The basic drama with Errol Flynn was that he had everything - looks charm talent
intelligence and a huge following of devoted fans and willing women. He was the classic image
of a swashbuckling hero and romantic lover. That which other men merely fantasized about Flynn
did with style and dash living in a way which surpassed any film he ever made. But somewhere
on the road to movie immortality he embarked on a destructive lifestyle that wrecked his career
and ultimately killed him. Why did it happen? What were the forces at work in this complex
individual whose own father regarded him as an enigma? Kevin McAleer is not the first author to
wend his way through the maze of myth and falsehood that comprises Flynn's legend but no one
has yet attempted an epic narrative of his life in verse. Flynn's ghostwriter for his memoir My
Wicked Wicked Ways called him one of the most poetic men I have ever met and McAleer holds
the view that biographies and other accounts of Flynn have failed to capture his verve and
essential spirit which had greater affinity to an age of high-flown lyricism than to our own
prosaic times. Flynn himself was fond of claiming that he'd been born into the wrong century
so McAleer is taking him at his word and recounting his saga in the same way as did English
balladeers the tale of Robin Hood - Flynn's most memorable screen incarnation.In detailing
Flynn's life McAleer draws inspiration from Lord Byron's playful and jocose Don Juan whose
stanza form he employs. Flynn was not only the embodiment of Byronic romanticism but one of the
twentieth century's great libertines having also assumed the title role in the 1948 Hollywood
film Adventures of Don Juan so it is only fitting that the roguish ottava rima stanza be used
in recounting his life.This is poetry for people who think they don't like poetry and for all
those who enjoy dishy movie-star bios and a gusto-filled romp.The correlation between Flynn and
Byron is certainly convincing. What a story . . . . a wonderfully entertaining work. - Fiona
MacCarthy author of BYRON: LIFE AND LEGEND
