Thursday, August 17, 2017

Sharpe's Eagle (1993)

In the early 90s when cable television was at the beginning of it's Golden Age my father and I found a movie on PBS called Sharpe's Eagle. It was the story of a rifleman name Richard Sharpe who fought for England against Napoleon in Spain. It's starred one Sean Bean who for once didn't die at the end of the film . Eventually Bean would make nearly a dozen of these movies and all of them are full of adventure and humor and honor and evil as Sharpe tries to rise for his humble beginnings to become an officer and a gentleman. Ambition motivates him more than ideology or his hatred for the French or Napoleon. He also has a romantic soul which the ladies will swoon over. Sharpe is surrounded by all manner of interesting characters played by some of the greatest character actors in television history. The writing is always first rate

Brian Cox is fantastic as Hogan, the personal bag man for Lord Wellington who will eventually defeat Napoleon at Waterloo and cement his place in military history. I even loved the theme song and sing it to remove any musical earworms that get stuck in my head.

I have seen all the movies but Sharpe's Eagle is my favorite. It's the kind of historical dramas that the British do best. I has everything you would want in a story about what it was like to be a soldier during the Napoleonic Wars. These scenes are an example of the great scenes within.



... But look at you, now... Chosen Men! Men who wear the White Cord of Courage! Picked out and promoted.... Why? Because you didn't know your place. Picked out because you pushed your way to the front and prove you were braver than those around you, because wanted to prove you were better men than you were ever born to be!



I have seen this story many times but I never notice that Lft. Berry is played by Daniel Craig, Mr James Bomb himself. This song by John Tam is magnificent also.



9 comments:

Debra She Who Seeks said...

Gawd, Sean Bean is so young there! NOBODY does historical dramas as good as the Brits.

Cal's Canadian Cave of Coolness said...

And he never dies in this series after all the abuse he suffers.

GOODSTUFF said...

The serious of books are fast read adventure stories

I should watch the movies this weekend

nolan said...

Might I suggest the Hornblower series of feature-length films?
Naval tales of derring-do (starring a young Mr Fantastic!) set in the same era...

Cal's Canadian Cave of Coolness said...

I will check that out. Thanks.

Fiendenstein said...

I really liked Hornblower, but its not as great as Sharpe... but then again, what is?

John Tarm is from a village down the road from me too.

DrGoat said...

I'll second the Hornblower suggestion. It was pretty decent and engrossing. Going to re-watch the Sharpe series this weekend. Thanks for reminding me how good it is.

Cal's Canadian Cave of Coolness said...

Happy to inspire you guys to revisit something really cool like I did this week. I just heard the song and new that Sharpe was exactly what I wanted to watch right then.

Cal's Canadian Cave of Coolness said...

And with those endorsements I have to see this Hornblower you speak of.