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Flash Gordon (1980)
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Overview
User Rating:
Director:
Writers:
Release Date:
5 December 1980 (USA)
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Tagline:
He'll save every one of us! more
Plot:
A football player and his friends travel to the planet Mongo and find themselves fighting the tyrant, Ming the Merciless, to save Earth. full summary | add synopsis
Awards:
Nominated for 2 BAFTA Film Awards.
Another 1 win
&
8 nominations
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NewsDesk:
(36 articles)
Lionsgate Picks Up ‘Solomon Kane’
(From The Flickcast. 13 November 2009, 8:00 AM, PST)
Black Adder Remastered: The Ultimate Edition DVD Review
(From Collider.com. 11 November 2009, 1:45 PM, PST)
(From The Flickcast. 13 November 2009, 8:00 AM, PST)
Black Adder Remastered: The Ultimate Edition DVD Review
(From Collider.com. 11 November 2009, 1:45 PM, PST)
User Comments:
A 1930's Comic Strip Brought Perfectly To Life
more (193 total)
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 |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
Runtime:
111 min
Language:
Color:
Color (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio:
2.20 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) |
Dolby (35 mm prints)
Certification:
UK:A (theatrical rating) |
Iceland:L |
Singapore:PG |
Australia:PG |
Finland:K-12 |
Netherlands:12 |
Sweden:15 |
UK:PG |
USA:PG |
West Germany:12
Filming Locations:
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
Dino De Laurentiis originally hoped that Federico Fellini would direct this film. The director had actually contributed to the original Flash strip cartoon during WWII.
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Goofs:
Continuity: When Zarkoff's memory is being erased, it is shown going backward, from present to past. It then shows him hugging a wife or girlfriend and then it shows her being killed, which is forward, not backward.
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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.
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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.
more
Movie Connections:
Spoofed in "Family Guy: Road to Germany (#7.3)" (2008)
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Soundtrack:
Flash
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FAQ
Why do the Hawkmen use rocket cycles if they have wings and, therefore, can fly by themselves?more
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Flash Gordon is one of the most perfectly realized films De Laurentiis made, and it is disappointing that so few have recognized it for what it is; a 1930's comic strip brought perfectly to life. The fact that it is so accurate a realization of America's hopes and fears during the 1930's may help to explain why it has been dismissed so readily as, at best, mere camp, and at worst, a vulgar cinematic catastrophe: Today's audiences are too removed from that decade to catch the references. A classic example of America's view of Asia during the 1930's can be found in Dale Arden's confrontation with Princess Aura just prior to her wedding to Ming. Aura is trying to convince Dale to slip a poison into Ming's "Power Potion" but Dale tells Aura she can't because she's given Ming her word to "try to be a good wife if [Ming] would spare Zarkov and Baron. He vowed he would." Aura, shocked at her naiveté, shouts, "My father has never kept a vow in his life!" To which Dale responds, "I can't help that Aura. Keeping our word is one of the things that make us better than you." Flash Gordon is filled with this type of wonderful 1930's fun, and this fun is only enhanced by the decision to use bad actors in roles that would only benefit from the lack of skill, as well as Oscar-caliber actors in the most demanding roles. Max Von Sydow is an obvious example of the latter, but the hidden gems come in the form of Mariangela Melato, Brian Blessed, and Ornella Muti. Melato does an outstanding job as Klytus's reptilian, but beautiful, second in command when she flawlessly delivers lines like, "Confess, and we won't hurt you anymore.
We don't like doing this at all!" And Ornella Muti is simply unbelievable as Ming's gorgeous but deadly daughter. Replying to Flash's query as to whether he can use the telepathy machine to contact Dale with a perfectly candid, "If I showed you how. But I'm not going to." Add to these amazing actors the costumes and sets that are obvious homages to the original comic's drawings and you have a movie that is as surprising as it is delightful. Enjoy!