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Plot: A rude, contemptuous talk show host becomes overwhelmed by the hatred that surrounds his program just before it goes national.
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Recent Reviews
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MCT:August 7, 2008
What a suberb monologue at the end. It still rings true today, but now that great medium that is meant to lift us up keeps the reality tv nuts in their houses at night and on our streets during the day. What a sad thought.
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MCT:May 15, 2008Talk Radio is an extraordinary powerful film directed by Oliver Stone which is also inspired by the true story of Alan Berg.
- Alan Berg
"Alan Berg was a Denver talk-radio host who was murdered on June 18, 1984. He was a goofy-looking bird, with a thin face and a bristly white beard that hid the ravages of teenage acne. He wore reading glasses perched far down on his nose, and he dressed in unlikely combinations of checks and stripes and garments that looked left over from the 1950s. When the members of a lunatic right-wing group gunned him down in the driveway of his home, they could not have mistaken him for anybody else.
I met Berg three or four times. The first time I was going to be on his radio show, I listened to it as I drove from Boulder, Colo., to Denver. He was chewing out some hapless housewife whose brain was a reservoir of prejudices against anyone who was the slightest bit different from her. Berg was telling her that no one in his right mind would want to be anything like her at all.
"Why were you so hard on that lady?" I asked him, when we were on the air. "She was asking for it," Berg said. "Why would she call up and feed me all those straight lines if she didn't want me to tell her how stupid she was?""
- ROGER EBERT
Eric Bogosian wrote the screenplay for Talk Radio which was based on his own original play, with the help from Oliver Stone, but he used quite a handful of biographical information on Alan Berg. Being that this movie was mixed with Eric's own original content, as well as the truth, some facts were turned around but you still get the gist of what Alan Berg was all about.
Talk Radio is an amazing film. Barry Champlain, played by Eric Bogosian, is the man who is portraying Alan Berg. There's a little something about Barry that you should know about...he is pissed off at the world and he will say anything that he feels like to your face. What's even scarier then Barry in this film are the people who call into the radio station, where it's there that lies the enemy and it seems Barry becomes our hero(or you may actually think otherwise). But there are just some buttons that you shouldn't push, something that Barry seems to have trouble keeping under control, for he's pushing every single person's button. Many people hate Barry Champlain, but of course it's the people that hate him the most who call in and help keep Talk Radio the number one talk show in Dallas.
The whole movie mainly just consists of long conversations between Barry and his callers, but don't let that fool you...these conversations are very intense and powerful. Half the people who call in are either psychotic, depressed or troubled and some are even so angry at Barry that they go as far as making scary death threats. You have to see this movie and just listen to what all these people have to say. It's a series of sick conversations, ranging from pathetic, scary, to outright hilarious(yes, many parts here are very funny), and it just seems to remind us again how messed up this world really is. Great acting, outstanding dialogue, and emotionally powerful storytelling. One of Oliver Stone's best films. Highly Recommended!
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MCT:December 9, 2007
not very well known oliver stone film, a tense night on air brings danger to local talk d.j, great tense film, from stone
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MCT:December 2, 2007I picked this one up primarily because it was an Oliver Stone film though the presence of John C. McGinley was intriguing, as well as Alec Baldwin and Michael Wincott. Ellen Greene was a bonus as soon as my brain finally connected who she was.
I had no idea what the plot was (except that it involved a talk radio show, and my brain kept switching reviews of Pump Up the Volume with this one and confusing me, which, yes, I realize makes no sense if you know both films, though I've only seen this one, I know enough of the other to know that) nor who Eric Bogosian was (though for some reason the name seems terribly familiar, perhaps from Igby Goes Down), simply relying on Stone and the supporting actors. A lot of it, in more than one sense, is given away in the opening credits. They tell us this is based on the play by Eric Bogosian (aha! a play about radio, I see monologues in the future!) and then the name of the book (based on real-life radio host Alan Berg) which inspired his writing. Of course, this gives away some of the movie because the title isn't terribly creative. Oh well--not much way around that kind of giveaway, really, and it's not exactly unexpected.
