Talk Radio (film)
Talk Radio | |
---|---|
Directed by | Oliver Stone |
Screenplay by |
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Based on | Talk Radio by Eric Bogosian Ted Savinar Talked to Death: The Life and Murder of Alan Berg by Stephen Singular |
Produced by | |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Robert Richardson |
Edited by | |
Music by | Universal Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 110 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $4,000,000 (estimated) |
Box office | $3,468,572 |
Talk Radio is a 1988 American
Plot
Barry Champlain, a
Champlain's radio show is about to go nationwide. A former suit salesman with the real name Barry Golden, he achieved his rise to fame through guest shots on the Jeff Fisher radio show using different pseudonyms, eventually using Champlain. Barry begins to steal the show with his acerbic sense of humor and sharp wit, which aggravates Fisher. Barry is subsequently given his own show, which rises to the top of the
As his show is going through a final audition to go into
While Barry is walking to his car, an apparent fan asks for his autograph. As Barry signs it, the "fan" pulls out a gun and shoots him several times, killing him. As the film ends, callers to Barry's show, his co-workers, and Ellen speak on air about him. They say that Barry was a talented, intelligent and funny man, but none of that mattered; he hated himself, and his death wish was finally granted.
Cast
- Eric Bogosian - Barry
- Alec Baldwin - Dan
- Ellen Greene - Ellen
- Leslie Hope - Laura
- John C. McGinley - Stu
- John Pankow - Dietz
- Michael Wincott - Kent
- Zach Grenier - Sid Greenberg
- Anna Levine- Woman at the Basketball Game
- Robert Trebor - Jeffrey Fisher
- Linda Atkinson - Sheila Fleming
- Allan Corduner - Vince
In addition, a plethora of actors provides the voices of one or more "on-air callers" heard during the film, including Rockets Redglare, who appears briefly at the end of the film as the person who murders Barry. Wincott, Levine, Trebor, and Corduner, each credited above for on-screen characters, also provided voices for callers.
Production
Eric Bogosian wrote the screenplay with help from director Oliver Stone. The script was almost entirely based on Bogosian's Pulitzer Prize-nominated[4] original play with some biographical information about Alan Berg, a talk show host in Denver who was murdered in 1984 by white supremacists. In his research for the film version, Bogosian often watched the on-air production of Tom Leykis' talk show, then originating from Los Angeles station KFI. Bogosian's fictional character shares many speech patterns and mannerisms with Leykis.
Filming took place mainly in
Reception
Talk Radio received mostly positive reviews from critics[5][6] On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 82% based on 50 reviews, with an average rating of 7/10. The consensus summarizes: "The gripping union of a director and star at the peak of their respective powers, Talk Radio offers the viewer a singularly unlikable character and dares you to look away."[7]
See also
References
- ^ Control Nathan Rabin 4.0 #210 Talk Radio (1988) - Nathan Rabin's Happy Place
- ^ Chicago Reader
- ^ "Berlinale: 1989 Prize Winners". berlinale.de. Retrieved 2011-03-13.
- ^ The Pulitzer Prizes
- ^ Variety Staff (1 January 1988). "Talk Radio". Variety.
- ^ "Talk Radio". Empire. 1 January 2000.
- ^ "Talk Radio (1988)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 29 October 2022.
Bibliography
- Rossi, Umberto. “Acousmatic Presences: From DJs to Talk-Radio Hosts in American Fiction, Cinema, and Drama”, Mosaic, 42:1, March 2009, pp. 83–98.
External links
- Talk Radio at IMDb
- Talk Radio at the TCM Movie Database
- Talk Radio at Letterboxd
- Talk Radio at AllMovie
- Talk Radio at Rotten Tomatoes
- Talk Radio at Box Office Mojo