Radio (2003 film)
| Radio | |
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"His courage made them champions."
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| Directed by | Mike Tollin |
| Produced by | Herb Gains Brian Robbins Mike Tollin |
| Written by | Mike Rich |
| Starring |
Cuba Gooding Jr. Ed Harris S. Epatha Merkerson Brent Sexton Riley Smith Debra Winger Alfre Woodard |
| Music by | James Horner |
| Cinematography | Don Burgess |
| Edited by |
Chris Lebenzon Harvey Rosenstock |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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109 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $30 million |
| Box office | $52.3 million |
Radio is a 2003 American semi-biographical sports drama film directed by Mike Tollin, and inspired by the 1996 Sports Illustrated article "Someone to Lean On" by Gary Smith. The article and the movie are based on the true story of T. L. Hanna High School football coach Harold Jones (Ed Harris) and a mentally challenged young man, James Robert "Radio" Kennedy (Cuba Gooding Jr.). The film co-stars Debra Winger and Alfre Woodard. It was filmed primarily in Walterboro, South Carolina because its buildings and downtown core still fit the look of the era the film was trying to depict.
James Robert "Radio" Kennedy, an 18-year-old man with mental disabilities, pushes a shopping cart along the streets daily. He is attracted to a high school football team and often passes by their practices. One day, a football flies outside the field and lands near Radio. Radio takes the ball, deaf to the demands to return it by a student athlete on the other side of the fence. Sometime later, the team members tie up Radio and lock him inside the gear shed. The team's coach, Harold Jones, hears the team members throw balls at the shed and goes to comfort Radio. He punishes the team for their actions. Upon meeting Radio on the streets another day, Coach Jones asks Radio to visit and help at training. Coach Jones returns Radio to his home, where he meets Radio's mother. It is revealed that Radio has a brother named Walter, who does not live with them, and that their father died a few years prior.
Coach Jones begins spending more and more time with Radio, which concerns the fathers of many of the team members. One of the fathers in particular, Frank Clay, suggests that the coach should stop associating with Radio as he could be a distraction to his own son's success on the team. Coach Jones resists, and he later reveals to his daughter that this resistance was partially due to a childhood incident in which Jones did not do anything to help a mentally disabled boy who was locked under a house.
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Wikipedia