Get in tune with ‘Pirate Radio’ signal

By John M. Urbancich, Sun News

November 12, 2009, 3:45PM

If you’ve even sniffed a piece of the ’60s and don’t buy into the sights and sounds of “Pirate Radio” . . . then argh-h-h-h, matey! You must have a hole in your soul and certainly no rock in your roll.

As written and directed by Richard Curtis — the same brilliant Brit who gave us “Four Weddings and a Funeral” (still the best Cleveland International Film Festival opener ever) and “Love Actually” (one of the most under-rated movies of all time) — “Radio” revels in the splendid audacity of its subject matter.

That would be a group of good-timers broadcasting in a boat off-shore because the priggish English government, mostly identified here by boorish bureaucrat Allistair Dormandy (Kenneth Branagh) and a henchman named Twatt (Jack Davenport), barely allowed the popular music of the times on public airwaves.

Yep, as incredible as it seems, there really was an early day when records by the Beatles, the Yardbirds and the Kinks — yeah, Who-ever — rarely played in their homeland. That is, until the high-voltage personalities and deejays that became Rock Radio started round-the-clock transmissions from ships just outside U.K. territorial waters.

Oh, and what a memorably hard-driving rebellion it was — and is, on screen — with the likes of the Count (Philip Seymour Hoffman), Gavin (Rhys Ifans), Simon (Chris O’Dowd), Dave (Nick Frost), Angus (Rhys Darby) and barely seen Bob (Ralph Brown) playing an assortment of now-golden oldies, simply for the constant delight of the listening masses.

The rowdy pack of wastrels is led by ship captain and smart businessman Quentin (Bill Nighy), who introduces a coming-of-age spin to the tale by bringing his misbehaving godson (Tom Sturridge) aboard to the sweet if inappropriate mix. The kid’s roomie, nicknamed Thick Kevin (Tom Brooke), provides some priceless moments, too.

 Then again, none of the players gets wasted (at least cinematically), and all of the music is sensational. Among a sea load of legendary rockers, special nods to the ever-fabulous Turtles, whose “Elenore” segment features a drop-dead gorgeous January Jones (cable's Emmy-winning "Mad Men") in an on-ship wedding, and certainly the Rolling Stones, whose “Let’s Spend the Night Together” spins the perfect punch for . . . well, you get it.

Somewhere, sometime — perhaps even in Curtis’s surprising and spirited comedy — someone always says, “These are the best days of our lives.” A few fast-moving hours of watching and listening to his “Radio” isn’t so bad, either. Meanwhile, just put the price of the soundtrack on my credit card.

Read more by John M. Urbancich at http://jmuvies.blogspot.com/