| | | | Flash Gordon
(1980) |
ack in 1934, a comic strip was created in the wake of Buck Rogers that would end up being perhaps the most influential of all time.
The strip was "Flash Gordon". It inspired three classic movie serials starring legendary olympian Buster Crabbe as Flash Gordon and Charles Middleton as Ming, three animated spinoffs, a live-action series, numerous comic books, and a film in 1980 that has become a cult classic.
In the seventies, George Lucas, inspired by the serials, wanted to create a feature film of Flash Gordon. When the King Features deal did not seem satisfactory to Lucas, he instead created his own "space fantasy". That's right! Flash Gordon was one of the chief inspirations for "Star Wars". The cloud city sequence in "The Empire Strikes Back" is the most obvious if you've seen Flash Gordon, but more on that later.
After the mega-success of "Star Wars" and "Superman", it was decided by Universal that it would be great to make Flash Gordon, a space fantasy based on a comic, sort of a mixture of those two films. However, Flash Gordon, in taking heavy emphasis from the old serials with wooden acting and primitive special effects, became a camp-fest that was played for laughs much the way the Adam West "Batman" series was, especially since the script was written by one of the men behind that show, Lorenzo Semple Jr.
Also, the movie totally rejected the new, used look of sci-fi that audiences had become accustomed to since they were introduced in "Alien" and "Star Wars". Instead the production design was pure '70s with sqeaky clean polished sets and shiny costumes. Thus, the film was not accepted by audiences and the sequel hinted at in the end was never made in a time when science fiction that took itself seriously was the thing. However, it has developed a cult following and is undeniably a highly entertaining production with many values that were unappreciated at the time. For instance, the wonderful art-deco design feel of everything.
Flash Gordon, quarterback for the New York Jets, and Dale Arden, beautiful girl travel agent, are in a small plane that is attacked and forced to crash land by Ming the Merciless of the planet Mongo. The ruthless monarch is attacking the Earth, seeing if it will resist or be docile and prove no threat. Flash and Dale meet Dr. Hans Zarkov, a crazed scientist, who forces them to go to the rogue planet in space in a rocket-ship of his own design. He claims they can save the world. Once there they encounter the amazing world of Mongo.
Ming, the oriental-looking despot of the planet, keeps a firm grip by encouraging war amongst the nations of his planet. Immediately, our three heroes realize they must unite the races to save the planet and the Earth. With the help of Ming's daughter, the irresistible Princess Aura who has the hots for Flash, Prince Barin of the forest kingdom of Arboria, rightful heir to the throne of Mongo and lover of Aura (she gets around), and King Vultan of the warrior hawkmen in the floating city, he just might be able to do it. Powered by a great soundtrack by rock legends Queen, you'll wish you were born with wings after seeing this movie.
There's no way to explain, it can only be viewed. This cult film contains one of the the best mixtures of camp comedy, sci-fi, fantasy and action and adventure ever...
 Don't forget that Flash Gordon is now available to order on Widescreen DVD using our special 80s Retro Assistant...
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Overall, as I said above, this is the greatest pure entertainment ever.
If you're a kid at heart and like cartoon-level dialougue, this will be a purely great fantasy. If you're older, you can laugh at it, but it's undeniable charm will still have you cheering Flash on to the tune of Queen's rocking theme.
No fan of eighties movies should be without seeing this one that came at the beginning of the decade, on the flip side of the serious drama that is "Empire Strikes Back".
It's also a great introduction to the world of Flash Gordon, someone who's world extends far beyond this.
The basic plot for this is faithfully recreated from the first year of the Alex Raymond strip and the first serial, so it is fun to get a hold of those and compare and contrast. That to me, is more than you can ask for of just about anything else.
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The name of Princess Aura's 'pet dwarf' is named "Fellini". You can hear this in the line from the movie "Come along, Fellini" where the Princess says this when exiting the scene. This is a nod (or quite possibly a put down) to the director Frederico Fellini, who didn't end up directing this film as Dino De Laurentiis had originally hoped.  -Thanks to Donald Lupejkis
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In the comics, Flash was a polo player, but that was a less polular sport by 1980.
There is a rumor that the monitor behind Hans Zarkov (Topol), as he is having his memory dumped, shows scenes from Topol's previous movies.
George Lucas originally hoped to remake Flash Gordon, but when he learned that Dino De Laurentiis had already bought the rights, he wrote "Star Wars" (1977) instead.
