YMMV / Radio Days

• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • One climactic scene centers around a rescue attempt to save a little girl who fell down a well in Philadelphia and the resulting media frenzy. The film was released in January 1987; in October of that year, 18-month-old Jessica McClure fell down a well in Texas, leading to a similar rescue effort and media sensation. In the film, the little girl dies before rescuers can reach her. The fact that Baby Jessica was successfully rescued keeps the scene from being harsher than it is.
  • Ironically, the scene was based on a another real-life well accident, which occurred in 1949 and involved a three-year-old California girl named Kathy Fiscus. Like in the film, she unfortunately died before she could be rescued. (The Fiscus incident also inspired Billy Wilder's film Ace in the Hole.)
  • The scene where Joe's parents argue about his father's various failed sales jobs includes the line "We've got six thousand 'get well' cards in the closet! There aren't that many sick people in America!". Pretty cringe-inducing in light of the country's apocalyptic healthcare problems in subsequent years.
• Retroactive Recognition:
  • Larry David appears as the Commie Jew neighbor. He's only seen in a long-shot, but his voice is unmistakable.
  • William H. Macy is one of Sally's fellow radio actors when they have to break in for the Pearl Harbor announcement.
  • Mercedes Ruehl has a bit part as an ad exec.
  • 12-year-old Seth Green is Young Joe.

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