| Radioland Murders | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Mel Smith |
| Screenplay by |
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| Story by | George Lucas |
| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Cinematography | David Tattersall |
| Edited by | Paul Trejo |
| Music by | Joel McNeely |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 108 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $15 million |
| Box office | $1.3 million |
Radioland Murders is a 1994 Americancomedy thriller film directed byMel Smith and executive produced byGeorge Lucas from a story by Lucas.Radioland Murders is set in the 1939 atmosphere ofold-time radio and payshomage to thescrewball comedy films of the 1930s. The film tells the story of writer Roger Henderson trying to settle relationship issues with his wife Penny while dealing with awhodunit murder mystery in a radio station. The film stars anensemble cast, includingBrian Benben,Mary Stuart Masterson,Scott Michael Campbell,Michael Lerner, andNed Beatty.Radioland Murders also features numerous small roles andcameo appearances, includingMichael McKean,Bobcat Goldthwait,Jeffrey Tambor,Christopher Lloyd,George Burns (in his final film appearance),Billy Barty, andRosemary Clooney.
George Lucas began development for the film in the 1970s, originally attached as director forWillard Huyck andGloria Katz's script, from a story by Lucas.Universal Pictures commencedpre-production and bothSteve Martin andCindy Williams had already been approached for the two leads beforeRadioland Murders languished indevelopment hell for over 20 years. In 1993, Lucas told Universal that advances incomputer-generated imagery fromIndustrial Light & Magic (owned byLucasfilm), particularly in digital mattes, would help bringRadioland Murders in for a relatively low budget of about $10 million, which eventually rose to $15 million. Mel Smith was hired to direct and filming lasted from October to December 1993.Radioland Murders was released on October 21, 1994, to negative reviews from critics andbombed at the box office, only grossing $1.3 million in the United States.
In 1939, a newradio network based at station WBN inChicago, Illinois, begins its inaugural night. The station's owner,General Walt Whalen, depends on his employees to impress main sponsor Bernie King. This includes writer Roger Henderson, assistant director Penny Henderson (Roger's wife, seeking divorce),page boy Billy Budget, engineer Max Applewhite,conductor Rick Rochester, announcer Dexter Morris, director Walt Whalen Jr. and stage manager Herman Katzenback. After King commissions rewrites on the radio scripts, the WBN writers get angry, complaining that they have not been paid in weeks.
When trumpet player Ruffles Reedy falls dead fromrat poisoning, a series of events ensue. Director Walt Jr. is hanged (the mysterious killer makes it look like a suicide), and his father, the General, has theChicago Police Department (CPD) get involved to solve the murder mysteries as the nightly radio performance continues. Katzenback is killed after attempting to fix the main stage when the machinery malfunctions. Penny is appointed stage manager and director due to Walt Jr. and Katzenback's deaths. Roger tries to solve the killings, which greatly annoys the police, led by Lieutenant Cross.
Because Roger unfortunately appears at every crime scene just as the murders take place, he is ruled as the prime suspect. Roger and Billy Budget then theorize that announcer Dexter Morris is the next to die. Dexter ignores their warning and is fatally electrocuted. By going through private documents in WBN's file room, Roger finds that the victims all previously worked together at a radio station inPeoria, Illinois, which he then correlates into a secretiveFCC scandal. King (laughing gas) and General Whalen (falls down an elevator shaft) are the next to die after Roger's warning, making the police even more suspicious.
After escaping custody, Roger uses Billy to communicate and send scripts to Penny. When rewriting one of the programs,Gork: Son of Fire, Roger attempts to write the script withself-referential events, proving to everyone that the mysterious killer is sound engineer Max Applewhite. Max explains that his killings were a revenge scheme that dealt with stockholders and patents, explicitly detailing his invention of television, which other scientists have copied. Max takes Roger and Penny atop the radio tower at gunpoint, but is eventually killed when abiplane shows up and guns him down. Impressed by the nightly performance, the sponsors decide to fund WBN. Roger and Penny reconcile their complex relationship and choose not to divorce.
