Flash Gordon (1980)

A football player and his friends travel to the planet Mongo and find themselves fighting the tyranny of Ming the Merciless to save Earth.

Director:

Mike Hodges

Writers:

Lorenzo Semple Jr. (screenplay), Michael Allin (adaptation),

Stars:

Sam J. Jones, Melody Anderson, Max von Sydow

Nominated for 2 BAFTA Film Awards. Another 1 win & 8 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sam J. Jones	...	Flash Gordon
Melody Anderson	...	Dale Arden
Max von Sydow	...	The Emperor Ming / Ming's Floating Servant (as Max Von Sydow)
Topol	...	Dr. Hans Zarkov
Ornella Muti	...	Princess Aura
Timothy Dalton	...	Prince Barin
Brian Blessed	...	Prince Vultan
Peter Wyngarde	...	Klytus
Mariangela Melato	...	Kala
John Osborne	...	Arborian Priest
Richard O'Brien	...	Fico
John Hallam	...	Luro
Philip Stone	...	Zogi, the High Priest
Suzanne Danielle	...	Serving Girl
William Hootkins	...	Munson

Storyline

In this update of the 1930s comic strip, Flash Gordon is a football hero who is skyjacked aboard Dr. Hans Zarkov's rocketship along with beautiful Dale Arden. The threesome are drawn into the influence of the planet Mongo, ruled by Emperor Ming the Merciless. Ming has been testing the Earth with unnatural disasters, and deeming it a threat to his rule, he plans to destroy it. He also intends to take Dale as his concubine. Flash must avoid the amorous attentions of Ming's daughter, and unite the warring kingdoms of Mongo to rescue Dale and save our world.

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Plot Keywords:

planet | emperor | flash gordon | prince | scientist | 

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Taglines:

Pathetic earthlings... Who can save you now?

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Fantasy | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 December 1980 (USA)

Also Known As:

Blixt Gordon

Filming Locations:

Airstrip, Breakish, Skye, Highland, Scotland, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$35,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

SEK 2,341,328 (Sweden)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Starling Films, Dino De Laurentiis Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

111 min

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) Dolby (35 mm prints) (as Dolby Stereo)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Sam J. Jones was cast in the role after being spotted by the mother-in-law of Dino De Laurentiis on an episode of The Dating Game

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Goofs

After General Kala announces the execution of Zarkov and Barin, there is a small scene when the gold faced guards are lined up and ordered to march by their superior (in some distorted voice). The distorted voice matches the mouth movements of the superior for several words, then doesn't as his mouth is closed. However, the voice continues to sound off.

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Quotes

[first lines]
The Emperor Ming: Klytus, I'm bored. What play thing can you offer me today?
Klytus: An obscure body in the S-K System, Your Majesty. The inhabitants refer to it as the planet Earth.
The Emperor Ming: How peaceful it looks.
[He activates a console, and watches as earthquakes, floods, etc. start to occur. They both get a good laugh out of it]
Klytus: Most effective, Your Majesty. Will you destroy this Earth?
The Emperor Ming: Later. I like to play with thing a while before annihilation.
[laughs evilly]

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Crazy Credits

The opening credits are being played along with various clips of the original comic book strips, along with drawings of character models, all accompanied by the trademark song "Flash" by Queen.

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Connections

Referenced in Shaun of the Dead (2004)

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Soundtracks

"Flash"
Written by Brian May
Produced by Brian May and Mack (Reinhold Mack)
Performed by Queen

User Reviews

Cardboard, disposable and tremendous fun

After a plane crash in extreme weather, Flash Gordon and his travelling companion Dale Arden after abducted by Dr Zarkov to help pilot his spaceship to confront what he believes is an attack from space. Once in space Flash comes faces to face with the cause of the extreme weather, Ming the Merciless and is sentenced to death. Saved from death by Ming's lustful daughter Flash sets out to save his friends and stop Ming with the help of the leaders of the kingdoms.

Even when this was brand new I suspect it looked out dated and a throwback kind of appeal. More than 20 years later this definitely is appreciated as a laugh by about as many people who genuinely enjoy it on it's own merits. The plot is well known to most people I suspect – I know it from the 25 minute b/w `classic' series that BBC2 repeated in the mornings when I was only a lad in the 80's. But it is easily nutshelled as above. The story moves alone at a good pace despite the poor effects and is actually pretty exciting.

The effects are poor – even for 1980's the back projection is rubbish and the costumes are silly. Compare it to the advances made in Star Wars and stuff years before and it looks weak. However the vision is ambitious and it works well if you accept the weaknesses from the start. Another weakness is the acting from ranges from wooden to just plain hammy. Jones is perfect as Flash, despite being wooden as a tree. He comes over like a 30's matinee idol type, which is just what the fun mood of the film needed. Anderson is awful but again just accept the weaknesses. Von Sydow is good as Ming and Topol is a little unhinged as Zarkov. Blessed hams it up so much you could slice him and serve him with pineapple but he also suits the film well. Dalton, O'Brien, Blue Peter's Peter Duncan and Robbie Coltrane and several other unexpected Brits turn up which is nice.

If you're not sure if this film is for you then watch the first 20 minutes. By that time you'll have seen two key things that sum up the film. Firstly you'll have sat through the extremely cool theme song from Queen. That gets me in the mood every time I hear it! Secondly you'll see a fight with Ming the Merciless' men where Flash takes them on in a form of American Football fighting! Both this scene and the music are a little silly and quite camp but if you like these then the rest of the film will suit you fine.

Personally I love this movie and watch it every repeat I see. It is silly and has plenty of weakness, but more than all these things it is incredibly fun to watch! Sing it with me now – `FLASH! AH-AH! HE'LL SAVE EVERYONE OF US!'