User Reviews

If you are looking for the normal amount of big laughs from a Woody Allen film, then you will be disappointed here. It's not that kind of film.

I was anything but disappointed, but I knew what the film was all about before I saw it. Actually, what drew me to it was that I had read where this was a wonderful visual film, filled with rich colors and great set designs. It did not let me down. This is a great visual tribute to the 1940s, to be exact from 1938 to 1944. A real treat for the eyes.

The story centers around a Jewish family in Queens and the importance that radio shows had in that day-and-age. Also profiled in here are some of those radio performers.

It does have laughs but not as many as the normal Allen movie because the idea of this is simply to be a nostalgic piece, mainly Allen's tribute to his own family days of growing up, what it was like around his house.

It was interesting to see Seth Green playing Woody as a youngster with flaming red hair. The most interesting person, however, was Diane Wiest who played a man-chasing sister-in-law. The film gives you a real flavor of the period, of New York and of a Jewish family.

Overall, it's simply a nice film....and gorgeous to look at. Sometimes I think some of Allen's work is overrated but, boy, here is one that is definitely underrated.

Radio Days (1987) was written and directed by Woody Allen. The movie is set during the "golden years of radio," when radio programs, listened to at home, were an important aspect of American entertainment.

The film is narrated by Woody Allen, and is a nostalgic--and possibly autobiographical--look at the childhood of a young boy growing up in Rockaway, Queens. Allen grew up in Brooklyn, but the culture and customs of lower-middle class Jews in Rockaway would have been similar to those that Allen probably witnessed in Brooklyn.

The movie is set in the late 1930's and early 1940's. Surprisingly, World War II doesn't hold a prominent place in the film. Although the war was thousands of miles away, no aspect of life in the U.S. was untouched by it. Allen chose to concentrate on other matters--failed hopes, unfulfilled romances, and family bickering.

Despite these negative aspects of day-to-day life, the film projects a cheery, upbeat attitude. After all, it was a time when someone who looked like Wallace Shawm could star as radio's "Masked Avenger." Woody's subdued narrative lets us know that he loved those around him and was loved by them in turn.

Life wasn't perfect, but it could have been worse, and who knew what good things the future might bring.

We saw Radio Days on DVD. It probably would work somewhat better on the large screen, but it's worth seeking out and seeing in any format.

This movie starts with two burglars answering the phone during a break-in. They win the radio contest and the next day, the homeowners are shocked by the arrival of the winnings after finding their home robbed. Woody Allen narrates this nostalgic recollection of vignettes during his childhood. Joe (Seth Green) lives in Rockaway Beach with his parents Tess (Julie Kavner) and Martin (Michael Tucker) as well as an extended family. His imagination and his memories deliver stories about the people in his life and the radio they listen to. There is the War of the Worlds broadcast. Joe's favorite character is the Masked Avenger. There are also stories about the radio peronalities and aspiring actress cigarette-girl Sally White (Mia Farrow).

Woody delivers a loving tribute to the concept of radio through the eyes of childhood. This has a large cast with wide ranging vignettes. It's imaginative, touching, and fun. The characters are specific and compelling. There is a terrific veneer of memory. Through all the surreal and the real, there is the love of family and radio that transcends the screen onto the audience.

Radio Days (1987)- written, directed, and narrated by Allen:

What a beautiful, kind, gentle, ironic, warm, sentimental (in a very good way and yes, I am talking about Woody Allen's movie, that's right) yet perfectly balanced delight. It is a series of sketches about young Joe (young Allen, of course, played by Seth Green - that was a surprise), an adolescent in Brooklyn, NY during 1930s-1940s who was passionately in love with radio which was a king. The film is a tribute to the magical radio days and the myths and legends about radio personalities, the memory of a grown man who never forgot where he came from, the love letter to his always fighting and arguing ("I mean, how many people argue over oceans?") but loving relatives and a very funny comedy (the way only Allen's comedy can be). It is the film where pretty like a doll and painfully naive Sally (Mia Farrow) asks who Pearl Harbor is? Where gorgeous Diane Keaton sings and Diane Wiest, his beloved Aunt Bea never gives up hope of one true love. He never told us if she found it...

