It's been a while since I've seen Radio Days, but the bit that made me laugh hardest was where one of the family went over to visit the Communist neighbours and came back spouting rhetoric about the plight of the worker. Classic Woody.
Akira Kurosawa's Top 100 films - fascinating list. Annie Hall is on there. http://www.openculture.com/2015/01/akira-kurosawas-list-of-his-100-favorite-movies.html
Mr. Zipsky, the man in "Radio Days" who goes out of his mind and runs through the neighborhood brandishing a meat cleaver in his underwear, was played by Joel Eidelsberg, making his film debut. His next film appearance wasn't for another 13 years, and his final film appearance was a bit part in "Hollywood Ending", fully dressed and without meat cleaver.
From Vincent Canby's NY Times review of "Radio Days: At this point I can't think of any film maker of Mr. Allen's generation with whom he can be compared, certainly no one at work in American movies today. As the writer, director and star (even when he doesn't actually appear) of his films, Mr. Allen works more like a novelist who's able to pursue his own obsessions, fantasies and concerns without improvements imposed on him by committees. At this point, too, his films can be seen as part of a rare continuum. Each of us has his favorite Allen movie, but to cite one over another as ''more important,'' ''bigger,'' ''smaller'' or ''less significant'' is to miss the joys of the entire body of work that is now taking shape. ''Radio Days'' is a joyful addition. Mr. Allen, our most prodigal cinema resource, moves on. http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9B0DE0D81E31F933A05752C0A961948260
Just wanted to thank RayS and all the contributors to this thread. I've held off on chiming in because I'm less knowledgeable than most here about his work and haven't felt I could add much, but I check in regularly and have enjoyed your various perspectives. My dad was a big fan from back in the 60's and it rubbed off on me. I've seen most of Woody's movies, most many times. Zelig has always been one of my favorites but I don't think any of my friends have even heard of it, so I enjoyed reading people's thoughts on that one. I enjoyed the offbeat concept, the various flavors of humor, and the creative pre/non CGI effects. Also, I've long felt that everybody is a bit of a Zelig (I know I am) and have pondered thoughts along those lines, so I liked that Woody explored an exaggerated version of that trait. I had never seen Interiors but based on comments here, rented it and watched it twice last light. My wife, who doesn't generally go for films like that, was also drawn in. I was prepared for a sad, downer experience and it delivered that, but of course there's much more to that film. It raises some really interesting questions about people and relationships and though like Zelig the tale is more extreme than any thing you or I might encounter, I related to several of the character aspects to some degree, and the film has kind of seeped into my consciousness. I'm glad you all (or some of you, anyway) recommended it. I always loved Radio Days, it's another of my favorites, all those fantastic little vignettes! I have a lifelong love of radio and collect/restore old AM radios so the overall theme was right up my alley. One of my personal favorites (not one that's talked about much at all) is still several years out but I'll definitely re-appear to talk about that one. Anyway, thanks again!
For anyone interested, Amazon Prime seems to always be rotating in some Woody films - currently "Broadway Danny Rose" and "Midnight in Paris" have joined "Play It Again, Sam" as free options. And I say that with all possible respect.
I think Zelig is an armchair (or bar stool) psychologist's dream. Doesn't school teach us to be Zelig? Even in business the easiest way to stay out of trouble is to assimilate the traits and opinions of those around you. I'm glad that you enjoyed "Interiors", and please continue to contribute. Seeing the films 100 times each is not required!
I feel the same way. Great work by RayS and I have enjoyed reading all the posts. I'm a Woody fan in reverse having seen everything from the late 90s on and now working backward so I will be able to contribute when we get to those films.
I envy you getting to see the older films for the first time! How far back have you made it? I personally think we're in the peak era for Woody right now - the 80s... Having said that, Radio Days was the first film of his that I saw in the theatres that felt a little lacking to me. I remember at the time it was his "biggest" film, in terms of cast and budget and so forth, but it felt a little hollow to me. After the richly drawn cast that populated Hannah, we know had a giant cast of caricatures instead of characters. The family at the core of the film didn't really have many details for the actors to flesh out. There was the uncle who was obsessed with fish, but that's about it. Or the Dianne Weist character constantly looking for a man, but what else was there to say about her? The bickering parents weren't unfamiliar from Woody's films, and perhaps they were more closely aligned with the senior Konigsbergs than in the past, but they didn't have much detail either. Why Woody chose to populate this film with the cast he did puzzles me to this day. He brings back Diane Keaton for the first time in years ... but doesn't give her a single line of spoken dialogue. Other actors who'd just appeared in his recent films had similar "bit parts", like Danny Aiello, Jeff Daniels, the ubiquitous Tony Roberts, and the "mobsters mom" from Danny Rose again portraying a "mobsters mom" here. Some of the vignettes were pretty funny, but I didn't find too many to be "laugh out loud" funny. By this point, I think I preferred Woody's then-current style over his "early, funny films" - perhaps that put me in the minority (?). I did like Woody's narration, especially when he gave it his trademark bittersweet touch at the end ("Although the truth is, with the passing of each New Year's Eve, those voices do seem to grow dimmer and dimmer..."). Perhaps it's best to look at this film as a "collage" that tries to capture a period/era, rather than to focus on the details so much. I think it succeeds somewhat better from that viewpoint.
