Actuakers One of my all time favorites.

MamaGravity good back-story, and good acting

ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Amy Adler Jeff (Michael Brandon) is the manager for a very popular radio station in Los Angeles. He has an arsenal of great disc jockeys: Mother (Eileen Brennan), Swan (Martin Mull), Prince (Cleavon Little) and Doc (Alex Karras). In addition, the station's motto is as little advertising as possible, resulting in more songs played. But, the middle management may be out to change this. They want Jeff to honor a proposal with the US Army to run quite a few recruitment spots. Also, the station endures personal problems in breakups, breakdowns, agent loss, and rival attacks. For his part, Jeff pulls off quite a feat by airing a Linda Ronstadt concert live which was sponsored by a different radio station! Finally, push comes to shove. If Jeff doesn't cooperate, he's gone. Will his loyal staff take this sitting down? This obviously dated but nice flick from 1978 has a sensational cast, a great soundtrack, and live performances by Ronstadt and Buffet. What a treat! Yes, the hair styles, costumes, and sets look "lost in the seventies" but the script has universal truths which never grow old. The direction is capable, too. FM is a fine curiosity piece especially given the musical appearances. Sound good?

jpowell68-1 Just got the VHS at a local dollar store, of all places. Hadn't seen this movie in years, and $1 was cheaper than I could rent it, so it came home with me. I must say, I enjoyed the film much more this time than the first time I saw it. It did not seem to drag in the concert portions as much; in fact, it seemed like a much shorter movie than I remembered all around.Then it dawned on me that I hadn't seen a few of the scenes I was anticipating...so I started trying to figure out what I must have seen several years back. I have memories of a scene with Eileen Brennan as the DJ "Mother", where we learn she IS in fact a single mother, tucking in her daughter. Also a scene where "Mother" is in the control room, talking to another staffer about how smooth it is when she "plays the radio". I had thought this movie was rated R when it first appeared (the video is PG) due to nudity, and again that the concert scenes were much longer. None of this was in the version I saw last night on the Anchor Bay VHS, circa 1998, 104 minutes long. (I thought there were more scenes of Alex Karras' character, the DJ "Doc Holiday"; and more exposition of the love story between GM Jeff Dugan and the other female jock Laura Coe, too.)Is there a director's cut of this film floating around out there somewhere??? Did I make those scenes up in my head after reading "FM" the novel, upon which the movie is based? Does anyone else know of the scenes I *think* I remember, but are not included in this particular release? After watching this version, I wondered if this was not the one they cleaned up and shortened a little for use on TV in the early '80's, or something like that.Having said all that...it's an amusing story. Working in radio since 1984, I can tell you it's not like "FM" anymore--you wouldn't see broadcast carts, open-reel tape decks, or record albums these days. Even fewer and fewer CD players; it's all computerized. And if they thought they had problems with tight corporate control THEN...they never anticipated what radio would become in thirty more years after that movie was made. In a technical sense, radio wasn't even like the movie depicts at the time it was made (1978). In the station studio interior shots, there is odd placement of sound equipment, just sitting around the general manager's office and even in illogical places in the control room, where in a real radio station it would be nonsensical and nonfunctional to place these items (not to mention hookup would be a nightmare). It seems this must have been done to have gratuitous appearance of switches and knobs in nearly every scene, to remind us this was a movie about radio. Kind of a quaint touch. (Announcer mikes in a stereo array, with a left mike and right mike, is never done anymore either. It's no longer novel to have the DJ's voice drift back and forth between your speakers.) The part about the owner coming across the country and deciding when he gets there to hand the station back to the music guy and fire the money guys is also pure fantasy. But it's a fun film, and of course an enjoyable bit of nostalgia to see Linda Ronstadt in her youthful prime, and Jimmy Buffet when he still had hair on top.Anybody catch that Q-SKY, the call letters, couldn't really be used in the US? All stations east of the Mississippi River start with W, all west start with K, since an act of Congress back in the 1930's (though there are some stations that predate that act which are grandfathered to their previous calls to this day), but none start with a Q. And, 71.1 FM is somewhere off the left of the broadcast dial (which actually starts at about 88.1), so obviously we are talking in every respect about a radio station in some alternate universe. But it does contain a LOT of great music and a humorous glimpse of '70's culture. A modern-day classic? Maybe not. But a fun little romp; well worth my dollar invested.

russelljdj Hindsight beings what it is now some 27 years after it's release, FM fore tells the impending doom of commercial radio! If you're in the radio business you'll get the meaning of that for sure. FM also spawned the first multi artist soundtrack album that sold very well. The Movie can be a bit slow in places, but it chillingly fore tells the coming doom of radio under corporate control, over commercialization, and the stripping of the Jocks influence and power. Nice musical performances from Linda Ronstadt who was actually played on Rock Radio then, and Jimmy Buffett. Good lightweight entertainment. Tune in turn on, and never come down to earth with Q Sky!

pt8685 Bottom line: FM was a mediocre movie with a great soundtrack. I enjoyed all of the concert footage in the film (mostly Linda Ronstadt and Jimmy Buffet), but the comedy wasn't good, and the story was just plain awful.You've probably already read the synopsis so I'll spare you the details. The setting and situation were ripe for big laughs, but they never came. In fact, WKRP (which was being created at the same time as the movie FM) made much better comedy from virtually the same raw material.As for the premise, I found it patently hypocritical that FM station employees would be so offended at the idea of commercializing their station with ads, when that's in fact exactly what they do for a living. Radio exists because it sells records and concerts. It is by nature a commercial enterprise. DJs are the basically used car salesmen of the recording industry.Now I don't think there's anything wrong with this arrangement. In fact, I think it's a great deal for the radio audience; we get to sample the songs, and even fall in love with them before we decide to buy the recording.But the holier-than-thou attitude displayed in this movie is very disappointing. At one point in the film, Tom Petty (whom I love) is brought into the booth to be interviewed by the DJ while they play tracks from his latest album, "Damn the Torpedoes." Meanwhile, the station manager is trying his hardest to prevent commercials from airing on "his" radio station.I wanted to shout, "Hey, dude! There's a commercial for Tom Petty's album playing on your station right now! Hello! Kids are going to pay $10 for the record and Tom's going to get $1. The rest goes to some giant recording industry mega-corp." Basically, the screenwriters wrote the DJ's as self-indulgent children, the station manager as a self-centered prick, and the owners as pure evil assholes. This made it hard for me to root for anyone.The movie would have been sharper if the screenwriters had made the station manager more reasonable to contrast with the owners. Instead of objecting to all advertising, for example, the manager could have told the owners he was willing to do 20% more ads at 10% higher rates. Then have the owners shoot back at him with something like "you'll do it our way or you're out on your ass." Then I would have rooted for the station manager a lot more.Of course, I would have forgiven any flaws in the premise if the movie had just been funnier.By the way, if you want to read a contemporary review, there still one available at the NY Times website written by veteran critic Jane Maslin (http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/movie.html?v_id=16493).