IMDb > My Favorite Year (1982)
My Favorite Year
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My Favorite Year (1982) More at IMDbPro »

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Overview

User Rating:
7.2/10   3,711 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Up 17% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Writers:
Dennis Palumbo (screenplay)
Dennis Palumbo (story)
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Contact:
View company contact information for My Favorite Year on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
1 October 1982 (USA) more
Genre:
Plot:
A dissolute matinee idol is slated to appear on a live TV variety show. full summary | add synopsis
Awards:
Nominated for Oscar. Another 2 wins & 4 nominations more
NewsDesk:
(10 articles)
Lou Jacobi obituary
 (From The Guardian - Film News. 16 November 2009, 4:59 AM, PST)

Lou Jacobi obituary
 (From The Guardian - TV News. 16 November 2009, 4:59 AM, PST)

User Comments:
A Perfect Film Comedy! more (59 total)

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 ... Alfi Bambacelli

George Wyner ... Myron Fein
Selma Diamond ... Lil
Cameron Mitchell ... Karl Rojeck
Jenny Neumann ... Connie
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Additional Details

Also Known As:
My Favourite Year (UK)
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Runtime:
92 min
Country:
Language:
Color:
Color (Metrocolor)
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Company:

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
This film was produced by Mel Brooks's production company. The main character was based on him, and he had some input into the script. more
Goofs:
Anachronisms: 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. more
Quotes:
K.C.: Do you think there are funny people and not-funny people?
Benjy Stone: Yes. Definitely. On the funny side there are the Marx Brothers, except Zeppo; the Ritz Brothers, no exceptions; both Laurel *and* Hardy; and Woody Woodpecker. On the unfunny side there's anyone who has ever played the accordion professionally.
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Movie Connections:
Referenced in "Jeopardy!: (#16.37)" (1999) more
Soundtrack:
How High the Moon more

FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
23 out of 23 people found the following comment useful.
A Perfect Film Comedy!, 18 October 2003
Author: Ben Burgraff (cariart) from Las Vegas, Nevada

Have you ever watched a film and wished it wouldn't end? Where you loved all the characters, adored each scene, and laughed at every joke, even after you'd seen the film so many times that you could quote the dialog? MY FAVORITE YEAR is that kind of movie!

Directed with gusto by Richard Benjamin, the film is both a loving tribute to Sid Caesar's 'Your Show of Show', and the remarkable talents that brought it together each week, and a sincere homage to Errol Flynn, whose antics and larger-than-life persona, in the waning years of his life, still had a kind of magic that could enthrall a shy young fan, or make a woman swoon.

Three dynamic performances dominate the film. Mark Linn-Baker, as Benjy Stone, based on the young Mel Brooks, is a shy kid who hides his insecurities behind a rapid-fire wit. The dazzling young star in a staff of comedy 'pros', Stone suffers from an unrequited love from fellow staffer K. C. Downing (Jessica Harper), and has an inspiration, inviting legendary swashbuckler Alan Swann (Peter O'Toole) to appear on the show. As King Kaiser, star of the hit series, Joseph Bologna captures much of Sid Caesar's legendary physical 'presence' and irreverence to authority. When threatened by gangsters over a 'too close to home' series of parodies about crime boss Karl Rojeck (portrayed with brute menace by veteran actor Cameron Mitchell), Kaiser 'thumbs his nose' at them, mimicking the gangster mercilessly. "I'll KEEP doing it!" he taunts. "Why? Because it's FUNNY!"

Then there is Peter O'Toole's 'Alan Swann'. With his own career a roller coaster ride of alcoholism, resulting in the near destruction of his health, no actor could have 'channeled' Errol Flynn better. Just as Flynn, by the 1950s, was a nearly burned-out roué, his classic good looks long gone, O'Toole's matinee-idol appearance, after years of self-abuse, had aged into a gaunt mask, making Benji Stone's film montage of 'classic' clips more poignant. What Flynn still had, in abundance, were charm and a ready wit, and O'Toole's 'Swann' is so enchanting a personality that you can't help but love him, and root for him to succeed.

From the opening nostalgic strains of Nat King Cole's rendition of 'Stardust', through Benjy's futile effort to attempt to keep Swann sober (Red Skelton loved to tell how he kept Flynn sober on his program...he emptied all of the actor's bottles of vodka, replacing it with water...and Flynn couldn't tell the difference!), to a riotous Swann dinner with Benjy's family, to the near-disastrous broadcast, with Swann developing stage fright, and Kaiser brawling with mob enforcers...MY FAVORITE YEAR has one glorious scene after another, each unforgettable!

One of the AFI's '100 Greatest Film Comedies', MY FAVORITE YEAR will bring a tear to your eye, even as you laugh. It was a time of legends, and heroes who would live up to boyhood dreams.

Film comedy doesn't get any better than this!

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