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Flash Gordon (1980)
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Mon May 25, 2015 1:35 pm    Post subject: Flash Gordon (1980) Reply with quote



Just serious enough to be enjoyable (barely) and just funny enough to be amusing (occasionally), this big-budget circus of campy sci-fi was probably the right way to do a Flash Gordon movie and completely avoid any comparison to Star Wars.

Max von Sydow is absolutely perfect as Ming, both his acting and his appearance. Melody Anderson is a blue-eyed beauty who makes a lovely Dale Arden.

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Sam Jones does just fine as Flash, and Timothy Dalton is a dashing Prince Baron. The special effects were deliberately retro cheesy, a decision that earns no points from me personally, but I understand why they did it. I think the rock music was a mistake, but I'm sure there are folks who enjoyed it.

If you've ever felt that the movie could be trimmed a little, Youtube has a somewhat abbreviated version.

(Somewhat = 6 minutes long!
Shocked )


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
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Last edited by Bud Brewster on Sun Mar 04, 2018 11:42 am; edited 6 times in total
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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 30, 2016 11:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The QUEEN soundtrack was the best part of the movie!
It was almost as good as what they did for HIGHLANDER !!!
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 27, 2017 2:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

__________________________________

I wish the picture quality was a bit sharper, but the trailer itself certainly makes this movie look enjoyable.
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____________________ Flash Gordon - Trailer


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Tue May 02, 2017 5:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Not the greatest movie ever, but I did own a DVD of it (until I gave it away), and it does have a few good moments.

Enjoy these trivia items from IMDB.
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Kurt Russell auditioned to play Flash Gordon. According to an interview with Russell in Starlog magazine from August 1981, Dino De Laurentiis really wanted Russell for the part, but Russell ultimately turned it down because he thought the character was lacking in personality.

Note from me: The role did in fact need an actor of Russell's caliber, but I'm not sure Kurt would have been the right guy.

The actors playing the Hawkmen couldn't sit down because the costumes would hurt their backs. Melody Anderson told Starlog Magazine, "They could never sit down, because when they did the wings would dig into their backs. When we had a rest period, you'd see all these guys lying on their stomachs with wings, like they were ready to take off. It was a very funny sight." According to Brian Blessed, he had to sit on a perch.

Note from me: My goodness, how times have changed. If this movie were made today, the wings would be done with flawless CGi, instead of the clunky props wings which looked like they were made for a school play.

Brian Blessed improvised the scene where Vultan gooses Dale. Melody Anderson's reaction is genuine.

Note from me: I don't remember this scene. Correct me if I'm wrong, but "goosing Dale" isn't code for something more erotic, is it? Shocked

During the opening credits each actor's credit is accompanied by artwork of their character from the original comic strip. Therefore you see all of the major characters as cartoons before you see the actors who play them.

Note from me: The credits were damn good, with all that Al Williamson artwork on display. The problem with this, however, is that it clearly demonstrates how Dino D. De Laurentiis completely missed the lesson George Lucas taught Hollywood when he made Star Wars because the rights to Flash Gordon were too expensive.

The lesson was this: sci-fi fans do NOT want jokey versions of their beloved comic book heroes! They don't want on-screen graphics that imitate comic books! They want movies that look like a skilled blend of the comic book artwork and a very convincing reality, the way those comic book stories played out in their own fertile young imaginations — spectacular and realistic and dynamic in scope!

That's what Star Wars was. That's why it succeeded. And that's why it spawned the cultural phenomenon we still enjoy today.
Cool

_______________ Flash Gordon Opening Titles


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Melody Anderson came up with Dale's cheerleading during the football fight.

Note from me: This is one of the highlights of the movie, (though it's all to brief). "Go, Flash, go! Go, Flash, Go!"


______________ Flash Gordon - Football Fight


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Flash jumping into the camera screaming "YEAH!" was an improvisation by Sam J. Jones, as nobody could figure out how to end the movie.

Note from me: OKay, this is just sad. They couldn't figure how to end the movie? Pathetic! Shocked

According to the original storyline, when Dale is entranced by Ming's hypnotic ring, she is having a vision of being on an erotic picnic with Ming in a 1920's setting.

Note from me: Seriously? A picnic? In the 1920s? Wow, why didn't George Lucas think of this? A dream sequence with Princess Lea and Darth Vader, on a picnic in the Roaring 20's! Brilliant!
Confused
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


Last edited by Bud Brewster on Fri Jan 07, 2022 3:17 pm; edited 5 times in total
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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Tue May 02, 2017 8:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bud Brewster wrote:
The lesson was this: sci-fi fans do NOT want jokey versions of their beloved comic book heroes! They don't want on-screen graphics that imitate comic books! They want movies that look like a skilled blend of the comic book artwork and a very convincing reality, the way those comic book stories played out in their own fertile young imaginations — spectacular and realistic and dynamic in scope!

That's what Star Wars was. That's why it succeeded. And that's why it spawned the cultural phenomenon we still enjoy today.

Boy Bud, you encapsulated it all!

That's why Tim Burton's BATMAN was the hit that it was, and even Donner's SUPERMAN:THE MOVIE was greeted with such enthusiasm!

This is not to say that humor can't be used — like in DEADPOOL, but even that had a realistic point of view.
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Krel
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PostPosted: Wed May 03, 2017 7:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The movie used a lot of costume designs from the Alex Raymond strips. The radium ring with the corkscrew beam was straight from the Alex Raymond strips.

I thought that Sam Jones did a good job with what he was given. Max von Sydow was great as Ming the Merciless, as was Brian Blessed.

