Trailer
Plot summary
In 1976 in Anderson, South Carolina, James Robert Kennedy is a 23-year-old man with an intellectual disability who lives with his mother, a nurse, and spends his days roaming town with a shopping cart. He often stops to watch the T. L. Hanna High School football team practice under Coach Harold Jones. When a ball rolls out of bounds, he picks it up and wheels it away. Some players tie his hands and feet, lock him in the gear shed and throw footballs at the door to frighten him. Jones frees him, makes the players run extra wind sprints and gives him the nickname Radio. Radio becomes the team's helper and a fixture at games, but parents of players complain that Coach Jones's attention to him distracts from their sons.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Radio (2003)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Cuba Gooding Jr. earned a Golden Raspberry Award nomination for Worst Actor for his performance in the film, but also an NAACP Image Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture.
- The film's lead character is based on a real man, James Robert "Radio" Kennedy, who was born on October 14, 1946 in Anderson, South Carolina; Radio died on December 15, 2019.
- The movie grew out of a magazine story: it was inspired by and loosely based on the 1996 Sports Illustrated article "Someone to Lean On" by Gary Smith.
