Flash Gordon

Colorful, silly fun, at times campy, Mike Hodges's 1980 "Flash Gordon" is among those movies that are less than the sum of their parts. Made on shoe-string budgets with C-picture performers and crew for young undemanding viewers, the original 1930's Flash Gordon serials are unintentionally funny to adults today. To recapture the innocence and naivete of those movies with a big budget and trained actors is a difficult task, although Hodges's "Flash Gordon" makes a decent attempt. Lorenzo Semple's screenplay tracks the original serials fairly well; Flash and Dale Arden are taken aboard Doctor Hans Zarkov's spacecraft and flown to the planet Mongo, where they battle Emperor Ming the Merciless to save the Earth. Semple's script has enough classic bad dialog to satisfy seekers of camp; "I love you Flash, but we only have 14 hours to save the Earth." However, the difference between Semple's script and the original series is that Semple knew he was writing bad dialog, while the writers of the serial were unintentionally hilarious.

That difference in intention also applies to the actors; Buster Crabbe and company played the serials dead-pan straight, and those in the remake who play their parts equally straight come off best. The under-demanding role of Flash requires the skills of a Razzie Award Winning thespian, and, Sam J. Jones won a Razzie nomination for his work herein. Although not a super hero in the modern sense, the blonde hunk, who sports nothing but leather trunks in one scene, physically fills the role, and Jones manages to deliver his lines with a convincing lack of conviction as the dim, but well meaning Flash. However, the movie's scene-stealer is Max Von Sydow as Ming the Merciless; appropriately garbed and made-up as the evil emperor, Von Sydow plays the role with majesty and menace, which is all the more fun. Unfortunately, Topol as Doctor Zarkov, does not follow Von Sydow's example and winks and smiles as the mad scientist, telegraphing to viewers that he is in on the joke. But Brian Blessed as the winged Prince Vultan, Timothy Dalton as Prince Barin, and, especially, the delicious Peter Wyngarde as Klytus deliver their lines as though penned by the Bard himself. Although Mariangela Melato is a memorable Kala, Melody Anderson as Dale Arden should have been in the running for a Razzie alongside Jones, which is intended as a compliment.

Besides Von Sydow, the film's other scene-stealer is designer Danilo Donati, who provided the lavish Fellini-esque costumes and sets. While Donati's work tends to emphasize red and gold, which may not be to everyone's taste, his outlandish designs are as entertaining as anything on display and certainly light years beyond those of the 1930's serials. If Donati or another anonymous designer created the Art-Deco spaceships, he or she too deserves kudos as do the creators of the appropriately tacky and obvious special effects, which beautifully evoke the primitive work of the 1930's serials. As contemporary and important as the art direction is the pulsating score by Queen that punctuates the action and enhances the excitement. While "Flash Gordon" is not the high camp perhaps intended, the film has a cult following and enough outstanding attributes to satisfy main-stream audiences. Led by Max Von Sydow's iconic Ming the Merciless, Queen's pounding music, and Danilo Donati's dazzling designs, "Flash Gordon" may not be to everybody's taste, but should be savored by all at least once, just for the sheer fun of it all.

A football player is tricked to travel the planet Mongo and finds himself forging friendships while fighting a tyrant, Ming the Merciless, to save Earth.

Lacking the production values and execution of the comparable Star Wars, Flash Gordon retains its comic-strip and Saturday morning matinée serial feel, possibly thanks to a troubled production and Lorenzo Semple Jr. screenplay.

Peter Wyngarde plays masked villain Klytus elegantly creepy (possibly and inspiration for He-Man's Skeletor) and with Mariangela Melato Kala's (oddly He-Man borrows another character this time Evil-Lynn) leads the assault while The Emperor Ming played subtly by  Max von Sydow takes a back seat. It's this distance between the protagonist and antagonist that hampers the film but on the other hand it's works to its credit allowing an array of colourful characters to line the screen including Brian Blessed as Prince Vultan who's delivers a barrage of classic lines while Timothy Dalton to graces the screen as dashing Errol Flynn alike Prince Barin.

Flash's love interest Dale Arden is played by Melody Anderson Dale is the perfect 1950's style every day New Yorker. Flash lacks Charisma, history may have been different should Kurt Russell had committed.  Either way Sam J. Jones Flash Gordon does the job. There's tones of familiar faces including UK's Richard O'Brien, Robbie Coltrane and Blue Peter's Peter Duncan. Sultry Ornella Muti is perfect as Ming's daughter Princess Aura nevertheless there's no doubt Topol steals every scene as unhinged science 'genius'  Dr. Hans Zarkov.

While characters arcs change pacer than Queen's memorable pumping and notable soundtrack amongst themes of forging friendships, suicide, death, sacrifice and resurrection to name a few there's spaceships, poisonous creatures, red-clad guards and enough sequins to start a cabaret show all the things you'd expect from a science fiction.  Beneath the bright and lustre costumes there's a dark and rebel subtext. 

Director Mike Hodges gives us many stand out scenes including a battle to the death on a remote control tilting platform with retractable spikes, an American football inspired fight, a space shuttle assault, gooey spider-monster and girls cat fight. There's also some nice touches during Zarkov and prince escape that stay in the mind.  The effects are a mixed bag with projection and composites heavy utilised, again it gives it's that hammy serial feel but hampers Flash's longevity as a rounded work of art. Even so it packs in so many memorable characters, lines and moments that it retains a must seem charm.

