The American Film Institute squandered another opportunity to list one of Errol Flynn’s films on their latest “Greatest Films of All Time” list. I wasn’t surprised to see that such classics as CAPTAIN BLOOD, THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE, THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD or THE SEA HAWK (to name a few) are missing because it’s been obvious to me for many years that certain “influences” involved with the AFI harbor anti-Errol Flynn sentiments. This is something the powers-to-be over at the AFI will undoubtedly publicly deny.
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Screw ‘em.
However, the June 22nd cover dated “Entertainment Weekly” magazine features an article by Marc Bernardin titled “the Greatest Action Films of all Time” and Bernardin lists THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD as # 18.
Kudos to Bernardin for including an Errol Flynn film.
In general, I agreed with most of the films on Bernardin’s list, although someone needs to finally tell the world’s critics that while Akira Kurosawa’s THE SEVEN SAMURAI is indeed a good film, it pales in comparison to the film it inspired, a Western called THE MAGNIFICIENT SEVEN. But placing Kurosawa’s name on a list is really chic amongst film critics and film writers, but I always laugh out loud when I see all the print devoted to THE SEVEN SAMURAI. Give it a rest, boys. THE MAGNIFICIENT SEVEN is the one that matters.
Anyway, since Marc Bernardin is one of the few film writers out there in la-la land willing to cite Flynn’s influence (“Errol Flynn is the king, nay, the Pope of derring-do”) that I’m willing to forgive him for jumping on Kurosawa’s over-rated bandwagon.
End of mini-rant.
Coffee courtesy of Dave.
No animals were killed or injured during the composition of this rant although I mangled a VHS copy of THE SEVEN SAMURAI.
— Shamrock
Anonymous
June 26, 2007 at 8:20 pm
Sweet words of Wisdom, Chum!
Anonymous
June 28, 2007 at 8:00 pm
I too have struggled with the “picks” of the AFI for years. Many of their selections just strike me as ludicrous. Kudos to the EW writer for adding Robin Hood, although I personally would have ranked it higher. There are so many Flynn films that could have been on this list! It's just nice to see something from the classic era included. :-)
Anonymous
June 28, 2007 at 8:01 pm
BTW, it's good to be back with Flynn fans! :-)
Cheers!
Becky
Anonymous
June 28, 2007 at 8:01 pm
BTW, it's good to be back with Flynn fans! :-)
Cheers!
Becky
Anonymous
June 29, 2007 at 12:46 am
Cheers!
And it's great to see that Dave is serving coffee to someone other than me.
Anonymous
June 29, 2007 at 3:42 am
Coffee's always on… I listened to a radio show here in the Seattle area today that had a topic in which callers gave their bets on what movies would be included on this list. The Adventures of Robin Hood came up from a caller and the host – BJ SHAY – said he had never seen the movie. This prompted callers to tell him that he should see it. He said the movie must be something special to have been made in 1938 and be included on the list! And he thought it was positioned rather high for a movie as old as it is – so he thought he'd better see it. He kept bringing up the movie and Errol Flynn as the segment continued – all in positive terms – so Errol got a big plug out it on a huge local station with the number one morning talk show for guys… The BJ SHAY SHOW…
Glad to have you aboard, Becky!
Aresia
February 23, 2012 at 4:44 pm
I just went into the archives at random to see what it is like (I think it’s great that you can now pick every month directly) and noticed that strange code after the first paragraph. This looks like work, David…
Inga
February 24, 2012 at 1:52 pm
That’s great that you can log in and see ALL the recent coments that were made! Wow, this new blog system really is something. That way you can make sure that you don’t miss a comment when many have been made.