A triple tribute -- to the great swashbuckling action heroes of the past -- aka Errol Flynn -- and to the earliest days of live television. And finally, the quintessential essence of Peter O'Toole, the most graceful drunk ever captured on celluloid.
--Anthony
My Favorite Year
Directors: Richard Benjamin
Producers: Michael Gruskoff
Writers: Norman Steinberg and Dennis Palumbo
Features: Widescreen anamorphic transfer Director's commentary Preview English/French language English, French, Spanish and Portuguese subtitles
Characters:
Alan Swann - Peter O'Toole
Benjy Stone - Mark Linn-Baker
K C Downing - Jessica Harper
King Kaiser - Joseph Bologna
Genre: Comedy
Review:
I guess it would be going too far to describe 'My Favorite Year' as the quintessential Peter O'Toole movie. There is, after all, always 'Lawrence of Arabia' to consider.
But I think it would be fair enough to say that the wonderful, warm and witty comedy 'My Favorite Year' contains the quintessential ESSENCE of O'Toole -- the character he plays in this film and his own persona, are inextricably intertwined.
In a nutshell, the film is the remembrance of a special year -- 1954 -- when the very young Benjy Stone (modelled loosely on the young Mel Brooks) is junior script-writer and odds-job boy for the popular variety television show King Kaiser Comedy Cavalcade. And he is told to ride shot-gun to make sure that the week's special guest, famous movie-star Alan Swann, turns up sober on show-day, and in fit condition to perform.
Alan (modelled loosely on the great Australian actor Errol Flynn, the essential Robin Hood and Captain Blood for all generations) was a swashbuckler -- his swashing hand is now more used to holding a bottle than a sword. And though he still beds women with nonchalant ease, his amatory exploits are tinged with sadness, especially when he considers the constant failures of his relationships, particularly with the young daughter he hardly knows.
Peter O'Toole plays Alan with huge affection. And he does seem to have studied enormously well the arduous task of looking -- well, out of his head. He is one of the best drunks to have ever graced the screen, in fact, and one suspects some very special study went into that. The film shows why it's just as well that out there in the real world, O'Toole did in fact give up the booze!
Alan, under young Benjy's warm care and watchful eye, is in fact progressing very well -- staying sober, rehearsing, even gracefully enduring a full-on New York Jewish dinner with Benjy's family -- until the moment dawns that he realises that his television appearance is in front of a live audience -- and is being broadcast live to millions! LIVE!!! "I'm not an actor", he cries in abject fear. "I'm a Movie Star!" And it's back to the bottle.
But all is redeemed in the end as he returns just in time, in flamboyant, swashbuckling style, to save the show, save the day, and save the show's host, King Kaiser. It's a wonderful escapist, redeeming ending and is the sort of conclusion every great career should have.
'My Brilliant Career' is a wonderful, often under-rated comedy. It is great to have it at last on DVD.
Warner Brothers have been fairly bare-bones in its release. There are no special 'making of' documentaries, but there is a full-length optional commentary track by director Richard Benjamin which I'll listen to one day -- they're usually the last thing I get round to as they're too often disappointing. The only stand-out totally brilliant commentary track I've heard is the one to the Criterion Edition of 'Charade' which is a star event by itself! And the director and star of Disney's 'Pollyanna' put on a pretty good turn too on that DVD. But for me, the film is always the main attraction, not the extras.
And Warner Brothers have done well by the film. It is a beautiful new widescreen anamorphic transfer, with luminuous colours and crisp detail. The soundtrack is only one-channel which is always annoying -- I don't know why an optional two-channel mode isn't given, to let the sound be heard through a hi-fi instead of just centre speaker. Packaging is in the Warner snapper-case which most people seem to hate, but which I think is the best DVD packaging of all. This is a film to buy rather than rent -- you'll return to it often.
ANTHONY CLARKE (anthonyjhc@netscape.net)
---Anthony Clarke