Barry "Champlain" (née Golden, he changed his name for radio) is a "shock jock," as they call them, of the highest order, berating and vocally overpowering all callers to his radio show, speaking over every last one to espouse his own views on drugs, homophobia, racism, general intelligence of the population, and most certainly the stupidity of the person on the other end of the line. Stu (McGinley, actually reprising his role from the stage version Bogosian originally authored and nearly won a Pulitzer for) is the engineer who takes the calls originally and gives Barry direction as related to timing for commercial breaks. Dan (Baldwin) is the manager of the radio station Barry works for, and is trying to get him nationally syndicated through Dietz (John Pankow) who works for a network of radio stations. Laura (Leslie Hope) is his producter and girlfriend, though he calls his ex, Ellen (Ellen Greene, how crazy is that?--who I recognized immediately, of course, as the 1986 Little Shop of Horror's Audrey) when he feels overwhelmed by the idea of going national.
When Ellen comes to see him and we see the romantic tension between the two, we are forced back to their past, when Barry was simply a suit salesman and was introduced to existing radio personality Jeffrey Fisher (the always entertaining and artificially palindromically named Robert Trebor) whose show he nearly hijacks to argue with a belligerent and bigoted caller, raising Fisher's ire for risking the wrath of Standards and Practices, but entertaining most everyone else, thus finding his calling.
The background of the film as a play authored by Bogosian, if it weren't given away by the credits, would be readily apparent. It comes across as the kind of play you see from a single talented actor--like, say, Bogosian--coming onstage to a table, a chair, and a microphone, wearing normal, non-descript, non-distracting clothing and performing the majority of the show by himself, intense and forthright, often using himself to create conflict and growth in a single character. Now, certainly there are other characters here, or I wouldn't have been able to name other actors without lying. And certainly even inside the microcosmic universe of the radio show, there are the callers. Yet, the callers (voiced multiple times by few actors, such as Trebor, Michael Wincott and the always-recognizable Park Overall, who I always remember from her turn as a nurse in TV show Empty Nest) are almost irrelevant. While they feed Barry's rage and provide the fuel for his ranting and commentary, their content and the people behind them do not really matter; whatever changes they may even stimulate, the changes themselves occur almost completely within Barry, in that fascinating fashion seen in stage shows as described above, which I knew I was in for when the film started and panned slowly across other rooms in the radio station building, Barry's voice played over them from an as yet invisible source. This kind of play is absolutely delicious to me; seeing someone who has a way with words in writing and who can also perform them to their utmost because he knows exactly how and why they were written, without any overbearing impressions of self-importance or pretension is riveting stuff, especially when said person has zero qualms about appearing as a reprehensible, objectionable and maybe even irritating character. I had no truck with some of his views and plenty of his words, actions and attitudes, but I think Bogosian's magnetism is inarguable. Something in the way he carries himself and speaks, while he sounds exactly as a talk show host should (in terms of the actual timbre of his voice), makes him seem very like a real person, one who is convinced of his own importance, not in an openly arrogant way, oddly, but in a way that is actually kind of tragic or sad--he has no idea how unimportant he really is, when he thinks he is doing good.
Stone is in full swing as well, as he uses definite style to infuse the film with something that couldn't have been present in a stage show. Careful framing (often extreme closeups of the screen of callers, or of the winding reels in the studio, or of Bogosian's mouth behind the microphone) and deliberate camera motion enhance the feelings of both emotional claustrophobia--the idea that we are in Barry's head with him, that that is the experience we are sharing with this seemingly surrounded but in actuality solitary character--and of space, the space surrounding this tight, tense knot of emotion, expectation and belief. Barry's voice carries over almost any scene, no matter what else is being shown or is present, because that is the most important thing in the movie.
