Review: Pirate Radio

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Pirate Radio

As a kid growing up in the late Sixties, my secret late-night habit was to listen in the dark to pop music on my tabletop Hi-Fi transistor radio, glowing on the lightstand next to my bed. As I listened to the DJ, I imagined that the band was playing right there in the studio. The new ensemble comedy Pirate Radio -- released in the U.K. as The Boat That Rocked -- captures the romance between pop music and the young people of the Sixties.

Loosely based on actual events, the latest film from writer/director Richard Curtis (Notting Hill, Bridget Jones' Diary) is about a band of rogue DJs on a boat at sea who captivated Britain by illegally playing the music that defined a generation. The backbone of this motley crew is Quentin (Bill Nighy), boss of Radio Rock, a pirate radio station in the middle of the North Sea. The eclectic group of rock and roll DJs includes The Count (Phillip Seymour Hoffman), a big brash American god of the airwaves; Gavin (Rhys Ifans), the greatest DJ in Britain who has just returned from his drug tour of America to reclaim his rightful position; and Dave (Nick Frost), an ironic, intelligent and cruelly funny co-broadcaster. The motley crew is pitted against a bulldog of a British government official Sir Alistair Dormandy (Kenneth Branagh) and his lackey Twatt (Jack Davenport) who are out for blood and intent on shutting down Radio Rock. Thrown into the thick of the turmoil is young Carl (Tom Sturridge), sent to stay with his godfather Quentin by his mother (played exquisitely by Emma Thompson).

If you are an audiophile, you'll love Pirate Radio for the music but might also notice several anachronisms with the soundtrack. Although the event takes place in 1966, several of the songs which appear were not even released until 1967 or reached the charts until 1969. Despite this oversight, the nostalgic tracks selected are quite enjoyable. The shifting between their use as part of the radio broadcast to the background increases the effect of several scenes, especially "Elenor3" by the Turtles, "All Day and All of the Night" by the Kinks and The Who's "I Can See for Miles."

Comical performances by the ensemble cast are top-notch, especially the on-screen rivalry portrayed by Rhys Ifans and Phillip Seymour Hoffman. Pirate Radio entertains on a level reminiscent of the Austin Powers Ming Tea "BBC" video. However, the hodgepodge of montage and music isn't quite enough to keep the film out of shallow waters with the loss of plot direction in the final act. Pirate Radio is fun and exciting, but it's nowhere near the caliber of rock-and-roll classics including The Kids are Alright, High Fidelity or Almost Famous.

Pirate Radio

LOVED IT!!! It was fun and entertaining.

anachronisms in Pirate Radio

I have to agree, both that it was a fun if fictional account (that seems VERY loosely based on the Radio London pirate broadcasts) and that several anachronisms annoyingly popped up. I worked for Pacifica radio stations in the late 60s and 70s (including WBAI in NYC & KPFT in Houston) and can testify that the turntables shown came FAR after the time period of the movie (straight geometry arms and Stanton 681E phono cartridges came much later - they would have had Rek-O-Kut turntables and SME arms with maybe a Shure M44e) - the tape decks also were from many years later (logic circuitry rather than mechanical), as were the Sony headphones from the 90s (they might have used Koss Pro4As, the ones with the mic attachment) although some of the other phones may have been period-authentic. The radios used by the listeners looked pretty correct for 1966-7, even if some of the songs coming out of them weren't. Nice to hear the Turtles and Procol Harum (with the correct 45 rpm label) featured prominently (Eleanor and Whiter Shade of Pale - I always loved the chorus "Eleanor, gee, I think you're swell, and I really wish you well, you're my pride and joy, etcetera!" Nice to see Kenneth and Emma back in a film together even if never seen together and representing opposite viewpoints...

Oh, and MY late-night guilty pleasure as a kid was listening to Jean Shepherd on WOR-AM in NY free-associating in beatnik/hipster mode about topical stuff and his childhood in Hohman, IN and his military service long before he got known as the "guy who wrote A Christmas Story." He was MY Radio Rock!

Thanks for sharing!

Great comments -
yes, forgot about the Sony headphones, I'd noticed that as well. Of course, there's also the fact that at what degree does a surface have to be for the turntable to continue to operate? Seemed like the music went on a lot longer - I could have believed a tape deck being able, but not the turntable shown in the final scenes.
Considering how much time and cost is involved in music licensing in film, you would think there'd have been a bit more research into the appropriate music for the time period.

remarkably stable turntables

I noticed the amazingly stable turntables in passing and also thought "why don't they just use the tape deck?" At least the cart machines were authentic, but we never heard the jingles or commercials they usually contained. But then I might be forced to figure out why we never heard any of those commercials, or saw any crewmen actually RUNNING the ship, let alone escaping, swimming or being rescued! The English class system at work? I dunno, it still felt good watching it (although I might have a bone to pick about the LARGE Taylor Swift album cover in the credits (all right, Keane was perhaps questionable too but at least they were a small cover) as exemplary of what Rock 'n' Roll had grown into over the years. What, the Country Music Association Awards? Emma looked good, and "Bob" (can you believe no one aboard knew what he looked like after he'd been broadcasting 6 months?) may have looked like Robert Plant in the 60s for all WE know. Looks a little like him now, in fact...

music licensing and Mad Men

I suspect the music was chosen either for evoking the era or fitting the plotline rather than any temporal coherence (+2 points for use of "temporal coherence" in a sentence) but it was nice that the two overlapped quite a bit. Clearly "Eleanor" turned into the name of the character rather than their looking for songs about a random knockout named Eleanor in the script. Speaking of whom, I assume you noticed "Eleanor" was played by January Jones aka "Betsy Draper" from Mad Men, finally doing something besides acting depressed with a furrowed brow and bad parenting instincts. Still stuck in the 60s, though... hmmm, could this be Betsy a few years after breaking up with Don? Did it drive her over the edge and into the arms of rock and Gavin? Naw, although what a great story that would make!