Klytus informs Ming of the name of the planet "plaything" as Earth. One would assume that this is a frequent pleasure of his Majesty's' due to him having a console labeled and programmed to wreak havoc at will. The buttons are labeled with items such as 'Hot Hail'-'Volcano'-'Hurricane', but oddly for an apparently universal panel it has a button labeled for 'Earthquake'. -Thanks to Dan Cotnoir
Sam J. Jones' voice is completely dubbed during the movie.
Sam Jones appeared nude in a pictorial layout for Playgirl in the late 1970's or early 1980's. -Thanks to John Thomas
Prince Barin was played by Timothy Dalton who would go on to play 007 in two Bond movies. The young initiate who died at Barin's sword was played by Peter Duncan who used to present British TV's children's show Blue Peter and Barin's musician friend was played by none other than Mr Rocky Horror himself, Richard O'Brien. -Thanks to Simon Field And Chris Cain
William Hootkin, who plays Munson In Flash Gordon, also plays Porkins (Red 6) in Star Wars. -Thanks to Josh Ellis
During the opening scene at the airport, just after the hailstorm begins, keep your eyes open for the airport assistant. None other than Robbie Coltraine, who later went on to play Hagrid in the "Harry Potter" films. -Thanks to David
Richard O'Brian of "Rocky Horror Picture Show" fame is Prince Barin's (Timothy Dalton) right hand man on Arboria. He helps Flash escape the swamp cage and into Barin's trap. -Thanks to Bitteractr And Vanessa Woodford
The "Young Treeman" (as he is identified in the closing credits) who fails the intiation is played by Peter Duncan. Peter is famous in the UK for hosting a children's show called "Blue Peter" during the 70's. He also appeared in the cult science fiction show "The Tomorrow People", in the story entitled 'A Rift In Time' (which, like the rest of the series, is now available on DVD).
Former Smallville star Eric Johnson (Whitney Fordman) has been cast as Flash for the new Flash Gordon TV series. -Thanks to Phatpants
At one point Ming the Merciless says when he destroys a planet, he calls upon "the great god Daizan". Daizan is Japanese for "great cruelty".
One of Princess Aurora's "pets" is actor Deep Roy, who played the Oompa Loompa in "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory".
Dino DeLaurentis became a "ghost" producer on FILMATION's animated Flash Gordon series. FILMATION needed funding to finish the highly technical (at the time) animation, and DeLaurentis wanted the live action film rights for Flash Gordon that FILMATION also had and the two stuck a deal. The result: DeLaurentis got the live action film rights in exchange for funding the remaining animation on FILMATION's Flash Gordon, which many say is the finest series that FILMATION has ever done. -Thanks to Steven Carter
One of the feast items in the Hawkmen's Kingdom was Twinkies colored with food dye.
There is one more clear similarity between Flash Gordon and Star Wars that was most likely intentional on George Lucas's part (seeing as he originally wanted to make it instead of Star Wars). In Flash Gordon, Ming the Merciless' guards are completely clad in Red Scarlet (they're the ones that squeal when they die). In Star Wars: Return of the Jedi' the Emperor's personal body guard wear the exact same outfit with the exception of the face piece. -Thanks to Dan Paolini
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Find much more great trivia in the filmmaker's commentary on the Flash Gordon DVD.
Rediscover your favorites! If you like
Flash Gordon or 80's Sci-Fi / Fantasy classics, then be sure to
check out this list: ..... Empire Strikes Back ..... Night of the Comet ..... Aliens ..... Back To The Future ..... Last Starfighter ..... Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home ..... Circuitry Man ..... Brazil ..... Blade Runner ..... Thing ..... Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan ..... Return to Oz ..... Starman ..... Somewhere In Time ..... Strange Invaders ..... Short Circuit .....[More]
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Kurt Russell was allegedly the first choice to play Flash and was hounded for months by Dino De Laurentiis, but finally turned it down due to a "lack of character development". -Thanks to Troy Lowe
I met Richard O'Brien on the set of The Crystal Maze and asked him about his experiences on the set of Flash Gordon. He said he found the whole experience tedious. He did, however, get a lot of pleasure from sitting in the personalised chairs of the prinicpals. His impish behaviour wasn't curbed at all; he knew the director very well, much to the consternation of the stars who regularly bitched about him on set. -Thanks to Paul Sellars
Max Von Sydow's Ming costume weighed over 70 pounds and he could only stand in it for a few minutes at a time.