I have seen some of the older ones and saw some of them a long time ago so I don't overly remember them. I have not made the effort to see them all in order or anything like that. It's interesting to me because I see the old ones knowing how universally loved they are so they almost come off as a little disappointing because the expectations are so high. Whereas I go see the new ones thinking he is now the underdog and I end up liking those more than everyone else. Even though most of the new ones are far from perfect, I see little glimmers here and there that make me think "Oh, this is why he is a genius" and that gives me the most enjoyment out of them. Anyway, see you all later on.
I'm sorry, but anyone who can't fully appreciate the greatness that is "Radio Days" should take the gas pipe. I'm afraid you've really overthought this one Max. Yes, "Radio Days" isn't "Hannah and Her Sisters", just like "Hannah and Her Sisters" isn't "Interiors". The characters aren't given depth by design. Apart from being a far lighter film than "Hannah", this is also a series of anecdotes strung together. And they are related through the lens of a grown man describing the (unreliable) memories of his experiences as a young boy. "Adult Joe" (Woody) makes it clear right up front - "Forgive me if I tend to romanticize the past". I think of it this way. For whatever reason, the summer of 1972 was my "Radio Days". I turned 8 that summer. I loved baseball when I was a kid, I was obsessed with it. The summer of '72 was the first year I tried to collect a complete set of baseball cards. It was the first summer I played little league. My best friend's family got an inground pool installed (which was almost as good as MY family getting one). Anyway, my point to all this is - if I relate my memories of 1972, of watching baseball on my black and white TV that required a pair of pliers to change the channel, of discovering that my cheapo transistor radio could get games from as far away as Baltimore and Cleveland if I dialed in just right, of playing with my friends - I can't tell you a darn thing about my parents' worries, concerns or joys. I didn't understand why anyone would want to murder athletes at the Olympics, and while the adults around me saw irony in the fact that I played little league for "The Free Sons of Israel" with my German sounding last name, it was all lost on me. My 8 year-old understanding of the world was based on myths and legends (like the kid who tried to walk four blocks in the storm drain and was eaten by rats), not logic. I had no clue about the adult world, but I knew the Orioles starting lineup by heart. My long-winded point is that Joe understands the adults in his world (including his substitute teacher) in the superficial manner in which young children do. And, I must add, I laugh out loud every time Kenneth Mars expresses the overwhelming grief with which his heart is filled.
Because one film in 1987 was just not enough: September (1987) I couldn't find a trailer on YouTube, but this fan-made compilation certainly serves the purpose well:
Stop calling me Max. I get what you're saying about how the film may be apropos of the viewpoint of a young child BUT ... I would simply maintain that that perspective did not lend itself to making as good a film as I would've expected from Woody. Also from the mid-80s, one can look at another film told from the perspective of an older man relating virtually the same era of his youth, complete with the fascination of hearing his favorite radio programs: The characters are fleshed out more - drawn a little warmer, a little more believably - and it's a much better film (IMO), although it's tough for me to divorce the overblown holiday status it now enjoys with the small little film I saw in the theatres upon initial release. Oh, and one other gripe about Radio Days: I quite disliked Mia Farrow's adopted "squeaky" voice for that film. Interestingly, he had Mira Sorvino do almost the exact same voice just a few years later...
I don't agree with the negative criticism of Radio Days. There is nothing wrong about any of the things mentioned. You want it to be a different film than the one Woody Allen designed, go make your own Radio Days and leave this one alone.
Respectfully, this thread is a discussion forum about Woody's films - you don't have to like or agree with my opinion, but this would be a very dull thread if we only lavish praise on each and every film. I plan on contributing my thoughts about virtually every film he's ever made, and I will be highly critical of a few of them (which I certainly wasn't with Radio Days). If you don't wish to read my opinions, I'd suggest you ignore me or ignore this thread if you can't handle some (very) mild criticism.
The real trailer for September can be seen here: http://www.videodetective.com/movies/september/728461 Btw, I just discovered this poster for the film, which would appear to be the more common poster outside the US. I think I prefer it to the US version:
You appear to be the one who can't handle mild criticism. To say the film is hollow and that the characters are caricatures is preposterous and demonstratively false. Maybe you're just not getting it.
Regarding "the voice", here's an interview with Mira I ran across a couple of months ago. She mentions it being an extreme choice, but doesn't really specify whose choice it was. To me she pulls it off perfectly, while Mia in "Radio Days" tends to grate. Overall I think I'm about 50-50 on Mia performances, this one hits on the negative side for me. There are similarities between "Radio Days" and "A Christmas Story" but ultimately they are pieced together differently. One is an episodic collage thinly-held together by a story about a family (a story with no real conflict, no real climax and no real denounment), one is a story with a strong main character who is on screen for virtually the entire film. Apples and oranges to me, and still I really don't feel I know the parents in "A Christmas Story' and better than I know the parents in "Radio Days".
I can't say I care much for either poster. And that's quite the non-trailer (thank you for finding it). It's like "my next film is a drama with a bunch of good actors and I'm not going to ruin a bit of it beforehand, just come see it". We need more trailers like that today!
Wow. You're really going to be upset when we get to "Alice" and "Curse of the Jade Scorpion"! My idea in starting this thread was to share opinions about the films with other interested parties, to get fresh perspectives on them, and to see how other people see them. Mr. J. has been great at doing just that. Let's let him do his thing, please.
