Talk Radio: Terrible Movie, Great Show

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 3/30/07 at 9:34pm

Just fast-forwarded through Oliver Stone's film version of TALK RADIO. Watching that piece of dreck, which, ironically, was mangled by Eric Bogosian, himself, makes me realize how great this recent revival actually was.

Yes, Bogosian gave a great performance, and it was a kick seeing people like Ellen Greene, John McGinley, John Pankow, Alec Baldwin (who seems to be in every stage-to-screen transfer: this, Glengarry...), but what killed the film was the fact that they gave it a story.

The virtue of the play was the fact that there was no real story - it was a guy talking for two hours, slowly breaking down because of the horrific, mindless world. In the film, there's a story which tries to emulate the murder of radio talk show host Alan Berg. The stageplay doesn't go in this direction - it doesn't go in any direction. And that's what made it perfect.

The film is a schizophrenic mess. Looks like Bogosian sold out for Hollywood.

The show is perfect.

Go figure I'd change my mind about it.