RADIO

US, 2003, 109 minutes. Colour.
Cuba Gooding Jr, Ed Harris, Alfre Woodard, S. Epatha Merkerson, Brent Sexton, Chris Mulkey, Sarah Drew, Riley Smith, Debra Winger.
Directed by Mike Tollin.

Writer Mike Rich did the screenplays for Finding Forrester and The Rookie. Both of these films focused on mentoring and coaching. Sean Connery's Forrester, an older, more experienced author took a younger student under his wing and he developed beyond expectations. The Rookie was an older man who wanted to know whether he could have reached the top baseball league. Both of the films had a strong element of sport in them as well as more formal education. These are the ingredients of Radio. It is based on a true story and the real personages are seen at the end of the film. All Rich's films are overtly emotional in an American extroverted kind of way that non-Americans find sometimes a little too fulsome. Radio has some edge and uncertainties too it that make it emotional, feel good and stronger than might be expected.

The setting is the American south in 1976. There are still strong traces of racism. Cuba Gooding Jr plays James, a mentally impaired young man who wanders the town, always stopping to look at the high school football practice. He is invited in to watch by the coach. A friendship develops and gradually the school adopts him, with the nickname Radio, and he becomes a fixture at all the matches and becomes part of the life of the school. It is not all easy with some bullying young men and the local banker throwing his weight around to have Radio ousted. This leads to difficulties for the school principal. But it is the coach who has to deal with the problems. He is a good man but tends to give more attention to Radio than to his teenage daughter. This leads to emotional complications and ambiguities which make the film more than a merely sentimental journey.

At first one wonders whether the mannerisms that Cuba Gooding uses to convey the mental and emotional state of Radio are gimmicky but, quite quickly, we accept them and believe his performance, growth from isolation to being accepted as part of society. Ed Harris gives his usual solid performance as the coach with Alfre Woodard as the principal and Debra Winger as his wife.

It is particularly American with its use of football, its high school ethos, sentiment and racism issues. The universality of its themes, however, make it a film for a wider audience.

1. The film based on a true story, actual characters? A film of inspiration? For American audiences – worldwide?

2. The 1976 setting, the election, the prospect of President Carter coming from the South? The South Carolina locations, attitudes, race issues, the changes from the 50s? The lifestyle? The importance of sport, football?

3. The period, the town, school, homes, sports, football and basketball? The musical score, the songs – and the songs on the radio?

4. An American family drama, the coach, his wife, daughter, ordinary? Mary- Helen and her studies, exams? The coach’s work, the tensions in the family, communication and lack of communication? Decent people?

5. The school, the students, the integration after twenty years, the black principal? The sport, the training, the matches, the locker room scenes, parental pressures? The coaches, the fans, the cheerleaders?

6. The people gathering in the barber shop, the coffee, the chat, the various personalities, the meetings, the coach going there? Frank and his meeting in the barber shop?

7. The introduction to James Kennedy, Cuba Gooding Jr’s appearance, manner, slow? His trolley, watching the training, the football going over the fence, his taking it? The coach and his watching? The boys and their tormenting Radio? The coach and his treatment of them, the longer training, the principal concurring?

8. The nickname Radio? The gift of the radio? At home, with his mother, her work as a nurse, her care for her son, wary of the coach, working in the garden? Gradually getting to know the coach, talking, her appreciation? With James, the delight in the photo? The news of her death, his grief, tearing up the place, weeping, the coach and his telling Radio that his mother would live in his heart? Mary- Helen helping? Radio’s grief and recovery?

9. Coach Jones and his personality, the later revelation to Mary- Helen about his paper round, not helping the African American boy who was in trouble, under the house, for two years? His discussions with the principal, his stances, with the inspector and his bureaucracy? The confrontation with Frank at the bank? With the group in the barber shop?

10. Radio and his gradually being absorbed into the teamwork, the different jobs, folding the towels, cleaning up, with the cheerleaders? The principal and her wariness about his simply becoming a mascot? His beginning to talk more, the coach taking him to the diner, eating both pies? Success? His loving the eleventh grade? The compromise, being an honorary graduate and staying at the school?

11. The boys teasing him? Sending him into the girls’ room and the reactions? Johnny and his malice, taking after his father? The coach suspending him from play? The confrontations with his father, his gift of a radio to Radio?

12. The basketball coach, personality, his support of Coach Jones, policies, his genial approach to the young players?

13. Radio’s arrest, all the Christmas gifts that he received, giving them to others? The rookie policeman? Radio in the cell, being released, watching TV with the police? The coach not being pleased with the policeman? Frank using the girls’ locker room incident, tearing up his house and the arrest as arguments against him?

14. The coach going to the bank, the confrontation with Frank? Frank and his son? The meeting, his talk, stories, his wife and Mary- Helen supporting? The offer of his resignation? The group turning against Frank?

15. Radio’s success and the coach’s contribution? His family? The school?

16. The final footage of James Kennedy in his 50s, still at the school, still running on the field? The coach and his induction into the South Carolina Hall of Fame?

17. A film about goodness, a feelgood film urging people to do good?