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Errol Flynn: The Existential-Hedonistic Philosopher
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Күн бұрынErrol Flynn lived a remarkable and controversial life. A confirmed agnostic, who wanted to live life on its own terms. He was, in sum, an existential hedonist, who was his own type of philosopher.
first learned of Errol Flynn’s life and work when by chance I happened upon his autobiography, My Wicked Wicked Ways, in audio format at the Huntington Beach Library some two decades ago. It was an exhilarating find as it is one of the funniest and most insightful books I have ever listened to in my life. In fact, it was so good that I got a copy of the book and read it cover to cover again, and I was even more mesmerized by Errol Flynn’s hilarious stories and pithy insights the second time around. I became an instant fan and sought out as much information as I could about this charming rogue who had starred in some of the most popular movies in Hollywood from the 1930s and 1940s, including his breakout role in Captain Blood. Besides being regarded as one of the handsomest men to ever adorn the silver screen, Flynn was also a scandalous character in real life skirting the very edges of what was legally permissible during his day. Yet, what I found most endearing about Flynn was his philosophy about life and how open he was about his own contradictory nature. Over time I read everything I could by and about Errol Flynn, including his underrated novel Beam Ends, published in 1937. What makes Errol Flynn so continually fascinating is that he lived a life that was so adventurous and seemingly impossible it borders on the surreal, particularly given the cultural norms of that time period. Refreshingly, Flynn makes no apologies for his lifestyle and even revels in his iconoclastic ways. It is difficult, if not misleading, to summarize Errol Flynn’s philosophy in just two sentences. Yet, I do think Flynn captures the essence of his thinking when he opines, “I know that truth is sometimes an octagon and that I am one. Contradiction is a cardinal element of life and of itself may be no contradiction.” The following movie contains a series of pregnant quotes from Errol Flynn (with occasional commentary by myself) conjoined with a treasure trove of photographs of him throughout his career.
@trevorgwelch7412 3 жыл бұрын
" The mystery of life is not a problem to be solved but a reality to be experienced . "
@TOCC50 Жыл бұрын
He raped my grandmother
@Hshjshshjsj72727 11 ай бұрын
who said that ❤
@larrypietrafitta7964 10 ай бұрын
@@Hshjshshjsj72727
@0Fallacy 3 ай бұрын
@@Hshjshshjsj72727 Dune
@errol-ih4jy 5 жыл бұрын
he could ride a horse, he could Box, he was a fence master, he could charm the pants off the girls, he was a writer, he could sail a schooner, he was extremely handsome, im glad I lived in his time, nobody came close to this man in Hollywood, he was also a good father, when he was there, Tyrone Power, Gable, Bogart, didn't come close, his Genius was, nobody looked at anybody else on screen, when Flynn was in the same scene, heres to you ERROL FLYNN you were the greatest, also I think he would have laughed his head off, that hardly anybody came to his funeral, that's how false he knew the business was, I believe a case of Johnnie Walker Whisky, was put in his coffin, to send him on his way, heres to you Errol thanks for the memories, that only you could have left.
@peterfranks6243 5 жыл бұрын
I was born on his birthday, June 20 1969 ....60 years to the day of his birth...been in awe of him since
@kenkrausse3624 3 жыл бұрын
My sentiments exactly,
@None-zc5vg 3 жыл бұрын
He was certainly charismatic, but his looks and his voice and his charm weren't enough for him to conquer off-screen reality. Peoples' taste changed after the brutal only-too-real war from period swashbuckling fantasies to hard-boiled film-noir and Flynn and his looks just didn't have anywhere to go in cheap black-and-white flicks (as seems the case with Britain's Anthony Steel, whose born-gentleman/hero persona was washed-up when the 'kitchen sink' film dramas came along post-1954. Flynn's drinking was reportedly wrecking his health by the late '40s and the financial and marital problems that snowballed from the early '50s must have pushed him into a depressive downward spiral into oblivion that was exacerbated by the booze (etc.).His looks, health and life-chances were gone and (by 50) he could only look forward (if that) to character- and bit parts. Sad.
@DJVMFVME 3 жыл бұрын
I compare Flynn going toe toe with Betty Davis in “The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex” to Cruise going toe to toe with Nicholson. Flynn was an underrated actor. Robin Hood thrilled me and Charge of the Light Brigade was a minor masterpiece. There’s so much more.🙏🏽
@petermihacerar1137 2 жыл бұрын
Who!?!
@johnbiela9442 3 ай бұрын
The last line from The Adventures of Don Juan sums Flynn up: There is a little of Don Juan in every man; and, since I am Don Juan, there must be more of him in me.
