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Radio Days Details

1986 Certificate PG
  • Rated:
  • 70
  • from 2363 members

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 Certificate PG
Genres Comedy
Language DVD: English
Released DVD: 11 Mar 2002
Production year: 1986
Format DVD
  • Critics' reviews (4) of Radio Days

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  • 4 stars out of 5

    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.

    • Radio Times
  • Woody Allen is always weakest when nostalgic: indulgence leads to caricature and overstatement. Set at the start of... read more on Time Out

    • Time Out
  • Most helpful member's review of Radio Days

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  • 6 out of 6 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 5 stars

    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

      • Ken#14 from WEST BROMWICH
  • Most recent members' review of Radio Days

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  • 1 out of 1 person found this review helpful

    Rated - 5 stars

    Woody's Winner

    Radio Days is probably my favourite film of all time. Not because it is so powerful or exceptionally funny, but because it is warm, nostalgic and witty with an amazing 40s jazz/big band soundtrack. I never tire of watching this wonderful film and I would recommend it to anyone looking for an entertaining hour or so (its not long).

    The DVD has no extras but the film is all you need.

      • TommyO from Leeds
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Rating breakdown

2,363 Member ratings
  • 100
235
  • 90
218
  • 80
518
  • 70
497
  • 60
424
  • 50
225
  • 40
109
  • 30
68
  • 20
48
  • 10
21

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