The genesis ofRadioland Murders came fromexecutive producer/co-writerGeorge Lucas's obsession withold-time radio.[1] Lucas conceived the storyline of the film during the writing phase ofAmerican Graffiti, viewing it as ahomage to the variousAbbott and Costello films, primarilyWho Done It (1942), in which Abbott and Costello star as twosoda jerks solving a murder in a radio station.Radioland Murders also shares some inspiration fromThe Big Clock (1948). WhenUniversal Pictures acceptedAmerican Graffiti in 1972, Lucas also allowed the studiofirst-look deals for bothRadioland Murders and an untitled science fiction film (which eventually became the basis forStar Wars).[2]
Lucas eventually negotiated a deal to produceRadioland Murders for Universal shortly after the successful release ofAmerican Graffiti in late 1973.Willard Huyck andGloria Katz prepared a rough draft based on Lucas's 1974film treatment, and Universal was confident enough to announcepre-production soon after. Lucas was set to direct withGary Kurtz producing. In the original Huyck/Katz script, Roger and Penny were not a married couple seeking divorce, but were boyfriend and girlfriend with alove-hate relationship.[3] Their script also included the controversy over theinvention of radio.[4]
In July 1978, Lucas revealed thatRadioland Murders was still in development, and that bothSteve Martin andCindy Williams were approached for the two leads. The script was being rewritten and the plannedstart date was early 1979. However, throughout the 1970s to early 1990s,Radioland Murders remained indevelopment hell.[3] Between this time, Lucas commissionedTheodore J. Flicker to perform a rewrite. In early 1993 Lucas told Universal that advances incomputer-generated imagery fromIndustrial Light & Magic (owned byLucasfilm), particularly indigital mattes, would help bringRadioland Murders in for a relatively low budget of about $10 million,[5] which eventually rose to $15 million.[4]
Universal agreed in 1993 togreenlightRadioland Murders if Lucas would modify the script. The original Huyck/Katz script might have been appreciated by older filmgoers back in 1972, but Universal wanted it modified "for an audience accustomed to parodies like Mel Brooks's Spaceballs."[4] Based onRon Howard's recommendation,[5] Lucas hired Jeff Reno and Ron Osborn (known for their work onMoonlighting) to "update" the screenplay.[4] Theshooting script was prepared by Lucas, who combined his favorite elements of the Reno/Osborn draft with the original Huyck/Katz script from the 1970s. Lucas then hiredMel Smith to direct, who recommendedBrian Benben for the lead role. Lucas specifically chose Smith because he believed the British comedian/filmmaker could handleRadioland Murders' form ofslapstick comedy anddark humor.[5] Universal was adamant that theensemble cast be filled with then-popular TV stars of the early 1990s.[4]Christopher Lloyd agreed to make a small appearance as the eccentricsound designer Zoltan on the agreement that all of his scenes were shot in one day.[5]
Principal photography forRadioland Murders began on October 28, 1993[6] atCarolco Studios inWilmington, North Carolina.[5] Brief filming also took place atHollywood Center Studios.[6]Production designer Gavin Bocquet (Star Wars prequels,Young Indiana Jones,Stardust) disguised the film's limited rooms in abeehivelike structure. Larger areas, notably the exterior of the building and the transmission tower on the roof, were created or augmented withdigital mattes added byvisual effects supervisorScott Squires (The Lost World: Jurassic Park,Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace) atIndustrial Light & Magic. Following a break, in which Lucas, director Mel Smith and editorPaul Trejo reviewed the footage using the new digitalAvid Technology editing system (the successor toEditDroid), the cast and crew were reassembled for a further two weeks of filming.[5] Principal photography forRadioland Murders ended on December 23, 1993.[6] There were over 100 visual effects shots in the film.[7] According toMichael McKean, the last days of production were rough in getting as many shots and inserts done as possible, with Smith and Lucas each directing units simultaneously to go with 24-hour days for a film he later labeled as “cinematic pickup sticks… they just spilled it out onto the carpet.”[8]
To marketRadioland Murders, Universal attached afilm trailer toThe Flintstones in May 1994. The studio believed both films would specifically appeal to theBaby Boom Generation.Radioland Murders was originally set to be theatrically released in September 1994 before it was pushed back.[9] The film was released in the United States on October 21, 1994, in 844 theaters, only grossing $1.37 million.[10] Ultimately the filmbombed at the box office and did not recoup its $15 million budget.[11] It ranks among the top ten widely released films for havingthe biggest second weekend drop at the box office, dropping 78.5% from $835,570 to $179,315.[12]
Radioland Murders received negative reviews withRotten Tomatoes calculating a 32% approval rating based on 19 reviews collected.[13]Roger Ebert criticized the film for containing too muchslapstick comedy instead of subtle humor. Although he praised theart direction and visual effects, Ebert believed "the movie just doesn't work. It's all action and no character, all situation and no comedy. The slapstick starts so soon and lasts so long that we don't have an opportunity to meet or care about the characters in a way that would make their actions funny."[14]Richard Schickel, writing inTime magazine gave a mixed review, mainly criticizing the film for its fast pacing.[15] Caryn James ofThe New York Times dismissed the film for trying too hard to pay homage toscrewball comedy films of the 1930s.[16]
Mick LaSalle of theSan Francisco Chronicle gave a mixed reaction, feeling the filmmakers failed in attempting to woo audiences withnostalgia.[17] Internet reviewerJames Berardinelli called the film a "horrible concoction synthesizing elements ofThe Hudsucker Proxy andBrain Donors, and setting them in the world ofDavid Lynch'sOn the Air. This film has more gags in it than anything this side of aZucker, Abrahams and Zucker production, too few of which work."[18]
The firstRegion 1 DVD release came in March 1998 byImage Entertainment.[25]Universal Studios Home Entertainment re-released the film on DVD in August 2006.[26] Universal Studios Home Entertainment released the film onBlu-ray on August 13, 2019[27] ahead of its 25th anniversary.Kino Lorber was scheduled to release the film on Blu-ray on September 23, 2025, but it's delayed to October 21.
