My Favorite Year

Rating:
Summary: Funny, poignant film is a must see!
Review: The acting is superb, the plot is excellent, the dialog is sharp and witty, what more do you want! O'Toole plays an Errol Flynn like actor who is a legend as a movie star, womanizer, and alcoholic. One his fans, a young writer for an early live comedy show modelled after Cid Cesar's show, decides to bring the alcoholic movie star on to the show.

Worth owning - I have seen it a dozen times and never tire of it.

Rating:
Summary: "Tongue... Death!"
Review: "The rest of us are here to write Professional Show Business Comedy."
"Somebody parked in my spot."
"In a few minutes, I shall require a diversion."
"You said that Carl? What a guy!"
"Welcome to our humble chapeau."
"Ma, he's not a river."
"Of course he's beneath us. He's an actor!"
"Twice they served tongue, twice the opening sketch died."
"Listen to this, he thinks he's in the wrong costume."
"What the hell's happening!"
"Oh God, this makes me happy."

Rating:
Summary: A Laugh Riot Must See!!!!
Review: I can only agree with all the other reviewers that this is one of the funniest films I've ever seen. O'Toole is unforgettable as Alan Swann, the movie star petrified of live TV, giving another one of his larger than life performances.

The rest of the supporting case is equally superb. Joseph Bologna, Selma Diamond, and Mark Lin-Baker provide solid foils for O'Toole's barbs.

The scene where Linn-Baker brings O'Toole to his house for dinner is one of the funniest scenes in the picture. Lou Jacobi and Lainie Kazan are superb as the Jewish mother and uncle, with Jacobi managing to embarrass everybody when he asks O'Toole, "You know that girl you shtupped ..." after promising not to, "Whaddya think, I was born yesterday?" This rates as one of the funniest sit down meal scenes in all of filmdom. (See also the one in "Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills").

Linn-Baker's admiration turns to contempt after O'Toole refuses to do the show when he learns it is live TV and being broadcast to millions of viewers with no second "takes". O'Toole gets drunk, but all's well that ends well, and he springs onto the stage where a real fight between King Kaiser and gangsters, which the audience thinks is staged, and saves the day.

Buy this film and view it countless times. You'll never tire of it!!!

Rating:
Summary: Just right
Review: Mel Brooks produced this film, loosely based on his own experiences as a young joke writer on Sid Caesar's "Your Show of Shows." Apparently VERY loosely based, but nonetheless, every bit of this script hits its mark perfectly, and the direction of Richard Benjamin puts the actors through their paces just right as well.

"My Favorite Year" is a film to be remembered with great fondness for many years, with its larger-than-life heroes, bad guys, fall guys, and straight men (and women), equally for its belly laughs and heartfelt tender moments. Peter O'Toole shines as Swann, the over-the-hill swashbuckling movie hero who lives in a bottle because of his self-loathing, unable/unwilling to leave show business to deal with fatherhood and hating himself for it.

Swann shows up as guest star on the faux Caesar's program and doubles as tutor for young starry-eyed Brooks (Mark-Linn Baker, aka "Benji Stone") in the ways of wooing a young lady. And it all works. The wisecracks, the wooing, even bringing Swann closer to dealing with his role as an absentee parent who needs to be less absent.

Favorite line: Swann drunkenly staggers into the wrong restroom to relieve himself of the results of his latest drinking spree. Selma Diamond: "You can't come in here! This is for ladies only!" O'Toole: "And so, madam, is this" (zzzzzip) "but occasionally I must run a little water through it."

Classic.

Rating:
Summary: Magnificent O'Toole makes this film worth watching
Review: MY FAVORITE YEAR was Richard Benjamin's first feature film, and, looking at it objectively, it must be said that, on a technical level, it is not very accomplished. All throughout the movie, you are struck (in a negative way, I think) by its sheer staginess: even though it was based on an original screenplay by Dennis Palumbo (from a story by Palumbo and Norman Steinberg), the whole thing more often than not feels like a stage play rather than a real movie (and surprise! it actually did become a Broadway musical afterwards). Some of the self-conscious acting seems to reflect that spirit, in the scenes involving Joseph Bologna's "King" Kaiser and a few gangsters, and in some of the scenes with Mark Linn-Baker's Benjy Stone. In this film, at least, Benjamin shows himself only barely competent at staging, and a lot of the time the film's overly stagey texture was a distraction for me.

That said, Benjamin does succeed in the things that matter most in MY FAVORITE YEAR. You can tell that this is a film from the heart, since he shows a sincere admiration for and enjoyment of all of his characters, which are based on real-life characters involved in the backstage production of Sid Caesar's "Your Show of Shows." Benjamin also never gets in the way of the real star of this show, Peter O'Toole---and if there is one sole reason to see this film, he is it. O'Toole's performance as Alan Swann is simply magnificent: he portrays both Swann's public image (as a heroic swashbuckler) and the pain and torment masked by the image. It is a breathtaking performance of notable range, and you really feel for the character, who has fallen on hard times in private life, esp. regarding his estranged daughter. As for Mark Linn-Baker, who plays the young aspiring writer who idolizes Swann and gets him to appear on the "Comedy Cavalcade," he might be a little too hammy in his scenes without O'Toole, but with him around he admirably holds his own. O'Toole and Linn-Baker have one truly memorable and magical scene towards the end that is full of palpable emotion from both actors. Perhaps O'Toole spurred Linn-Baker onto greater heights in their scenes together.

In short, MY FAVORITE YEAR is far from a great comedy, but, if you can get past the creaky staging, then it should prove to be mostly a delight, thanks in no small measure to Peter O'Toole's truly great performance at its center. Recommended.

Rating:
Summary: How great is this movie?
Review: I'll tell you. This movie is so great that I was able to rent it and entertain my GRANDPARENTS for an entire evening. I discovered it right after it was released because it was at the same time we got cable. (Man, were WE behind the times!) This movie has it all; a great cast, scads of great one-liners, and best of all, you can pull it out and show it knowing that most people have never heard of it.

Rating:
Summary: Sheer Greatness
Review: I was 12 years old when I first saw this movie+it was the first video I ever bought when I got my VCR. Not only is this a great homage to the Golden Age of TV it is also one of the best movies I have ever seen. Peter O'Toole gives the most brilliant comedic performance I have ever seen. The fact that he did not win an Oscar is criminal. His washed up movie star is a character for the ages. The supporting cast is uniformly excellent,especially Joseph Bolonga as the Sid Ceasaresque star of the show. His scene with Boss Rojack is priceless as is the Stork Club scene. To list all the great lines in this Classic is impossible. Do your self a favor and buy it today!!