My Favorite Year (1982)

A dissolute matinee idol is slated to appear on a live TV variety show.

Director:

Richard Benjamin

Writers:

Norman Steinberg (screenplay), Dennis Palumbo (screenplay),

Stars:

Peter O'Toole, Mark Linn-Baker, Jessica Harper

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 5 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Peter O'Toole	...	Alan Swann
Mark Linn-Baker	...	Benjy Stone
Jessica Harper	...	K.C. Downing
Joseph Bologna	...	King Kaiser
Bill Macy	...	Sy Benson
Lainie Kazan	...	Belle Carroca
Anne De Salvo	...	Alice Miller
Basil Hoffman	...	Herb Lee
Lou Jacobi	...	Uncle Morty
Adolph Green	...	Leo Silver
Tony DiBenedetto	...	Alfie Bumbacelli
George Wyner	...	Myron Fein
Selma Diamond	...	Lil
Cameron Mitchell	...	Karl Rojeck
Jenny Neumann	...	Connie

Storyline

Benjy Stone is the junior writer on the top rated variety/comedy show, in the mid 50s (the early years). Its a new medium and the rules were not fully established. Alan Swann, an Erol Flynn type actor with a drinking problem is to be that weeks guest star. When King Kaiser, the headliner wants to throw Swann off the show, Benjy makes a pitch to save his childhood hero, and is made Swann's babysitter. On top of this, a union boss doesn't care for Kaiser's parody of him and has plans to stop the show.

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Plot Keywords:

star | movie star | television | live television | jewish | 

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Genres:

Comedy

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 October 1982 (USA)

Also Known As:

Mi año favorito

Filming Locations:

Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Brooksfilms

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Tim Curry was nominated for the 1993 Tony Award (New York City) for Supporting or Features Actor in a Musical for "My Favorite Year" as the larger than life actor Alan Swann.

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Goofs

The cameras in the Comedy Cavalcade studio are RCA TK-14s, which were not introduced until the late 1950s. (NBC would have used RCA TK-30, TK-10 or TK-11 cameras for black-and-white shows at this time.) In another scene a Marconi Mark IV camera is being pushed through a hallway; this camera also was not available until the late 1950s.

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Quotes

Benjy Stone: Doesn't Sy's office take on a whole different feeling at night?
K.C.: Yeah, it gets worse.

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Connections

References The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)

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Soundtracks

"How High the Moon"
(1940)
Music by Morgan Lewis (uncredited)
Lyrics by Nancy Hamilton (uncredited)
Performed off-screen by Les Paul and Mary Ford during the opening scene
Played also as dance music at the Waldorf
Courtesy of Capitol Records, Inc.

User Reviews

A humane, funny film with a great heart.

I was born in 1958, so I never saw Your Show of Shows, and needless to say, I never knew there was a famous or infamous incident involving one of my boyhood idols, a very drunk Errol Flynn.Dennis Palumbo, in what is ( sadly) apparently his only effort as a script writer, has taken this incident and woven a very human and very funny film from it. Benjamin's direction is excellent, and Peter O'Toole ( playing, it must be said, a variant of himself), is wonderful, as is most of the rest of the cast. Benjamin shows a sure comic touch in his debut. In short, like Quiz Show, one of the best movies about the fifties, and one of the best movies about the early days of television.