Radio Days (1987) - Directed by Woody Allen

 

"I'd sit alone and watch your light
My only friend through teenage nights
And everything I had to know
I heard it on my radio

daughter, father, and uncle dancing to Carman Miranda's  South American way on radio

You gave them all those old time stars
Through wars of worlds invaded by Mars
You made 'em laugh, you made 'em cry
You made us feel like we could fly

So don't become some background noise
A backdrop for the girls and boys
Who just don't know, or just don't care
And just complain when you're not there"
                          ( Radio gaga - Queen)

   

 

 The above song, separates the focal period of "Radio days" by at least 40 years ( although the song, and the movie separate each other by a trivial three years ). But it captures the sentiments quite aptly  although our main character is probably not in his teens. An extended Jewish family, not doing particularly well, but with unmistakable love for each other!

“- Mr. Abercrombie: I think you both deserve each other.
- Tess, the mother: What does that mean?
- Martin, the father: Look, we didn't come here to be insulted.
- Tess, the mother: I love him, but what did I do to deserve him?” 

                                                                              - plus, the unmistakable Woody Wit!

a hero of the boys, Masked Avenger ( first from Right) at the studio

The movie has a story - almost aside - of how Sally White breaks through to the radio world,  through periods of being used by the already established stars. How her  high voice, creeps in between her trained one, is a testament of the effort, and the front that one had to put on, to win success. Yet, more than this, the main attraction is how each of the members had their favorite radio shows, how characters based on their voice were heroes  in radio ( case point - masked avenger) - and how the radio was a central part of their lives back in the 1940s, and our narrator ( Woody Allen, who doesn't put in an appearance), nostalgically recollects the then big characters. Yet, characters too are wary to how, they will be forgotten with the passing of time, although they were stars back then,

Masked Avenger: I wonder if future generations will ever even hear about us. It's not likely. After enough time, everything passes. I don't care how big we are or how important are our lives.

 

A friend of mine recently remarked, that back in the day, it was easier to have heroes, role models, and stars - for, one almost never gets to see all their sides. Nowadays,  such stars rarely exist, as at least some isolated incident has earned them a black mark ( even Allen himself is a case point, so late in his life).

I enjoyed this movie very much, as the times I felt were captured very well, (with world war II as a distant, but very much present event in the day to day life). First, with Annie Hall, and now with Radio Days, Woody Allen is converting a casual movie watcher into a firm fan of his. It is possibly just a matter of time until I check out most of his work.

Rating: ****