"I never forgot that New Year's Eve when Aunt Bea awakened me to watch 1944 come in. I've never forgotten any of those people or any of the voices we would hear on the radio. Though the truth is, with the passing of each New Year's Eve, those voices do seem to grow dimmer and dimmer."

The Radio days are gone but thanks to Allen, the voices of the times passed are still clear and sound and they always will be.

9/10

This movie shouts one word: WARMTH. The colors, the plot, the characters, they are all wonderfully warm.

I've watched this movie with senior citizens who were around in the forties. I once watched it with a Jewish guy who grew up on Long Island (albeit in the early 30's, not the 40's). All comments were the same: THIS was life in New York during wartime.

Vietnam was my war, so this era was a mystery to me. However, any time a genius like Woody Allen can create a film that not only makes me and my rowdy friends laugh, but gets guffaws from my dear old Mom as well, it deserves a little fanfare.

I didn't even mention the solid gold music.

See this film at once!

RADIO DAYS is one of Woody Allen's most underrated comedies, a fond look back to the days of radio and its effects on his family.

Set against long-forgotten radio programs, hit songs, and the coming of World War II, we get two narrative threads. The Rockaway family dealing with everyday issues in a series of vignettes, and the fictional life of Sally White (Mia Farrow) as she rises from cigarette girl to glittering radio star.

The cast is excellent. Farrow has a solid role as the Brooklyn girl with the Judy Holliday voice who battles her way toward upward mobility. Julie Kavner and Michael Tucker are terrific as the parents. Dianne Wiest is sweet as Aunt Bea, always on the lookout for true love. Seth Green plays Woody as a kid. Diane Keaton and Kitty Carlisle show up as singers. Josh Mostel and Renee Lippin are hilarious as the aunt and uncle. Wallace Shawn has a funny bit as the "Masked Avenger." Other notables include Richard Portnow as Si, Kenneth Mars as the rabbi, Larry David as the crazed neighbor, Jeff Daniels and William H. Macy as radio actors, Tony Roberts as the game show host, Danny Aiello as the gangster, and a special kudo for the hilarious Gina DeAngelis as his mother.

Highlights include Bea's date on the night of Orson Welles' famous radio program about a Martian invasion, and the poignant episode about the live radio coverage of a girl who's fallen down a well. The film also takes nostalgic looks at radio serials, quiz programs, and comedy shows.

The film perfectly captures the middle class neighborhood of Allen's youth. The interiors are beautifully done (Santo Loquasto), and very memorable is the awe-inspiring visit to Radio City Music Hall with its dimmed lights, lush carpets, and warm red-and-gold tones.

There is also a parade oh hit songs of the day that include "September Song," "Tico Tico," "Mairzy Doats," "South American Way," "Pistol Packin' Mama," "If I Didn't Care," and so many others.

A final word for the many actors and actresses in small parts who make this movie feel so right. Many have walk-ons or have only a line or two but they add the perfect touch and help recreate Woody Allen's beloved New York City.

Joe (Woody Allen), the narrator, explains how the radio influenced his childhood in the days before TV. The young Joe (Seth Green) lives in New York City in the late 1930s and early 1940s. The tale mixes Joe's experiences with his remembrances and anecdotes, inserting his memories of the urban legends of radio stars, and is told in constantly changing plot points and vignettes.

So much greatness in this film. An impressive ensemble cast (between this and "Midsummer Night", Tony Roberts really blossomed under Allen's direction). Great music, excellent stories. And a very young Seth Green, around the same time he appeared on "Amazing Stories". Who would ever have thought he was going to be huge within a decade? Ebert calls the film "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." Well said, Roger.

This is a wonderful wonderful movie that exemplifies the phrase, "misty watercolored memories." It is a joy to watch and listen to. The era before and during WWII, however, was anything but wonderful. Radio Days presents a time when America was dealing with the Great Depression and its after effects and the horrible event that was World War II. Since the man narrating the memories was only a boy then, it is altogether fitting and proper that he see things as a child; for as he states in one scene, "our conversation turned from Nazis to more important things,like girls." No movies, except this one, that I recall, are able to deal with this critical age in American history without conveying the tragic time that it was.

