Radio Days (1986)

"Memorable! Triumphant!  L.A. Herald-Examiner

Editor's Note 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, of television's BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER), 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.

	Danny Aiello
	Dianne Wiest
	Jeff Daniels
	Mia Farrow
	Woody Allen - Director
	Carlo Di Palma - Director of Photography
	Robert Greenhut, et al. - Producer
	Woody Allen - Writer

Woody Allen's ode to the golden age of radio as seen through the eyes of a working-class Rockaway neighborhood is an utter delight. This star-studded period piece features a terrific soundtrack of the great songs of the day. The casting is terrific, filled with wonderful turns by many familiar faces. New York as seen from a child's perspective has never looked so good.

"You don't like it, take the gas pipe."---- (Josh Mostel) to Ceil

"You speak the truth, my faithful Indian companion."---- (Seth Green) to (Kenneth Mars)

"Beware, evildoers, wherever you are!"----The Masked Avenger (Wallace Shawn)

"That's too good for him----he deserves an enema."----Ceil (Renee Lippin) about Abe (Josh Mostel)

"You know, this is a funny coincidence. I don't meet anybody from the old neighborhood in years. I finally do and I gotta kill her."----(Danny Aiello) to Sally (Mia Farrow)

New York Times
"...As free in form as it is generous of spirit....The members of the huge cast are uniformly splendid..." 01/30/1987 p.C1

New York Times
Included in the New York Times "10 Best Films of 1987" 12/27/1987 p.II,23

Los Angeles Times
"...Come away to Woody Allen's heartfelt, evocative RADIO DAYS, a movie that draws you close to it like listeners around that glowing radio dial..." 01/30/1987 p.C1

Premiere
"Lavish and colorful, with only a whiff of philosophical despair, it's Allen's AMARCORD..." 07/01/2006 p.108

Chicago Sun-Times 10 of 10
...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. - Roger Ebert