#5 Lauren Pruett: Talk Radio (1988)

I’d never even heard of the movie Talk Radio before I looked at Wikipedia’s list of movies released in 1988, which is surprising considering it’s an Oliver Stone film.  This film is dark, deep, and has a message that actually makes you think about the society we’ve built around ourselves.  Barry Champlain is an acerbic radio talk show host who initially brought to my mind similarities with Howard Stern.  He’s brash, critical, and insulting, and actually kinda hilarious most of the time.  Those that hate him have a myriad of reasons, and those who love him have none.

A majority of the movie takes place in the studio, which is dark, an overhead light framing Barry as he talks to his listeners.  It gives a sense of enclosure and almost made me feel trapped in with Barry’s views as he goes from call to call.  There’s a large picture window looking out onto Dallas but even that didn’t lessen the slightly trapped feeling.  There is a fairly long flashback sequence, showing how Barry got to where he is today, and it’s clear immediately that it isn’t a part of the narrative by the sepia tone that’s overlaid on the film.  The entire film is very moody and dark, and very brilliantly shot, which is to be expected from a filmmaker like Oliver Stone.

Barry spouts off his views on society, his dark, dystopian views only egged on by the idiots and bigots that call into his show only to be mocked.  It seems all fun and games at first, until Barry talked to the serial rapist.  His face has visible shock on it.  And of course, when Barry’s ultimate fate comes, it’s almost expected, but it’s still a shock.  All in all, this is a wonderful, thought-provoking movie and I would recommend it to anybody who asked.