I would like to think this family was really Woody Allen's, but it is probably a work of fiction, like his other pieces. But how tremendous that he can create (or remember) these people. As I watched it, one thought that kept recurring was that these were not "beautiful" manufactured people like we see in the media today; they had big hips and were fat and poor and... and none of that mattered. They were real. They were believable. You can't watch this movie without wondering what happened to them, did Aunt Bee find a husband? You cared about this family and personally, I wished they were mine.

The vignettes were sad and sweet. My favorite was poor departed Kirby Kyle; at least he had heart! And Leonard; and "donations for the promotion of a state in Palestine." So many memories that make us a part of a family most people never had. The viewer belongs to this warm and loving group.

Something has been lost with the concept of "nuclear family," with the lonely big houses and empty hours and unshared hopes and sorrows. Radio Days reminds us that having someone to experience life with is a treasure and a blessing, despite whacks on the head, martians, and fish, "That man always brings home fish!"

And oh, the music!

This is Woody Allen's masterpiece.

Radio Days has got to be one of my absolute favorite films of all time. To me, it's a film that balances story, characters and atmosphere better than just about any other. It's truly a great work of art, and a very, very underrated one. The best thing about it is how Allen's love for his subject, the romantic nostalgia he feels, translates so eloquently to the screen. You've also got to hand it to the cast. Diane Weist, Julie Kavner, Mia Farrow, Josh Mostel, a briefly-glimpsed Jeff Daniels, and a young Seth Green all give great performances that are right out of the period, yet instantly recognizable. Allen had Santo Loquasto, his art director, do a bang-up job on creating the world of early-1940s Rockaway, New York, and Jeffrey Kurland's costumes help immensely. Particularly note-worthy is Carlo Di Palma's stunning cinematography. The colours, the smoky nightclubs and soundstages, the dimly-lit nighteries and the dazzling rooftop set come to life like few sets do in films. And then there's the music. That dazzling array of classic music, from one of the best periods for it in American history. Allen's decision to use only music from that time might sound cliche, but he's definatly justified here. And there's always the Radio Show Themes piece by Dick Hyman (I'm always by that name) that accompanies many of the scenes. That piece of music alone is worth seeing the film. As you can probably tell, I love this film simply for the fact that it's such a charming, enchanting, beautiful film. It's one I'd show my children, even the nude dancing scene, had I any children to show it to. Woody Allen's turn in the films he's made lately (as of 2003) are, to me, pretty depressing and perverse, with none of the charm, life and humor that works like Radio Days symbolize, Sweet and Lowdown notwithstanding. Hopefully, more films like this gem are on the horizon.

Woody Allen normally makes one film every year, but in 1987 he made two, "Radio Days" and "September", about as different from one another as it would be possible for two Woody Allen movies to be. "September" is a dismal and quite deliberately humourless psychological drama about unrequited love; "Radio Days", a period piece set in the New York of the late 1930s and early 1940s, is much lighter in tone. Indeed, it is also lighter than many of Woody's other comedies, substituting a nostalgic warmth for their frequent tone of neurotic or cynical angst.

The film is sometimes described as autobiographical, although this is not quite accurate, even though Allen narrates the story himself. (He is never seen by the audience). The main character, Joe, is, like Allen, from a Jewish-American family, but rather older than Allen would have been at this period. (I doubt, for example, whether Woody, born in December 1935, has any memory of Orson Welles' famous radio adaptation of "The War of the Worlds", broadcast in October 1938 when he was still under three years old).

The title reflects the fact that the thirties and forties, in America as in many other countries, was regarded as the "Golden Age of Radio" before television replaced radio as the dominant medium. The film explores the ways in which the lives of young Joe and his family are influenced by the radio shows of the day; Joe is particularly inspired by an adventure serial about a superhero known as the Masked Avenger. There are also anecdotes about the radio stars of the day; showbiz urban legends of this type play an important part in other Woody films such as "Broadway Danny Rose" or "Sweet and Lowdown". An example comes when a well-known radio presenter known for his womanising gets locked on the roof of a nightclub with Sally White, a cigarette girl with ambitions to become a radio star herself. (She eventually succeeds, despite an obvious lack of talent).

