Rock 'n' roll was there to stay
"Take me to the microphone," DJ royalty Gavin (Rhys Ifans) says as he boards the Radio Rock tanker. (Focus Features)
Pirate Radio
Running time: 129 minutes
MPAA rating: R (harsh profanity, adult situations, nudity)
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For those who don't know or can't remember, there once was a wonderful thing called personality rock radio.
And it rocked back in 1960s. In North Texas, the late Mike Selden and Jimmy Rabbit rocked the nighttime airwaves at KLIF. They, and othrs like them, thrilled teen-age listeners and caused conservative parents to raise eyebrows and red flags.
Full disclosure: I was a closet teen rocker back then. Theater of the mind, that exciting collision of ballsy rock music, a talented DJ's audience manipulation and anticipation of a wild, free unknown, blew my mind night after night. I didn't just want to listen to the audacious magic, either. I wanted to be a part of it. And I was, sort of.
I began my broadcasting career as a disc jockey in Fort Worth, TX. Sadly, I never got to really rock on commercial radio. Fate shuttled me off into something new in the late '60s called country music. And something old: news.
So I would be lying if I said I didn't approach "Pirate Radio," an audacious, music-blaring comedy from Richard Curtis, with much hope.
I was not disappointed.
Although "Pirate Radio" pumps up the entertainment value with comic nonsense and sexcapades, Curtis has a blast recreating that era in Great Britain when DJs had to set sail to reach their eager listeners.
The BBC banned rock 'n' roll just as the Beatles, The Who, the Kinks and the Stones (to name a few) were beginning to roll.
Not to be denied, clever businessmen set up rock 'n' roll shop on pirate radio ships (in this case, an old tanker) in the North Sea; just offshore enough to be out of staid British jurisdiction.
Curtis, the gifted writer-director from New Zealand, has directed only one feature film before this raucous comic-rocker. That was the very funny romantic-comedy "Love Actually" of 2003.
Think of "Pirate Radio" as pumping out the hits somewhere between Robert Altman's "M*A*S*H" and "Animal House." Unflappable station owner and ship's captain Quentin (unflappable Bill Nighy) welcomes his naive teen-age godson Carl (Tom Sturridge) aboard. Look at it as practical education in the fine art of never growing up.
Carl, who's shy at first, slowly becomes the ship's mascot as famous DJs like The Count (Oscar winner Philip Seymour Hoffman), womanizer Dave (Nick Frost of "Hot Fuzz" and "Shaun of the Dead") and jock legend Gavin (Rhys Ifans) try to stay one step ahead of a stuffy British government official. Minister Dormandy (Kenneth Branagh) ruthlessly plots to "shut that filth down."
"Pirate Radio" is a must-see for music lovers as well as movie fans. Curtis and his crew manage to cram around 50 tunes from the period into the fast-paced comic rocker.
Noticeably absent from the soundtrack are The Beatles. The most famous British rockers of the era are mentioned, though, and a Beatles album cover pops up on screen briefly.
My guess is that getting rights to the Beatles library proved too much of a "Hard Day's Night" financial obstacle to overcome.
Other than that, however, "Pirate Radio" rocks wildly steady -- near brilliantly, in fact -- as it worships and celebrates the lost art of rock radio magic.
And it rocked back in 1960s. In North Texas, the late Mike Selden and Jimmy Rabbit rocked the nighttime airwaves at KLIF. They, and othrs like them, thrilled teen-age listeners and caused conservative parents to raise eyebrows and red flags.
Full disclosure: I was a closet teen rocker back then. Theater of the mind, that exciting collision of ballsy rock music, a talented DJ's audience manipulation and anticipation of a wild, free unknown, blew my mind night after night. I didn't just want to listen to the audacious magic, either. I wanted to be a part of it. And I was, sort of.
I began my broadcasting career as a disc jockey in Fort Worth, TX. Sadly, I never got to really rock on commercial radio. Fate shuttled me off into something new in the late '60s called country music. And something old: news.
So I would be lying if I said I didn't approach "Pirate Radio," an audacious, music-blaring comedy from Richard Curtis, with much hope.
I was not disappointed.
Although "Pirate Radio" pumps up the entertainment value with comic nonsense and sexcapades, Curtis has a blast recreating that era in Great Britain when DJs had to set sail to reach their eager listeners.
The BBC banned rock 'n' roll just as the Beatles, The Who, the Kinks and the Stones (to name a few) were beginning to roll.
Not to be denied, clever businessmen set up rock 'n' roll shop on pirate radio ships (in this case, an old tanker) in the North Sea; just offshore enough to be out of staid British jurisdiction.
Curtis, the gifted writer-director from New Zealand, has directed only one feature film before this raucous comic-rocker. That was the very funny romantic-comedy "Love Actually" of 2003.
Think of "Pirate Radio" as pumping out the hits somewhere between Robert Altman's "M*A*S*H" and "Animal House." Unflappable station owner and ship's captain Quentin (unflappable Bill Nighy) welcomes his naive teen-age godson Carl (Tom Sturridge) aboard. Look at it as practical education in the fine art of never growing up.
Carl, who's shy at first, slowly becomes the ship's mascot as famous DJs like The Count (Oscar winner Philip Seymour Hoffman), womanizer Dave (Nick Frost of "Hot Fuzz" and "Shaun of the Dead") and jock legend Gavin (Rhys Ifans) try to stay one step ahead of a stuffy British government official. Minister Dormandy (Kenneth Branagh) ruthlessly plots to "shut that filth down."
"Pirate Radio" is a must-see for music lovers as well as movie fans. Curtis and his crew manage to cram around 50 tunes from the period into the fast-paced comic rocker.
Noticeably absent from the soundtrack are The Beatles. The most famous British rockers of the era are mentioned, though, and a Beatles album cover pops up on screen briefly.
My guess is that getting rights to the Beatles library proved too much of a "Hard Day's Night" financial obstacle to overcome.
Other than that, however, "Pirate Radio" rocks wildly steady -- near brilliantly, in fact -- as it worships and celebrates the lost art of rock radio magic.
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