Everything about Flash Gordon Film totally explained
Flash Gordon is a classic
1980 science fiction film, based on the
eponymous
comic strip character
Flash Gordon. The film was
directed by
Mike Hodges and
produced by
Dino De Laurentiis. It stars
Sam J. Jones,
Melody Anderson,
Topol,
Max von Sydow,
Timothy Dalton and
Ornella Muti. The
screenplay was written by Michael Allin (of
Enter the Dragon fame) and
Lorenzo Semple Jr. It intentionally uses a
camp style similar to the 1960s TV series
Batman (for which Semple had written many episodes) in an attempt to appeal to fans of the original
comics and
serial films.
Taglines:
- He'll save every one of us!
- Pathetic Earthlings... Who Can Save You Now?
Plot
The story opens with the voice of
Emperor Ming the Merciless (
Max Von Sydow), ruler of the alien kingdom of Mongo. Complaining of being bored, he asks his second-in-command, General Klytus (
Peter Wyngarde), if he's a plaything to offer him. Klytus has an immediate answer: "an obscure body in the S-K system, known to its inhabitants as the planet
Earth". Using his advanced technology, including a hand ring, Ming starts a series of Earthly disasters:
tidal waves,
earthquakes and even “hot
hail”. Ming indicates he'll destroy Earth, but likes "to play with things a while before annihilation”.
Sometime later, on Earth in a town called Dark Harbor,
New York Jets football star “Flash” Gordon (
Sam J. Jones) is waiting to board a small plane to head home when the “hot hail” begins, but he pays little attention to it. Moments later he meets travel journalist Dale Arden (
Melody Anderson) who is also flying back to New York City. After they take off, the disasters become progressively worse, and the pilots are vaporized. Flash and Dale rush to the cockpit and take control of the plane, and promptly
crash land in a
greenhouse owned by Dr. Hans Zarkov (
Topol). According to Dr. Zarkov's research of previous similar occurrences in space, the disasters are being caused by an unknown physical source in space sending the moon out of orbit, as evidenced by moon fragments plummeting to the Earth, causing the hot hail. Zarkov's theories were considered outlandish by his colleagues at NASA, resulting in his resignation and public humiliation. Zarkov had been secretly working on a rocket ship for several years to test his theory, but now intends to go to the coordinates for the source of the attacks. Taking Dale prisoner, as he needs two people to operate the ship, he's attacked by Flash, causing the ship to accidentally launch with all three on board. They make a reluctant peace with each other just before the gravitational forces knock them unconscious, leaving the ship to autopilot to Mongo through a dimensional vortex. Awakening on arrival, the three are promptly taken prisoner.
Mongo comes across as an
Imperial police state, run along the lines of
autocratic regimes such as
Nazi Germany but with a
retro looking
high tech aesthetic. Ming and Klytus, the head of the secret police, maintain their hold on power by surreptitiously encouraging conflicts between neighboring moon colonies, especially Arboria (
Latin:
Arbor translated as
tree for example
Arboria: land (or planet) of the trees), a swamp-like moon ruled by Prince Barin (
Timothy Dalton) not unlike
Kasshyyyk, and Prince Vultan (
Brian Blessed) who rules the Hawkmen in the floating Sky City.
Flash, Dale and Zarkov are brought before Ming. Aiming his power ring at Dale, she goes into a trance and begins a slow, sensual dance. Ming orders her to be removed and prepared for his pleasure, but Flash openly defies Ming and picks a fight with his men, adopting his athletic skills from
American football. Dale comes out from her brief trance and shows her support for Flash, all to no avail as Flash is accidentally knocked out by Zarkov in the ensuing meleé. Ming orders Zarkov into Klytus’ custody for reconditioning and repays Flash’s defiance in kind by ordering his execution. Following Flash's disposal, Princess Aura and Ming’s Chief Surgeon, one of her numerous lovers, arrive at the temporary mausoleum where they open Flash’s casket and resurrect him. Aura and Flash quickly retreat to Arboria, kingdom of Prince Barin, yet another lover of Aura’s.
En route to Arboria, Flash coerces Aura to teach him to use a
telepathic communicator so that he can contact Dale and let her know he's still alive. Relieved, Dale informs Flash she's locked in Ming’s bedchamber. She later escapes and tells a reconditioned Zarkov that Flash is still alive. Dale and Zarkov subsequently escape, and Zarkov tells Dale the "brain drain" he was subject to was all for naught and he was able to retain his memory completely intact, but they're quickly captured by Prince Vultan’s Hawkmen and taken to his kingdom, Sky City.
Klytus informs Ming of Flash’s resurrection and asks Ming’s authority to pursue the investigation; Ming agrees. Aura and Flash arrive at the forest moon Arboria. When Aura leaves, Prince Barin throws Flash into a cage and lowers him into a swamp.
Barin decides to lure Flash into a trap by sending one of his Tree Men into the cage with a key to get out. Flash eventually tricks Barin and escapes into the swamp, and Barin soon follows in pursuit. He catches up with Flash, but before he can kill him, the two are taken prisoner by more of Vultan’s Hawkmen. Aura returns alone to Mingo City only to be taken prisoner and violently interrogated by Klytus and General Kala. They eventually get a full confession.