There is, in fact, no single coherent plot line; the film rather consists of a series of stories and anecdotes, most of them amusing, occasionally sad as in the tale (based on a real-life incident) of the young girl who dies after falling into a well. Compared to the great Woody Allen films like "Manhattan" or "Hannah and Her Sisters", made the previous year, "Radio Days" is a slight work. To call it "slight", however, does not necessarily imply low quality; it is, for example, far better than "September", a film which Allen clearly intended to be portentous and significant but which ended up as dull and depressing.

I suspect that Allen's target audience for "Radio Days" was people of his own age group or slightly older (he would have been 49 in 1987) who wanted to look back nostalgically at the days of their youth; the film contains not only references to the radio shows of the thirties and forties but also much of the popular music of that era. I was not around during that period (I was not born until the sixties) so presumably do not qualify. Nevertheless, this was still a film which I enjoyed.

Woody cast a number of actors who had appeared in his earlier films, such as Mia Farrow as Sally, Dianne Wiest as Joe's Aunt Bea whose search for love is a running theme, Danny Aiello, Jeff Daniels, Diane Keaton and Wallace Shawn, and gets good performances out of all of them. There are any number of amusing incidents; the burglars who accidentally win a big prize for their victims by answering a ringing telephone and correctly answering a question on "Name That Tune"; Joe's misappropriation (much to the disgust of his rabbi) of funds collected for Israel; his disappointment on discovering that the Masked Avenger is not the handsome hero he had imagined but is played by a short, bald actor; his search with his friends for enemy submarines after the outbreak of war.

Despite the episodic nature of his material, Woody manages to make the film hang together as a whole as a warm, loving recollection of childhood. The nostalgic atmosphere is heightened by the lush, warm tones in which it is shot. This is the Golden Age of Radio, not necessarily as it was, but as it should have been. As Roger Ebert pointed out in his review, what actually happened isn't nearly as important as how we remember it. 7/10

In my opinion, Radio Days is right up there with Annie Hall though it's different in that it's following several people's lives. Woody doesn't act in this, but his narration is excellent.

He takes the wonderful old songs and commercials from that time and weaves them into the story. I was completely captivated.

It's not a "laugh a minute" type film, but it also gets you thinking. Nevertheless, it has some hilarious scenes. Check out the Jewish fasting holiday scene. I've watched it at least 6 times and I still laugh. Also the scene with Mia Farrow's character was superb. One of my favorite lines is when she tells a top radio producer in her high-pitched nasal voice, "Jeez. We can't keep meeting like this. In the backs of cars, movie theaters and stalled elevators. You're gonna lose your respect for me!" I love this film.

Radio Days comes across as perhaps the most autobiographical of Woody Allen's films. It recalls fondly the period in time when the radio ruled supreme as the great communicator and entertainment medium in people's lives. Allen looks at various aspects of this through the eyes of a working class Jewish New York family. The story is essentially made up by a number of small of vignettes. In these short pieces Allen looks at various radio-related stories such as real events like Orson Welles' famous War of the Worlds broadcast, to fictional stories like the little girl in the well news item that shows how the radio could bind communities together in times of tragedy. As should also be expected, much of the observations are comic too, such as the fact that the popular radio super-hero of the day is in reality a short unassuming bald man.

It's very much an ensemble piece with the usual good characterizations we have come to expect from Allen. And while I think it is a good film, it isn't amongst his strongest work in my opinion. The main problem being that it's overall a little too fragmented for any characters to really stand out. I don't mind it being relatively plot-less but we never spend enough time with individual people in order to get a handle on them or really to care enough for them. Still, it's a very loving recreation of a period in time close to its director's heart. And this does come across quite clearly. Radio Days is not essential Allen for me but still a pretty solid bit of work with some heart to it.

