Lovely and sweet. It's too bad the Academy eliminated the category for "Best Adapted Score", cuz this woud've won, no question. The greatest songs of the period (1940-1945) were lovingly presented, and anyone who sees this film can't help but be left with a wistful, soft and nostalgic feeling. Yes, this is my favorite Woody film.

One of Woody Allen's most underrated outings, "Radio Days" is a tremendously funny film which depicts the grip that radio had on America during World War II. While void of an actual plot, "Radio Days" succeeds as a series of vignettes involving a loud, comical New York family whose lives are enlightened by an array of music, sporting events and soap operas which reach their home by way of static-filled airwaves. Long before TV and the Internet, radio was the only source of popular culture in many American homes. Family members who fought constantly (And boy do they fight in "Radio Days"!), always found time to bond around the big radio cabinet in the kitchen or living room. In typical Allen fashion, the dialogue and characters are delightfully over the top. The cast -- Michael Tucker, Julie Kavener, Seth Green, Mia Farrow -- are stellar and perfectly suited for the outrageous script. The real charm of the film is Allen's witty take on War-era radio shows. Everything from Superheroes to a radio ventriloquist (think about it...) are spoofed in way that only Woody can spoof. Of course, classic songs from the 1940's gloriously re-reate the romance and charm of a bygone era. While "Radio Days" may not be as "important" as "Annie Hall" or "Manhattan", it is a wonderfully entertaining film which bares all the trademarks of a Woody Allen classic.

The best thing about Woody Allen is his ability to build a movie on episodic material and subplots, without the need for an overarching plot. "Radio Days" is told in anecdotal vignettes, which relate to Allen's memories of radio in the 1940s. These vignettes are seamlessly interwoven, and through them, we come to get a feel for how and where Allen grew up.

Where he grew up was Rockaway, Queens, and -- having been there dozens of times, visiting from my own Brooklyn -- Allen's actual use of the neighborhood locations really places this movie not only in place, but time, as Rockaway Beach has changed so little since the 1940s.

Most memorable are the actors which comprise the ensemble cast: Seth Green plays a young Allen, casted as "Joe"; Julie Kavner and Jeff Tucker play his always bickering parents; Diane Wiest plays his old-maid aunt, Bea. But Mia Farrow as aspiring radio personality Sally White steals the show with her Canarsie accent "Hawk, I heyuh da cannons raw. Is it da king approachin'?" and later blossoms into a radio gossip show hostess, a la Hedda Hopper, replete with a proper Anglicized accent to boot.

Living now in an age when many social critics blame television for driving the American family apart, Allen paints a portrait of a time when it was radio which drew families closer together; all his favorite childhood memories having some connection to a radio program or song, and it is this connection which Allen memorializes, suggesting a time that was not so much more innocent, but one that was more dramatic, classier and less jaded.

DP Carlo diPalma's beautiful use of primary colors and editor Susan Morse's perfectly-timed montage flesh out a gorgeous visual counterpart to the soundtrack, which is brimming over with jazz, big bands, cop dramas, boy crooners, game shows and torch song sirens.

"Radio Days" is, along with "Crimes and Misdemeanors" the closest Allen came to making a perfect movie.

Definatly the greatest film Woody Allen ever made, if not one of the best movies of all time! Mia Farrow stars in this memorable recape of the early 1940's, where Woody Allen only appears as a narrator and takes us through a different world: his Radio Days.
Allen is portrayed as a young boy who listens to his favorite radio shows and tells stories of the stars, which often reflect his own boyhood growing up. Seth Green, Scott Evil in both of the Austin Powers movies, makes his film debut as the young woody allen, and is a joy to watch. Julie Kavner, the actress who does the voice of Marge Simpson, is splended as the narrators mother. This movie is great and I'm sure if they released it again in theatres it would be a big smash. So if you're intersted in Woody Allen movies (and even if you're not) please check this movie out. It has become a family favorite.

For my money, this is Woody's most accessible work. The opening scene to the movie is a classic that establishes for any who doubt it, that Woody Allen is indeed a comic genius. The movie itself is basically a series of vignettes set during the depression in New York and the boroughs, moving in and out of the lives of a radio-addicted boy growing up in Coney Island to a young woman trying to make it in show business, to the more glamorous lives of entertainers during that time. It's all held together by the boy, who tells his story along with anecdotes about show business personalities from the radio or local gossip. At times, it hilariously contrasts his innocently starstruck interpretation of celebrity gossip and radio shows (he talks in voiceover) as the scene before you is what was more likely the truth! It's beautiful as a period piece. I remember this film being a huge hit and don't understand the reviewers who say it was misunderstood. It's such straightforward comedy that I don't see how anyone would misunderstand it. And, most of the people I know count this as one of their favorite comedies of the 20th Century.

The only real complaint with this album of selections form the original soundtrack for Woody Allen's "Radio Days" is that the most memorable song from the film is not included. That would be Carmen Miranda's "Down South American Way," which is lip synchs by his character's older sister while her father and uncle provide the "ay yi, ay yi"s at the end. That being said, what you do get are representative big band tracks from the time of World War II, which means Glenn Miller ("American Patrol"), Benny Goodman ("Goodbye"), Tommy Dorsey ("I'm Getting Sentimental Over You"), Larry Clinton ("I Double Dare You"), Xavier Cugat ("One, Two, Three, Kick"), and others. With songs like "Remember Pearl Harbor" and "(There'll Be Blue Birds Over) The White Cliffs of Dover" it becomes clear that Allen was putting together a calculated musical background for his period piece. Even if you are a fan of the Big Band era I think you will probably find some track you do not own, because if you have all of these already you have a very nice music library.

