The Last of Robin Hood

This film tells the story of an underage girl who has an affair with the established and much older Hollywood actor, Errol Flynn.

I am not familiar with the background stories behind these people portrayed, but I feel that "The Last of Robin Hood" portrays them to be more restrained and muted than what the events really were. Errol Flynn in this film is portrayed to be quite a gentleman, while Beverley is portrayed to be having quiet displays of emotions. For example, after Beverley's first audition in Errol Flynn's home, she was on the brink of tears. I would imagine a teenage girl to have a much stronger emotional reaction than that. The only realistic display of emotions is in Beverley's 17th birthday party, when Beverley's mum argues with Beverley, drawing unwanted attention in the party.

Maybe the idea of this film is to draw moral questions to trading your soul for your career, hence the rather muted emotions in the film. I found it quite plain, but still an interesting film to watch.

the last of Robin Hood. It's a heartfelt look back at the dying days of the Golden age of Hollywood. And of Hollywood's greatest swashbuckler and legendary hellraiser Errol Flynn. but its more then that. It's a tender love story about Errol Flynn and his last great love Beverly Aadland . Flynn met Beverly in the summer of 1957 he was a faded movie star she was a 15 year old would be actress. Sparks flew between them and that led to a serious relationship that was problematic at best illegal at worse. And Flynn wily old Flynn countered it by befriending Beverly's mother Florence. She becomes so smitten with Flynn and with the Hollywood scene she lets Flynn do anything he wants to with her daughter. The Tragic end that Errol Flynn suffered didn't end any of the messes he made . In fact he complicated Beverly's life worse in death then he did in life. In life towards the End Errol Flynn struggled to make Beverly a Movie star making the Cuban Rebel Girls a film so bad it will go down in immortality as Errol Flynn's last movie.

But Kevin Kline portrays Errol Flynn with Flynn's trade marked devil may care attitude He flows with confidence and he is damn near Perfect as Errol Flynn ! Dakota Fanning does a remarkable job as Beverly Aadland and there is real chemistry between the two leads. Susan Sarandon steals the movie as Beverly's mom Florence.

A well done movie about a sad time in Hollywood. When Robin Hood grew sick and old. and Captain Blood died penniless. But loved and he died still admired by his legions of fans. and most importantly. He died in the arms of the woman he loved. not even Hollywood could dream of a ending that wonderful for a man who was a legendary bad boy. Errol Flynn knew he was dying. and as he said in My wicked Wicked ways he had no regrets. he did it his way. And in the end he died happy.

A movie that should have won Oscars Galore and had a longer run in theaters. But it didn't and somehow that's fitting, And Somewhere Errol Flynn is raising a glass every time someone sees this movie and smiles and laughs. and says. "Did you really think they could get rid of Robin Hood that easy I'm still here old Chum"!

And we are grateful for this movie in reminding us that Errol Flynn was a legend every bit as a legend as say Robin Hood. And Legends don't die.

They just get bigger.

Anthony Hopkins and Toby Jones did amazing work as Alfred Hitchcock; Meryl Streep was incredible as Margaret Thatcher while Helen Mirren was gobsmacking as the Queen, but Kevin Kline's portrayal of the aging Errol Flynn is positively eerie.

He looks like him, he speaks like him and he has caught the mannerisms. Kline was 15 years older than Flynn, but Errol's hard-living evened things up; its almost as though he has crossed back from the other side.

To modern generations, Errol Flynn, if they have heard of him at all, would have to be of passing interest at best, and this movie about his last love affair with Beverly Aadland must seem an odd little movie. Dakota Fanning may even be of more interest. Possibly they would also be put off by the age difference between Errol and Beverly - he was pushing 50 and she was 15.

However for those of us who were alive when Flynn was still making films, and were interested enough to read any of the books about the guy, this movie is close to fascinating.

With some knowledge of his life, you have to appreciate all the little touches seeded throughout the film. One was the way the relationship with Beverly starts with Flynn trying his well-practiced technique of seducing women by discussing with a co-conspirator in front of them how perfect they would be for a part in an upcoming production.

However, after taking advantage of her in a somewhat disturbing scene, his feelings for her go beyond a quick conquest and they become involved in an oddly-matched and dangerous relationship.

