At the moment one realizes the world is always going to be slightly larger than you think it is... well, that moment is called an epiphany.
During this schlocky comedy featuring the legendary Peter O'Toole and the pre-"Perfect Strangers"(TV Sitcom) Mark Linn-Baker, I had an epiphany. It's hard to describe, and perhaps this movie is not for you.
The movie, is a thinly veiled (and slightly fictional) account of Mel Brooks' meeting with Erol Flynn as a young comedy writer. The story of Benji Stone (Linn-Baker as the Mel Brooks character) meeting his screen hero is NOT a slapstick farce. At some point, when one meets a "star" there are periods of which you see them... as unreal. Star's are often annoyed when fans call them by their characters names, but this movie really dives into that relationship. Painfully at times.
O'Toole puts in a smashing performance as a drunk (which I'm not sure is a stretch for he and the crowd he is famous for drinking with) washed up action hero of whom everybody wants a peice.
I guess what doesn't work for this movie is that while part of the way through all of the jokes, it hits a nerve... and the jokes aren't so ha ha anymore... at the point where being drunk isn't fun or funny, when it becomes pathetic and disappointing. It is scary that the film manages not only to 'pull-up' before loosing all sense of humor ("I'm not an actor! I'm a Movie star!"), and it's saved in parts by Joseph Bologna's turn as King Kaiser (a loving tribute to the "real" Sid Ceasar behind the comedian).
Were this to have been the ACTUAL characters, Brooks, Ceasar, even Flynn, then we would have been robbed of the ending, and perhaps one of my favorite moments in film.
You see, I've been a fan of comics and movies all of my life. I've also been witness to both real life comedy, and human tragedy. But at heart I understand why I'm a fan-boy. I do. Because I believe on some level that heroes like Alan Swan exist, and I admire the actors because I'd like to think that at that MOMENT in time... they really WERE that hero. I saved a friends life once, and I cannot tell you WHO that person was... but he did all the right things when the moment happened.
In a way, I kinda feel that this is what this movie was trying to convey, and perhaps why entertainment is so important to me. I've got other role models... but it's the hero in your head that helps you out when things are at their worst.
If you are thinking of all of these things when you watch this movie... the ending just might 'get ya'.
It 'gets me' every time... sometimes just talking about it. And it's a memory of Peeter O'Toole AND Erol Flynn that I will always hold close.
"Those were movies, damn you! Movies!"
"Not to me!"
It's a powerful scene.
By the way, this IS a comedy... and since the two genres fight for control of the movie... it's not perfect, but I wouldn't change a thing.
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