“Radio” (Columbia Pictures)
“Radio” is a movie of heart and heartbreak. It tells the true story of a man who was an outsider but who was made to feel part of the team by a coach who was more concerned about caring than winning. Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Ed Harris head a first rate cast and make the truth more amazing than fiction.
This story takes place in Anderson, South Carolina during the seventies. Football is the town obsession and the community passion. Coach Harold Jones (Harris) is a winning coach and he has the trophies to prove it. His wife Linda (Debra Winger) thinks it takes up too much of his life at times. She wishes he would spend more time with their daughter Mary Helen (Sarah Drew).
One day Coach Jones does begin to spend extra time with a young person but it is not Mary Helen. It is James Robert Kennedy, who is also called “Radio” (Gooding, Jr.). The mentally challenged boy has started watching the team practice football, and Jones brings him on to the field and makes him a helper.
Radio’s participation does not sit well with some of the people in town. They want Jones to concentrate on winning, not doing social work. But Jones persists and Radio blossoms under his care. Eventually the town learns more from Radio than he does from them.
Gooding, Jr. and Harris are outstanding in their roles. Gooding, Jr. makes Radio a young man who is limited in some ways but is still able to communicate through his heart. As the kind hearted coach, Harris is able to portray compassion without making it maudlin.
Winger is wasted in the “supportive wife” role. It is a part that could have been played by any hundred other actresses in Hollywood. Alfre Woodard however manages to stand out in her role as the High School principal.
The film is rated PG for mild profanity.
“Radio” is a movie that touches an audience in much the same way as “Remember the Titans” did. It wears its heart on its sleeve and tells the story of the coach and the disabled boy with truth and assurance.
Some may think “Radio” is pure sappiness, but it isn’t. It is a story that brings tears because of its truth, not because Hollywood played to the emotions. This movie makes you glad that there are people in the world like Harold Jones. He saw past the disability that set a young man apart from mainstream society. In doing this he discovered the giant of a man who is “Radio.”
I scored “Radio” a tuned in 8 out of 10.
