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Radio Days
1986
RADIO DAYS is Woody Allen's charming, nostalgic, very funny love letter to growing up in 1940s Brooklyn during the golden age of radio. The setting is the close-knit working-class neighborhood of Rockaway, New York, where a warm, crazy, sprawling Jewish family lives, sharing their happiness as well as their disappointments. The .. Read more
| Starring | Dianne Wiest, Julie Kavner, Michael Tucker, Mia Farrow |
|---|---|
| Director | Woody Allen |
| Genres | Comedy |
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Radio Days
RADIO DAYS is Woody Allen's charming, nostalgic, very funny love letter to growing up in 1940s Brooklyn during the golden age of radio. The setting is the close-knit working-class neighborhood of Rockaway, New York, where a warm, crazy, sprawling Jewish family lives, sharing their happiness as well as their disappointments. The youngest member of the family, Joe (Seth Green), dreams of the glamour and excitement of Manhattan conjured up by the radio programs he and his family listen raptly to each night. Presented in a tapestry of interlocking vignettes, RADIO DAYS weaves tales of everyday family life with glimpses of the glittering--and not so glittering--world of established and aspiring radio celebrities. Allen makes the radio the film's central figure, taking its place as communicator to the world, existing almost as another member of the family. Allen and director of photography Carlo DiPalma capture the look and feel of the time marvelously, and the music is a joy to listen to. The result is a comic, bittersweet, kaleidoscopic look at a long-gone New York that is one of writer-director Woody Allen's most fully realized--and most enjoyable--films.
| Starring | Dianne Wiest, Julie Kavner, Michael Tucker, Mia Farrow, Danny Aiello, Tony Roberts, Diane Keaton, Josh Mostel |
|---|---|
| Director | Woody Allen |
| Studio | MGM ENTERTAINMENT |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 24 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Comedy |
| Language | DVD: English |
| Released | DVD: 11 Mar 2002 Production year: 1986 |
| Format | DVD |
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Critics' reviews (4)
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Writer/director Woody Allen's intelligent and endlessly delightful examination of childhood and the process of memory is an under-rated gem. Evoking Allen's own childhood of the late 1930s and 1940s, the action cuts effortlessly from a crowded family home in Brooklyn to the empty glamour of Radioland. Mia Farrow — at the time Allen's partner and favourite leading lady — heads a splendid ensemble cast, which also includes Julie Kavner, Michael Tucker and Dianne Wiest. Allen contributes a voiceover, but his alter ego is played on screen by 13-year-old Seth Green. Although it is subtly directed, the film stands and falls on the wit and insight of the script and the minute period detail of the production design, and both Allen and production designer Santo Loquasto deserved more than just Oscar nominations. This celluloid scrapbook is an irresistible experience.
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Woody Allen is always weakest when nostalgic: indulgence leads to caricature and overstatement. Set at the start of... read more on Time Out
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Most helpful member's review
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6 out of 6 people found this review helpful
A very amusing and heart warming film from Woody Allen. I have to say that I?m very bias when it comes to this mans work. This is an easygoing movie that gives an insight into the life of an everyday American family in the 40?s.
The start alone is a gem! The family home is broken into at night while they?re out. The phone rings, and one of the burglars answers it only to find that he?s live on air in a musical quiz. He gets all the questions right and wins the major star prize! Next day much to the bewilderment of the family a lorry arrives full of household furniture and appliances. Good solid entertainment. 9 - 10 -
Most recent members' review
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1 out of 1 person found this review helpful
Woody's Wavelength
A series of sketches rather than a complete narrative which give testimony to Woody Allen's love for his family, his childhood and for radio. Charming, gentle, affectionate describes the tone of the film ; some pieces work better than others and there are some moments which ache for a punchline which never comes. The scene with the rabbi and the sporting legends sketch are the funniest and the sequence involving the little girl stuck down a well movingly illustrates the capacity of radio to unite a nation. Not in the front rank of Allen's output but another good example of his ability to mine his own life for entertaining subject matter.
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