The Last of Robin Hood (2014)

Best movie of this year hands down!

Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

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.

Kevin Kline and Susan Sarandon give fine performances in this movie, as they so often have done. That doesn't make this movie better, however. The script has lots of holes, unfortunately.The clearest, best-developed character is the mother, a sad version of Mama Rose from Gypsy. She had dreamed of being a dancer, but when that was denied her by an accident, she undertook to raise her daughter to be in show business, and thus to live through her. That explains most of her actions in the movie.Flynn's character is less well-developed. Why his fascination with this particular young girl? Why does he become involved with heroin? Kline makes him a fascinating, charismatic character, as Flynn evidently was in life even to the end, but the script never lets us really see behind the charming facade.The daughter, Beverly, remains the most enigmatic. Does she really want a career in show business? What does she see in Flynn? She is the last person we see in the movie, but we never really see inside her.Once Flynn dies, the other two characters aren't interesting enough to hold our attention for the last 15-20 minutes of the movie.It's worth watching once for Kline as Flynn, but I wouldn't watch it again.---------------------------After seeing this movie I happened to catch *My Favorite Year* on TCM. It's an infinitely better movie, because it approaches Erol Flynn in his last years in a different way. Rather than attempting to be a docudrama, *My Favorite Year* is a fantasy on how Flynn might have been in his last years. The script is not shackled to history. Rather, it is free to soar. And soar it does. Peter O'Toole creates a bigger-than-life Flynn, not tied down by any effort to be faithful to reality. Nor does he try to imitate Flynn. Rather, he creates a character who faces the issue that *The Last of Robin Hood* never really confronts: the conflict Flynn must have felt between the image of him that the studio created, largely through his adventure films, and the real Erol Flynn. The whole movie is wonderful, but the greatest moment comes at the end, during the crazy live TV show, when O'Toole's character gets caught up in his own legend and becomes the swash-buckler he had played so many times on screen. It's magic, a magic we never see, alas, in *The Last of Robin Hood.*If you're a fan of Kevin Kline, a great actor, see *The Last of Robin Hood* once to see his fine performance as Flynn. But if you're a fan of Erol Flynn, pass on *The Last of Robin Hood* and see *My Favorite Year.* You will love it.

Errol Flynn was one of my favorite actors and one of the most popular actors from the mid 30s through the 50s. Even today, "Robin Hood" (1938), "Light Brigade" (1936), "Dawn Patrol"(1938), "Sea Hawk" (1940), "They Died with their Boots On" (1941), and "Roots of Heaven" (1958) – to name just a few - stand the test of time. How disappointing then such a bland film as "Last of Robin Hood" seeks to capture his final years. I kept hoping that this film would do for Flynn what "Chaplin" (1992) did for Chaplin (curiously enough Kevin Kline gives excellent performances in both: he played Douglas Fairbanks in the Chaplain biopic).Putting aside Kline's strong performance and his ability to look like Flynn, the rest of the film is torturous, more like a docudrama than a biography. The film fails to capture the 50s in spirit, despite the extensive use of 50s cars. And the references to Hollywood insiders like Melvin Belli will be lost on almost everyone.If you're a big Errol Flynn fan you want to give this one a miss.

It is Friday 13, 2013 the world premier at the Toronto International Film Festival – TIFF.A great movie and very tastefully done and the actors are really well chosen! Kevin Kline portrays Errol Flynn extremely well. What a great actor to duplicate Errol Flynn so well, which is a most difficult task indeed! Kevin Kline has his gestures, how he applied his charm in various situations and or how he bewilders Florence, his haughtiness or flamboyancy at times or his fun loving nature, Kevin Kline shows it all and so very well. The make-up artists did a great job as he looked quite a lot like Errol Flynn. What a superb acting in the malaria attack and in particular the dying scene, just gripping, totally outstanding. Susan Sarandon plays Florence very well. Of course, not knowing Florence it is hard to tell how authentic Susan Sarandon was – but she made me believe – yes – this most likely was Florence. As a matter of fact one could feel how disappointed Florence was with her life and her dreams not materializing and as she tries to live her life through her daughter by trying to make her a star. Susan Sarandon reveals in her portrayal, right or wrong, that she tried her best to make a dream come true, if not for herself at least for Beverly. Florence not a well educated woman and therefore thought that Errol Flynn is the answer to her prayers. Susan Sarandon's performance is so genuine of a stage struck mother who would walk on hot coals to get to what she wants.Dakota Fanning plays a very lovely Beverly Aadland and again as Beverly is not known to us the judgement of performance how the real Beverly was is very hard. In the movie she plays an obedient daughter and lives her mother's dream until she meets Errol. She then is much more interested in Errol Flynn than in a stage carrier. At least that's how it comes across in the movie. She plays a passive very nice Beverly not at all like described in Earl Conrad's "A Memoir". As a matter of fact, I did not really believe Earl Conrad's description of Beverly as coarse, ill-mouthed teenager. Maybe he was out for sensational writing to sell his book. It is very sad that in our society writings have to have tainted, grimy and/or scandalous content in order to appeal to the public. And of course anybody who was in the writing business took advantage of Errol Flynn making his escapades 10 times worse than they really were. When ever there was a possibility they were over him like vultures.Dakota Fanning fits the role very well. She gives Beverly warmth and sensitivity. She had to have some of these qualities as Errol Flynn himself was always very well mannered. He would have not put up with bad, ill mannered and swearing behavior. Dakota Fanning is a very good actress and gives a great performance in portraying Beverly Aadland!The Film shows that they had a very nice believable relationship. We must here consider what is written by authors that Errol Flynn never outlived his youth, judging by his often immature mischievous behavior. Maybe Beverly gave him a kind of reliving youth or fulfilled a yearning of his soul; we don't know – only Errol Flynn and Beverly know what was what! I think their love for each other was genuine.A very nice touch at the end was that they showed a picture of Errol and another one from Beverly. I think it is a very good movie and everybody should see it.