My Favorite Year
by Richard Benjamin
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DVD details
Actor: Bill Macy, Jessica Harper, Joseph Bologna, Mark Linn-Baker, Peter O'TooleDirector: Richard Benjamin
Brand: Warner Brothers
Cinematographer: Gerald Hirschfeld
Producer: Art Levinson
Producer: Joel Chernoff
Producer: Mel Brooks
Producer: Michael Gruskoff
Writer: Dennis Palumbo
Writer: Norman Steinberg
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Portuguese (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 92 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2002-07-09
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Model: 65405
Studio: Warner Home Video
DVD Reviews of My Favorite Year
DVD Review: "There's OUT and there's out ..."
Summary: 5 Stars
"My Favorite Year" is my wife's favorite comfort movie; it never fails to lift her spirits. It also is special to me since the favorite year of the title, 1954, is the year I was born, so it's certainly one of my favorite years as well! What adjectives can I use to describe this comedic gem? Let's see: joyous, effervescent, buoyant, carefree, innocent, witty, adroit, touching, urbane, madcap, sprightly, savvy, affectionate, mirthful, and nostalgic!
This is a love letter to the Golden Age of Television Comedy in the 1950's. It's very loosely based on an actual incident when screen swashbuckler Errol Flynn appeared on Sid Caesar's "Your Show of Shows", and Mel Brooks was a junior writer on the staff. Peter O'Toole plays the boozy, randy screen legend Alan Swann (Flynn) who breezes in from Hollywood to appear as guest star on "The Comedy Cavalcade" starring King Kaiser (Caesar) played by Joseph Bologna. When he arrives plastered for the first read through of the script at the television studio and passes out on the writer's table after executing a wobbly somersault, Kaiser wants to have him replaced. However fledgling staff writer Benjy Stone (Mark Linn-Baker playing Brooks), whose screen idol is Swann goes to bat for Swann to get a second chance. Kaiser grudgingly agrees with the proviso that Benjy will be Swann's caretaker, totally responsible for him the week he is on the show. He accepts the challenge, and so the adventure of Benjy's life begins.
The film starts with the strains of Nat King Cole's definitive version of the haunting Hoagy Carmichael standard "Stardust", over a marvelous shot of the Manhattan skyline bathed in golden sunbeams against an azure blue sky which makes the city look magical and fittingly sets the mood. The New York City viewed courtesy of production designer Charles Rosen is wondrous, like stepping into a time machine. Not a detail escapes his eye, everything is set circa 1954, from the autos and city buses, the marquees for Radio City Music Hall and the Broadway Theatre district, the posters for the shows in Shubert Alley were all running on Broadway in 1954, down to the littlest detail such as the magazines & papers in the news kiosk. Costume designer May Routh completes the look with her very authentic costumes. First time director Richard Benjamin, who shows real promise in this debut that wasn't quite realized, mentions in his audio commentary the movie was intended to be a valentine to this sadly past New York City, the loving care is evident, and it works.
The original screenplay by Norman Steinberg and Dennis Palumbo is hilarious, with many of the lines little nuggets of gold as for instance: Alan Swann: "Damn you! I'm not an actor, I'm a movie star!" Belle Steinberg (Benjy's mother) to Alan: "Welcome to our humble chapeau!", Benjy's Aunt Sadie reacting to a compliment on her outfit, a wedding dress complete with veil: "You like it? I only wore it once!" Belle to Alan: "So Swanny..." Benjy interrupting "Ma, he's an actor not a river!" Lil, (as Alan saunters into the ladies room): "This is for ladies only!" Alan: (unzipping fly), "And so is this Ma'am, but every once in awhile I have to pass a little water through it!" Benjy: "Katharine, Jews know two things suffering and where to get great Chinese food!". And of course there is the title quote of this article delivered with relish by Alan to Benjy!
Peter O'Toole gives a bravura larger than life performance as Alan Swann that runs the gamut from pratfalls to pathos; he is just extraordinary. There is one silent sequence where he's waiting in his limousine outside his young daughter's house unable to pluck the courage to knock on the door. Instead he watches in eager anticipation as she emerges and gets on her bike, his face reflecting the pride and love he feels, which melts into regret and recrimination as he pulls back from the window and tells the driver to go, a wonderful piece of emoting, no words needed!
Still a fine ensemble cast provides a perfect support for O'Toole's star turn to dazzle us. All have their opportunity to show their skill as deft comedic actors. These include: Joseph Bologna, William Macy, Anne de Salvo, Adolph Green, Lou Jacobi, and Selma Diamond, all should take a bow! Special mentions to two in particular Mark Linn-Baker as Benjy Stone who is fresh, eager, callow and endearing and makes a perfect sidekick to Peter O'Toole. The second is Lainie Kazan, a singer who revealed unsuspected comic depth as Belle Caroca, Benjy's zaftig Yiddish mama, and presides over one of the most uproarious dinners in cinema history when Benjy brings Alan to her home.
The extras, sorry to say are slim, the aforementioned commentary by director Richard Benjamin, which is very entertaining and informative, but would have been more so if O'Toole, Linn-Baker, Kazan, and any of the others in the cast were included. There is also the theatrical trailer. One cunning touch is on the menu as you run your mouse on the category you want to view, a green martini olive appears, if you click on it a martini glass surrounds it!
The Oscar nominations proved again just how wrong they can be by only bestowing one nomination to Peter O'Toole as Best Actor. This was an incredible year for Best Actor there should have been the 1st three way tie in the Academy history with Paul Newman in "The Verdict" and Dustin Hoffman in "Tootsie" in the winner's circle with O'Toole. Instead Ben Kingsley won for "Gandhi"! At the very least there should have been Best Supporting nods for both Mark Linn-Baker and Lainie Kazan, Best Screenplay for Steinberg and Palumbo, Best Production Design for Charles Rosen and Best Costume for May Routh, with possible nods for Best Picture and Best Director Richard Benjamin! Go figure, right?
Description of My Favorite Year
Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 05/23/2006 Rating: PgBestsellers in DVD
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