@user-jf7xp8fk1b 2 ай бұрын
Beautiful. A true fan and afficionado.
@coreybeth9639 4 ай бұрын
Just finished reading My Wicked, Wicked Ways myself. I too was impressed with his philosophical musings. His life was so fascinating!
@user-jf7xp8fk1b 2 ай бұрын
His book changed my life.
@metacosmos 2 ай бұрын
HE READ A LOT OF PHILOSOPHY WHEN KID FROM HIS FATHER'S LIBRARY.
@johnzeszut3170 9 ай бұрын
A man with talent and a smooth speaking voice. You do not see guys like Flynn too much no more!
@nothingsimpostleble1593 Күн бұрын
Leo?
@octofish 3 жыл бұрын
"In like Flynn". He's where that came from.
@jamesdunn9714 4 жыл бұрын
Flynn's looks were inherited from his mother as his father was only average looking. Known as much for his debauchery as his movie stardom nowadays, he was accomplished at both. He was a complicated, intelligent man.
@None-zc5vg 3 жыл бұрын
His father looked gaunt, humourless and De Valera-ish to me: maybe someone else was Flynn's father.
@jesusofnazareth6254 Жыл бұрын
He had his father's long face and jawline but definitely inherited the high cheekbones and eye area from his mamma
@user-jf7xp8fk1b 2 ай бұрын
That he got from his dad.
@wendellthomas179 Жыл бұрын
The greatest generation was young during Golden HOLLYWOOD'S ERA, Errol Flynn is from that unique period of the early 20th century There could never be another ERROL FLYNN....He was as facinating as that time in American HISTORY, world history....
@queenslander954 Жыл бұрын
There’s a bit of Errol in every Australian , it’s why one of Oz’s favourite bands of the 1980’s wrote a song about him .‘Australian Crawl’ Errol
@metacosmos 2 ай бұрын
there are a lot of surfers at the Australia's beaches who recall Errol Flynn when he was a gigolo.
@theharpsichordofmozart4258 2 жыл бұрын
An interesting philosophical upload. Great stuff. Thank you.
@TOCC50 Жыл бұрын
I can’t wait to get back to the spiritual realm of living after life on earth is finished
@nicolettapasquini6614 8 ай бұрын
Nostalgia di divo favoloso che ha fatto sognare ❤❤❤❤
@ann-marie8035 5 жыл бұрын
His philosophical mind could not save him. Unfortunately when he died he had another experience that he cannot tell of.
@ThePiratemachine 9 ай бұрын
I wonder. Ida Lupino said he was spiritual.
@ThePiratemachine 9 ай бұрын
The two people I met about 30 years ago who knew him, immediately said "He was intelligent." From what I can see he was a frustrated writer. And his best film in my opinion is "Uncertain Glory" that his own company made and is film literature. It is a story of redemption of a playboy-criminal. It seems to me that Flynn was lucky ( as he himself said ) and never really had to work in a humdrum 9 to 5 job and escaped the conformity that involves. It must have been quite something for him ( especially when older ) to find himself never having had to work especially in mundane jobs. He got away with it, tricked the prison of jobs system and lived separately from the mundane. He said that anyway - "I allow myself to be known as a colourful fragment in a drab world." That's how I see him anyway. Incidentally I believe he was given 4 years to live when about 30 - malaria from New Guinea. That may have had something to do with his wicked wicked ways? A reviewer in 1960 said his book was up there with the romantic classics of Casanova and Maupassant. Incidentally he had to dictate it all to Earl Conrad as he couldn't hold a;pen at the end - apparently. Brought wonderful hours of joy to me, he has with his films. Still does.
@user-jf7xp8fk1b 2 ай бұрын
What an assenine point of view to have,where so many loved and admired him.
@lourdesprudencio5647 9 ай бұрын
Wow!!!!!!!!!!!. Beautifully said......
@daringthorpe 7 ай бұрын
One of the best I have seen on Errol Flynn a real insight into his mind
@frankbargatze2115 4 жыл бұрын
Let's tread carefully in saying Flynn was agnostic. Disagree. Flynn told David Niven in 1958 he was reading a tremendous book that was changing him. And this change was noted by Niven. Flynn now had an "inner calm" about him that astonished Niven. The book was Errol Flynn was reading was the Bible. Very encouraging that Flynn was finding faith. He cried out for faith in his auto-biography "My Wicked Wicked Ways."
@seveglider8406 Жыл бұрын
I've read the Bible. It is an interesting book. However, I am an Atheist. Just because someone reads the Bible, doesn't mean they're person of faith.