I love Woody Allen and his crazy sense of humor. I know that some people find him (at times) a little far out, but this movie should be loved by everyone with a family and a radio. The music is the background of the WW2 generation and their children. It reminds me very much of my parents and all my relatives. It is little episodes in the life of a 8 year old boy but told in a way that all of us can relate to. I live in Florida, and a few years ago on my birthday, we were under a Hurricane watch.........a whole crew of my family of all ages gathered at my house to wait. Trying to find something to entertain everyone was a real challenge. After a bunch of false starts on other movies everyone was getting edgy until we put on Radio Days. It calmed everyone down and cheered them up, made them laugh--the movie was a hit ( and the hurricanne missed us). The casting was great. All of Woody's regulars and some other talents too. I love it.

Dramatic chords, and as the opening credits roll, you hear a classic (and HOT) jazz-age recording of Flight of the Bumblebee. The big band punches the tag, and then, in the darkness, Woody Allen narrates: "Once upon a time, two burglars broke into our neighbor's house in Rockaway." And you say to yourself, Hey, THIS is going to be a fun ride! And you would be correct.

This film is populated by much the typical cast of Woody Allen eccentrics, but here, they are somehow warmer and more human than usual, and if anything, that makes them all the funnier. There is the enthusiastic young lady who is dying to get into radio, despite her squeaky voice and a New York accent that makes Bugs Bunny sound like John Gielgud. And there are the parents of the young Woody Allen character, whose heated domestic arguments still manage to stay on this side of the line between loving sarcasm and real venom. Some of their dialogue actually reminds me a bit of the witty repartee between my wife of 13 years and myself:

She: You know, I could have married Sam Slotkin!
He: Sam Slotkin's DEAD.
She: Yes, but while he was alive, he was working.

And with the funny, lovable characters come many funny moments, including the classic opening scene with the burglars, and a dating couple whose romantic interlude in the parked car with the radio playing comes to a grinding halt as The War Of The Worlds comes on and the gentleman eventually flees the invading Martians in panic, abandoning both car and date. (You also, as Allen-the-narrator promises early on, get plenty of equally funny glimpses into the lives of the radio stars. Wallace Shawn is particularly notable, portraying the voice behind The Masked Avenger.)

But there are also moments of tenderness and sorrow as well. The father of the young Allen is angrily disciplining him when a radio news bulletin comes on about a little girl trapped in a well, and listening to the unfolding drama, father and son are soon in a tender embrace, anger forgotten. And, if I may be permitted one slight spoiler from later in the film, when you see Allen's Aunt Bea -- "Aunt Bea, who just wanted to get married" -- in the family kitchen, playing solitaire, on New Year's Eve, and you realize what that means for her, I defy anyone to not feel a twinge of sadness on her behalf.

Another thread that runs through this film -- and Allen, narrating, calls your attention to it specifically -- is the wonderful music. He describes each of the character's favorite songs, with a little remembrance or story to go with each one. Sometimes there are things that make you wish you were born in another era. I myself love trains, and I sometimes long for the days of the overwhelming power and grace of steam locomotives, and the magnificence of the old Penn Station. Well, this film's music will seriously make you wish to be back in the golden age of radio. Diane Keaton's supremely touching rendition of "You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To" is like a warm hug given voice. After many, many viewings of this film, hearing the end of that song still brings a sigh to my lips.

This film has no "plot" to speak of, yet it succeeds brilliantly, one of the few films I think you could really say that for. The thread of radio ties all of the assorted characters and their stories together very neatly. Radio was a real part of everyone's life back then, and if the humor and pathos of real, everyday life cannot drive a film, what can?

This is arguably one of Woody Allen's best films, and though there are others that I enjoy, this is probably my personal favorite of his output. I recommend it highly.

My Favorite Movie! I have always been fascinated by Mother's stories of the days of King Radio. The music was fabulous (did the parents back then think, upon hearing Benny Goodman, "Oh, the stuff kids listen to these days!"?), the comedians were hysterically funny without the filth, and even with the fear of WWII, the family could feel the love of closeness around the radio, looking at each other for opinions and proof of enjoyment, rather than gazing at a screen. I was born too late! I think Woody outdid himself on this simple film and I recommend it to EVERYONE!

This CD soundtrack is fabulous. Just listening to the music selections from Woody Allen's motion picture "Radio Days" brings you back to an era long gone - the 1930s and 1940s - when Americans listened to the radio for their music and entertainment. The CD starts off with a bang, getting you into the mood with Glenn Miller's "In the Mood", and ends up with a terrific Conga-line number. Other songs I love are "I Double Dare You" and "Remember Pearl Harbor". This soundtrack is missing a few songs that were part of the classic moments in the movie (South American Way" by Carmen Miranda, and "Ba Ba Lou"), but I'm willing to over look this. I've spent many happy hours listening to this and it's one of my favorite soundtrack CDs. Hopefully you'll enjoy this CD as much as I do.