Flash Gordon (film)
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| Flash Gordon | |
|---|---|
 Original poster for theatrical release of Flash Gordon |
|
| Directed by | Mike Hodges |
| Produced by | Bernard Williams (executive) Dino De Laurentiis |
| Written by | Michael Allin, Lorenzo Semple Jr. |
| Starring | Sam J. Jones Melody Anderson Topol Timothy Dalton Max von Sydow Ornella Muti Brian Blessed |
| Music by | Queen |
| Cinematography | Gilbert Taylor |
| Editing by | Malcolm Cooke |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
| Release date(s) |  December 5, 1980 December 19, 1980 January 28, 1981 February 20, 1981 February 21, 1981 February 25, 1981 |
| Running time | 111 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $35,000,000 (estimated) |
| IMDb profile | |
Flash Gordon is a 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 and Lorenzo Semple Jr. It intentionally uses a camp style similar the 1960s TV series Batman in an attempt to appeal to fans of the original comics and serial films.
Flash Gordon was one of the first ever feature films to use a score primarily composed and performed by a rock band. The film's soundtrack was composed and performed by the rock band Queen. An orchestral score was also composed by Howard Blake. Frank Herbert was a script consultant for the film.[1]
Contents |
[edit] Taglines
| He'll save every one of us! |
| Pathetic Earthlings... Who Can Save You Now? |
[edit] Plot summary
The story opens with the voice of an alien ruler, Emperor Ming the Merciless (Max Von Sydow), complaining of being bored. He asks his second-in-command, General Klytus (Peter Wyngarde), if he has a plaything to offer him. Klytus has an immediate answer: "an obscure body in the SK system", known to its inhabitants as Earth. Using his power ring, Ming starts a series of Earthly disasters: tidal waves, earthquakes, and even “hot hail”. When asked if he would destroy the planet, Ming replies he likes "to play with things awhile before annihilation”.
[edit] Earth
Meanwhile, on Earth in a town called Dark Harbor, New York Jets football star “Flash” Gordon (Sam J. Jones) is waiting to board a plane to head home when the “hot hail” begins, but he pays little attention to it. Moments later he meets Dale Arden (Melody Anderson), a woman he had seen the night before but did not meet. After they board the same plane, the disasters become progressively worse, caused by the moon being out of phase, sending moon fragments plummeting to the Earth, according to the research of disgraced scientist Dr. Hans Zarkov (Topol). For many years Zarkov believed an attack on Earth was imminent, but his predictions and warnings were dismissed. Nonetheless, Zarkov was secretly working on a rocket ship in which he set the coordinates for the source of the attacks.
The Earthly anomalies worsen, to the point where a freak squall blows out the plane’s cockpit windows killing the pilots (actually, they vanish). Flash and Dale rush to the cockpit and take control of the plane, and promptly crash land in Dr. Zarkov’s greenhouse. They exit the plane and begin searching for a telephone when they meet Dr. Zarkov, who directs them to a phone—inside his rocket ship. He then pulls a gun on the two and tells them his true intentions: to fly to where the attacks are originating and stop them. Flash tries to wrest the gun from Zarkov, but he unwittingly throws Zarkov against the controls that ignite the rocket's engines. Having no other choice, the scientist and the two reluctant travelers become allies as the rocket hurtles its way through outer space and to the planet Mongo, where the three are promptly taken prisoner.
[edit] Mongo
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. When viewing footage of Adolf Hitler, Klytus remarks that "he showed promise". Emotions are discouraged and dismissed as "pathetic", and even the shedding of tears is unknown. Ming and Klytus, the head of the secret police, maintain their hold on power by surreptitiously encouraging conflicts between neighboring moon colonies, especially Arboria, a swamp-like moon ruled by Prince Barin (Timothy Dalton) and Prince Vultan (Brian Blessed) who rules the Hawkmen.
[edit] In the Court of Ming the Merciless
Flash, Dale and Zarkov are brought before Ming, who vilifies them for embarking on a voyage without knowing where they were going — or what they were doing. He then motions for a reluctant Dale to come closer. Aiming his power ring at her, she goes into a hypnotic, sensual trance. Ming orders her to be removed and prepared for his pleasure, but Flash openly defies Ming and picks a fight with his guards in the style of an American Football game with Dale as cheerleader. During the fight however Flash is accidentally knocked out by Zarkov. Ming, after refusing his daughter Princess Aura’s (Ornella Muti) request to give Flash to her, and ordering Zarkov into Klytus’ custody for reconditioning, repays Flash’s defiance in kind by ordering his execution by gas chamber that evening.