David.
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Custer
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PostPosted: Wed May 03, 2017 12:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I personally think the Queen music is great - the movie would be lost without it. But here's a shot from The Geek Twins, on a page that treats us to "18 Bizarre Facts About FLASH GORDON 1980 You Didn't Know"...




It certainly looks as if Brian Blessed could be considering 'goosing' the lady, yes? Smile
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Wed May 03, 2017 1:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Custer wrote:
It certainly looks as if Brian Blessed could be considering 'goosing' the lady, yes?

Yes indeed, an enthusiastic "goose" does seem to be on his mind.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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Maurice
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PostPosted: Tue May 16, 2017 4:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Don't trust all the supposed factoids in trivia sections on IMDb and the like. A lot of it is half true or misremembered rubbish.

I have a copy of the first draft of the script, and it's played more straight than what we got, even though it's also by Lorenzo Semple Jr.

The film had a lot of production issues. Director Mike Hodges did a very informative commentary on one of the DVDs. The entirety of it is here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwSQTQ7xcI0

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Maurice
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 27, 2018 4:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I just watched the HD version of this movie. Some random thoughts...

I think the comic cook title sequence was perfect. It's like the Marvel movies flashing all those comic images by with the logo. It acknowledges the source.

Custer wrote:


[size=18]It certainly looks as if Brian Blessed could be considering 'goosing' the lady, yes? )

^^^Yes, Vultan gooses her as he walks behind her right after that frame, as he explains how he plans to buy time before attacking Ming.

The set and costume design by Oscar winner Donilo Donati is spectacular. It's art deco on steroids. I could look at this movie all day.

I just noticed that Klytus never uses his golden right arm. It's always just hanging at his side. The only time you see it bent is when he's impaled on the spikes. I suspect the actual armpiece on the costume couldn't flex, or actor Peter Wyngard decided to treat it like a prosthetic.

They could easily have made feathered wings for the Hawkmen as was done for Barbarella, but they clearly wanted something more sculptural. And there's nothing school play like about them, not with all that sculpted detail and gold highlighted painting. Stylized, yes, school play, no.

Part of the problem with the film is it doesn't consistently know when to be dramatic and when to let the funny happen. For instance, the scene with the beast in the tree stump is played absolutely straight and is really tense, and it works fine, as does most of the disc fight between Flash and Barin (but for Dale's ill-timed "Flash, I love you! But we only have 14 hours to save the Earth!"). But the Hawkmen attack on War Rocket Ajax gets undermined by the goofy bird sound effects made by injured hawkmen during the action. There's a whole cycle of tension and release where you can slip funny into an action scene for effect, but the movie frequently can't find that balance.

Flash is super obviously dubbed when you listen to the film over headphones. He often sounds like he's speaking in a different room.

Never noticed this before, but when Klytus threatens Aura with the the Bore Worms, Kala plucks a small lidded urn from a shelf and carries it over... presumably a bowl of said worms.

Speaking of the Bore Worms in one interview somewhere the director said he imagined that every time the worms bit you they gave you a tiny orgasm, and basically they pleasured you to death (shades of the orgasmatron). What a way to go.

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Custer
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 27, 2018 8:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I was just looking through Wikipedia's filmography for Brian Blessed, and he's certainly kept himself busy. As well as being a main character in Flash Gordon, still often asked to exclaim "Gordon's alive!" he of course voiced Boss Nass in episode one of Star Wars. He voiced the pirate king in The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists, was in Man of La Mancha, Robin Hood Prince of Thieves and High Road to China, and appeared in such TV series as Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), Space: 1999, The Day After Tomorrow, Survivors, Blake's 7, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Last Days of Pompeii, MacGyver: Lost Treasure of Atlantis, Doctor Who, and I, Claudius. And that's just looking at the more genre-ish roles... Shocked
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Krel
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 27, 2018 11:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Brian Blessed is also the voice of the Tom-Tom GPS, this video got him the job: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JpKuYbJQK4

He has also scaled Mount Everest.

Sam Jones quit acting to become a body guard! I read an interview where he said that he keeps getting offers for acting jobs, but he enjoys being a body guard more. He loves it when he gets a job guarding people he worked with in the past. He says that the looks on their faces when they meet him is priceless.

David.
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Custer
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 28, 2018 7:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sounds like the best sat-nav evah! Very Happy

I can recommend one of the alternative destinations, Bekonscot model village in Beaconsfield - preferably if you take a suitably young relative or two along.
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Maurice
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 28, 2018 5:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Something else that occurs to me, Klytus arrives at Sky City in a bug-like black rocket, which basically disappears right afterwards as if the scriptwriters forgot it was there, because Ming's ship arrives shortly thereafter and there's no sign of it. Oops.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 15, 2018 6:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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I've gone back and forth concerning my opinion of this movie. I saw in a theater and didn't care for it very much. I was jokey without being funny. It was action packed without being exciting. It was colorful to the point of being gaudy.

It was obviously trying to emulate the 1936 serial, but the effort just wasn't very appealing.

Several years ago, however, I bought the DVD on a whim and enjoyed watching it a few times. But then my opinion soured again, and I mailed it to Bulldogtrekker in box that had a dozen other movies I'd either gotten tired of of upgraded to Blu-ray.

I haven't read this Starlog article from issue #41 yet, but after I do I'll post some comments about it.

As you guys are well aware by now, just click on each page below to see a large, easy-to-read version you can zoom in on. Click on the large version again, and then zoom in as close as you want!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


Last edited by Bud Brewster on Tue Jul 17, 2018 12:17 pm; edited 1 time in total
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