Format: Turner Classic Movies on rockin’ flatscreen.
A couple of years ago, Nick Jobe asked me to give him a list of films he’d never seen that I thought he should see. One of the films I picked was My Favorite Year. I picked this for a couple of reasons. First, while it’s not Peter O’Toole’s best film, it is my favorite of his performances. Second, I think it’s funny as hell. Third, it’s a movie that I think is sadly forgotten. Nick didn’t like it as much as I do, and didn’t like it as much as I hoped he would. Naturally, I think he’s wrong, but that’s okay; this is my site, not his.
The plot is simple enough. Benjy Stone (Mark Linn-Baker) is a junior writer on a comedy variety show in 1954. One week, the special guest star is Alan Swann (Peter O’Toole), essentially an Errol Flynn clone. Swann made his living in swashbuckling action films and has since fallen on hard times due to his constant womanizing and drinking. In fact, he misses his initial meeting with the show because of a one-night stand and finally shows up so drunk he’s barely able to stand. The star of the show, Stan “King” Kaiser (Joseph Bologna), wants to dump the has-been star, but Benjy vouches for him. Because of this, Swann becomes Benjy’s problem literally. It’s up to Benjy to make sure that Alan Swann shows up for every rehearsal on time and sober, something that is going to prove to be a significant problem.