Although he wrote and directed this movie, Woody Allen doesn't appear on screen in Radio Days. He only narrates this one, recalling his life growing up in the olden days when people listened to entertaining shows on the radio. A thirteen-year-old Seth Green plays young Woody, and Julie Kavner and Michael Tucker play his bickering parents.

There are several side plots involving his extended family and neighbors, and while Woody tries to connect everything to the glory days of radio, sometimes it feels like he's reaching too far. Mia Farrow plays a low-class cigarette girl who witnesses a random murder in a nightclub. The murderer's henchman, Danny Aiello, is ordered to kill the witness, but instead he falls in love with her. That part of the story is my favorite, but it isn't so adorable to make this one of my favorite Woody Allen movies. The rest of the stories and characters feel like they're only in place for cynical one-liners or little gags.

As in most Woody Allen movies, there's a large cast, so be on the lookout for Dianne Wiest, Jeff Daniels, William H. Macy, Wallace Shawn, Larry David, Kenneth Mars, Mercedes Ruehl, Tony Roberts, and Diane Keaton. This one wasn't my favorite, but if you're partial to the radio or like lengthy reminisces, you can give it a try and see if you like it.

In preface, let me say that I was born at the tail-end of the "golden age of radio," but just in time to experience a touch of its magic and the hold it had on households night after night in that pre-TV era. Add to that a favorite aunt who had worked in radio for years on the West Coast and who regaled her nephew with story upon story, which in turn led to the years I later spent in radio (luckily, prior to the "formula radio" days). It all adds up to my absolutely having to go see "Radio Days" when it first came out, despite the fact that I'd never been the world's foremost Woody Allen fan. Too much of his work, for me, lacked that indefinable but oh so recognizable element of "heart."

Well, I was wrong about Woody. This film shows it.

Autobiographical -- or perhaps semi-autobiographical -- in nature, "Radio Days" evokes the time when people returned "to those thrilling days of yesteryear," and for whom, quite probably, it was equally thrilling to contemplate the magic of a box in their living room that could cause them to "watch" the stories unfold in their minds. "Remotes," or on-the-spot broadcasts transported them to the scene of unfolding tragedies or triumphs in a way that newspapers never could (and which TV, for all its advantages, rarely matches).

And yet the film, for all its authenticity in recreating studio practices (watch, for example, how the actors drop completed script pages onto the floorrather than turning them and risking a tell-tale rustle of paper), isn't really so much about radio itself as it is about the people who listened, as personified by one raucous, cantankerous and loving Brooklyn family. Beautifully evoked, particularly by Julie Kavner (Mother), Michael Tucker (Father), and the incomparable Dianne Wiest (as the perenially lovelorn Aunt Bea), it is their reactions to what they hear on the radio -- whether listening breathlessly to the war news (at a time when the end result was anything but certain) or Bea's abandonment in the middle of nowhere by a panicked suitor as Orson Welles' "War of the Worlds" broadcast takes hold -- that bring to life the era and the power of that medium.

Standouts? The whole cast is perfect, but for me, in addition to those previously mentioned, I have to cit Mia Farrow's portrayal of the dim-bulbed Sally White, who transforms herself with the aid of speech lessons into a radio personality. (For that matter, catch Danny Aiello as a less-than-brilliant hitman, particularly his scenes with Dina DeAngeles as his mom.)

Criticisms? One: At the end of a poignant scene in which young Joe has finally discovered what his dad does for a living, Allen insists on falling into some standby "schtick" in his voiceover. (I guess he couldn't resist; thankfully, it doesn't ruin the moment.)

Ultimately, of course, it is the era itself that this film celebrates. Faithfully, and lovingly, it is recreated with a skill that points up its absurdities at the same time it makes one hopefully nostalgic. And, if you're not very careful, you wind up falling hopelessly in love with this funny, obscure Brooklyn family.

And to the end of my days, I'll always wonder whether poor Aunt Bea ever did find her "Mr. Right" . . .