@ThePiratemachine 9 ай бұрын
Yes. You are quite right. Ida Lupino said he had a spiritual dimension.
@giselamarch1994 3 ай бұрын
Oh god, not another holy one. Reading the bible, it is bloody, cruel, intolerant, and racist. no thank you.
@user-jf7xp8fk1b 2 ай бұрын
Beautifully said.
@alfieblue 5 жыл бұрын
Cool Video Neural. I first read My Wicked Wicked Ways at age seventeen during one boring, nothing to do week. Found the book for a dollar at a second hand store. I realised that there was actually lots to be doing and have been chasing enigmas ever since. I didn't know there was an audio version, I will keep a look out for it.
@marcmeinzer8859 Жыл бұрын
He was definitely the most fascinating matinee idol of all time and originally a pirate captain of sorts in real life. In the apartment building where I lived for two years during college, or Campus Courts Apartments, Oxford, Ohio, we had an Errol Flynn cult in which all of our buddies there took turns studying this dog eared paperback coffee table book of the films of Errol Flynn which was supplemented by reading BRING ON THE EMPTY HORSES by David Niven, his onetime roommate in their Los Angeles bungalow Cirrhosis by the Sea named in honor of Marion Davies, William Randolph Hearst’s mistress, since Hearst was the owner of the property. And we all literally memorized his entire filmography although he’d been dead for some fifteen years at that time and we’d all been little boys of four or five years of age at the time of his death. His legend was further enhanced by the disappearance of his son Sean in Cambodia while on assignment as a photojournalist.
@peterm1826 Жыл бұрын
😏
@user-jf7xp8fk1b 2 ай бұрын
The most fascinating individual I have ever heard off.
@marcmeinzer8859 2 ай бұрын
@@user-jf7xp8fk1b He was also a writer. Then as the captain of a trading schooner in the Dutch East Indies he was actually trafficking. In slaves, a hanging offense at the time. Two of his books were My Wicked Wicked Ways and Beam Ends. I met a retired merchant marine captain in Cleveland who as a 17 year old boy crewed on his famous sailing yacht.
@immaterialimmaterial5195 11 ай бұрын
Amazing man!
@greg4161 8 ай бұрын
Handsome to an extreme
@raven_ous2585 4 жыл бұрын
A GORGEOUS, charming man xx
@user-cp7zk9ll3n 13 күн бұрын
I read the Moons a Balloon by David Niven who was Errol’s roommate for many years. I’d say Errol was a card carrying narcissist who I think only thought of himself and only at the end of his life realized the folly of his ways. As I learned in existentialism class in college the 3 main tenets of it are despair, anguish and forlorness…I always who the hell wants to live with that philosophy? Errol chose the way of Lucifer “ my will be done” When at the end of it all he realized “Thy will be done” is a far far better life and death.
@Goaskval 4 күн бұрын
Thanks so much for this. Too many try to glorify the ‘bad boy’ syndrome and not highlight their darkest hours of regret and torture. Eye opening indeed to value our own life and the gifts of other souls around us.
@timlies3627 Ай бұрын
Thank you
@eileencole1780 4 жыл бұрын
Excellent!
@user-jf7xp8fk1b 2 ай бұрын
I went to mount Sac. Took Parapsychology 101 and 102.
@kenkrausse3624 3 жыл бұрын
Many thanks that was most impressive,
@peterfranks6243 4 жыл бұрын
Born the exact same day as me...exactly 60 years earlier...always thought that was a little odd as I've always been a huge fan of his before I realised that information
@ThePiratemachine 9 ай бұрын
Born the exact same day I was married.
@peterfranks6243 9 ай бұрын
OMG, that's amazing. I've got a good one. The date of my wedding IS also the date of my first child's birth three years later AND twenty years later my father passed away on the same date.....
@_big_man_69_ 5 күн бұрын
What are the chances! 1 in 365 😂
@CantaloupeJones Жыл бұрын
Thanks
@jesusofnazareth6254 Жыл бұрын
It's easy to enjoy life and be charming as a hedonist when you're as good-looking as Errol Flynn
@TOCC50 Жыл бұрын
The spirit world is our natural habitat of being
@ThePiratemachine 9 ай бұрын
Although he did say "My face made me but it also stood in my way" - typecast.
@gettinoveritgettinoverit1062 4 ай бұрын
🎭 Debauchery & Existentialism Combo 🤔 💭 great YRbook quotes ???
@BharatBhushanBhagatMegh 3 жыл бұрын
Very impressive. To me, it is very important that Flynn was satisfied with the contradictions within him.
@coeenc123 2 жыл бұрын
This was a great video.
