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Radio Days (1987)

Director: Woody Allen
Writer: Woody Allen
Cast: Mia Farrow, Dianne Wiest, Julie Kavner, Michael Tucker, Seth Green
Genre: Drama Comedy Nostalgia

Radio Days is a charming, sometimes witty and often funny look at Woody Allen's youth and the people who inhabited his neighborhood. Woody Allen narrates in first person as we look back at the Golden Age of Radio, as he remembers it. The film offers up
life story anecdotes. Many of them are from Woody's own life as he grew up in Rockaway Beach, New York from 1938 to 1944.
Radio Days
is presented as a series of vignette stories, mostly about Woody's family and relatives. Some stories are interwoven and some not. All are inspired by old radio programs and songs. Each character is associated with their favorite radio program which then defines their personality and their story. What I love about this movie is the wonderfully rich nostalgic look that Woody creates. His use of vintage advertising is neat, as is his sets...it's like being there.


Girls in a malt shop, swooning over their favorite actor...Are those two in the middle really girls?


Mia Farrow who's character is based on real life Hedda Hopper, gets her big chance on radio.

Cool Trivia
This is the only Woody Allen film in which both of his frequent collaborators and longtime companions Mia Farrow and Diane Keaton appear...However Soon-Yi did not appear in this film.

One of the film's sequences was inspired by Orson Welles' classic 1938 "War of the Worlds" broadcast on CBS Radio.

I love that Woody takes us to real places in and around New York City...from the old Playland amusement park, now gone...to the King Cole Dining Room...to the glorious Radio City Music Hall and many other real places. The film's a visual treat and his family is a hoot! Woody Allen loves nostalgia and if you do to then this film is for you.