51.   The other guests, played by actors including Charles Durning, Mark Harmon and Jason Alexander, are in and out in a hurry.

52.   The same actors play three generations of Basque peasants, locked in bitter familial and political rivalries.

53.   They know their audience is savvy enough to understand that these actors are playing different characters.

54.   Though two appealing actors play Lester and Dashiell, the roles are strikingly miscast.

55.   Three actors play David at different stages of his life.

56.   Three actors play Helfgott as a boy, a fragile adolescent and a grown man, respectively.

57.   Three younger actors play Roland, Mike and Slim in their teenage years and look nothing like their adult counterparts.

58.   Two young actors play appealing misfits who form a fanciful, symbiotic bond full of Arthurian daydreams.

59.   Under the direction of David Carson and Herbert Wise, the actors winningly play it straight, never descending into camp.

60.   Usually, the other actors are playing to his profile, or even the back of his head.