@moviestarmemories630 2 жыл бұрын
Well done.
@citizenkent1223 2 ай бұрын
Freud knew it before Flynn acknowledged it in his words! Unfortunately we stopped teaching Freud after the women's liberation movement in the 1970s....
@davidcaledonia5187 2 жыл бұрын
Interesting character, being in films helped him in his chosen kind of lifestyle, many years ago I came across MWWW in my local library and was entertained by the biggest load of nonesense I had read up to that time. I have come across him quite a few times since and I have never altered my views, and he has confirmed my views about we humans, we can't be trusted to tell the truth about anything LOL
@harryleighton7500 Жыл бұрын
I bet you would give your right arm to live just one hour in his shoes , Mr . Cardboard .
@ThePiratemachine 9 ай бұрын
I don't think it's nonsense at all. It's very psychological and deep.
@derekjohnsonyoutubechannel7322 2 ай бұрын
I am who i am .Damn the torpedoes..to thy own self be true..or be danmed ...
@honeyowen3163 2 жыл бұрын
If I were to describe him in four words: He believes in nothing. He loves nobody but himself. He claimed love of his son but I believe only because he was an extension of himself.
@seveglider8406 Жыл бұрын
Your description contains more than 4 words.
@ZippyG Жыл бұрын
@@seveglider8406 😂
@seveglider8406 Жыл бұрын
@@ZippyG Your comment confirms You're not capable of engaging in a meaningful dialogue. TRANSLATION ... You're a brainless idiot!
@ThePiratemachine 9 ай бұрын
But then David Niven said he met him in 1958 and he ( Flynn ) told him he's found a great book - The Bible.
@errol-ih4jy 4 жыл бұрын
i can sum Errol up in a few words, and it is, CONFLICT IN YOUR LIFE WILL KILL YOU, YES YOU CAN HAVE OPPOSITES, THAT YOU CAN LAUGH AT, BUT THE CONFLICT OF TIME, AND THOUGHT, WILL DESTROY YOU, AS IN ERROLS CASE IT DID.
@NSLZ6 Жыл бұрын
So I should think straight at all times and have the discipline to not contradict.?
@ThePiratemachine 9 ай бұрын
That's not a few words. Ha! Oh - life IS conflict.
@errol-ih4jy 9 ай бұрын
NO LIFE WITHOUT CONFLICT IS POSSIBLE, THEN YOUR REALLY LIVING.@@ThePiratemachine
@williamallison417 3 ай бұрын
What book did he write these quotes in?
@LindaKordich 5 жыл бұрын
Hi David - have u ever listened to Ishwar Puri? He’s an initiate of GM from the 1930s. He’s still alive and teaches everything about Sant Mat without any restrictions.
@neuralsurfer 5 жыл бұрын
Yes, he gives very interesting talks.... How have you been?
@LindaKordich 5 жыл бұрын
I’m doing good. Jay died in 2017 which was very difficult to endure.i loved him deeply. Ishwar initiated Jay six months before he died which was wonderful. I’m intimately involved with Ishwar’s group and have been for several years now. I quit following BBJ because I didn’t feel any pull and it was quite ritualistic and restrictive. I just felt With Ishwar I’m able to write to him and he tells the truth - he is only in my play because I want to go back to our true home and he’s the reflection of this desire here on earth. He’s very frank....says he only speaks from his own personal experiences. Anyways it’s all good. How are you? I remarried a few months ago - a satsangi.....(Radical). Hahahaha....thanks for the postings. I always watch them. And it’s really good to hear from you.
@neuralsurfer 5 жыл бұрын
@@LindaKordich Thanks for replying. Always good to hear from you. Happy to know that Jay got initiated. Can you write me at neuralsurfer@yahoo.com and tell me more about your involvement with Ishwar? Look forward to hearing from you. Dave
@stevenfry3233 5 жыл бұрын
What’s the background music at 7:40 ?
@guddiejain9530 5 жыл бұрын
Hi David I have been watching your videos. How are you involved in spirituality? Can you tell me more?
@neuralsurfer 5 жыл бұрын
Guds Jane yes email me at neuralsurfer@yahoo.com and I will be happy to answer
@user-jf7xp8fk1b 2 ай бұрын
The man,the myth,the legend. Nuff said.
@JaefarSABNW 5 жыл бұрын
Errol Flynn could certainly be seen as a real hedonist; instead of just another celebrity following desire wherever it goes with no deep thought to the outcome. An epicurean can certainly work towards control and understanding past all doubt and unknowing.
