Radio

Theatrical Release Date: 2003 10 24 (USA)

UPC: 043396013070

Studio: Columbia TriStar

MPAA Rating: PG   Contains:[Suitable for Children, Adult Language]

Summary: Hollywood filmmaker Michael Tollin directs the sports drama Radio, based on a true story and adapted for the screen by Mike Rich (The Rookie). Set in a small South Carolina town during the '60s, the film stars Ed Harris as Harold Jones, a high school football coach who barely has time to spend with his daughter, Mary Helen (Sarah Drew), or his wife, Linda (Debra Winger). When Coach Jones meets the mentally challenged student who goes by the name of Radio (Cuba Gooding Jr.), he allows him to help out with his football team. While the townsfolk just aren't sure about Radio hanging around the team, the star player Johnny Clay (Riley Smith) is downright mean about it. Nevertheless, Radio continues to support the team for the next three decades. Also starring Alfre Woodard as the principal. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

Category: Drama

Awards: Best Supporting Actress – NAACP Image Awards Best Actor – NAACP Image Awards

Features: ccDirector's commentary
Deleted scenes
"Tuning in on Radio" featurette
"The 12-hour Football Games of Radio" featurette
"Writing Radio" featurette
"Someone to Lean On: The Story of Radio" DVD-ROM bonus

Radio

Format: Digital Video Disc (DVD)

Release Date: 01/27/2004

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Theatre Wide-Screen

Audio: DD5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1

Runtime: 109 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English,French

Subtitles: English,French

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Side #1 --
1. Start [:23]
2. Coach Harold James [3:10]
3. James Robert Kennedy [2:19]
4. Terrified [1:59]
5. Principal Daniels [3:18]
6. Punishment of the Nine [2:31]
7. The Yellow Jackets [3:16]
8. The Post-Game Show [2:51]
9. Radio [4:37]
10. The Kennedy Home [1:36]
11. The New Team Mascot [3:28]
12. "Rubberband Man" [1:38]
13. A Little Slower Than Most [2:04]
14. Principal Concern [2:32]
15. Unsportsmanlike Conduct [4:47]
16. A Great Comeback [:06]
17. A Disgruntled Booster [2:57]
18. Mr. Tucker [2:42]
19. Christmas Spirit [6:55]
20. Under Arrest [3:42]
21. The Girls' Locker Room Incident [6:48]
22. A Death in the Family [7:09]
23. Why He's Doing What He's Doing [6:04]
24. The Bottom Line [4:14]
25. Welcome Back, Johnny [3:42]
26. Setting His Priorities Straight [4:09]
27. Graduation Day [8:31]
28. 26 Years Later [5:45]

Derek Armstrong

Cuba Gooding Jr. is famous for the poor quality of his post-Oscar work, so it was natural to assume that his performance as a mentally handicapped football assistant would be all bug-eyed caricature. It's definitely possible to quibble with some of his facial expressions, but Gooding actually underplays more scenes in Radio than he overplays. That leaves the movie on the whole in the range of B to B+ material. Good for a hankie or two -- with the right audience -- it's mid-level inspirational stuff that's delivered competently, but with little distinction. Radio does earn some credibility by being based on a real person, James Robert Kennedy, and the fact that it doesn't just follow the typical sports movie arc of seeing the team through one memorable season. Director Mike Tollin has been around a ton of sports movies in his day, so it's to his credit that Radio is more about how a special individual -- in the least condescending sense of that word -- impacts a whole town, rather than a specific athletic program. (Radio also walks the sidelines for the boys' basketball team). The central issues are the same as they would be for any group trying to seamlessly integrate someone who's intellectually different -- how to encourage him and give him a place without allowing his suggestible judgment to endanger either himself or others. In the role of Radio's champion and surrogate father, Ed Harris is a bit too saintly to effectively personify this central tension, but he does such likeable work that he's also not worth criticizing. Radio will please a lot of skeptics simply for the fact that it mostly avoids maudlin scenes and emotional manipulation. However, it doesn't rank especially high as either an underdog sports movie or a complex consideration of the mentally disabled. ~ Derek Armstrong, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Kenneth H. Callender  Actor 
William E. Lykes  Actor 
Shelley Reid  Actor 
Harold W. Jones  Actor 
Tammy Christine Arnold  Actor 
Joseph Barrett  Actor 
James Robert "Radio" Kennedy  Actor 
Kasheem J. Peterson  Actor 
Othello Coleman III  Actor 
Deborah McTeer  Actor 
Hi Bedford Roberson  Actor 
James Gooden  Actor 
Therond Justin Adams  Actor 
Charles Garren  Actor 
Ty O'Farrell  Actor 
Mike Anthony  Actor 
Michael Flippo  Actor 
Rev. Eugene Cryer Jr.  Actor 
Jamie Murdaugh  Actor 
Leonard Wheeler  Actor 
Rebecca Koon  Actor 
Evan Aldrich  Actor 
Michael Harding  Actor 
Benjamin L. Peters Jr.  Actor 
Mark Robert Ellis  Actor 
Bert Beatson  Actor 
Michael Kroeker  Actor 
Kate Powell  Actor 
Megan Coffman  Actor 
Dorothy McDowell  Actor 
Bill Roberson  Actor 
Brian Robbins  Producer 
James Horner  Composer (Music Score) 
Mike Tollin  Director 
Mike Tollin  Producer 
Herbert W. Gains  Producer 
Caitlin Scanlon  Executive Producer 
Mike Rich  Screenwriter 
Todd Garner  Executive Producer 
Cuba Gooding, Jr.  Actor 
Ed Harris  Actor 
Alfre Woodard  Actor 
S. Epatha Merkerson  Actor 
Brent Sexton  Actor 
Chris Mulkey  Actor 
Sarah Drew  Actor 
Riley Smith  Actor 
Patrick Breen  Actor 
Debra Winger  Actor 

Country: USA