list http://www.spout.com/ Recent community activity around My Favorite Year on Spout Copyright 2005-9 Spout, LLC Spout RSS http://www.spout.com/images/SpoutLogoRSS.jpg http://www.spout.com/ 136 30 http://www.spout.com/films/My_Favorite_Year/23775/default.aspx Title: My Favorite Year
Year: 1982
Director: Richard Benjamin
Plot: Richard Benjamin's directorial debut is an engaging slice of nostalgia, purportedly based on an incident in life of Mel Brooks. Mark Linn-Baker stars as Benjy Stone, junior writer on the popular 1950s TV comedy/variety series The King Kaiser Show. Kaiser (Joseph Bologna)'s guest star this week is Hollywood matinee idol Alan Swann (Peter O'Toole), a swashbuckling Errol Flynn type, right down to his indiscriminate womanizing and fondness for mass quantities of booze. Stone is assigned to keep the actor out of trouble during rehearsals and deliver him sober to the performance. Becoming fast friends, Stone and Swann alternate baby-sitting responsibilities: Swann takes the young writer to the Stork Club and on an early-morning jaunt through Central Park with a "borrowed" police horse, while Stone takes Swann to his home in the Bronx, where the star is fawned over by Benji's mom (Lainie Kazan) and asked embarrassing questions about his love life by Uncle Morty (Lou Jacobi). Despite a few anxious moments, all goes well until Swann, panicking at the discovery that King Kaiser's show will be telecast live and not on film, walks out just before airtime. Shamed by Benjy into honoring his committment, Swann makes a spectacular, timber-smashing entrance, saving the show and rescuing Kaiser from being rubbed out by a gangster (Cameron Mitchell) whom the comedian has offended. Though it fluctuates between wistful realism and the manic exaggeration of a TV comedy sketch, My Favorite Year holds together quite well, delivering a plentitude of solid laughs. Jessica Harper, usually the star of bizarro films like Inserts and Suspiria, is quite appealing as Benjy Stone's girlfriend; that lady dancing with O'Toole at the Stork Club is 1930s film star Gloria Stuart, later an Oscar nominee for Titanic; the King Kaiser Show wardrobe mistress is played by Selma Diamond, a real-life comedy writer for Sid Caesar. My Favorite Year was converted into an unsuccessful Broadway musical in the early 1990s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Times Tagged: 1
Number of Lists: 4
Number of blog posts: 1
SpoutRating: 3
]]>Wed, 18 Feb 2009 22:36:07 GMTMy Favorite Year1982Richard Benjamin<a href="/players/P____81388/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Richard Benjamin</a>'s directorial debut is an engaging slice of nostalgia, purportedly based on an incident in life of <a href="/players/P____83158/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Mel Brooks</a>. <a href="/players/P____42587/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Mark Linn-Baker</a> stars as Benjy Stone, junior writer on the popular 1950s TV comedy/variety series The King Kaiser Show. Kaiser (<a href="/players/P_____7154/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Joseph Bologna</a>)'s guest star this week is Hollywood matinee idol Alan Swann (<a href="/players/P____53681/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Peter O'Toole</a>), a swashbuckling <a href="/players/P____90030/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Errol Flynn</a> type, right down to his indiscriminate womanizing and fondness for mass quantities of booze. Stone is assigned to keep the actor out of trouble during rehearsals and deliver him sober to the performance. Becoming fast friends, Stone and Swann alternate baby-sitting responsibilities: Swann takes the young writer to the Stork Club and on an early-morning jaunt through Central Park with a "borrowed" police horse, while Stone takes Swann to his home in the Bronx, where the star is fawned over by Benji's mom (<a href="/players/P____37216/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Lainie Kazan</a>) and asked embarrassing questions about his love life by Uncle Morty (<a href="/players/P____34896/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Lou Jacobi</a>). Despite a few anxious moments, all goes well until Swann, panicking at the discovery that King Kaiser's show will be telecast live and not on film, walks out just before airtime. Shamed by Benjy into honoring his committment, Swann makes a spectacular, timber-smashing entrance, saving the show and rescuing Kaiser from being rubbed out by a gangster (<a