Sunday, May 9, 2:00 PM, The Hall at Brown Center (MICA)

Director: Richard Benjamin

Cast: Peter O'Toole, Mark Linn-Baker, Jessica Harper, Joseph Bologna, Bill Macy, Lainie Kazan

Country: U.S.
Year: 1982
Running Time: 92 minutes
Format: DVD

When people talk about the Golden Age of Television, they are referring to a distant time when television was mostly live, when it attracted the best young talent in the entertainment world, and the most successful and interesting people from every field were eager to participate. Weekly shows were watched by a percentage of television viewers that today only gathers once a year for the Super Bowl.

Produced by Mel Brooks, My Favorite Year is the fictional story of one week in the life of a hit comedy show in the 50s, based on the legendary Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shows (its writers were newcomers- Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, Neil Simon, to name a few). They have hired a slightly fading movie star, Alan Swann, (based on Errol Flynn and played by Peter O'Toole), to be that week's guest host and appear in one of the skits. Swann's wild reputation precedes him, so young show staffer Benjamin Steinberg (based on Mel Brooks and played by Mark Linn-Baker in his first movie role) is assigned to protect the star from himself.

When we asked the Sun's Dan Rodricks to be a Guest Host this year, the title of this movie came out of his mouth immediately. Dan knows the movie cold - I've gotten a series of e-mails with hilarious chunks of dialogue - and he's in good company. The screenplay was nominated for Best Screenplay by the Writers Guild, the Golden Globes nominated it for Best Picture and both Peter O'Toole and Lainie Kazan (playing Benjy's Mother) got Best Actor nominations. The Academy gave O'Toole his seventh nomination as Best Actor (he's never won). Every filmmaker I know loves this movie.

One sober film preservation note: there is no known 35mm print of this wonderful movie.

-- Jed Dietz

Dan Rodricks has been a columnist for The Baltimore Sun since 1979. His column first appeared in The Evening Sun and garnered several regional journalism awards as well as three national awards, including the prestigious Heywood Broun Award from the Newspaper Guild. His column has also won numerous regional and local awards. His television work has included a long weekly stint as a feature reporter/commentator on WBAL-TV, from 1980 until 1993, and he has also written and narrated programs for Maryland Public Television. His radio documentaries, produced for WBAL Radio, won acclaim as well as the Silver Medal in an international broadcast competition in 1993. He has also performed in semi-professional theater in Baltimore with stage credits including work with the Young Victorian Theater Company and the Action Theater.