My Wicked, Wicked Ways... The Legend of Errol Flynn (1985) (TV)

Director:

Don Taylor

Writers:

Doris Keating (writer)
James Lee (writer)

Release Date:

January 1985 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama

Plot Keywords:

Womanizer | Behind The Scenes | Marriage | Party | Trial

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Primetime Emmys.

Cast

Duncan Regehr	...	Errol Flynn
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Adrian Aron	...	Actress
James Bacon	...	Himself
Robert Beckler	...	Ballroom Dancer
William Beckley	...	Alexandre
Mark Bringleson	...	Detective / Actor
Jan Burrell	...	Millie
Pepe Callahan	...	Pepe
Michael Callan	...	Hal Wallis
Mark Carlton	...	Art Skildanny
Camilla Carr	...	Lou Warner
George Coe	...	Irving Jerome
Denise Crosby	...	Diana Dyrenforth
Noel De Souza	...	Corpsman
Dick Durock	...	Crusher
Carl Esmond	...	General Von Helmuth
Stefan Gierasch	...	Michael Curtiz
Michael C. Gwynne	...	Raoul Walsh
Deborah Harmon	...	Prudence
Morgan Hart	...	Marie Smith
Barbara Hershey	...	Lili Damita
Barrie Ingham	...	John Barrymore
John Dennis Johnston	...	Billy Welch
Ami Julius	...	Girl #1
Gene Knight	...	Master of Ceremonies
Elissa Leeds	...	Bette Davis
Hal Linden	...	Jack Warner
Irene Olga López	...	Mexican Madam
Marlyn Mason
Pamela Mason	...	Phoebe Straight
Darian Mathias	...	1st Girl
Darren McGavin	...	Dr. Gerrit Koets
Alan Oppenheimer	...	Jerry Gersler
Lee Purcell	...	Olivia de Havilland
Deborah Richter	...	Lucille Hartley
Eugene Ross	...	Muldoon
George Marshall Ruge	...	Fencing Opponent
Elizabeth Savage
David Schroeder	...	Bartender
Linda Shayne	...	Girl on Train #1
Beth Windsor	...	Lita

Runtime:

143 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:R

Company:

Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS)

Movie Connections:

References Frisco Kid (1935)

The man needs a better bio pic

I have a soft spot for this movie, if for nothing else it was filmed in the eighties and the subject is Errol Flynn, one of the greatest stars in Hollywood history. Whenever I think of Flynn I think of that line in "My Favorite Year" where the character Alan Swann says: "I'm not an actor, I'm a star!". Of course the character is a take off on Flynn, who did indeed show on a similar show, see the movie if your a Flynn Fan.

But unfortunately, this film is pretty badly done. It's not the actors fault, one can see some effort on their part, though Barbara Hershey is abysmal as Errol's wife. The flick needed far more money, to make the scenes in the thirties and forties believable, and the director seemed to settle for first or second takes, because a lot of the scenes were pretty dreadful.

The problem with the movie is that it failed to capture the true lust for life that Errol Flynn obviously had--anyone who's read the book, the first tell all by a major star, can't help but be disappointed. Perhaps someday some quick witted director will try again, we can only hope. Flynn is the one actor who can truly say that his private life was more interesting than his life on screen.

Perhaps the most egregious sin of this effort was the fact that they sliced off two of the more interesting parts of Flynn's life--the first and the last: It makes no mention of his real life swashbuckling days in tasmania and New Guinea and on the waning part of his life, they leave off after the late forties, and forget a major part of his life. He died, after all, at only fifty. There are so many stories they didn't tell--and though time is a constraint, of course, they pumped up parts of the story that they basically invented. It really is too bad, this man's life is worthy of a bio film far more serious than this one. But one has to love this, if one is a fan of Flynn, simply because it is about him. And perhaps that's enough on one level. But the true love of life, and wickedness, and intensity, needs a better movie. Flynn is a complicated character--though very lovable in his ways, he was also someone who made other people unhappy because of his selfishness.

But altogether, this movie isn't worthy of the magnitude of this guy's personality, his intense life, and the stories that he has to tell.