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Sharpe’s Eagle–The Battle of Talavera
It was the first of Bernard Cornwell’s “Richard Sharpe” novels to be published, although it ended up, over the decades, being eighth in the chronological order of our hero’s history.
It was set in July of 1809, amidst the Battle of Talavera, an iconic bookmark during the Peninsular War between the Napoleonic armies and those of Britain, Spain, and Portugal.
I cannot recommend the ITV “Sharpe” series highly enough. (You can begin your adventure on Amazon, here.) Yes, the production values are dated, and sometimes pretty crummy. But the episodes have so much “heart” that such quibbles seem petty, if not downright irrelevant.
There are those casting decisions which cause consternation to begin with, but which end up being so sublimely “right” that we cannot imagine any other actor in the role. I remember an interview with Bernard Cornwell, author of the “Sharpe” series of novels, in which he expressed his initial unhappiness with Sean Bean’s being cast in the role for the ITV serializations of his work. Sharpe, you see, was clearly described in Cornwell’s first few books (which I really do love) as having very dark, even black, hair; Sean Bean’s hair is of a decidedly blonder shade.
Then, Cornwell watched the first Sharpe episode on television.
“After that,” he said, “I never mentioned the color of Richard Sharpe’s hair again.”
I have a special fondness for the ITV series because, in 2007, not long before my father died, I visited him in the UK for several weeks, bearing my complete series of the programs on DVD. We watched most of them together. He loved them. And I thought, then, as I do now, how much he and Richard Sharpe had in common.
Some scant months later, I found myself standing in front of the congregation at St. Mary’s Church in Dilwyn (earliest still-standing construction, from about 1200AD), delivering a few remarks as the oldest of Dad’s children, the one known among the family–sometimes dismissively–as “the American one.” (A badge I wear proudly.)
Here–among much else–is what I said:
So, what about Lieutenant, later Major, Richard Sharpe? Although Dad came to Sharpe much later in life, he read the Cornwell books avidly, and when he discovered the television series and the DVDs, he was captivated again. He never tired of watching them, and he loved to recount the battle honours of Sharpe’s regiments as compared to his own.
What is it about Richard Sharpe that so appealed to Dad? His bravery, without question. His leadership? Absolutely. His forthrightness? No doubt. His eye for a comely lady? Certainly. But what sealed the bargain for Dad, I think, is Richard Sharpe’s loyalty to his men, and his sense of duty. Once Richard Sharpe is on a mission, you know that he will stop at nothing to ensure the triumph of good over evil, and of decent men over the fools and knaves with which he often finds himself surrounded. And he won’t quit until the job is done.
As the redoubtable Sergeant Harper once put it: “Oh, you can’t stop Captain Sharpe, sir. You can get behind him or you can walk away from him. But don’t ever try to stand in his way.”
When it came to Dad, truer words were never spoken. He could fight. He could fire “three rounds a minute.” But–by gum–Dad could also stand. For England, and the for the free world:
That clip describes the scene just before the Battle of Talavera.
The Battle of Talavera concluded 215 years ago today, on July 28, 1809, with the defeat of the French and the ennoblement of Arthur Wellesley to the title of Viscount Wellington of Talavera. There were over fourteen thousand casualties, and it was one of the bloodiest battles of the war.
Oh, and if you want to know what happened to “Sharpe’s Eagle,” I’m afraid you’ll just have to read the book or watch the program.
I promise you, it’s time well spent.
Published in Movies and TV
I love the Sharpe books and we watched the entire TV series.
I wish someone would do a Flashman series. Hugh Jackman or Ryan Reynolds as Flashman.
Oh, man. I agree, but any effort to accurately portray those books would call down the Wrath of the Woke on your head.
Might still be worth it, though.
Oh yes! We loved the series. Rather than binging we savored it and watched one episode per week.
Indeed, that is Cornwell. And so, that is every one of his heroes.
Thank you, @She.
I loved when he would refer to the queen as “Vickie”.
I started the Sharpe series after visiting Srirangapatna, the island on the Kaveri river north of Mysore where the main battle is fought. I had earlier visited “Tipu’s Drop” where Tipu Sultan would toss people off that cliff.
The Sharpe series is really a great read and I had no idea there was a TV adaptation. I’ll have to check it out, although I am not much of one for filmed entertainment, despite the fact I earned my living in the industry.
