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Features: DVD
King Kaiser's Comedy Cavalcade goes on in minutes. But guest star Alan Swann is exiting the building. Fast. "I'm not an actor. I'm a movie star!" he bellows in stark fear. He just found out the show is live!Directed by Richard Benjamin and inspired by incidents from comedy legend Mel Brooks' early career, My Favorite Year is a Golden Age revisited, a zany, misty-eyed tribute to TV's early days. Academy Award nominee Peter O'Toole plays Swann. Once a swashbuckling movie idol whose face was plastered on fan magazines, Swann is now mostly plastered. And it falls to Cavalcade's rookie writer (Mark Linn-Baker) to keep him on the sober and narrow. Don't touch that dial.
"A very funny picture. O'Toole is simply astounding." Pauline Kael, 5001 Nights At The Movies
"Sterling performance from O'Toole..." VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever
Editor's Note
Set in the early '50s in New York City, the golden age of live television, a swashbuckling guest star of a hit variety show experiences a great deal of difficulty keeping sober, so one of the show's writers is assigned to babysit. Academy Award Nominations: Best Actor--Peter O'Toole.
Plot Summary
The year is 1954, and dashing Alan Swann, an alcoholic, swashbuckling movie star, is about to make his first television appearance, on "The Comedy Cavalcade" (a brilliant take-off on Sid Caesar's "Your Show of Shows"). Fearing Swann will make a drunken fool of himself on live TV, the producers ask Benji Stone, one of the show's youthful writers, to watch and babysit Swann for the few days prior to his stint on the show. The unlikely duo experience numerous adventures together (such as a dinner with Benjy's star-struck relatives) and form a lasting bond in the process.
| Features | Audio: English, French Dolby Digital Mono | | Dubbed: French | | Feature Length Audio Commentary By Director Richard Benjamin | | Interactive Menus | | Original Theatrical Trailer | | Scene Selection | | Subtitles: English, French, Spanish, Portuguese |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Warner |
| Release Date: 5/23/2006 |
| Running Time: 92 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 1982 | | Catalog ID: 65405 | | UPC: 00085396540521 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English, French Dubbed | | Available Subtitles: English, French, Portuguese, Spanish | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1 |
| Cast & Crew
| Awards |
Nominee (1983) | | | Golden Globe, Peter O'Toole, Best Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical | | | Golden Globe, Lainie Kazan, Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Motion Picture | | | Golden Globe, My Favorite Year, Best Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical | | | Oscar, Peter O'Toole, Best Actor in a Leading Role |
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| | Professional Reviews | Variety
"...An enjoyable romp through the early days of television, MY FAVORITE YEAR provides a field day for a wonderful bunch of actors headed by Peter O'Toole..." 09/29/1982New York Times
"...A funny and good-natured comedy..." 10/01/1982 p.C10 Premiere
"A riff on real-life onetime swashbuckling matinee idol Errol Flynn..." 04/01/2004 p.61 Reel.com 9 of 10
Loosely based on Mel Brooks' experiences toiling as a young writer on Sid Caesar's legendary TV show, Your Show of Shows, My Favorite Year captures the essence of the high-wire act of live TV during one memorable week in the fall of 1954. On the King Kaiser Show, Kaiser (Joseph Bologna) truly is royalty, lording over those peasants that include his producer Leo Silver (legendary writer and lyricist Adolph Green) and his writing staff: head writer Sy Benson (Bill Macy), Alice Miller (Anne DeSalvo), the nearly mute Herb Lee (Basil Hoffman), and the baby of the group, Benjy Stone (Mark Linn-Baker). Kaiser brooks no dissent on his set, but he is a benevolent despot -- if he hurts your feelings, you may just be rewarded by the gift of a set of white-wall tires...The relationship that develops between Swann and Benjy isn't exactly surprising -- of course, Swann discovers his better self under Benjy's benevolent and adoring care, and, of course, Benjy grows up a little when he discerns his hero's feet of clay. But Benjamin's and screenwriters Dennis Palumbo and Norman Steinberg's affection for these characters is palpable; this is an enormously good-natured movie. - Pam Grady
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