Flash Gordon is flawed as much as the actor title role, it never fully explores the characters, yet, it's well defined and still is a lot of fun. Gordon's alive!

Some childhood obsessions stay with you for life, and Flash would have to be one of them. In fact, Flash Gordon, Star Wars, and Battlestar Galactica began a lifelong obsession with science fiction and fantasy in all of its good (and especially) bad forms. The above summary isn't really accurate; 20 years don't make a difference to how much I like this film, but they have changed my reasons for liking it. With hindsight, I've discovered exactly who Lorenzo Semple Jr. is, and now, fully understanding the camp elements of this film, I can still enjoy it, but on a completely new level. As for complaints about the acting of Sam Jones (who did much worse in the abysmal firefighter series Code Red) and Melody Anderson, you hire actors for what they can do, not what they can't. This is why Keanu Reeves was perfect for The Matrix, and why Arnold Schwarzenegger was perfect for The Terminator. Jones and Anderson serve the same purpose for Semple as Adam West and Burt Ward did in the Batman series; who better than someone sadly lacking in acting skills to deliver a completely ludicrous line with a straight face? Unless your name is Charlton Heston, experienced actors have a difficult time with it. Anyways, I digress. The things that first attracted me to this film still do it for me, and that would be the production values and special effects, not to mention the great soundtrack by Queen (I actually had a friend consider using Brian May's arrangement of the Wedding March at his wedding; his mother, of course, ixnayed it). This is still a great looking movie, even by today's standards, which makes me wonder if DeLaurentiis was in on the joke the whole time. All in all, a lot of fun, unless you get offended by less than faithful revisions, in which case I have to wonder about your upbringing.

The Emperor Ming (Max von Sydow) is attacking the Earth. Only former NASA scientist Dr. Hans Zarkov (Topol) seems to have foreseen it. He intends to launch himself in his rocket as a 'counter-attack'. NY Jets star quarterback Flash Gordon (Sam J. Jones) is taking a commuter flight. He survives the plane crash along with fellow passenger Dale Arden (Melody Anderson). Zarkov tricks the duo into his rocket and launches them into space. They are taken prisoner to find Ming's tyrannical rule over the various kingdoms. Prince Barin (Timothy Dalton) leads the kingdom of Arboria. Hawkman Prince Vultan (Brian Blessed) runs Sky City. Ming's daughter Princess Aura (Ornella Muti) is fascinated with Flash. Ming takes Dale as his concubine.

This is brilliantly colorful and deliciously campy. The Queen soundtrack is second to none. The acting is big but it fits the style. Parts of it goes a bit too slowly. Some scenes are very static. Even the actors move slowly as an old-fashion way to denote drama. Sometimes it needs more energy to maintain the tension. This is an unique vision and a fun watch if you don't take it seriously.

Geez, I think my title summed up everything that needs to be said. "Flash Gordon" has all the sci-fi and action as "Star Wars" but blended with an unapologetic campiness and comic bookishness like the iconic 60s Batman series. Throw into the mix, um, QUEEN doing the soundtrack, and you've got yourself an experience that will never happen again.

You might be thinking the blend I just described is as ill-advised as putting pineapple on pizza (seriously does anyone really like that?), but actually the blend is perfect if we take a quick look at the decade that this film wraps up, the 70s. The 70s was the decade of the rock opera: The Who's "Tommy", the doo-wopper "Grease", Motown's "The Wiz", the punkish "Rocky Horror" and bunches of others that swept the box office. While "Flash Gordon" isn't a musical, as defined by characters breaking out into song & dance, the vibe of the movie spells rock opera with a capital Rock. In plain terms this means a very tongue-in-cheek, over-the-top, theatrical and colorful spectacle that is not to be taken as a straightforward drama. If you can grasp that concept, I guarantee you'll love this flick.

The plot? Who cares. Something about saving the universe, I'm sure. But it doesn't matter because, like a good roller coaster ride, or like a good adventurous vacation, we don't care how it's mapped out. We just get a thrill out of each individual twist & turn, each scene, each surprise, and all the while we're taking mental notes of all the horribly awesome lines we can quote to our friends and annoy them for months afterwards.

A serious note about the acting. This production drew the talents of some of the finest actors of stage & screen, and for them to be able to play such campy characters is a testament to their true expertise. I'm talking dramatic & Shakespearean legends like Brian Blessed, Max von Sydow, Timothy Dalton, not to mention the incomparable personality of Topol (Fiddler on the Roof) and the show-stealing, sexually repressed Ornella Muti as the Emperor's daughter--whose mere presence would've kicked the MPAA rating from PG to PG-13 if that designation had existed back then. Even if you don't recognize any of these people, you'll find each one of them to be unforgettable.

"Flash Gordon" is a film that has no equal. You could say it's a distant cousin to 1968's "Barbarella" (another wtf experience that shouldn't be missed), but really it's beyond compare. So hurry up and see this movie ...you only have 14 hours to save the earth!