Flash and Barin are taken to Prince Vultan’s (
Brian Blessed) kingdom, where Flash and Dale are briefly reunited. Klytus later arrives to arrest Barin and Zarkov for
treason. But Flash and Barin double-team Klytus and kill him. In a panic, Vultan orders all the Hawkmen to evacuate, leaving Barin, Flash, Dale and Zarkov behind. Ming’s ship arrives shortly afterwards. Ming orders that only Barin, Zarkov and Dale are to be taken aboard his ship. He then disembarks to parlay with Flash, offering him a kingdom of Mongo to rule. But when Ming hints the kingdom Flash is to receive is his own planet Earth under Ming’s rule, Flash refuses. Ming returns to his ship and gives the order to destroy Vultan’s kingdom with Flash still on it. But as the bolts of energy tear the place asunder, Flash finds one of the Hawkmen’s
rocket cycles, and once again escapes death.
On Mongo, Dale is being prepared for her wedding to Ming in Mingo City. Just as the wedding is about to begin, Flash approaches alone on the rocket cycle. General Kala (
Mariangela Melato), orders weapons to open fire at him. Kala orders
Ajax, an Imperial war rocket, to go after Flash and bring back his body. After a huge battle, the Hawkmen, heavily outnumbering
Ajax’s crew, seize control of the rocket and, with Flash taking the helm, make their way toward Mingo City. In Mingo City, Princess Aura overpowers her guard and makes her way to the execution chamber, freeing Barin and Zarkov. To disguise her actions, Aura rushes to her father’s wedding while Barin and Zarkov head for the control center, where General Kala orders all weapons to fire upon
Ajax as it's out of its proper flight pattern, and also orders Mingo City’s protective lightning field to be charged up.
In Mingo City, Ming and a defiant Dale’s wedding has just begun. Just as Ming places the ring on Dale’s finger, the lightning field deactivates to reveal
Ajax plummeting toward the temple. There is a frantic dash for safety as
Ajax smashes into the sanctuary, and its lance-like bow impales Ming right through his midsection. The impact throws Flash clear of the rocket, dazed but uninjured. He grabs a dead guard’s sword and gives Ming an ultimatum: call off his attack on Earth or die. Ming aims his power ring at Flash, but it seems to have no effect. With his power fading, he aims his ring at himself and vanishes. Ming's robot servant declares that Flash has saved the Earth. Barin and Vultan and his Hawkmen arrive, Flash is again reunited with Dale, and a huge victory celebration ensues. Vultan announces to the multitude that Barin is the rightful heir to the now-vacant throne. The newly-appointed King Barin shows his gratitude to Flash, appoints Vultan as the new Army General, and decrees that everyone live together in peace.
The last scene focuses on Ming’s empty power ring, and an unidentified hand picking it up as the words “the end” fade onto the screen, followed by a question mark- and Ming’s evil laughter.
Cast
Other notable cast members
Kenny Baker - Throne room dwarf (yellow)
Robbie Coltrane - Man in white overalls at Dark Harbor airport
Suzanne Danielle - Palace slave
Peter Duncan - Young initiate in Treeman Temple
William Hootkins - Dr. Munson, Zarkov's laboratory assistant
Richard O'Brien - Fico, an Arboria Treeman
John Osborne - High Priest in Treeman Temple
Deep Roy- Fellini, Princess Aura's Pet
Philip Stone - Zogi, Priest for Ming's wedding
George Harris- Prince Thun of Ardentia
Reception
With its camp style, exaggerated costumes and synthesized music, Flash Gordon had a poor box office performance, with the notable exception of the United Kingdom, where it's still one of the top 100 films of all time when adjusted for inflation. Max von Sydow (Ming) received a good deal of praise for his performance, despite Jones (Gordon) being nominated for a Golden Raspberry for worst lead actor. According to Empire magazine, Sam J. Jones had troubles of some sort with the director, which resulted in almost all of his dialogue being dubbed by a professional voice actor whose identity is still a mystery.
The film went on to become a cult classic; many of the film's lines are intentionally tongue-in-cheek, and this knowing sense of humor contributes to the collective affection with which the picture is remembered by its fans. Despite its shortcomings, it maintains a 80% fresh rating at RottenTomatoes.com and is ranked #88 on the Rotten Tomatoes Journey Through Sci-Fi List (100 Best-Reviewed Sci-Fi Movies).
A sequel was also considered and according to Brian Blessed on the Region 2 DVD commentary for Flash Gordon - Silver Anniversary Edition, the sequel was going to be set on Mars, as a possible update of the Buster Crabbe serials.
Soundtrack
The film's soundtrack was composed and performed by the rock band Queen. Flash Gordon was one of the earlier high-budget feature films to use a score primarily composed and performed by a rock band. (Later ones included De Laurentiis's productions of Dune, scored by Toto; and Maximum Overdrive, scored by AC/DC.) An orchestral score was also composed by Howard Blake.
Media
It was released on VHS and no sooner then 1998 on DVD in Region 1. It was released in Region 2 in 2005, with included commentary by Brian Blessed winning the "Commentary Of The Year" award from Hotdog Magazine for his humor and enthusiasm. On August 7, 2007, Universal Studios Home Entertainment released a "Saviour of the Universe Edition" DVD in North America to coincide with Sci Fi's new television series. This special edition doesn't include the cast and crew interviews of the region 2 release.
In October 2007 a high definition transfer of the film premiered on the MGM HD cable/satellite channel.
In November 2007 Sam J. Jones and Melody Anderson together created a new commentary track for the film.
Awards
In 1981 the film got Saturn Award nominations in the categories: Best Costumes, Best Science Fiction Film and Best Supporting Actor (Max von Sydow). In the same year it was also nominated in 3 categories for the BAFTA Film Awards: Best Costume Design (Danilo Donati), Best Original Film Music (Queen) and Best Production Design/Art Direction (Danilo Donati). Sam Jones was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award for worst actor in 1981.
Further Information
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