@jesusofnazareth6254 Жыл бұрын
Not really... he was a full-blown hedonist out of his mind
@JaefarSABNW Жыл бұрын
@@jesusofnazareth6254 Perhaps not eternally, but some really know what they are in for and have considered it worth the risks.
@ThePiratemachine 9 ай бұрын
@@jesusofnazareth6254 He was much deeper than that.
@barbarablue2571 8 ай бұрын
he seemed a good man, like Robin Hood, the man who he should have aspired to be, not thepig he was in the end of his life.
@aerotuc Ай бұрын
Crap .He is in Every single man ...(at least until the catastrophe of wokeness blanketed the west like the veil from the gutters in the Islamic medieval world)
@barbarablue2571 Ай бұрын
@@aerotuc he died with a lot of diseases BC the sex....
@carllazarraga2858 Жыл бұрын
I don't know about the most attractive man.. if I had to choose between being errol flyn or marlo brando, I would rather be marlon brando everytime.
@ThePiratemachine 9 ай бұрын
Rod Taylor?
@svipdagx7291 4 жыл бұрын
Funny he emphasises"opposites attract".
@MrRatherino 5 жыл бұрын
I believe not a single soul attended his funeral...PS I;ll take Tyrone!
@emmabenedek646 3 жыл бұрын
19.9.20 Time To Wake Up? Utter nonsense.E Flynn. If he had a damaged face or other injury noi one would stare at him. He was just an actor. That industry is totaly corrupt. We ought to know we spent many years involved with that scene and the BBC for many yrs. If those dopes got off their backsides. Stopped admiring themselves and went and reformed the society then they might be worth considering. They dont and there fore are not. Philosopher? You kiddin.UTUBE FILMS.UK.Anyone know where I can find films depicting- Nite Clubs. Perfect Police. Perfect Courts With Granpa Judges. Diners. Hotels. Office Desks With An Intercom. Wharehouses Full Of Boxes. Fire Escapes. Always Wrong "Criminals".Skinny Women With Curly Hair Draped In Dead Animals.Trains With Black Attendants With Eye Issues. Views Of Horrific High Rises. Fist Fights. Gun Shooting. Gambling. Smokin. Drinkin. All of this perfect for clueless public who would not get off their backside to change all the unfairness. 12 yrs hike thro Cent London. 1000pp evidence crrptn. Death threats made to us by US based security firms who in earlier years attacked workers in US to prevent strikes. Pinkerton Burns. US Embassy offers violence. Public said this- Its nothig to do with me or F-off. F-book destroying 1000s mails. Millions people sit watching acted violence. US president press says was handed business by father who created it from property speculation and prostitution.Handwriting shows same tendancies as leaders of 3 rd Reich. (aggression). Apparantly forces self on women then pays out millions whilst denying it. Builds Casinos. Illegal immigrants used on Tower at cheap rate. Issues death threats on F-bk but they destroy our accounts not his. And, hes "religous". No guilt? Of course not that was commented on by A Einstein.BBC said- Hide The Evidence Abroad. We knew over 200 people there. Actors? No thanx. Heres one more sworn truth every HM prefix org we investigated was is crrpt. No reply any Govt dept. UK out of control. The answer for the public is- Art. Sport. Drama. Educatiom .Money. No wonder theres a virus. But its not the complete answer is it. Heres a good idea "Pray To God". It worked for two selfish opt out off the gridderrs. It brought their two lost dogs back. They failed to reason why it never worked for 5 million jews.
@user-br3bw7wr2l 2 жыл бұрын
Mickey Rooney did.
@MrRatherino 2 жыл бұрын
@@user-br3bw7wr2l yes, Mickey did? M was old school faithful friend..I believe you...
@plantagenant6789 Жыл бұрын
@@user-br3bw7wr2l that was nice of him.
@mikeostrander5406 Жыл бұрын
Ridiculous, look at some of his funeral footage
@IanPREVAILA1 5 жыл бұрын
Errol is singing a different tune now. What a sad example of the nihilistic tendencies of unregenerate man.
@billypoppins9138 4 жыл бұрын
You don't know Tasmanian people... Nihilism is not a good way to describe his ideology. He was in touch with his shadow and he lived like he was ment to
@kenkrausse3624 3 жыл бұрын
And You ,must be perfect or at least think you are,
@lindseycarribean5113 3 жыл бұрын
@@billypoppins9138 how tasmanian people are ?
@ThePiratemachine 9 ай бұрын
That must make you happy.
@ThePiratemachine 9 ай бұрын
@@lindseycarribean5113 Tasmanian Devils. General Montgomery was brought up there too. Oh, and my auntie.
@jademoon5103 7 ай бұрын
Probably a narcissist
Eileen Prose
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