Flash Gordon. 1980
- Thread starter sir.clip
- Start date
Saw it as a kid at the Elephant and Castle Coronet, when is was a proper cinema and not a bunch of TV screens. A huge queue to get in iirc - the only other time I saw something like that there was when Jurassic Park came out.
Edit: My mate at the time had the soundtrack album.
Edit: My mate at the time had the soundtrack album.
Flash Gordon at 40: The greatest superhero film ever made?
The shoot was as colourful as the film: ‘It was all madness. But it was delicious madness’
ATOMIC SUPLEX
Member Since: 1985 Post Count: 3
Great documentary 'life after flash' on prime.
krtek a houby
Anger is Hi-NRG
Flash Gordon at 40: The greatest superhero film ever made?
The shoot was as colourful as the film: ‘It was all madness. But it was delicious madness’www.irishtimes.com
Nah, because he doesn't have super powers. But it is great, silly fun.
maomao
普費斯
The 1980 movie must look (40%!) more dated to today's kids than the 1954 series did to me as a six year old. They were repeated on early morning tv within a year or two of the film coming out and they seemed pretty dull and incomprehensible to me at the time.
It was one of the first big films in my life, after Black Hole; I was a bit young to get Star Wars first time. Had the single, sticker book, novelisation etc. Don't think I've seen it in twenty years though.
It was one of the first big films in my life, after Black Hole; I was a bit young to get Star Wars first time. Had the single, sticker book, novelisation etc. Don't think I've seen it in twenty years though.
Reno
The In Kraut
Brian Blessed: Flash Gordon is the Queen's favourite film 
I must admit, I tried to rewatch this a couple of evenings ago and just couldn't get into it.
I must admit, I tried to rewatch this a couple of evenings ago and just couldn't get into it.
Steel Icarus
we move
I went on an aikido daytrip when I was about 10 and the coach got back early. Some bloke in his twenties from our regular training group said I could go back to his house and wait until it was time to go to where my mum was picking me up. He wasn't a stranger, so nothing felt wrong.
He gave me crisps and chocolate and SodaStream and I watched Flash Gordon on his toploader VHS player. A copied film! It was a great afternoon. My parents didn't exactly tell me off but were all weird with me when they picked me up and I told them where I'd been. Sort of cross but relieved. Had no idea why.
Anyway. Great film. Music's great, it's quotable, Blessed, Dalton, Muti and Von Sydow are great
He gave me crisps and chocolate and SodaStream and I watched Flash Gordon on his toploader VHS player. A copied film! It was a great afternoon. My parents didn't exactly tell me off but were all weird with me when they picked me up and I told them where I'd been. Sort of cross but relieved. Had no idea why.
Anyway. Great film. Music's great, it's quotable, Blessed, Dalton, Muti and Von Sydow are great
souljacker
innit
Flash Gordon was a bit weird, but that early morning TV slot provided some gems. Rocketman and the little rascals were my favourites.
ATOMIC SUPLEX
Member Since: 1985 Post Count: 3
What was that one with the 'juggernoughts' ? Some amazing cliffhangers were everyone died, but the next episode they would escape in a relatively easy way before the cliffhanger death occurred.
ska invita
back on the other side
'
ska invita
back on the other side
Terminator X! Ah ah! Saviour of the Universe!
Seen it a few times, less patience for it now tbh, but still got some great sequences, sets, costumes and matte paintings, and some interesting commentaries on the dvd.
Seen it a few times, less patience for it now tbh, but still got some great sequences, sets, costumes and matte paintings, and some interesting commentaries on the dvd.
krtek a houby
Anger is Hi-NRG
Looking like one of the musicians of the Fleadh on TG4 the other day.
As a kid, Ming probably terrified me with his cruelty more than Vader. 1930's Ming, that is.
Both RTE and BBC used to show these surprisingly violent shows. Flash had a habit of strangling opponents, esp in the first serial.
Spandex
A crazy bulbous punchbag of sound
Flash Gordon at 40: The greatest superhero film ever made?
The shoot was as colourful as the film: ‘It was all madness. But it was delicious madness’
When the word superhero started being used around 1917 - obviously indebted to Nietzsche's ubermensch - it referred to any extraordinary heroic character. It could be masked - like The Lone Ranger or Zorro - or unmasked like Buck Rogers. When Flash Gordon first appeared - in comic strip in 1934 and on the big screen in 1936 - he was definately a superhero. It was 1937 before the word was used to describe a costumed hero with superpowers (unless you include someone earlier like Popeye). From 1938 with the creation of Superman and the rise of the golden age of comics superhero increasingly came to mean superpowered.