I thought I was being original when I made the connection between Woody Allen's "Radio Days" and Federico Fellini's "Amarcord," but I was being naive. The parallels are so transparent it is of no surprise that most of the IMDB reviewers (and I imagine those others as well) caught the similarity.

And it's a good similarity - "Radio Days" is as successful in transporting the viewer to a different place and time as "Amarcord" was. It also cements my conclusion that Woody Allen is the only director who "spoofs" great art films and artistic styles, confirmed by his tributes to Ingmar Bergman and German Expressionists.

All that aside, "Radio Days" is, second of all, a look at Allen's childhood memories weaved together by radio. It's the story of his family (his large and extended family and neighborhood personages), their likes, dislikes, relationships and favorite radio shows. They are inextricably connected as genetic members of a family, but also more intangibly linked by radio broadcasts, to which they listen to individually as well as collectively. They have favorite songs and shows - each favorite reflecting the personality of a given character. They also share great love for one another, though they quibble like all human beings do. In fact, that tender quibbling, love and loss and understanding is what makes Allen's characters come to life so successfully - no wonder he speaks of them with warmth.

What "Radio Days" is about first of all and foremost, is nostalgia. The film would only be a heartwarming family tale and nothing more if it were not "recollected" by Woody Allen, the narrator. His role in the film (in which he never physically appears) is that of a story-teller. He transports the audience to his memories consciously, mixing present reflections with the unadulterated spirit of his memories. And it is he, not the characters in the film as much, who experiences the nostalgia, the central theme of "Radio Days."

In narrating his memories, Allen is able to distance himself from them temporally. He is telling a tale that borders on fantasy, such as that on whose form nostalgic memories take place. There is a bittersweet yearning for the past and a realization that memories must inevitably fade, change, yield to time's destructiveness. Re-telling them not only reveals how one thinks life once was (usually painted over with warmth and pleasantness), but also oneself and the knowledge that these times are no longer physically accessible. How we recollect our past tells us of us as much as it does of the past. In "Radio Days" that past is warm and Allen's yearning for that warmth and childish innocence is what pervades the film so well giving it its nostalgic quality.

And nostalgia, the film seems to suggest, is a feeling worth experiencing. If one can glance back at his life and feel a longing towards the past, a warmth emanating from his memories, then he remembers life as having been kind to him. Even if the details flee from the mind (as they inevitably do) and only the feelings inspired by hazy memories remain. And that, if nothing else, is not only comforting, but also meaningful.

Woody Allen fondly recalls that age before TV when radio was the nucleus around which family life revolved (and evolved). It's an affectionate (and, for Allen, atypically nostalgic) period piece, sketching with disarming humor the memories, anecdotes, and fantasies of an East Coast childhood in the 1930s and 1940s, narrated by the director himself and set against a collection of once-popular radio songs and programs. Television could never trigger such glowing memories, because TV numbs the imagination while the invisibility of the radio voice tends to enhance it. Allen includes plenty of jokes to that effect: the heroic Masked Avenger turns out, off microphone, to be the portly Wallace Shawn; the nonsense song Mairsie Doates recalls a neighbor brandishing a meat cleaver on a downtown rampage. The comedy is never more than feather-light, demanding nothing from its audience except uncomplicated laughter, but this is one filmmaker who has always been more effective on a smaller scale.

When did Woody Allen go soft? "Radio Days", a series of vignettes centering around the popular radio shows and personalities of the early 1940s (just prior to the start of WWII and just after), has not a delightfully vulgar bone in its being; it's the movie equivalent of a cozy blanket, or warm jelly. Even so, despite the rosy nostalgia, Allen the screenwriter creates characters who, rich or poor, are gleefully corrupt. Allen, who also narrates, exposes a sentimental heart (and melancholy yearning) for this era in time, but more importantly he gets a funny rhythm going in the autobiographical stories of a family in the Rockaway Point region of Queens. These bubbly nostalgic tales are barely shaped, however, and some of them--his aunt's date with a man who confesses a gay affair, or a group of boys spying on a woman who soon becomes their substitute teacher--fall flat. The Manhattanites and radio stars are far less amusing (or interesting) than the happily bickering family, but there are fine performances throughout. Frizzy-haired Mia Farrow is endearing as a nasal-voiced coat-check girl (she also gets to sing a lovely solo for the USO, and has a funny scene pleading for her life after mobster Danny Aiello kidnaps her). Dianne Wiest is also delightful (as usual), as are Michael Tucker and Julie Kavner. One presumes Allen's love for these radio days is the real thing, and he does show a tender side (especially in a well-edited sequence with all of New York glued to a story of a little Pennsylvania girl who has fallen down a narrow well). Still, the picture has so little punch that sequences tend to dribble away or feel half-finished, and Allen's mock-innocence is a sham. But an amusing sham. **1/2 from ****

