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Rating:  -
Ok it is not really my favorite movie, but it is a really good one. Peter O'Toole gives a great performance. You'll laugh and enjoy this heart warming tale about the week a TV producer spends with the past-his-prime actor. Just a great classic.
Rating:  -
A charming, feel-good movie, based, I believe, on a memoir. Memorable characters, just a great film! Recommend it highly!
Rating: -
`My Favorite Year' is simply a very funny, very touching movie about an aged film star who is stuck in the past. He's fallen into a life of drunken debauchery, but when he is given the opportunity to appear on a variety show he shows up, ready for action.
The film follows one of the shows writers, Benjy Stone, as he chaperones this actor, Alan Swann, making sure he doesn't do anything too hazardous before filming the show. Benjy practically worships Swann the actor, but he finds that Swann the man is far from what he expected. He's brash, loud, intoxicated and obnoxious. He also has a back story that is touching and heartbreaking. The film pits man against man in a beautiful and witty way, leaving both Swann and Stone better men after the fact.
They learn from each other, as can be expected from a film of this nature.
The humor is quick, yet it has a lasting punch. There are many quotable lines and many memorable scenes, due in large part to O'Toole's hilarious performance. I have said this before to friends; it's the type of performance that I'm shocked received the recognition it did (the fact that this was Oscar nominated blows my mind) but it's a performance I'm so glad was that well received. It's not your typical awards magnate, but it is so complete; so cleverly crafted that you can't help but adore it. O'Toole is mesmerizing from start to finish, nailing each line and delivering a startlingly sincere comedic gem of a performance.
The rest of the cast is very good as well, with Mark Linn-Baker serving as the perfect compliment to O'Toole, providing a stark contrast; both actors offsetting each other wonderfully.
I will say that the film plays out almost like a sitcom in a way, which is a little bit of a deterrence for me. It's a small squabble, but the film never felt like a `film' to me. It feels like an overly long television episode; and maybe that was the intent (beings that this is a throwback to the comedy sketch shows of the 50's) but it is the one complaint I had with the film. It think the reason I didn't like that direction was that, in the end, it didn't feel like it made as much of an impact as I wanted it to. It feels rather small when all is said and done. While you watch it, it's truly hysterical, but part of me forgot about it when it was over.
Oh well, I don't know if that makes a lot of sense, but in my head it does.
I still recommend this (and the 4 stars should be telling as to my feelings of the film overall), since it is very funny and at times every heartwarming (the scene with Swann and his daughter is notably touching). If you want to see O'Toole steal every scene with his charisma, swagger and comedic timing than this is the right movie for you.
Rating: -
It is a shame that this movie is no longer in print. The movie takes us back to the early days of tv. Peter O'Toole is our Error Flynn type character who is a "movie star and not an actor". Writing in the movie is so clever I still quote lines from it years after I saw the original.
Rating: -
My Favorite Year is one of my favorite films of all time. I loved it as a kid and it's one of the few releases I can describe with the words "good clean fun." It's a shame that Mark Linn-Baker didn't become a bigger star, but, like the character of Mr. Swann, Peter O'Toole never had a finer moment than on the frames of this classic (in my view). We know the fifties were not as remembered here, but any harkening to a golden age like this one should make us all smile. Its romance is compelling, joyous, and simple--something to which we wish there was more of in life. The good guys win, we rejoice, and that is the meaning of fiction, but oh what fiction! Furthermore, as if all this were not enough, My Favorite Year is at times hysterical. I'll always treasure this movie and would like to give it 100 stars.
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