Film Review: My Favorite Year (1982)

avatar

(source: tmdb.org)

First Golden Age of Television could be, ironically, also called the Dark Age of Television because most of the shows in 1950s America left hardly any record due to video tapes being unavailable and expensive and all the shows, consequently, being aired live. Fortunately, many very talented people had begun their careers on television in that time and later, after becoming major Hollywood players, had opportunity to pay homage to that era on the big screen. One such film was My Favorite Year, 1982 comedy directed by Richard Benjamin.

The plot is set in 1954 New York where the protagonist and narrator Benji Stone (played by Mark Linn-Baker) works as a young staff writer for Comedy Cavalcade, popular variety show aired on NBC. Alan Swann (played by Peter O'Toole), star of Classic Hollywood swashbuckling films, is brought to guest star on the show, but the show's main star Stan "King" Kaiser (played by Joseph Bologna) is concerned that the actor, nowadays better known for excessive drinking and womanising, might not be in shape to perform on live television. Stone is given the task to watch over him and prevent Swann to getting into trouble. That proves to be much harder than Benji has anticipated, but two men nevertheless become friends, with Swann giving advice to Benji how to win the heart of his female colleague K.C. Downing (played by Jessica Harper).

As the title suggests, My Favorite Year takes unapologetically nostalgic approach to 1950s, with the protagonist claiming that the fashion, car design and quality of television programming was better than in later years. This film contains a lot of details that could be interpreted as a homage to 1950s US television and many details of the plot were inspired by real life personalities. Comedy Cavalcade and King Keiser were based on Your Show of Shows and its main star Sid Caesar, while the character of Benji Stone was based on Mel Brooks who began his career as the writer for that particular show. Connoisseurs of Classic Hollywood, on the other hand, won't have problems to recognise inspiration for Alan Swann in Errol Flynn, star of swashbuckling films who actually appeared as guest star on Your Show of Shows, although quite uneventfully, unlike his counterpart in the film. Peter O'Toole plays this character with superb comedic skill, although not without some inspiration in his real life, which was at times also marked by excessive drinking. O'Toole later received one of many "Oscar" nominations for his work in this film. Mark Linn-Baker plays the straight man in this film very well, and he would later improve his skills for playing that kind of character in popular television sitcom Perfect Strangers. Character actor Richard Benjamin also does well in his directorial debut, although some scenes vary in quality of humour, while some are incomprehensible to the audience unfamiliar to 1950s America. One such example could be found in the character of sinister Hoffa-like union leader (played by Cameron Mitchell), who very violently objects to his character being parodied on the show. Romantic subplot between Benji and K.C. isn't handled well, and the film ends on a tad too sentimental note. However, My Favorite Year features still effective combination of humour and nostalgia and could be recommended even to viewers who aren't too interested in the history of early television.

RATING: 6/10 (++)

Blog in Croatian https://draxblog.com
Blog in English https://draxreview.wordpress.com/
Leofinance blog https://leofinance.io/@drax.leo
Cent profile https://beta.cent.co/@drax
Minds profile https://www.minds.com/drax_rp_nc
Uptrennd profile https://www.uptrennd.com/user/MTYzNA

Hiveonboard: https://hiveonboard.com?ref=drax
Rising Star game: https://www.risingstargame.com?referrer=drax
1Inch: https://1inch.exchange/#/r/0x83823d8CCB74F828148258BB4457642124b1328e

BTC donations: 1EWxiMiP6iiG9rger3NuUSd6HByaxQWafG
ETH donations: 0xB305F144323b99e6f8b1d66f5D7DE78B498C32A7

Simple Posted with Ecency footer



0
0
0.000
2 comments
avatar

Congratulations @drax! You have completed the following achievement on the Hive blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :

You received more than 75000 upvotes.
Your next target is to reach 80000 upvotes.

You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word STOP

Check out the last post from @hivebuzz:

Hive Power Up Day - August 1st 2021 - Hive Power Delegation
0
0
0.000