Comments on: 949 (91). Radio Days (1987, Woody Allen)

By: Gabriela Marques Costa

Gabriela Marques Costa — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 16:45:44 +0000

Excellent article!
Congratulations on your tribute to the eternal diva Carmen Miranda.

Please have a look at my blog, where I too make a tribute to Carmen Miranda through my art and paintings.
Best regards,
Gabriela Marques da Costa
http://gabrielamarquescosta.wordpress.com/

By: DISSED

DISSED — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 15:26:56 +0000

i lived in rockaway during the filming, it was rather interesting, our storefronts were changed, and the part about the air-raid,,all the towns lights went out,,, i lived directly behind the house the characters “lived” in,,,, the only thing i did'nt like,,was , one day i approached woody,, (no filming was going on that day, he was just talking on the sidewalk,, no crew,,nothing,,,) held out my hand for a shake,,and he shrugged me off,,,,HOW RUDE,,i was alone.. on my way to work on the corner,,i'm 5ft tall, blond hair, bl eyes,,how threatening can i possibly be,,,,,he could have given up a shake,,for all we gave up.

By: scotts404

scotts404 — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 17:04:20 +0000

her name was Kathy Fiscus who was trapped in a well and died in 1949 at the age of 3. In real life, the tragedy occured in San Marino, CA. The attempted rescue, broadcast nationally, was a landmark event in American television history.

By: Eleni

Eleni — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 01:25:09 +0000

What nostalgia for me. I grew up in Newark, N.J. and NYC is like home to me. I saw it for the first time tonight, plan to get it and watch it over and over again.

I remember the tragedy in reality, of the little girl dying in the well, but cannot remember her name. I believe her first name was Kathy. Does anyone out there remember?

By: Danny Savage

Danny Savage — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 18:50:45 +0000

Just caught this great feel-good nostalgia film on TV once again, but being the tech-nerd that I am, I keep finding historic/technical faults in this sort of thing. E.g. at one point one of the aunts draws a line up the back of her calf with a grease pencil because she's “out of nylons”! Nylon synthetic fabric just after the start of WW2, 1942 maybe? She was actually out of “silk” stockings as the government had laid claim to all available silk for the manufacture of parachutes. Nylon wasn't invented until well after the war. A minor fault, OK. But the ignorance is unbearable when you cannot find a single Hollywood produced film dealing with the early middle ages (Robin Hood, King Arthur, etc) where they do not say “fire” when it comes to shooting, or more correctly, loosing arrows. Where's the fire when you ain't got gunpowder!?

By: Matt Parker

Matt Parker — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 23:50:44 +0000

Yeah I know the feeling. Scarlett is limited… at best. But don't see it for Scarlett; Rebecca Hall's performance blows everyone else out of the water.

By: alsolikelife

alsolikelife — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 23:01:31 +0000

thanks for the tip… If I get Vicky on video or screener I'll check it out. I'd rather spend $11 on something else. I've kind of developed an allergic reaction to Scarlett Johansson.

By: alsolikelife

alsolikelife — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 22:03:12 +0000

That's funny – Sleeper was my first Woody Allen, like when I was 12 or 13. I didn't quite get the concept of the Orgasmotron but those noises from inside sure were funny.

I haven't been terribly crazy or interested in Allen over the last few years – this is probably the first film I've seen of his since Match Point upon its release. Radio Days is a comforting film and it was quite pleasant to visit it on New Year's. I've been meaning to post the final scene up on YouTube to celebrate New Year's but at this point the moment may have passed.

By: Matt Parker

Matt Parker — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 00:54:37 +0000

I owe my love of film to Woody Allen. My grandpa introduced me to his films back when I was just a freshman in high school; we watched “Sleeper” together, and even in that slapstick comedy, I knew that for the first time I was seeing something new in film. It didn't take me long to devour most of his catalog, and reading about the influences in his films was my gateway to world cinema.

That being said, this is one of my least favorite Woody films, and I was really surprised to see it on the TSPDT list. Perhaps because I've grown in a post-cold war computer age – or maybe because I grew up in the rural south where I didn't meet a Jew until the age of 20 – it's hard for me to connect with the film's nostalgic milieu. The whole experience just seems innocuous.

The leveling tendency you refer to works differently in this film than some of his others. Certainly the rich and famous are always slighted, but so are the poor and working class in his other films (obviously he has more love for them, but they're often portrayed one-dimensionally, where all of the ignorances and pettiness are exaggerated for comic effect).