Simply Perfect

Just perfect...

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Solid, well-written comedy that makes making a solid, well-written comedy seem easy. There are so many fine character parts that it's hard to say who the star is. Of course there's Peter O'Toole but he only plays the star. This cornucopia of comedy includes so many well-blended styles it amounts to a lexicon of laughter. There's slapstick, sarcasm, deadpan, bathroom, droll, farcical and more. There are even a couple of touches of heartwarming schmaltz.Again to make the 10 line limit:Solid, well-written comedy that makes making a solid, well-written comedy seem easy. There are so many fine character parts that it's hard to say who the star is. Of course there's Peter O'Toole but he only plays the star. This cornucopia of comedy includes so many well-blended styles it amounts to a lexicon of laughter. There's slapstick, sarcasm, deadpan, bathroom, droll, farcical and more. There are even a couple of touches of heartwarming schmaltz.

Hilarious, an unexpected joy. The laughs keep coming, thanks to an expert cast and a big dose of Jewish humor. No one seems in charge of getting the weekly TV show together for an audience of 20-million. Instead, everyone backstage appears to be rushing around like spinning tops. Even the alleged star King Kaiser (Bologna) can't seem to keep the order of his skits straight. Looks to me like bibulous guest star Alan Swann (O'Toole) should fit right in, drunk or sober. Then there's poor young schlemiel (Linn-Baker) who gets to baby-sit Swann when not pursuing a fruitless romance with the comely K.C. (Harper). Mix in a bunch of mobsters who don't like being made fun of, and you've got a finale to end all finales, even if the mayhem is every TV producer's nightmare.Now I'm really curious whether the old Sid Caesar show was really as wild backstage as the movie presents it. At the time, I was a faithful watcher, so the hijinks here come as a special revelation. But what else could you expect from backstage characters like Caesar's writers Mel Brooks and Woody Allen. Anyhow, this was Dick Benjamin's first directorial outing even though you'd never know it. Then too, credit O'Toole with coming up with a really sly performance that alternates between drunken stupor and charming finesse. I particularly like it when Swann reveals his real self but still shifts gears into the movie swashbuckler when needed.All in all, it's a wacko comedy well deserving its place on Premiere's Top 50 comedies of all time.

Benjy Stone is the junior writer on the top rated variety/comedy show, in the mid 50s (the early years). Its a new medium and the rules were not fully established. Alan Swann, an Erol Flynn type actor with a drinking problem is to be that weeks guest star. When King Kaiser, the headliner wants to throw Swann off the show, Benjy makes a pitch to save his childhood hero, and is made Swann's babysitter. On top of this, a union boss doesn't care for Kaiser's parody of him and has plans to stop the show. Boy Peter O'Toole Creates One Of The Greatest One Of The Best Comedy Characters Of All Time In This Movie Allan Swann. Peter O'Toole Also Is Funny From Start To Finish. I Am Surprised No-One Has Remade This Movie. It Would Be Better Than Any Comedy Released Since 2006(Besides Superhero Movie(I Do Watch A Lot Of Stupid Comedy's)). Now Let Me See Whats 'My Favourite Year'...For Movies. I Personally Enjoyed The Year 2005 For Movies Not Because It Made My Favourite Movie (It Didn't). But The Quantity Of Good Movies That Year Was Great. I Loved This Movie As A Comedy. Its Gonna Be A Classic To Me.Rating: 8/10

Yep - and one of My Favorite Comedies too, that seems to get better and better each time I catch it! That title year is 1954 and young TV comedy show writer (Linn-Baker) gets assigned as the chaperon to former, swinging, - and heavily drinking - swashbuckler movie star on the downfall (O'Toole) for one wild weekend in NYC. Loving, glorious comedy nostalgia that is both a dreamy-eyed glance at old-time movie matinées & stardom as well as a smashingly production-detailed ode to those seemingly innocent, care-free days of the 1950s and its dawn of television.Bullet-paced and aloof like a sitcom (or a Marx brothers movie), with nonstop parade of quotable lines and caricature-like characters that makes it ideal for multiple viewing... and a mystery why it seems SO overlooked and not rightly revered as one of the best comedies of the 1980s. The star of O'Toole shines at its brightest, but down to the smallest role, it's cast to utter completion.... which makes me ask: what ever happened to Mark Linn-Baker and Joseph Bologna?8 out of 10 from Ozjeppe