The psychedelic color effects throughout the Ming universe were accomplished by swirling multicolored dyes through creatively-lit tanks of water.
When Princess Aura is showing Flash how to fly the ship when they are travelling to Arboria, she tells him, "The left lever controls direction, and the right controls altitude". Moments later while still flying, Flash gets mad at Aura for not showing him how to use the thought amplifier, so he shoves the left lever forward. The ship responds with a nose-dive.
When one of Ming's guards looks through a porthole of the ship, it seems that he is just outside. The next shot reveals a crowd of guards, but they are behind the ship and far away from the capsule.
Did anyone else notice that there isn't one scratch or scar on either the Prince or Flash in the scenes just after their brutal fight with whips on the wobbly, spikey disk? -Thanks to Steve S.
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|  |  |  | | Flash Gordon
Locations |
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The opening scenes of Flash Gordon were filmed at the airstrip near Breakish on the Island of Skye in Scotland.
Can you help? Do you know any of the (or any other) filming locations used for Flash Gordon? [Please send them in]
|  | | | | ![[16:9 -Widescreen Enhanced]](16_9.gif) | ![[5.1 CH SURROUND]](dd5.gif) | Trailer, Commentary, Featurette |
| Our
Comments: Saviour of the Universe Edition! |
| | | | Trailer, Commentary |
| Our
Comments: 25th Anniversary Edition |
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FLASH! Ahhhhh-Ahhhhh... What can you say about such an iconic work apart from that it must have been pretty hard to make a movie at the time that was a commercial disappointment -despite a multi platinum soundtrack and the title track being #1 both sides of the Atlantic, but that's what De-Laurentis managed.
The soundtrack is a great piece of work and easily syands on it's own as a work of art. Mixed with a few vocal songs performed by Queen are some very interesting and ethereal synth works that set the mood and tone perfectly. As an overall piece, this soundtrack represents some of Queen's most interesting commercial work. The title tune is highly memorable, as is the great ending montage.
However, some 52 minutes of instrumental score were composed by Howard Blake, and are missing from the release of the soundtrack. Recently, however, Howard's part of the score (and it was considerable) was finally issued on CD, coupled with his score for AMITYVILLE 3D. It is just a limited edition affair can be obtained by clicking here.
Track listing of the soundtrack CD:
1. Flash's Theme
2. In The Space Capsule (The Love Theme)
3. Ming's Theme (In The Court Of Ming The Merciless)
4. The Ring (Hypnotic Seduction Of Dale)
5. Football Fight
6. In The Death Cell
7. Execution Of Flash
8. The Kiss (Aura Resurrects Flash)
9. Arboria (Planet Of The Tree Men)
10. Escape From The Swamp
11. Flash To The Rescue
12. Vultan's Theme (Attack Of The Hawk Men)
13. Battle Themes
14. The Wedding March
15. Marriage Of Dale And Ming (And Flash Approaching)
16. Crash Dive On Mingo City
17. Flash's Theme Reprise (Victory Celebrations)
18. The Hero
19. Flash's Theme (1991 Bonus Remix By Mista Lawnge)
The music for 'Flash Gordon' was written and performed by legendary rock group, Queen. Their album 'Flash Gordon' was, sadly, considered a flop, selling less than half a million copies in 1980. -Thanks to Phantom Planet
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| | "Pathetic Earthlings... Who Can Save You Now?"
| |  | | Sam J. Jones stars as Flash Gordon |
 | | Max Von Sydow stars as 'Ming the Merciless' |
 | | The beautiful Dale Arden |
 | | Dr. Hans Zarkov gets his mind drained... |
Year:
| 1980 | Studio:
| Universal Pictures | Director:
| Mike Hodges | Starring:
| Sam J. Jones,
Melody Anderson, Max Von Sydow, Topol, Ornella Muti,
Timothy Dalton, Brian Blessed, Peter Wyngarde | | - | - | Genre:
| Sci-Fi / Fantasy | | | | + | Wonderful blend of action, fantasy, and campy comedy, perhaps the best ever. | - | If you don't like cartoon dialogue and want a serious sci-fi modern update of the classic hero, go watch Star Wars. This won't be for you. |
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The best links we've found for Flash Gordon.
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Exactly what it says, simply a good site.
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A good synopsis of the different videos and dvd's available. Search for other sites about the old serials and the strip | |
Not concerned with anything but the movie, it's about the best source for info on it. |
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