My Wicked, Wicked Ways: The Legend of Errol Flynn

Duncan Regehr deserves a lot of credit in this role. He has a lot of the same gifts as Errol Flynn - the intelligence, artistic flair, athletic ability, grace, height, charm, convincing romantic heroism and handsome good looks. He did an excellent job. I believe Flynn's daughter actually chose him for this role. He went on to become Zorro in the New World Zorro series on the Family Channel for 4 seasons, and did a superb job. Very few actors have the physical grace, perception and personality to effectively and compellingly portray heroes such as Robin Hood, Zorro, and so forth. Both Flynn and Regehr do. Very few actors could assay the role of Flynn himself. Actually, no one else even comes to mind. Regehr should have gotten an award, at least I can give him 5 stars in this review.

If you read Errol Flynn's autobiography, My Wicked, Wicked Ways, you will see that this film is full of poetic licence. Not that that makes much of a difference, because Errol Flynn was pretty generous with poetic licence in the autobiography anyway. No need to worry about spoilers, since there is nothing there to spoil.

To me it would seem more sensible to use the story about a fictitious Hollywood actor; then you could go out and find a better actor than Duncan Regehr to play him, and you wouldn't have to worry about the audience saying things like: "But he didn't have a moustache in Captain Blood." Another failing of this film is that it shows Flynn as a two-dimensional character. Flynn was an intelligent man, well educated, well read. This film only concentrates on his funster image.

Regehr is a disaster. The rest of the cast struggle with their scripts. Hal Linden is OK as Warner, and Barbara Hershey makes a believable Damita, although Lili Damita herself did not think so.

The best thing to do with this film is to forget about it and let it gently slip away to oblivion. So what I am writing this for, I can't imagine.

Like most biopics, this one concentrates only on a part of the subject's life, while all the essentials are left out, that is first of all his stormy and adventurous youth, before he was cast in the first film version of the Bounty epic (the Australian "In the Wake of the Bounty", 1933, where he played Fletcher Christian), while "Captain Blood", which this films begins with, was his eigth film. It then reveals his life in Hollywood, exploiting fully his first marriage with all its turns and complications, to end with the death of his two best friends, the stunt man Billy Welch and John Barrymore, and his trial for rape, which definitely checked his career, whereupon he ceased to be a living legend to just become a legend. He was then at the age of 33, a crucial age in many career shifits, and he would probably himself have said about the rest of his life, "the less said about it, the better", but he wrote his biography just before he died, and it is a masterpiece of film literature, very enjoyable and interesting, just like David Niven's autobiographies later on. "My Wicked Wicked Ways" is actually most remarkable among autobiographies for its clear detachment of the writer to himself - it's like a confession, where he reveals all his wicked ways in an apologetic way, which only makes him the more human and likeable. The film which thus only comprises nine years of his life, less than a fifth, is very well made though and of almost as great interest as the book, especially for Duncan Regehr's performance, who succeeds in identifying with Flynn and showing great likeness - he was also 33 when it was made. The portrait of John Barrymore is equally convincing and also gripping, while only Olivia de Havilland is less convincing - she died recently at 103. His one son Sean from his first marriage died in the Vietnam war 1970 (in Cambodia) and his body was never found, but also he had a son called Sean. When Flynn died in Vancouver at 50, his coroner said his body was like that of a 85 year old man and was puzzled by the state of his liver, stating, that "with such a liver he should have been dead ten years ago". In brief, the film is higly recommended and worth watching especially for anyone interested in life in Hollywood in its golden age of the 30s until the war.

A few months back, I (like many others before me I'm sure) discovered the "legend" of Errol Flynn. Now, I call it a legend, because if you were to print this man's life story today, I'm sure no one would believe it. But make no mistake; in Hollywood, Errol Flynn was, and still is, a legend. I have heard it said many times that Errol Flynn's real life escapades far outweighed any that could be conjured up for him on the big screen. This is true. After reading the book "My Wicked Wicked Ways" (on which this movie is based) and a few other repitable biographies, I won't be the one to argue with that. As for the movie adaption of My Wicked Wicked Ways, all I can say was, it's OK. It's prettied up, but at least it gives you sort of an idea of what Hollywood was like back in the "Golden Years" of the 30's and 40's.

The movie starts from Flynn's arrival in hollywood in the early thirties. He is simply one of the thousands of contract players that Warner Brothers has on the payroll, and waits, like most of the rest, for bit parts, and walk on roles. Duncan Regehr captures Flynn's personality pretty well. He was a man who lived for the moment, and a man who simply ignored any consequences to his own actions. He was fearless, but vulnerable. And of course, the ladies loved him! Everything else aside, I think what attracted everyone to him was not so much his looks, but his charm. Many of the people who worked with him commented that "No matter what he did, you could never stay mad at him for long." He'd tell a quick story, or smile that devilish smile, and everyone would forget that he was three hours late for shooting that day. He was also smart. Self taught, mostly. We get the feeling that he could have been anything he wanted to. The highlights along the way are some of the Flynn/Curtiz tiffs on set. Michael Curtiz directed Flynn in a bunch of films, and was NOT a fan of Errol Flynn. He usually had to beg and plead Flynn to get through a scene! Also, Barbara Hershey as Lili Damita, Flynn's on again, off again, on again, off again wife. The scenes between the two of them were hilarious. Also, the scenes between Flynn, and his friend, the doomed John Barrymore. Again, this was fluffed up a little bit, but if you are a fan of Errol Flynn's you should take a look at it anyways...also, read the book MY WICKED WICKED WAYS, I guarantee you won't be able to put it down... Some of my personal Errol Flynn film favorites are CAPTAIN BLOOD (1935) CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE (1936) THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD (1938) THE SEA HAWK (1940) THEY DIED WITH THEIR BOOTS ON (1942) GENTLEMAN JIM (1942) OBJECTIVE BURMA (1945) THE ADVENTURES OF DON JUAN (1949) all these are highly entertaining, and will show you why Flynn was on top of Hollywood's star list for over ten years....LONG LIVE ERROL FLYNN!

If you are an Errol Flynn fan you'll see what's missing in this and all the other films that pigeon hole him. I doubt one could be made that would capture his true essence. The guy was wonderful. Full of life. Unusual. Unique individualist. Acting was just another adventure for him. Seems like he did each part using what was within himself to make each character dynamic. Not some static pre-thought out intellectual playing of a part. He was full of life and took it wherever it lead. Most of all, he was not a phoney. This is why he is so hard to capture in a biopic. I'll watch it anyway!