MY FAVORITE YEAR (1982) ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2
D: Richard Benjamin
Peter O'Toole, Mark Linn-Baker, Jessica Harper,
Joseph Bologna, Bill Macy, Lainie Kazan,
Lou Jacobi, Cameron Mitchell, Selma Diamond
The year is 1954, and a flamboyant, swashbuckling matinee idol named Alan Swann (Peter O'Toole) has signed up for a guest spot on a TV variety program hosted by King Kaiser (Joseph Bologna). A young comedy writer (Mark Linn-Baker) gets stuck with the challenging task of keeping the movie star sober through a week of rehearsals to the actual performance before an audience of several million people. A funny, affectionate, behind-the-scenes look at early live television, with a great comic performance by O'Toole, who captures not only Swann's roaring zest for life, but the melancholy beneath the surface. The real-life model for Alan Swann was Errol Flynn, King Kaiser was Sid Caesar, and the comedy writer, still in his 20s back then, was Mel Brooks.
Joseph Bologna
(1934-2017)
