Royal Flash

Who else but that hate-to-love Malcolm McDowell could possibly do justice to one of literature's great scoundrels, Harry Flashman? In this George MacDonald Fraser spin-off of Thomas Hughes' classic Tom Brown's School Days, we are treated to some hilarious apocryphal tales involving such larger-than-life nineteenth-century figures as Otto von Bismarck and Lola Montez.

This ripely visual Richard Lester production is sometimes a bit over the top, with gratuitous slapstick and audible guffaws and grunts. Nevertheless, on balance, a delightful romp, and a chance to see the wonderful Alastair Sim in one of his final appearances.

One of my favorite period farces. It's very reminiscent of Adventures of Brigadier Gérard (1970). Malcolm McDowell's performance is brilliant and brazen. With lines like . . . "T'ain't the weapon. T'is the man behind it!", I can't help but be reminded of Rik Mayall's Lord Flashheart. Hooray! Woof!

First and foremost- This movie is enormous fun.

If you're a fan of the books (as I am - and if you're not then I heartily recommend them) then this film admirably captures the sense of fun and adventure that the books have. It has a lot of slap stick in it which doesn't necessarily translate well from the books, but it does capture a sense of (for lack of a better term) light-hearted love of fun that is pure seventies and just would not and could not be replicated now. Cinema just isn't in the right frame of mind for this anymore. It's either too serious or too dumb but it couldn't achieve this in it's wildest dreams in these morose joyless days.

Malcolm McDowell is young and at the top of his game as his charismatic persona in "A Clockwork Orange". Olly Reed is pure, toe cringing (but love-him-really) badness as Otto Von Bismark. There's so much comedy but there are also scenes where your swashes will never be so buckled! Don't expect a Citizen Kane or anything even remotely close, just sit back and enjoy a classic "Saturday afternoon" romp (and never has a word been so well used) through a classic Flashman story- great baddies, exotic foreign locales and wenches ripe for Flash's advances! Enormous fun if you approach it in the right frame of mind- it will leave you shouting HUZZAR!

If you haven't read any of the Flashman series, go out and find one. Rollicking good read, with the protagonist being an absolutely selfish, cowardly, mean-spirited ass of a man who nonetheless finds himself considered a dashing hero by the public at large. Fraser does a good job of converting his book to the screen (writing Three Musketeers was probably good practice), re-teaming with Richard Lester. MacDowall is good as ol' Flashy, glossing over the fact that Harry is supposed to a large, strapping Brit, and not a skinny little guy like Malcolm. :)

Enjoyable on its own merit, but I'd say read one of the other Flashy books and then see this.

A lot of the humour in the Flashman novels is based on the discrepancy between how Harry Flashman appears and what he's actually thinking. As a result the filmmakers have had to make some adjustments to how Harry is played to bring our more of his innate cowardliness, lechery, thieving, and being an all round bad egg to the surface. I believe that the filmmakers have got the balance right and fully enjoyed this adaption of the Flashman papers.

The screenplay is a fairly faithful adaption of the original novel, which can be expected when the author is also wrote the screenplay. Malcolm McDowell and Oliver Reed give fine performances in the central roles, with the supporting cast ranging from excellent (Henry Cooper) to bland (Britt Ekland).

Bags of fun, but not to be taken seriously.