Much of the movie is told from the viewpoint of Beverly's mother, Florence, played by Susan Sarandon, who comes across as the stage mother from hell.

Rather than being overshadowed by Kline, it's Dakota Fanning's movie too. She underplays while projecting naïveté on the one hand, and worldliness beyond her years on the other. The last part of the movie shows the effect her unwanted celebrity has on her stability, while Florence actually revels in it.

The film has been criticised, scathingly by some reviewers, not only for skimpy production values, but also for sanitising the relationship, and for not taking more of a moral stance over the underage aspect. However, I do feel we are made aware of the situation throughout the film, and it doesn't ever really get a seal of approval.

Nevertheless, according to Roland Fisher, Beverly Aadland's husband of 40 years, she admitted to loving Errol Flynn until the day she died (in 2010).

Knowing a fair bit about the subject probably has a lot to do with whether or not you will appreciate this film - I for one found it totally absorbing.

The first time I saw Errol Flynn in a movie was The Dawn Patrol. I was blown away by his talent, since I'd expected him to be a swashbuckling stereotype; but, I was also impressed that someone in 1938 could give such a spot-on impression of an actor who hadn't yet been born: Kevin Kline. Once I found out Kevin Kline had made a biopic of Errol Flynn, I rented it as soon as I could.

The Last of Robin Hood is quite sad, as it focuses on the last portion of the great legend's life. I'll never understand why it took Hollywood so long to cast Kevin Kline in this movie, since he made a smash as "The Pirate King" in 1983. Had they cast him in an Errol Flynn biopic in 1985, 1990, 1995, 2000, it could have been a different kind of movie. The story could have been more exciting, featuring a star at the beginning of his career, or making a particularly memorable film. This movie shows how the great swashbuckler declined, his dependence on alcohol, his lack of career prospects, and his shocking romance with an underage girl. It's not uplifting, it doesn't honor his legacy, and it doesn't even pay tribute to his great talent. Simply put, it's depressing. If Flynn himself saw this movie, he'd probably be mortified.

Why is this movie worth watching, then? Because Kevin Kline is Errol Flynn. He brings the silver screen heartthrob back to life and puts him in another movie, something we all would love to see. Just as Robert Downey Jr. becomes Charlie Chaplin so completely, you forget it's not a documentary, you'll start to believe there were hidden cameras around Flynn's home that captured him in embarrassing moments. I might not have enjoyed watching this movie, but I was in awe of Kevin Kline's talent-just like I was of Errol Flynn's in The Dawn Patrol.

"In like Flynn," a colloquial expression based on the dissolute life of Errol Flynn.

Because Kevin Kline looks like an aging Errol Flynn (he died at 50), it's easy to believe Kline's depiction of the swashbuckling roué from early 20th Century American film in The Last of Robin Hood. Yet, if you want really to experience the bad boy who gave Robin life, read his autobiography, My Wicked, Wicked Ways. Sadly this film is a dull, soporific take on the last years of Flynn.

Not that Kevin Kline doesn't have the ability to be roguish like Flynn, it's just that he appears to have been directed to underplay the famous rake, a letdown for those of us hoping to experience the wild wicked one. Instead, this Flynn is pursuing a much younger woman, Beverly Aadland (Dakota Fanning), with a feeling of entitlement and an ennui-subtle sense of "been there."

More interesting than the moribund Flynn is Beverly's mom, Florence (Susan Sarandon) -- a stage mom if there ever was one. Her machinations to get her daughter into films are almost unbelievable. When she realizes her underage daughter is sleeping with Flynn, the other side of her ambition, the love of a mother, rings true as a contrast. However, she allows the affair. To their credit, Fanning and Kline seem to care about each other to the extent that any moral outrage about statutory rape is slightly mitigated.

Although the script doesn't allow for the dramatic energy that should accompany his shenanigans, brightening the dim movie is Sarandon's ambitious mom with dorky glasses and fat—she steals whatever show there is to take.

So if you want to witness the quiet decline of a glamorous pedophile, the coda to Flynn's checkered life is gently carried out by Kevin Kline as if in hospice. It's the last of an outrageous actor. R.I.P.