[edit] Execution
The execution is a high ceremony which Dale and Zarkov are both forced to watch, and which causes Dale to faint. Following the execution, Princess Aura, still wanting Flash for herself, 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 her spaceship, they pass the room where Dr. Zarkov is about to undergo a memory-erasing treatment. Before the treatment begins, Ming explains to Zarkov why he has decided to destroy Earth. Ming’s reasoning is relatively simple: because of its evolutionary advancements, Ming viewed Earth as a threat to his absolute power, ergo, its destruction. The mere fact that Zarkov managed to find his way to Mongo proves Ming's point, and thus, in a roundabout way, Ming blames Zarkov for Earth's eventual destruction.
[edit] Arboria
During the flight to Arboria (Latin: Arbor translated as tree i.e. Arboria: land (or planet) of the trees), Flash coerces Aura to teach him to use a telepathic communicator so that he can contact Dale and let her know he is still alive. Relieved, Dale informs Flash she is locked in Ming’s bedchamber. Flash suggests that she use deception with Ming, which she eventually does and escapes, only to run into the “reconditioned” Dr. Zarkov. Unaware that Klytus and General Kala (Mariangela Melato) are eavesdropping on their conversation, Dale tells Zarkov that Flash is still alive. Believing that Zarkov will lead them to Flash, they unseal Ming City and allow Dale and Zarkov to escape. As they ride to Arboria, Zarkov confides in Dale that the brain drain was for naught as he was able to retain his memory completely intact by, as he was going under, reciting Shakespeare, formulas of Einstein, “even a song by the Beatles”. The celebration is short-lived, however, as they are captured by a small band of Prince Vultan’s Hawkmen and taken to his kingdom.
Meanwhile, Klytus informs Ming of Flash’s resurrection, and that he has suspicions as to who did it (but stops short of naming names), and asks Ming’s authority to pursue the investigation his own way; Ming quickly agrees.
Aura and Flash arrive at the forest moon Arboria during an initiation ceremony in which, much to Flash’s disbelief, the pledge is ritually killed. Prince Barin’s mood turns rancid when Aura asks him to keep Flash in Arboria until Ming has his way with Dale, but while Barin is steamed at Aura's using him again, his anger is more directed at Flash, thinking he wants Aura as well. Accordingly, when Aura leaves, he throws Flash into a cage and lowers him into the swamp, but not before Flash plants a seed of thought in Barin’s head saying “I’m not your enemy! Ming is! And you know it yourself!”
[edit] Escape from the swamp
Barin then decides to lure Flash into a trap by sending one of his Tree men into the cage with a key to get out. The man tells Flash there are weapons in the temple, but when they arrive there, the trap is sprung. The high priest of the temple (Green Father) tells Flash that a stranger in the temple must try the Wood Beast or die. Flash and Barin take turns inserting their arms into holes in a massive tree stump with the Wood Beast hiding inside, but Flash 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 Ming City only to be taken prisoner and violently interrogated by Klytus and General Kala. Refusing to confess to what she has done, Klytus orders her torture. When Aura reminds Klytus she is a princess, he contacts Ming, who allows the torture to continue, much to Aura's incredulity. She eventually gives a full confession. Ming orders Aura to be exiled to the ice moon Frigia for one year— immediately after Ming’s wedding to Dale.
[edit] Vultan's kingdom
Flash and Barin are taken to Prince Vultan’s (Brian Blessed) kingdom, where Flash and Dale are briefly reunited. Barin angrily reminds Vultan of Ming’s Law, which states no Prince of Mongo shall be held prisoner or given for ransom without the right to trial by combat. When Vultan asks Barin who he wishes to fight, he chooses Flash. The two are led to the fighting platform, a free-floating pivoting ring with retractable spikes and no barriers, with only thin air underneath them. The two fight furiously with only bullwhips (and their respective fists) as weapons. Flash narrowly wins, but he rescues Barin from falling off the platform. Both exhausted, Flash extends his hand to Barin in friendship. Realizing now that Flash is on his side (and that he has no interest in Aura), Barin gratefully accepts Flash’s hand.
But victory is short-lived as Klytus, who had been secretly trailing the Hawkmen carrying Barin and Flash, arrives to arrest Barin and Zarkov for treason. Flash and Barin double-team Klytus and throw him on the fight platform spikes, killing him. Seeing this, Vultan, now in panic, raises his staff to kill Flash, but Barin dissuades him, saying now is the perfect time to fight back against Ming and his Imperial Fleet. But Vultan, fearing more for his own life, orders his people to evacuate instead, taking anything and everything they can carry. The Hawkmen flee, leaving Barin, Flash, Dale and Zarkov behind.
