Starring: Eric Bogosian, Ellen Greene, Leslie Hope, John C. McGinley, Alec Baldwin Directed By: Oliver Stone Average Rating: Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Audience Rating: R (Restricted) Binding: DVD Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC Label: Universal Studios Number of Items: 1 Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen Region Code: 1 Release Date: October 31, 2000 Running Time: 109 minutes Theatrical Release Date: December 21, 1988
Free Speech, or Is It? Directed by Oliver Stone, from the play of the same name, it is Dallas radio going out to the misfits who can't sleep at night and constantly call in to be castigated and abused by this irritable talk show shost. Barry Champagne gave me a headache, like Michael Savage used to do. I called a local talk show taking up two hours on my favorite station and asked them to "give us our music back." Words can injure and kill; they can cause permanent damage. The unstable callers are dangerous to themselves and to others as this movie showed so eloquently and one had to die for his religious persuation and born as Jewish. It just took one misfit who had the gall and gun to put this abrasive, insensitive (on and off the air) out of commission. He looked a lot like Seinfeld.
His ex-wife called him a troublemaker, a "con man" who wouldn't know how love feels. He forces callers to confess on the air to crimes. He gets everyone all riled up but insists that his boss be his "buddy." Radio people are never as you imagine they would. At first, it's always disappointing and a bit of a shock; the beautiful voice never matches the face or personality. That's why they are on radio and not t.v., funny or not. He and his listeners are in love with his voice and think he is kind. Wrong. He declared that there is nothing more boring than people who love you and tends to live in a dream world.
Like so many people, educated and ignorant, they believe what they read in the newspaper. He had a breakdown on the air and his erratic soliloquy talked him out of a job and he left some dead air (taboo on the live shows of radio or t.v.), while his listeners took his tirade as a joke except for the one waiting in the parking lot outside the station.
Talkin' about radio Where do I begin? Oliver Stone certainly reached deep into the corner of his brain for this one and the results were superb. Eric Bogosian is at his finest here & will keep you gripped the whole way. Based on the stage play (where the whole thing is the on-air parts), and the book: Talked to Death: The Life and Murder of Alan Berg, the outside scenes with his wife & girlfriend are Stones creation. The callers hit Barry with the most diverse subjects & they will either piss you off or have you rolling on the floor laughing. It also gives the viewer a look into the business of radio. Many people think it's all just one big party there, but as you will soon see, it has a very serious money making element.
A good purchase for your personal collection & worth a re-watch now & again.
A Bit Dated But Still Worth Watching Eric Bogosian is incredible in his fierce creation of "Barry Champlaign", a glib but angry Dallas talk show host. The movie is said to be inspired by the story of Denver radio personality Alan Berg who met a similar fate to Barry's but Bogosian's character owes much more in looks and style to Howard Stern. The film has many good performances throughout with Alec Baldwin doing some of his best work in the supporting role of Barry's boss. Set in a time before the internet changed mass media forever the film is a bit dated and though well acted the character Kent it truly a product of the 80's.
Bravo Talk Radio This film is one that doesn't seem like it would entertain you for a couple of hours but does a wonderful job in doing so. Gritty and dark this is a film I wouldn't hesitate to recommend to add to the collection.
Would have to be in my top 10 movies of the 80's.
Really Poor Quality I do not get it. How can anyone actually praise this movie? This was probably THE worst movie I have ever seen, granted I have not seen very many movies compared to most other people, but this was baaaaaaaaaaaaad. There is zero plot. There is no flow to the story, if you can even call it a story. The protagonist dies at the end (as this is based on the death of a real radio host) and you feel no emotion because the movie does not make you sympathize with the host, all I felt was anger at how bad the movie was and how bad the ending was. The screen writing is so poorly written the dialogue is actually annoying. I mean WHAT A STINKER!! The worst part of the movie is the fact that it focuses on the radio hosts' conversations with the callers. Except EVERY (and I mean every single conversation) call sounds completely fake and is terribly unbelievable and overdramatic, real radio is NOTHING like this movie. It is almost as if stone did not even attempt to try to make the calls realistic. I will admit the camera work is okay and the acting of the main character is pretty good but the roll he acts stinks! I can not believe a movie this poorly written was ever made. What a piece of junk. I hope this movie is jettisoned off into outerspace so that it might careen past the event horizon of a black hole never to be retrieved by humanity again. DO NOT BUY, RENT, OR WATCH THIS MOVIE IF YOU CARE AT ALL ABOUT YOU MENTAL HEALTH.
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