YMMV / The Entertainer

• Alternate Character Interpretation: Is Archie a once-successful washed-up has-been, or was his career and reputation never very good to begin with? Given how terrible Archie's material is, most likely the latter, as lampshaded by Phoebe when contrasting Billy's career in entertainment with his son Archie's:
  Phoebe : Better to be a has-been than a never-was.
• Retroactive Recognition: This film is the first on-screen appearance of Joan Plowright as Archie's daughter Jean, of Alan Bates in a supporting role as Archie's older son Frank and of Albert Finney, who appears briefly as Archie's younger son Mick.
• Unintentional Period Piece: The use of the fall of the British vaudeville scene in parallel to the British empire's fracture through the Suez Canal incident was a novel dramatic device in the 1950s, but as neither element is as relevant to modern audiences it can be difficult to stage a new production of the show. Notably, recent revivals of the show have updated it to the The Falklands War or other conflicts.