Ming’s command ship arrives shortly after Vultan and his Hawkmen leave. 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, the people more agreeable after all the disasters, added to which Ming reveals his intention to marry Dale, 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 uses it to escape, once again cheating death.
Vultan, having taken refuge with his Hawkmen in Arboria, broods about deserting Flash, believing he is dead. But Flash calls him using the communicator on the rocket cycle. Flash tells Vultan that Ming has Dale, Zarkov and Barin. Vultan humbly thanks a surprised Flash for “giving a dumb old bird a second chance” and sends him a homing beam to find them and plan their next move.
[edit] Flash to the Rescue
Back on Mongo, Barin and Zarkov face execution for treason, Aura has a change of heart after her father allows her to be tortured, and Dale is being prepared for her wedding to Ming in Ming City. Just as the wedding is about to begin, Flash approaches alone on the rocket cycle. General Kala, informed of his approach, orders weapons to open fire at him. When Flash beats a quick retreat, Kala orders Ajax, an Imperial rocket, to go after him and bring back his body. Ajax catches up with Flash just as he makes his way into a giant cloud. The rocket enters the cloud in pursuit, only to find Flash with Vultan and his entire army of Hawkmen waiting in ambush on the other side. (The moment the ship appears, the warlike Vultan sends his troops into battle with the order to "Die!" as opposed to "Dive!") After a huge battle, the Hawkmen, heavily outnumbering Ajax’s army, seize control of the rocket and, with Flash taking the helm, make their way toward Ming City.
Back in Ming 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 is out of its proper flight pattern, and also orders Ming City’s protective lightning field to be charged up. Barin and Zarkov arrive and order Kala to take them to Ming, but Kala refuses and instead fires on Zarkov. However, Barin warns Zarkov in time and kills Kala in return. Zarkov warns Barin that they need to deactivate the lightning field. Barin heads toward the source in the tower while Zarkov "holds the fort" in the control center.
Meanwhile, with the firing increasing, Vultan and his Hawkmen are ready to bail out of Ajax, but Flash, knowing the rocket would never make it with no one at the controls, stays at the helm. Vultan reluctantly agrees.
[edit] The Wedding and the aftermath
On Ming 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. (Body language suggests that Ming might have meant to do just that.) The impact throws Flash clear of the rocket, dazed but uninjured. Now holding the upper hand, 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. Barin and Vultan and his Hawkmen arrive, Flash is again reunited with Dale, a robot announces the Earth has been saved 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. He then invites Flash and Dale to stay on Mongo. When asked her opinion, Dale, being from New York City, thinks the place is a little too quiet for her.
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.
[edit] Reception
With its camp style, exaggerated costumes and synthesized music, Flash Gordon had a poor box office performance (though it had surprising success in the UK, where it is still one of the top 100 films of all time when adjusted for inflation), although Max von Sydow (Ming) received a good deal of praise for his performance. The film nonetheless 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 79% fresh rating at RottenTomatoes.com.
The film is also notable in that, according to the biography Skywalking, George Lucas was an admirer of the original comics and serials and attempted to secure the rights to produce it, but finding the rights had been secured by Laurentiis, went on to write, produce and direct Star Wars instead. A sequel was also considered and according to Brian Blessed on the R2 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 set on the same planet.
[edit] 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.
[edit] Media
The film is available on VHS and DVD. In the DVD version the commentary by Brian Blessed won the "Commentary Of The Year" award by Hotdog Magazine in 2005. He was highly praised by fans for his humour and enthusiasm while commenting on the making of the film.
[edit] Main cast
| Actor | Character |
|---|---|
| Sam J. Jones | Flash Gordon |
| Melody Anderson | Dale Arden |
| Chaim Topol | Dr. Hans Zarkov |
| Max von Sydow | Ming the Merciless |
| Ornella Muti | Princess Aura |
| Timothy Dalton | Prince Barin |
| Brian Blessed | Prince Vultan |
| Peter Wyngarde | General Klytus |
| Mariangela Melato | General Kala |
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ "...David Lynch's Dune, and even Dino de Laurentiis' film Flash Gordon, on which Frank had worked in London as a script consultant." pg 18, Preface, Brian Herbert/Kevin J. Anderson, The Road to Dune.
[edit] External links
