Radio

2003 "His courage made them champions."
6.9| 1h49m| PG| en| More Info
Released: 24 October 2003 Released
Producted By: Columbia Pictures
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Synopsis

In the racially divided town of Anderson, South Carolina in 1976, football coach Harold Jones spots a mentally disabled African-American young man nicknamed Radio near his practice field and is inspired to befriend him. Soon, Radio is Jones' loyal assistant, and he becomes a student at T.L. Hanna High School. But things start to sour when Coach Jones begins taking guff from parents and fans who feel that his devotion to Radio is getting in the way of the team's quest for a championship.

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Sebastian rucki 😇. This is a movie that come from the heart. It's what life is really suppose to be about which is a family and community that comes together to help each other out. These are the best types of movies. It's NOT about hateful crap.. Some people would say things like"no one would go out of there way to help someone out that much" like the couch did for radio. But It is not about black and white it is about heaven and hell. It is not a coincidence that the football couch felt in his heart he needed help radio. The football couch finds out that radio had no father for a long time and his mother eventually passes. God works in mysterious ways and radio probably really did need the football couchs help through life. Look how happy the real radio and couch both look as friends at the end of The movie . Helping others is key to life. Never hesitate to help someone that you really feel like you need to help. For instance I never had no mom or dad or family and was on the streets since I was 10 and I was sleeping at parks, or at schools at night times, and also sometimes my friends house whos mom also helped me with grocerys.. But it was never a permant spot to livestock my friends because of his step dad. But when I turned 18 I met a GOOD Christian guy who would walk his dog by the park and I would talk to him and he eventually decided to help me by gaining my trust. After he helped me I got a job, a apartment, a nice car, and eventually graduated collage. If he didn't help me I probably would of stayed homeless. That's why this movie hits me really deep. It's been a long time since I saw this movie and I really like it. Sometimes its not what a man does for himself but what he does for someone else. The last time I can remember a movie hitting me real deep was when I saw shawshank redemption even though I know there not related. This movie was directed good and makes you feel good after you watch it. This is a movie that touches the soul.
Erika The movie is based on a true story. The job of the actor Cuba was wonderful, he interpreted the character extremely well. The movie is very emotional and shows us that most people have prejudice, and when someone wants to act differently, even with good intentions, usually they need to win a battle against society. Sometimes, people need more understanding, attention, and someone to trust in order to improve themselves. Usually, people don't care about others and don't want to waste time on them. The actor Ed Harris was pretty good in the movie too. This movie is not the best, but it's a very emotional and beautiful movie, a beautiful lesson. Worth watching!
Prismark10 In Tropic Thunder, Robert Downey tells Ben Stiller that he went full retard for a film role and you must never go full retard.Maybe advice Cuba Gooding Jr should have heeded as he plays a young mentally challenged black man in a South Carolina small town in the mid 1970s, who spends his days pushing a shopping trolley, being fascinated by radios and comes on the radar of High School Sports Coach Jones who spends time with him and gets him to help out at the school and not be an outsider being ignored. He gets adopted as the school's mascot and gains acceptance after some initial resistance from a few of the students.Radio is based on the true story of Robert 'Radio' Kennedy. Its a formulaic film but has winning performances from Ed Harris, Alfre Woodard and Debra Winger. Cuba's performance divided opinions, although he is an Oscar winning actor, he seemed to be too immersed in the role without giving any other light or shade. Gooding has been criticised for some of his broad comedy films in the past and maybe this was an attempt to address this criticism and re-establish his serious acting credentials.The film is sentimental and maybe too saccharine and does lack depth as well but you cannot deny it is heartwarming.
sddavis63 The highlights of this film are the two absolutely superb performances by Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Ed Harris. Gooding was the title character - James Robert Kennedy, a mentally disabled young man known simply as "Radio" because of his love for radios. Harris played Harold Jones - a local high school teacher who was also coach of the Hanna High School football team and the school's athletic director. The movie is the portrayal of how their relationship develops, with Jones taking the young man under his wing, so to speak, and making him part of both the team and the school community, fighting the efforts of many of the townsfolk and school board officials to have him removed.It's certainly a heartwarming story, although it's not exactly what I'd call a tearjerker, although there are moments when tears might flow (particularly the death of Radio's mother.) There are question raised throughout the movie that are often hard to deal with. One admires Jones' devotion to Radio, but one wonders why he seems unable to show the same devotion to his own daughter. It's great to see Radio becoming gradually accepted as part of the team and school, but the movie doesn't shy away from the question of whether he isn't being treated more as a mascot than anything else - certainly a question that ran through my head on a number of occasions as we watch Radio lead the team on the the field and join the cheerleading squad from time to time. Jones' own personal motivation is finally explained as he relates a childhood experience to his daughter that illustrates why he feels so strongly for Radio. In the end, Radio's place within the life of the school is made more "official" and Kennedy is apparently still roaming the halls and the sidelines of Hanna High as an official 11th Grade student for as long as he wants to be one - this being based on a true story."Based on a true story" always makes me wonder. Kennedy is real, and he's really at Hanna High and he and Jones are really friends, so there's obviously a strong basis in fact for this movie. I wondered, though, about what seemed to be the surprisingly easy acceptance of Radio among the townspeople. Although the whole community was concerned about the on-field performance of the football team, aside from one parent and one school board official, people seemed largely unconcerned about or uninterested in Radio himself - which struck me as a surprisingly bland reaction for a small southern town in the late 1960's to have for a mentally disabled young black man. But clearly it worked long term. I did appreciate that this was about much more than the football team. The football team was the backdrop for what happened, but no more than that. This was't an "underdog overcomes" sports story. The Hanna High team didn't have a great season in this movie; neither Radio nor Coach Jones inspired them to win anything of significance. The football team just became in some ways a microcosm of the community, as they grew more and more accepting of Radio, to the point at which Radio's presence was simply a given.This is a very well done film, one of the better "based on a true story" films I've come across. (8/10)