This film really isn’t about writing as much as it’s about being a writer. Loosely based upon a moment Mel Brooks life when he was a TV comedy writer in charge of keeping Errol Flynn in line.
Set in 1954, Benji Stone nee Steinburg (Mark Linn-Baker) is the freshman writer on the King Kaiser Comedy Cavalcade and determined to prove himself without anyone caring that he is young and Jewish. He’s written a sketch specifically for Alan Swann (Peter O’Tool), an aging adventure movie actor with a reputation for alcoholism and womanizing. Hilarity ensues as Benji has to babysit Swann to make sure that he shows up for his live TV appearance. And if Swann lets his bad behavior get in the way, Benji might lose his coveted job in a television studio. Furthermore, it is a story of how we can’t always live up to the legend or expectations that are set by the world around us. I think you should watch this movie yourself to find out more. It’s very underrated.
Although Benji is thrilled that Swann liked the skit he wrote, he is still a little unsure about being the youngest man in the writers’ room. If you ever watched the Dick van Dyke Show, the television writer’s room in this will look similar as many of the same people were the basis for both. There’s the hard-headed lead writer who throws a tantrum when something he came up with is rejected by the boss - until the boss is within earshot. There’s the solo woman, someone who has to be fairly thick-skinned and clever since she’ll be hit on by half of the building. Then there’s the oddball. This brain trust’s oddball comes in the form of a man who doesn’t like talking out loud and whispers everything to the female writer for translation. The movie show the pressure these four are under each week in order to produce something funny. Because, as the old quote goes, “Dying is easy, comedy is hard.”