href="/players/P____49649/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Cameron Mitchell</a>) whom the comedian has offended. Though it fluctuates between wistful realism and the manic exaggeration of a TV comedy sketch, My Favorite Year holds together quite well, delivering a plentitude of solid laughs. <a href="/players/P____30518/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Jessica Harper</a>, usually the star of bizarro films like <a href=/films/17110/default.aspx style='text-decoration:underline'>Inserts</a> and <a href=/films/33734/default.aspx style='text-decoration:underline'>Suspiria</a>, is quite appealing as Benjy Stone's girlfriend; that lady dancing with O'Toole at the Stork Club is 1930s film star <a href="/players/P____68812/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Gloria Stuart</a>, later an Oscar nominee for <a href=/films/114746/default.aspx style='text-decoration:underline'>Titanic</a>; the King Kaiser Show wardrobe mistress is played by <a href="/players/P____19028/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Selma Diamond</a>, a real-life comedy writer for <a href="/players/P____10145/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Sid Caesar</a>. My Favorite Year was converted into an unsuccessful Broadway musical in the early 1990s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide1Slightly Tagged (1-5)413http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/t20399t8m5o.jpghttp://www.spout.com/films/My_Favorite_Year/23775/default.aspxFilm http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2008/5/30/30219.aspx Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 5/30/2008 6:01:00 PM
Body: It’s a sad day for Mel Brooks fans. With us still mourning yesterday’s passing of Harvey Korman, who appears in a number of Brooks’ films, today Page Six reports that the Spaceballs director is “quietly shuttering” his film production company, Brooksfilms. In addition to Brooks’ directorial works from A History of the World: Part 1 through Dracula: Dead and Loving It, the company also made such films as The Elephant Man, 84 Charing Cross Road, My Favorite Year and one of my childhood favorites, the underrated guilty pleasure Solarbabies. I first caught wind of the news from Stu over at Defamer, and seeing as how his post features a montage of Brooksfilm clips that excludes Solarbabies (for which he apologizes), I present you with a clip from the film here. Isn’t it great to know that breakdance and beatboxing is still cool in the waterless post-apocalyptic future? Another thing that would be cool in the future: a Broadway adaptation of Solarbabies. Hopefully Brooks will forget about that Blazing Saddles musical that’s rumored to be in the works and concentrate on bringing one of his non-classics to the stage. It’d be kinda like Starlight Express meets Urinetown. If Xanadu can be a hit and Young Frankenstein can’t, I say this idea should at least be explored. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Fri, 30 May 2008 22:01:00 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com5/30/2008 6:01:00 PM It’s a sad day for Mel Brooks fans. With us still mourning yesterday’s passing of Harvey Korman, who appears in a number of Brooks’ films, today Page Six reports that the Spaceballs director is “quietly shuttering” his film production company, Brooksfilms. In addition to Brooks’ directorial works from A History of the World: Part 1 through Dracula: Dead and Loving It, the company also made such films as The Elephant Man, 84 Charing Cross Road, My Favorite Year and one of my childhood favorites, the underrated guilty pleasure Solarbabies. I first caught wind of the news from Stu over at Defamer, and seeing as how his post features a montage of Brooksfilm clips that excludes Solarbabies (for which he apologizes), I present you with a clip from the film here. Isn’t it great to know that breakdance and beatboxing is still cool in the waterless post-apocalyptic future? Another thing that would be cool in the future: a Broadway adaptation of Solarbabies. Hopefully Brooks will forget about that Blazing Saddles musical that’s rumored to be in the works and concentrate on bringing one of his non-classics to the stage. It’d be kinda like Starlight Express meets Urinetown. If Xanadu can be a hit and Young Frankenstein can’t, I say this idea should at least be explored. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/friendship/MemberTagFilms.aspxfriendship
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