Slideshow
MY FAVORITE YEAR
U.S., 1982
Directed by Richard Benjamin
With Peter O'Toole, Mark Linn-Baker, Jessica Harper, Joseph Bologna
Approx. 92 mins. DCP.
“Fond nostalgia for that golden and not altogether mythical age (1954) when American television was live and innovative and came from New York City. Finding his feet in this buzz of hard work and talent is a young scriptwriter (Linn-Baker), suddenly assigned the heady task of nursemaiding an uproarious guest star through rehearsals and away from drink and trouble. The guest is a former screen idol in the Errol Flynn mould: a very funny performance from O'Toole, who throws himself into the drunk's pratfall routines like a lanky rag doll, coming up ever serene, debonair and with a suspicion of eye-liner.” – Time Out
Reviews
“As the guest from Hollywood — the peacock Alan Swann, who is part John Barrymore and part Errol Flynn (maybe the best parts of each) — O'Toole is simply astounding.”
– Pauline Kael, The New Yorker
“It is clearly O'Toole's film, and he is superb at playing the O'Toole of every gossip-writer's most cherished wish.”
– Derek Malcolm, The Guardian
“MY FAVORITE YEAR is a film that rises — and sometimes soars — on the beauty of its central idea and on the loving, intelligent way it’s been fleshed out.”
– Michael Sragow, Rolling Stone