Talk Radio (1988)

Directed by Oliver Stone
based on the play by Eric Bogosian

Rated R for pervasive language, sexual themes and violence

Note: I bought a 13-film Oliver Stone box set for myself for Christmas. This will explain if not excuse the popularity of Mr. Stone's films in my blog this year.

Oliver Stone's films tend to have a flair for the dramatic. "Talk Radio" was no different. The film follows Barry, (played, interestingly enough, by the writer of the play the film is based on, Eric Bogosian) a late-night radio talk show host who has a love-hate relationship with his audience. In addition to the usual assortment of droll, self-interested talk show callers, Barry fields calls from the dangerously disturbed denizens of city night-life, including racists, homophobes, neo-nazis and lunatics.

In one particularly dramatic scene, a caller tells Barry that a package he received as fan mail has a bomb in it. Barry calls his bluff (much to the horror of his co-workers), cutting the caller off and continuing with other calls as if nothing had happened. His insistence on honesty and realism in his show motivates him to take every challenge head-on, refusing to back down or let go just because it gets ugly. He is afraid of and disgusted by his callers, the ones who scorn and threaten him and the ones who enjoy his show alike. But Barry continues to face them daily, obstinately trying to bully society into changing for the better.

Barry's confrontational methods eventually alienate those closest to him. He has an ex-wife (played by Ellen Greene of "Pushing Daisies" and "Heroes") who he still loves, but he continually sabotages any chance of reunion by seeking out meaningless physical relationships. He lashes out at his friends and co-workers, and even abuses his fans on the air.

Bogosian plays the character he wrote with passion and intensity. Barry is a walking contradiction. He is the ultimate hypocrite. He wants everything, but ends up with nothing. He uses his show to attack and demean the very corporate entities responsible for putting him on the air in the first place. He can't understand why the callers who claim to hate him keep listening to his show, yet he mirrors their masochism by continuing to come back for more himself. He hates his audience because they exemplify his own worst traits: voyeurism, egotism, insincerity, hypocrisy and rage. Barry tells his audience "We're stuck with each other".

In spite of being set almost completely within the radio station, Stone mixes the visuals up with lots of cuts and moving shots. In one memorable scene, during an on-the-air monologue Barry gives, the room behind Barry rotates continually as he speaks, as if his desk console has become completely unattached to the rest of the radio station. Metaphorically, this is apt. When Barry gets behind the mic, he enters a realm where normal laws of physics don't apply. When Barry gets in the zone, the intensity of his performance is so engaging that it doesn't matter what the issue is. He is a force of nature that cannot be contained by the radio execs he is employed by. When you ask for Barry, you get Barry, and he makes concessions for no one.


I gave "Talk Radio" a 9/10. It exemplified the "polished grit" aesthetic that Stone has become famous for. The dialogue is explosive and well-performed. "Talk Radio" betrays its roots as a stage play in the blistering intensity of Barry's monologues. "Talk Radio" was performed on Broadway with Liev Schrieber in the Barry role. I imagine it would be equally exhilerating on Broadway, but it's hard to imagine Liev Schrieber giving a more powerful performance than Eric Bogosian. A must-see for fans of Stone's other films.














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