My Thoughts on the Film, My Favorite Year (1982), 4/25/2026…

Peter O’Toole is such a wonder to watch, a master to witness, a phenomenon to behold. The landmark roles he’s played—Colonel T.E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Henry II in The Lion in Winter (1968), and Henry II in Becket (1964), to name a few—are timeless portrayals, benchmarks that all aspiring actors should pursue.

He’s just as remarkable, just as fantastic, just as perfect in My Favorite Year (1982), where not only does he steal every scene he’s in, he has a wonderful time doing so. It’s obvious that the character he portrays, Alan Swann, is a fictional version of himself as an actor. But he does not overdo, caricature, or lampoon his persona; he plays it straight, with the emotion and the comedy coming naturally.

The other performances were examples of comic genius. Mark Linn-Baker (Perfect Strangers), Joseph Bologna (Blame It On Rio), Bill Macy (The Jerk), and Jessica Harper (Minority Report) all round out pitch-perfect renditions of characters that truly belong in farce.

Although the movie serves as a farce, it suffers from the pacing typical of the 1980s, which sadly makes the film's duration feel uneven. Farces typically have a momentum, yet there was no discernible crescendo here, except near the end. The film seemed wholly episodic at best. Would it have been a better film if it were made today? Or during the last decade? Maybe. But it definitely would not have been a great film without the late, great Peter O’Toole.

I highly recommend this film.