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Radioland Murders (1994)

Starring Brian Benben, Mary Stuart Masterson, Ned Beatty, and George Burns.  Cinematography by David Tattersall.  Edited by Paul Trejo. Produced by Rick McCallum and Fred Roos. Written by George Lucas, Willard Huyck, Gloria Katz, Jeff Reno, and Ron Osborn. Directed by Mel Smith.

Chicago, 1939. WBN, now the fourth major broadcasting station in the United States, makes its debut.  The grand unveiling is scheduled to be a great night over the airwaves with some of the finest shows and performances available, but chaos is rampant as the list of problems pile up.  The writers are bordering on mutiny, the sponsors are on edge, and to makes things worse a strange and threatening voiceover makes an unexpected appearance. 

The threats are proven to be legitimate when the killing begins. It’s up to Penny (played by Mary Stuart Masterson), the station manager, and Roger (played by Brian Benben), her ex-husband, to keep the night of programming on track while they try to solve the murders.

As early as 1978 George Lucas has talked about producing Radioland Murders.  At one point he even had it on schedule with Steve Martin to star, but apparently life just got in the way. When the project was brought back to life in the early nineties, Lucas solicited the services of screenwriting team Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz who have worked with him on and off since American Graffiti. 

And speaking of American Graffiti, Lucas has mentioned that he intended Roger and Penny Henderson of Radioland Murders to be the parents of Curt Henderson, one of the four lead characters in American Graffiti.  That would kind of make Radioland Murders a prequel of sorts to American Graffiti.  And with More American Graffiti thrown in the mix, you’ve kind of got yourself an unofficial trilogy.  How about that?

Anyway, we digress.  Huyck and Katz supply Lucas’ story with a nice amount of snap to the dialog, but that’s about all of the positives the film had to offer. The slapstick jokes, which are an homage to the screwball comedies of the era, just don’t play out as well as they appear to be planned. The film is far too silly and removed to really get behind and ultimately it just leaves you with a bland flavor in your mouth (kind of like poi).  But that’s really not what the film is for.

Radioland Murders has been referred to as a “vanity piece” from George Lucas. The film features some pretty incredible, if a little out of place, special effects shots.  It is one of Industrial Light & Magic’s first attempts at computer generated imagery.  It also featured a new matte technique that allowed two actors that were filmed at different times to appear in the same scene together as if it had been shot that way.  Some of the effects shots are pretty fun to watch, but they can almost be a distraction from what little story is being developed. 

Sorry everybody, but in the end Radioland Murders is just not a great film.

Budget: approximately $10,000,000

Total US Gross: $1,316,865

Genre: Comedy

Runtime: 112 Minutes

US Release Date: 10/12/94

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1

Awards: none

Tagline: At Station WBN, The Hits Just Keep On Coming.

Quote: “And that's it from WBN in Chicago.  If it wasn't clear before, it's certainly clear now; there'll never be anything quite like radio.”

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