Synopsis
Fledgling comic Benjy Stone can't believe his luck when his childhood hero, the swashbuckling matinee idol Alan Swann, gets booked to appear on the variety show he writes for. But when Swann arrives, he fails to live up to his silver screen image. Instead, he's a drunken womanizer who suffers from stage fright. Benjy is assigned to look after him before the show, and it's all he can do to keep his former idol from going completely off the rails.
Ratings
IMDb7.3/10
Rotten Tomatoes97%
Metacritic62/100
121 audience votes
Key crew
- Norman SteinbergScreenplay
- Ralph BurnsOriginal Music Composer
- Richard BenjaminDirector
- Dennis PalumboScreenplay
Cast
- Peter O'TooleAlan Swann
- Mark Linn-BakerBenjy Stone
- Jessica HarperK.C. Downing
- Joseph BolognaKing Kaiser
- Bill MacySy Benson
- Lainie KazanBelle Carroca
- Anne DeSalvoAlice Miller
- Basil HoffmanHerb Lee
- Lou JacobiUncle Morty
- Adolph GreenLeo Silver
- Tony DiBenedettoAlfie Bumbacelli
- George WynerMyron Fein
Stills
Themes
new york cityalcoholismlive televisionacting1950s