Camp movies rarely get their due – at first.
Consider the 1980 space opera “Flash Gordon,” available June 15 on Blu-ray.
The film underwhelmed at the box office domestically, and comparisons to action epics of the era like “Star Wars” were never flattering.
But the years have been surprisingly kind to a movie saturated with a dated soundtrack supplied by Queen.
For every cheap moment – and they are legion – there’s another that delivers real adventure
Watch it today without preconceptions and you’ll find a lark that defies you to hit the eject button.
Sam Jones is Flash Gordon, the star quarterback for the New York Jets who somehow hitches a ride aboard a rocket ship headed to the planet Mongo.
Yes, you have to gulp down a heaping helping of plot contrivances just to set this story in motion.
Teamed with Dale (Melody Anderson) and a whacked out scientist (Topol), Flash finds himself on a strange world run by a madman who seeks to destroy the planet Earth.
Ming the Merciless (Max von Sydow) and his crew capture our heroes, but ol’ Flash won’t go down easily. He rumbles through Ming’s guard battalion like Jerome Bettis, then leverages his good looks to woo Ming’s comely daughter (Ornella Muti).
The football sequence alone pushes the camp meter to red, but it’s grand fun all the same. And a battle between Flash and Prince Barin (Timothy Dalton) on a deadly tilt-o-wheel platform is shrewdly conceived.
We even get some human moments between Flash and Dale, romantic sparks flying despite the silliness on display.
And then there’s von Sydow’s Ming, looking regal in his flowing robes and outlandish makeup. It takes a great actor to conquer such a role, and the whole film might have collapsed if not for his dastardly performance.
He’s slumming, for sure … and loving it.
The special effects range from serviceable to God-awful, but the Blu-ray format brings the film’s garish color palette to wondrous life. The colors practically melt off the screen.
The Blu-ray extras, alas, are disappointing
The first featurette is an interview with comic book artist Alex Ross, an unabashed fan of the film. His insights aren’t very illuminating, although he does add some context regarding how the film sits within the Flash Gordon universe.
The second extra, a recent chat with “Flash Gordon” screenwriter Lorenzo Semple, Jr., provides a cheeky look at how the film came to vibrant life.
Language barriers on and off set made filming a chore, and producer Dino De Laurentis made some curious requests along the way.
The producer wasn’t exactly hands on for quality control, but he did suggest Semple check in with Penthouse guru Bob Guccione for some story advice.
Weird.
It’s a miracle any movie emerged from the chaos.
The features wrap with a 1936 serial installment featuring Buster Crabbe, a fine way to compare and contrast pulp fiction from two very different era.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Granted, Flash Gordon has a lot of cheesiness to it, but I’ve always loved this movie, and I think it’s very underrated.
You neglected to mention Brian Blessed as Prince Vultan the Hawkman. He looked like he had lots of fun making this movie.
Loved the Queen soundtrack. Best part – Melody Anderson stumbling around, taking off her heels, then suddenly doing cartwheels while blasting bad guys with a laser rifle.