Flash Gordon (1980)
Directed by Mike Hodges

Film Review

Alex Raymond's famous comic strip creation gets the full 1970s makeover treatment in this totally lunatic film directed by, of all people, Mike Hodges, the man who previously brought us the classic gangster film Get Carter (1971).  The 1970s is not a decade that is overly familiar with the concept of good taste and Hodge's Flash Gordon is a predictably über-kitsch affair, which, despite its 35 million dollar budget looks about as cheap and tacky as an episode of a low budget science-fiction TV series of this era.  Going by all the gold paint and sequins which were thrown at the production (presumably to distract us from the truly awful special effects), its surprising the central villain wasn't renamed Bling the Merciless.

'No former acting skill required' was presumably what was printed at the top of the job spec sent out to potential applicants for the lead role - otherwise it's hard to see how Sam J. Jones landed the part.  Plenty of high class campery from the likes of Max von Sydow, Topol and Timothy Dalton make up for Jones' non-performance, although you have to ask how it is that such well-regarded actors ended up in this tedious farrago.  Brian Blessed's seriously over-the-top contribution ('performance' is too mild a term) is the stuff of legend, almost as terrifying to watch as a nuclear power station about to go critical, only considerably noisier.  The plot and characters are pure comic book, but somehow the film lacks the charm and energy of the popular 1930s film serial featuring Buster Crabbe, which was never (even in its worst moments) as daft and intelligence-insulting as this.

Hoping for a similar hit to his previous fantasy frolic Barbarella (1968), producer Dino De Laurentiis intended this to be the first film in a trilogy.  Flash Gordon's abysmal performance the box office, together with Jones's highly understandable reluctance to reprise his role, killed the trilogy idea stone dead and sent Flash into early retirement.  The film later became a cult classic, presumably on the strength of its soundtrack (the film's one good point), supplied by the iconic '70s rock band Queen.  This one's strictly for the die-hard kitsch enthusiasts.

Film Synopsis

Intent on destroying the planet Earth for his own wicked amusement, the Emperor Ming the Merciless instigates a series of catastrophes which are taken to be natural disasters.  The only person to see a malevolent purpose behind these disasters is Dr Hans Zarkov, a maverick scientist who has a built a rocket so that he can contact and try to reason with whoever is causing all this mayhem.  Flash Gordon, a star football player, and travel journalist Dale Arden crash a plane into Zarkov's laboratory.  In the ensuing tussle, they and Zarkov are whisked away in the latter's rocket and land on the distant planet of Mongo, where they are soon captured and taken before the Emperor Ming.  When Flash tries to resist, Ming orders that he be executed.  Dale is to become his personal love slave and Zarkov will be reprogrammed.  Ming's daughter, Princess Aura, has fallen in love with Flash and decides to save him...