I love the three 1936 to 1940 film serials of Flash Gordon. I watched them as a kid when they were shown during school holidays and I rediscovered them as an adult on a weed fueled comedown day when back-to-back episodes were on some sci-fi channel. Of course they're cheesy, the special effects aren't very special by today's standards and they have of-their-time attitudes, but the stories rock along at great speed as Flash blunders from one cliff hanger to the next, theirs some great ideas - the clay men! - the costume and set design is iconic and I had a thing for Priness Aura in the first serial, before she fell foul of the Hays Commission.
The 1980 film is silly fun if I'm in the right mood. There were a number of other directors attached to the film before Mike Hodges was chosen. Producer Dino De Laurentiis owned the rights - Frederico Fellini optioned the rights, but never made it; George Lucas tried to option the rights but couldn't and made Star Wars instead; Nicholas Roeg was approached, but De Laurentiis didn't like his ideas; Sergio Leone was approached but he didn't like De Laurentiis' ideas. There'd have been a different film if one of them had got it.
maomao
普費斯
I think it was these I meant when I mentioned early morning Flash Gordon earlier. I'd discounted films when I went looking for what it was but it was a cinema serial.
Reno
The In Kraut
I was wondering why I found the film so hard to get into this time round when there is so much retro trash I love and for me it never leans far enough into comedy to become genuinely funny but it also doesn't work as science fantasy, with everything being held at a distance by being ironically tacky. It's poorly staged and never looks like more than a fancy dress party on a sound stage. In that first scene in Ming's palace, the actors and extras representing the different tribes stand around like kids in a school play, with too many wide shots that make the throne room look like a set. It doesn't come across as deliberately bad, just as poorly directed.
Sam Jones is about as uncharismatic and poor a leading man any blockbuster has had. This would have needed someone with charm who can sell the none-too bright innocence of the character and make it funny. I'm not much of a fan of Barbarella either, the closest to Flash Gordon when it comes to kinky sci-fi campiness, but at least it has Jane Fonda in the lead, who knows exactly what type of film she's in. She plays the wide eyed inocence with a comedic knowningness which keeps the character from being offensive. I wished Timothy Dalton had been the lead, he does a perfect Errol Flynn impersonation which fits the camp tone of the film.
Sam Jones is about as uncharismatic and poor a leading man any blockbuster has had. This would have needed someone with charm who can sell the none-too bright innocence of the character and make it funny. I'm not much of a fan of Barbarella either, the closest to Flash Gordon when it comes to kinky sci-fi campiness, but at least it has Jane Fonda in the lead, who knows exactly what type of film she's in. She plays the wide eyed inocence with a comedic knowningness which keeps the character from being offensive. I wished Timothy Dalton had been the lead, he does a perfect Errol Flynn impersonation which fits the camp tone of the film.
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seeformiles
Lost in the wood
Probably the campest film ever made - with a big leather BDSM subtext. Having loved the 30s serials (shown during school holidays) I was glad, when I saw the film, that they’d kept the Art Deco vibe but was puzzled (even at age 11) why Flash preferred Dale over Aura. It started a long attachment to the “evil anti-heroine” in any film during my hormone addled adolescence.
Reno
The In Kraut
seeformiles
Lost in the wood
Spandex
A crazy bulbous punchbag of sound
Flash is a slightly thick macho sportsman. It flatters his male ego to use his brawn to keep saving Dale, who's always tripping over and screaming. The strong willed, independent and sexual Aura intimidates him and further deflates his machismo by saving his arse every 5 minutes.
de_dog
Mickey! Mickey from Leicester
I was entrusted to go and see this in the nearby town with my little brother. Somehow we went in to the wrong screen and watched the second half of Little Lord Fauntleroy then when we tried to sneak into the correct screen we found that Flash Gordon wasn't starting for a while. So we went back to the previous screen and watched the first half of Little Lord Fauntleroy.
We finally got to see Flash Gordon, made it home (it was quite late by then) and I got a telling-off for not bringing home any change from the £5 note (we were hungry so we spent the last of it on KitKats).
We finally got to see Flash Gordon, made it home (it was quite late by then) and I got a telling-off for not bringing home any change from the £5 note (we were hungry so we spent the last of it on KitKats).
Reno
The In Kraut
To be remade by Taika Waititi, who is as good a choice for this I can think of. His Thor film was one of the best MCU films and the funniest.
www.empireonline.com
Taika Waititi Going Live-Action For His Flash Gordon Film
It was originally animated. Empire has the update.
Orang Utan
Psychick Worrier Ov Geyoor
Ooooooh. I love the original. Much more fun than that dour overextended humourless SW franchise
You have to concede that it's the longest running series about forensic pathology though.
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