Sharpe's Company (1994) (TV)

Director:

Tom Clegg

Writers:

Charles Wood (script)
Bernard Cornwell (based on the novel by)

Release Date:

14 May 1995 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | History | War

Plot:

Spain 1812. After Ciudad Rodrigo, Teresa tells Sharpe that they have a baby daughter. In Badajoz, the next siege target...

Plot Keywords:

Siege | Bare Chested Male Bondage | Whipping | Napoleonic Wars | Sequel

Awards:

1 win & 3 nominations

Cast

Sean Bean	...	Sharpe
Daragh O'Malley	...	Harper
Hugh Fraser	...	Wellington
Michael Byrne	...	Nairn
Pete Postlethwaite	...	Hakeswill
Assumpta Serna	...	Teresa
Clive Francis	...	Windham
Nicholas Jones	...	Fletcher
Michael Mears	...	Cooper
John Tams	...	Hagman
Jason Salkey	...	Harris
Lyndon Davies	...	Perkins
Scott Cleverdon	...	Price
Robert Morgan	...	Collett
Louise Germaine	...	Sally Clayton

Country:

UK

Language:

English | French | Portuguese

Colour:

Colour

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

USA:TV-14 | Australia:M | Singapore:NC-16 | Finland:K-13 | UK:PG

Filming Locations:

Ukraine

Company:

Celtic Films Entertainment

Trivia:

Originally, it was a character named Robert Knowles who is shot by Hakeswill. The TV series changed it to Price being the victim.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Hakeswill gets head-butted by Harper, his head is bleeding above his left eye. But when he goes out and gets knocked to the ground the cut and blood are gone.

Quotes:

Hakeswill: What's to happen is, you will become proper soldiers. And draw tunics of the red bright light company of the South Essex, and you will hand in your precious rifle guns and draw proper muskets to go along with being proper dressed. Fit for soldiers at last!
[speaks into his hat]
Hakeswill: Never thought you'd see it, did you, Mother?
[speaks to men]
Hakeswill: You hate me, don't you? Well, I hate you.
[speaks into his hat again]
Hakeswill: I do, I do, I do. I hates 'em!
[rounds on men]
Hakeswill: Who said that? I heard that. Mad? Oh, no, I ain't mad. Not so's I don't know.

Movie Connections:

Followed by Sharpe's Sword (1995) (TV)

Soundtrack:

The Girl I Left Behind

Yes! More of this please!

Sharpe's Company is arguably the best episode in the Sharpe series of movies and one of the few that can truly stand on their own regardless of whether you've seen the previous chapters or not. It achieves this largely because it ticks every box required to make a great Sharpe movie. Dastardly villains? Check. Dashing heroism? Check. Women in peril? Check. One almighty ruck at the ending in which hundreds of people die senselessly? Oh hell you'd better believe there's a check there.

The story this time takes place not long after our hero captures the French Eagle at Talavera, a gap of several years in the books but mere months this time around. The English army are on the march and preparing for a full scale invasion of Spain, but before they can expand out of Portugal, they have to capture two French fortress cities on the border: Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz. Rodrigo is taken within the first five minutes and the rest of the running time largely concentrates on the siege of Badajoz with all the trials and tribulations the lads must endure before storming a breach in the walls for the pre-requisite big fight. And Sharpe is especially keen to get inside the city, because his wife Teresa is trapped inside with his eight month old daughter.

From this premise, we get a gripping story of men at war. Cannon batteries rain shot after shot on the walls of Badajoz which slowly crumble over the days, while the soldiers sit around doing little but digging trenches and waiting for death to come. They face French excursions to steal their trenching equipment and boredom and while it does not dwell on the matter too much, there is a sense of frustrating tedium among them as the final assault approaches. Sharpe's desire to be first in the breach meanwhile and be promoted to captain does not get as much focus as it does in the novel and instead, the time between fights is concentrated mostly on his rivalry with Obadiah Hakeswill, the insane Sergeant who once had him flogged. Hakeswill is played by none other than Pete Postlethwaite, deviating from his usual father-figure casting by playing one of the most evil men Sharpe will ever meet. He is beset by facial twitches and has a rather perverse view on war and women, lusting after Teresa and tormenting the men in the ranks unless they let him rape their wives. Sharpe's abuse of Hakeswill could have seen him come across as a bit of a bully were it not for Postlethwaite's terrific performance and you can't help but wish he'd kick him around even more than he does, especially when Hakeswill engineers a situation that leads to Harper (Daragh O'Malley) being flogged.

And then of course, there's Sean Bean. By this point, he was evidently very comfortable playing the title role and it's not surprising the series made him a star in England. He handles the action scenes like a pro but its in the quieter moments when he shines brightest, especially the elation that washes over him when he first learns of his daughter's existence.

But when it comes down to it, what do we all want from the Sharpe series? That's right, battles. Great big ones where the Peninsular is turned into a charnel house filled with corpses and cannon smoke and Sharpe's Company delivers one of the biggest clashes that the South Essex ever gets involved in. With the fortress walls breached, hundreds of English soldiers charge in only to be torn apart by French muskets and cannon fire time and time again until only Sean Bean stands between victory and certain defeat? Can he save the day? Well...it's Sean Bean, what do you expect? In short then, in this humble writer's opinion the best entry in the series. It has everything you'd want from a Sharpe movie, blood, carnage, drama, romance, great big fights and good old Johnny Englishman giving the bally foreigners a damned good thrashing what? Oh and keep your eyes out for Marc "Been in Everything" Warren making a brief appearance as well.