Woody's best " memory" piece has great set designs, a sad and funny script and the usual great, well chosen cast, including a very young Seth Green playing Allen as a boy. Diane Wiest and Julie Kavner excel strongly in the female leads, Allen's voice narrates the whole picture, and Mia Farrow squeaks deliciously as a bimbo cigarette girl who gets a culture make-over. This is the only Allen movie that both Farrow and Diane Keaton appear in (she has a very brief cameo singing a song in a night club.) The final scene on top of the roof is almost bittersweet, altho it is nice to see a landscape filled with wide eyed people, before the world was dominated by television. The story becomes even more poignant as you age. Watch it repeatedly over different stages of your life...

Woody often tells stories about his childhood - there is a childhood sequence in many of his movies (the one in Annie Hall is particularly memorable), but Radio Days is his most extended exercise in nostalgia.

It is uneven by necessity: its a series of vignettes: Woody's voiceover tells us he's gonna tell us some stories about his memories of what radio used to mean to him when he was growing up.

You see, radio used to be what TV is now: there were radioplays every night, like the TV shows we now have. Kids would tune in at 6pm to hear Orson Welles as The Shadow, brought to you by Lux! There was adventure, romance, swordplay, like on TV.

7/10. I wouldn't put this in the time capsule, but its essential viewing for Woody fans, and for everyone else a sweet, nostalgic, enjoyable film.

Radio Days is a wonderfully entertaining sort of novelty store of a movie. Woody Allen fashions his film a la Fellini, carrying it with streaming events rather than a plot, and crowding the screen with the commotion of a cast that includes characters of very short screen time. Allen accentuates his Felliniesque vision of the film by putting surprising name actors, like Diane Keaton and Jeff Daniels for instance, in minute-long roles, pointing at those key elements of Fellini films like La Dolce Vita or Amarcord. Amarcord, specifically, is a film about the filmmaker's loving recollection of time just as this is. Even so, that's not what Woody Allen is interested in here. Unlike Interiors, his hero worship for other directors does not get the best of him here. The focus lies in the passionate nostalgia of his days growing up with the radio in the background of life.

Radio Days's sense of humor does actually surrender to the influence of Fellini, but not without Allen's provocation of a response more than just laughter. He wants you to curl your eyebrows in misunderstanding for a second and thus enjoy the laugh more, the best example being the radio vignette involving the sports historian who tells the story of the very unfortunate baseball player who loses a limb in a hunting accident but continues to play because what he lacked in the missing limb he made up for with heart, yet the story is far from over. Also, the very commotive Jewish family, characterizing Allen's own and including an impressive young Seth Green as the figure for young Woody, is portrayed with a loving naiveté, as is displayed so pricelessly in their shock that on Yom Kippur, the neighbors actually have the nerve to work on their house, and because they believe that they are communists and because they're making so much noise, the uncle works up the nerve to go next door and confront them, thus ushering in a shouting match with one of them, played by fellow Woody Allen's fellow Jewish comedian Larry David, who provides great enjoyment a la his perpetually conflicting character on Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Allen's Radio Days is also a much more emotional experience than any Fellini film. Though I loved Amarcord and I believe Fellini is a very good director, he is the king of dry. The irresistible lure of Allen's films is their warmth and atmosphere. He's one of the subtlest and most deadpan of all directors, yet his films feel so good and comfortable to watch even more so than many lavish and intense filmmakers. The emotional arcs of the characters played by Dianne Wiest and Julie Kavner are very heartfelt and poignant. Radio Days is one of those very warm Allen experiences.