Loved the Sharpe tv series. Loved “Sweet William”: “Men are dirty, rifles are CLEAN!”
Stop showing off Sharp.
So many nuances in this scene. Watch Captain Leroy,the guy behind Simmerson (the fool making the report). His facial expressions are great. Also, how Wellington stopped writing notes at the mention of Lennox panicking. Lastly, you have the most politely hostile “Good Morning” in history.
Some may say Ned Stark, some may say Boromir. But Sean Bean IS Richard Sharpe. One of the greatest characters in fiction.
Never Heard of Flashman – but looking at the wikipedia page, I am guessing that if Hollywood ginned up a series today, you wouldn’t like it very much. The books sound a little too rough for “modern audiences” …
I just realized that “Blackadder” must be a parody of these books.
You should write a post about the US Marine who almost single handedly won the War on Drugs by conducting counterdrug riverine missions in the 1990s, and if 9/11 was a false flag event to prevent him from succeeding in his ‘black ops’ Afghan mission via Uzbekistan.
Siempre Fiel
Agree.
Hmm. Parallels can be drawn. Flashy was a bit more of a ladies’ man than Blackadder was. Similar ethical outlook. As a matter of fact, an identical ethical outlook.
Nothing one can write contains the withering contempt and disdain contained in David Troughton’s reading of “Good morning.”
Yes indeed!
That was the best actor for Wellington as well. The other guy was not bad, but this is the face I think of.
I read the first 3 of the sharpe series – very good books
Sharpe’s “Can You Stand?” speech might be what our path ahead for the next 98 days should be.
Can we stand our ground and fire three rounds a minute?
That’s the danger of doing a parody, if you get too close to the original work, you’ll get sued.
Not a parody, just another anti-hero series. Blackadder starts as a prince, and descends to a captain of infantry, while Flashman rises from an expelled schoolboy to Brigadier-General Sir Harry Paget Flashman, VC, KCB, KCIE; Chevalier, Légion d’Honneur; US Medal of Honor; San Serafino Order of Purity and Truth, 4th Class.
The Blackadder shows have minor deviations from historical accuracy, whereas the primary historical inaccuracy in the Flashman novels is his fictional insertion into actual events (the Charge of the Light Brigade, the Harper’s Ferry Raid, the Battle of the Little Bighorn, etc.)
If you haven’t read the Flashman series, he a huge womanizer and major coward but actually a good fighter and athlete. He always comes up appearing to be a hero when he is trying to run away (or hide) and in the process of saving his own skin wins the day.
One of the first contests of the original Ricochet Movie Fight Club involved the greatest actor portraying a book character. I almost won with “the entire cast of The Princess Bride”. But I think the winner might have been Rickmans Snape.
For me there are three. Three actors who ARE that character, for all time. Perfect casting and perfect execution.
Russel Crowe as Jack Aubrey.
(Wait, have to catch my breath here) Robert Duvall as Gus McCrae
and
Richard Sharpe as Richard Sharpe.
I mean Sean Sharpe. I mean Bean, Bean Sharpe.
The series from the BBC is one of the great productions of a book ever done. I Clau-clau-Claudius, fantastic. The Sharpe series, immortal.
Yes, I gathered that from reading the wikipedia write up, thats why I thought of Blackadder. Because that also describes Blackadder. (well except the good fighter/athlete, Blackadder is completely inept. Like Inspector Cloueseau) I understand there will be differences in nuance themes and style, but thats to preserve the separation of the work? right?
Small dissent here. “ I Claudius “ had one of the best scripts ever. But Sharpe was fantastic.🙂
No, it can’t be anybody who is already somebody.
If they can make The Boys, they could do Flashman.
The difficulty, and this was demonstrated by Master and Commander, an author of a potential series has an entire book to sketch his protagonist, create a world and populate it with people. You don’t have the freedom to do that in a movie.
Eh…Flashman must succeed, in spite of his low character and cowardly nature. Blackadder must invariably fail. It’s a comedy. Nobody wants to see the smarmy know it all win.
If you want to see that, you can read the news.
There was a Flashman movie: Royal Flash. Malcolm McDowell played Flashy. But McDowell also played Caligula in Caligula. And that guy in that movie …
He’s probably too old now but Timothy Dalton would be a great Flashman. Currently discussing with Mrs Tex. Possibles:
Tom Hardy
Will Poulter
I know we have digressed, but this is fun to consider.