The most peculiar thing of all is Kent, a strange caller who speaks with Barry a few times, speaking sniffily of his girlfriend who "won't wake up," playing with Barry's cynical disbelief hiding a short note of curious, "But what if...?" thoughts. He eventually makes his way into the studio, revealing himself as a stereotypical 80's metalhead, quoting Megadeth (hey! nothing wrong with that...at least, if it's from that general time period that the quotes come) and other, more popular rock acts, dressed as a cross between Axl Rose and Bret Michaels, with long, bleached blonde hair somewhat styled and a bandana headband. He laughs and giggles constantly, says stupid, airheaded things and makes general statements about things which are bad and sort of circles around real answers and ideas. Then it hits you--holy crap! That's Michael Wincott! Top Dollar from The Crow! The guy's usually dark, dour, menacing and evil. His voice is usually highlighted for its wonderfully deep gravel, but here it's mangled into an irritating manic stupidity. Fascinating, indeed.
Strange, I think, that this film is not more well-known. One of the most even and controlled in Stone's oeuvre, and without the political mindset that is so criticized in films like JFK. While there are political opinions expressed, it's not really given as a truth. Stewart Copeland (yes, of The Police) scores the film, and the ending is a kicker, a sort of rambling multi-person "monologue" about the character of Barry Champlain by all of his listeners as a camera slowly wanders over the lovely skyline of Dallas, filled with mirrored glass surfaces and neon lights, to a strange musical beat based around some opposite-end phone rings, similar to the beginning of Spacehog's "In the Meantime," or the dropped trans-Atlantic phonecall in The Wall. -
MCT:October 11, 2007Eric Bogosian gives the performance of his career in the most amazing Oliver Stone film that very few people has seen, much less appreciate. With atmosphere to burn and the most amazing monologues, you cannot call yourself a Stone fan without seeing this. As relevant today as ever and the ending is fitting and poignant. Great supporting cast and of course direction. Not to be missed by any film buff. Should be a classic!!!
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MCT:July 25, 2007
Terrific film. The writing is biting and Bogosian owns the role. The translation from the stage play may not be ideal, but I love this flick.
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MCT:July 3, 2007
This movie's still relevant after almost two decades. Great performance by Bogosian, it is more a play than a movie, but the experience is good.
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MCT:June 25, 2007
Oliver Stone did a great job directing this film. "Talk Radio" has so much great things about the film, especially the story about the climb to fame. Eric Bogosian is superb as Barry Champlain, the talk radio show host who really talks to his audience. He gets calls from some good people and the wackos. Barry's words not only touch the people in his audience but push a few buttons. This movie is a great drama that makes us look at ourselves. A great movie to see.
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MCT:June 21, 2007
Entertaining movie, the guy is a real asshole to the people that call into his show and it's pretty funny.
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MCT:June 18, 2007
Quite possibly Oliver Stone's best film ever. Eric Bogosian shines bright in this movie where talk doesn't come cheap.
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MCT:May 30, 2007
Enjoyed this movie greatly! A character study capturing the relationship of the commentary made by a highly controversial radio talk show host with the reaction of the public.
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MCT:May 21, 2007
There is something about the tension that remains taught throughout TalkRadio; the scenes and actions occuring seem familiar. They seem fairly normal in a modern world. But the underlying threat just rears its head for that one second, time and time again, as if in a horror film, and it creates something brilliantly unsettling.
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MCT:April 10, 2007
Deep-cutting movie with a defined edge. some people might not like it because it can be obscene at times, but this movie can push social boundaries. a definate watch.
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MCT:March 27, 2007
oliver stones' excellent film about a talk radio host that takes things a little too far. a must see.
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MCT:January 12, 2007
I had completely forgotten about this fantastic movie, it is back on my 'Want to see it' list, as a re-watch is clearly long overdue.
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MCT:November 13, 2006
Fantástico... também durante muito tempo como o top da lista ! Grande roteiro, grande diretor, grande filme
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