This film is set in the early days of television when all shows were filmed live before an audience. Young script writer Benjy Stone is asked to look after fading ,alchoholic ,swashbuckling film star Allan Swann who is appearing on the comedy show that Benjy writes for. Mark Linn Baker does a good job as Benjy but this film belongs solely to Peter O Toole who plays the alcoholic Allan Swann perfectly.This may well be because the role mirrored his own life in so many ways. This has to be the funniest film i have seen in ages.Scenes where Allan steals someones girlfriend in a restaurant,where he swings from a balcony on a fire hose and the final chaotic scene on stage involving gangsters and musketeers had me rolling around in stitches. This film had tender moments too.Allan Swann waiting in his car to see his daughter who he hadn't seen in years is one of the many moving scenes in this film. This film combines laughter with moments of contemplation perfectly and deserves 8/10