Sometimes the most unlikable characters are the most charismatic and you just can’t ignore them, no matter how much you try, and that is one of the many reasons why legendary director Oliver Stone’s criminally overlooked Talk Radio (1988) remains so riveting. It’s a grim portrait of a man who uses the power of words to piss people off, which comes at a price.
Buy Talk RadioBased on the play of the same name by brilliant monologist Eric Bogosian and visual artist Tad Savinar, portions of which were taken from a real-life assassination of a Denver radio host in 1988, the film stars Bogosian (in his riveting film debut) as razor-tongued, Dallas shock-jock Barry Champlain, who is famous for his holier-than-thou attitude and edgy political views. He ends up going on national syndication, where he subjects his ex-wife Ellen (a heartbreaking Ellen Greene), co-workers, and his audience to nasty attacks, preying on their vulnerability. After going too far, he learns a little too late that not only talk is cheap, but it can also kill.
With this film, both Stone and Bogosian bring their powers together to create an incredibly tense thriller and a blazing character study of a guy whose arrogance, self-adoration, and addiction to causing pain to everyone around him, leads to his downfall, but has enough magnetism and a certain flair for manipulation to leave you wanting more. Champlain is one of the underrated bad boys of film and Bogosian turns him into a mythic figure, one who is both equally fascinating and revolting.
There’s also an amazing supporting cast who matches Bogosian tit for tat including Greene, Alec Baldwin, Leslie Hope, John C. McGinley, and John Pankow. Stone’s claustrophobic direction makes you feel like you’re there being subjected to the ridicule that Champlain brings, especially during the finale as the camera circles around and around during the climatic monologue. You know it’s stagey, but it manages to tell a really great story of the dangers of idolizing the worst people. It all feels prophetic somehow, where sometimes evil comes from the most interesting and hypnotic of people.
Kino’s new Blu-ray release features a great new HD picture and sound which brings out the smart dialogue and atmosphere, and also includes a new commentary by film historians Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Josh Nelson; an archive interview with Stone; and trailers for the film itself, as well as Dead Again, A Kiss Before Dying, Vice Squad, and Runaway Train.