Definitely in the top 10 of his best films along with Annie Hall, Crimes and Misdemeanors, Manhattan, Hannah and Her Sisters, The Purple Rose of Cairo, Husbands and Wives, Love and Death, Zelig, Sleeper and Stardust Memories and even in the top 5(so far that is, haven't yet seen all of them). That is how great Radio Days is and I'm still kicking myself for taking so long to see it. Radio Days looks wonderful, with the smoky cinematography being some of the most beautiful of any Woody Allen film and the minute period detail is very evocative. The music score is also among the best of any of his films(or at least one of my personal favourites from them), wistful and very catchy with a strong hint of nostalgia, the Radio Days theme is irresistible. Allen's scripts are on the most part very insightful and much of his humour is smart and at its best hilarious. That for Radio Days is one of his smartest with cracking, witty dialogue that makes one laugh and cry and is full of insight, with themes that are explored intelligently and in a way that is easy to identify with. The story cuts seamlessly from family life to the empty glamour of Radioland with no signs of being disjointed, there is not a dull moment and it is certainly among the most heart-warming and charming stories for a Woody Allen film. It has nostalgia written all over it, and I'd go as far to say that Radio Days is one of Allen's most accessible mainly for this reason. Allen directs intelligently and with no signs of smugness, and he draws great performances from his cast. Mia Farrow's performance here is one of her best and she is supported impeccably, especially with Diane Wiest who has the most juicy character(of a film full of interesting and likable, for Allen at least, characters) and gives a performance that is almost the equal of the one she gave in Hannah and Her Sisters. Allen's alter ego characters have always been a very mixed bag when it comes to the acting stakes, with the worst case being Kenneth Branagh in Celebrity, but Seth Green is clearly one of the better examples along with Will Ferrell in Melinda and Melinda, he's funny and charming but also doesn't try to be too much of a pale impersonation. All in all, a Woody Allen masterpiece and one of his finest. 10/10 Bethany Cox

This was a great Woody Allen movie. He was not in it, but his voice was. I very young SETH GREEN played the kid who saw a German U BOAT off the Jersey Shore. That was a very strange scene. But this movie, about the days when RADIO was the main thing, not TV - really made me think about what life was like for my Mom and Dad in the 40's. Very good movie and there was so much history in it. I liked that one radio show that focused on having breakfast with this pretentious couple. Today it would not go over well. Now we have legends such as Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh talking politics. Back then, it was more of an entertainment median. I loved this movie. Not much of a story plot but just watching it was fun.

Review: This movie was, surprisingly, quite entertaining! It's narrated by Woody Allen, whose telling his story about growing up in a packed house in New York in the days of no TV and just a radio and it also follows the rise of Mia Farrow's character who starts out as a waitress and ends up a star. Some of the family scenes are funny and interesting, but I didn't see the whole point of Mia Farrow's character. Her storyline seemed a bit disconnected to the rest of the film. Anyway, the family stays in touch with the world through the radio and they enjoy music, quizzes, drama and the news by tuning in during most of the day. Its amazing to see what people used to go through to broadcast there shows. How times have changed! Basically, it's a sweet film which gives an insight about how it was for Jewish families in New York during the 1930s. Watchable!

Round-Up: If your familiar with Seth Green, then you will be surprised to see how young he looks in this movie. He's the guy who plays Dr. Evils son in the Austin Powers franchise and he also supplies his voice for the Family Guy. There are some other familiar stars in the movie, like a young Dianne Keaton and Jeff Daniels, but if you blink, you will miss them. Anyway, on the whole, it's actually not a bad film from Woody Allen. Its well written and all of the characters had depth and they all took part in keeping the family together. They all put in good performances, which made the movie seem realistic and interesting.

Budget: $16million Worldwide Gross: $15million

I recommend this movie to people who are into there Woody Allen movies which follows Allen as a 10 year old kid, growing up during the 1930s and being entertained by the radio. 5/10