Radio Days

Radio Days is a 1987 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Woody Allen. It is a nostalgic look at the golden age of radio during the late 1930s and 1940s, focusing on a working-class family living in Rockaway Beach, New York. The film weaves together various vignettes, blending the lives of the family members with the radio programs they listen to daily. It also features an ensemble cast.

Plot
The film is narrated by the fictional Joe, who is voiced by Allen himself. Joe begins by relating how two burglars got involved in a radio game after picking up the phone during a home burglary. He goes on to explain that he associates old radio songs with childhood memories.

During the late 1930s and early 1940s young Joe lived with his modest Jewish-American family in Rockaway Beach. His mother always listened to Breakfast with Irene and Roger. His father kept his occupation secret. Joe later found out that he was ashamed of being a taxi driver. Other family members were Uncle Abe and Aunt Ceil, grandpa and grandma, and Aunt Bea. The latter was a serial dater, always on the lookout for a potential husband.

Joe's own favourite radio show was The Masked Avenger. It made him dream of buying a secret decoder ring. In Joe's fantasy the Masked Avenger looked like a hero, but in reality the voice actor was short and bald. Other radio memories are stories about sporting heroes, news bulletins about World War II, a report of a Martian invasion, and a live report of the search for a little girl who fell into a well.

With his friends from school Joe was searching for German aircraft, but instead they saw a woman undressing in her bedroom. She later turned out to be their substitute teacher. Alone on the coast Joe saw a German U-boat, but he decided not to tell anyone because they wouldn't believe him.

Joe was fascinated by the glitz and glamour of Manhattan, where the radio broadcasts were made. He visited the Radio City Music Hall, and described it as the most beautiful thing he ever saw.

Joe collected stories of radio stars, including that of Sally White, whose dreams of becoming famous were hampered by her bad voice and accent. Starting as a cigar salesgirl she got stuck on the roof of the radio building with Roger, who was cheating on Irene. After she witnessed a crime the gangster Rocco wanted to kill her, but following his mother's advice he ended up using his connections to further her career. She finally became a reporter of celebrity gossip.

On New Year's Eve Joe was brought down from his room to celebrate the transition to 1944. Simultaneously the radio stars gathered on the roof of their building. The narrator concludes that he will never forget those radio voices, although with each passing of a New Year's Eve they seem to glow dimmer and dimmer.

Cast

 * Woody Allen as Joe, the Narrator
 * Hy Anzell as Mr. Waldbaum
 * Seth Green as Young Joe
 * Danny Aiello as Rocco
 * Sydney Blake as Miss Gordon
 * Leah Carrey as Grandma
 * Jeff Daniels as Biff Baxter
 * Larry David as Communist Neighbor
 * Gina DeAngelis as Rocco's mother
 * Denise Dumont as Latin singer
 * Mia Farrow as Sally White
 * Todd Field as Crooner
 * Kitty Carlisle Hart as Maxwell House (Coffee) Radio Jingle Singer
 * Paul Herman as Burglar
 * Julie Kavner as Mother
 * Diane Keaton as New Year's Singer
 * Julie Kurnitz as Irene Draper
 * Renée Lippin as Aunt Ceil
 * William Magerman as Grandpa
 * Joy Newman as Ruthie
 * Judith Malina as Mrs. Waldbaum
 * Brian Mannain as Kirby Kyle
 * Kenneth Mars as Rabbi Baumel
 * Helen Miller as Mrs. Needleman
 * Josh Mostel as Uncle Abe
 * Don Pardo as "Guess That Tune" Host
 * Tony Roberts as "Silver Dollar" Emcee
 * Martin Rosenblatt as Mr. Needleman
 * Rebecca Schaeffer as Communists' Daughter
 * Roger Schwinghammer as Richard
 * Wallace Shawn as Masked Avenger
 * Martin Sherman as Radio Actor
 * Mike Starr as Burglar
 * Michael Tucker as Father
 * David Warrilow as Roger Daley
 * Richard Portnow as Sy
 * William H. Macy as Radio Voice
 * Kenneth Welsh as Radio Voice
 * Dianne Wiest as Aunt Bea

Music
The film's soundtrack, which features songs from the 1930s and 40s, plays an integral part in the plot. It was released in 1987 by RCA Victor on LP record through their Novus soundtrack imprint, and also on cassette and compact disc.

Release
The film was screened out of competition at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival.

Home media
Radio Days was released on DVD by MGM November 6, 2001. A limited edition Blu-ray of 3,000 units was later released by Twilight Time July 8, 2014.

Critical response
Radio Days holds a 93% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with an average score of 8.00/10 from 40 reviews. In his four-star review, noted critic Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times described Radio Days as Allen’s answer to Federico Fellini’s Amarcord and referred to it as "so ambitious and so audacious that it almost defies description. It's a kaleidoscope of dozens of characters, settings and scenes - the most elaborate production Allen has ever made - and it's inexhaustible, spinning out one delight after another." Vincent Canby of The New York Times referred to Allen as the "prodigal cinema resource" and spoke of the film saying, "Radio Days [...] is as free in form as it is generous of spirit."

David Denby wrote for New York that: "[...] The real glue, however, is the lullingly beautiful popular music of the period — Cole Porter, Dubin and Warren, big-band jazz, crooners, torch singers, Carmen Miranda. The music, perfectly matched to images of old wood and brick buildings and old glamour spots, produces a mood of distanced, bittersweet nostalgia. Radio Days becomes a gently satiric commemorations of forgotten lives."

In a poll held by Empire magazine of the 500 greatest films ever made, Radio Days was voted number 304.

According to his brother-in-law Jan Harlan, Stanley Kubrick loved Radio Days so much that he watched it "twice within two days, because 'it was like watching a home movie,' he told me... He absolutely adored it."