BLOGGER'S NOTE: This post is part of The Film Preservation 2015 Blogathon that is being co-hosted by Ferdy on Films, This Island Rod and Wonders in the Dark.
After the phenomenal success
of Star Wars (1977) every studio was
eager to capitalize on the movie-going public’s renewed interest in feel-good
space operas. This resulted in numerous rip-offs and wannabes with arguably the
most hyped of them all being Flash Gordon
(1980). It was the brainchild of legendary film producer Dino De Laurentiis
who, ironically, was responsible for Star
Wars when he bought the film rights for Alex Raymond’s comic strip when
George Lucas was unable to thereby paving the way for him to create his own
science fiction epic.
Alas, Flash Gordon was a debacle from the word go. Early on, De
Laurentiis decided that the movie should be filled with humor and hired Lorenzo Semple, Jr. to write the screenplay. Semple had written several episodes for
the 1960s Batman television series
and proceeded to apply a similar camp aesthetic to the movie. During filming
there was some confusion between the cast as to the tone of the movie. The end
result is a lavishly mounted production with absolutely stunning production and
set design, which is in contrast to the rather silly tone for a fascinatingly
jarring effect.
As a result, Flash Gordon barely surpassed its budget
at the North American box office but performed well overseas. However, it
failed to reach the dizzying heights of Star
Wars that De Laurentiis was hoping for and was derided by many critics that
felt it was a horrible, cinematic trainwreck. Then, something happened. Over
the years, Flash Gordon quietly
became a cult classic among science fiction fans, counting director Edgar Wright
(Shaun of the Dead), comic book
artist Alex Ross and comedian Seth MacFarlane (Ted) among its admirers who have all paid tribute to this
much-maligned movie.
The movie sets its peculiar
tone from the opening credits that feature Queen’s bombastic theme song playing
over panels of Raymond’s comic strip interspersed with Ming the Merciless (Max von Sydow) wreaking havoc on the Earth’s weather system. “Flash” Gordon (Sam J.Jones), the star quarterback for the New York Jets football team, meets travel
agent Dale Arden (Melody Anderson) on a small airplane that struggles with
turbulence, which mysteriously turns into a meteor storm coupled with an
unscheduled solar eclipse.
The “irrational” Dr. Zarkov
(Chaim Topol) is convinced that the storm is an attack and plans to launch a
counterattack with his own rocket. After a meteorite hits their plane causing
the pilots to mysteriously and suddenly disappear (?!), Flash and Dale manage
to crash land right into Zarkov’s laboratory. The clearly mad scientist tricks
Flash and Dale into his rocket and the ensuing struggle accidentally manages to
launch them into outer space where they pass out from excessive g-forces.
The rocket finds its way into
the Imperial Vortex where it is guided by Ming’s forces to the planet Mongo.
Our heroes are captured by Ming’s troops, sporting a curious mix of samurai and
Star Wars stormtrooper armor. It is
only but one of many odd touches that populate Flash Gordon – like the enigmatic Lizard Man, a guy dressed in a
poorly-made costume, and who is quickly vaporized by Ming before he can make
any kind of meaningful impression.
Flash, Dale and Zarkov are
led through a red-saturated hallway that answers the question, what if Dario
Argento applied his 1970s era Giallo aesthetic to a space opera? They are
brought to Ming’s throne room where they meet a truly odd assortment of
characters: Prince Vultan (Brain Blessed) and his Hawkmen clad in skimpy armor
and giant wings, and Prince Barin (Timothy Dalton) and his men that come across
looking like a futuristic riff on Robin Hood and his Merry Men. Along with
Ming, they participate in a bizarre ceremony that is intended to demonstrate
their loyalty to the emperor.
Another odd detail includes
the fact that the women populating Ming’s throne room are scantily-clad in some
of king futuristic bikini outfit, chief among them Princess Aura (Ornella Muti), Ming’s daughter, who becomes mildly aroused when Flash employs some of
his gridiron moves to best a few of Ming’s finest troops in a wonderfully
cheesy sequence that involves Dale doing her best cheerleader impression and
Zarkov employing slapstick comedy to end the struggle. As a result, Dale
becomes Ming’s concubine and Flash is imprisoned, scheduled for execution. He
must figure out a way to escape and free Dale while convincing Barin and Vultan
to unite against their common foe.
The tonal shifts among the
cast are illogical and could almost give the viewer whiplash, but they only add
to the wonderfully absurdist vibe of Flash
Gordon. God bless ‘em, Sam Jones and Melody Anderson play their characters
with aw shucks earnestness right out of a 1950s sci-fi movie while Chaim Topol
and Brian Blessed ham it up for the cheap seats with the latter looking like
he’s having the most fun of anyone in the cast. Max von Sydow and Peter Wyngarde play it absolutely straight almost as if they’re reciting Shakespeare
with the former perfectly cast as Ming and making the most of hi s character’s evil
plans monologues. Part of the fun of watching this movie is to see these
contrasting performances bounce off each other as the cast try to spout the
ridiculous dialogue convincingly. It makes for a heady experience that you
either submit to or reject – there is no middle ground with Flash Gordon.
At times, the dated special
effects, especially the extensive use of rear projection, look pretty bad and
yet there is something authentic about it. The old school effects and
astounding sets have a tangible quality that is missing from a lot of
contemporary SF epics. In particular, the effects for Mongo’s atmosphere are
quite breathtakingly beautiful and one has to admire the filmmakers’
audaciousness. The movie also has several exciting action sequences, including
a surprisingly bloody gladiatorial battle between Flash and Barin on a platform
that is constantly shifting and with spikes emerging and disappearing with
unpredictable frequency creating a real sense of danger. Seeing this fight play
out at a young, impressionable age scared and thrilled me in equal measure. Along
with David Lynch’s Dune (1984), Flash Gordon is one of the most
distinctive-looking SF movies to come out of the ‘80s.
Flash Gordon’s weakest aspects are the obvious attempts to ape Star Wars with nods to stormtroopers, a
flying droid and General Klytus (Peter Wyngarde), Ming’s second-in-command, serving
as a poor man’s Darth Vader. He gets little to do except bark orders and
supervise torturing Princess Aura. The movie is at its best when it subverts
aspects of Lucas’ film, like taking the earnestness of Luke Skywalker and
placing it in a football player’s body or splitting Princess Leia into two
characters – the bland eye candy that is Dale Arden and the duplicitous
Princess Aura who has a kinky streak (what’s up with her pet dwarf Fellini?)
and the hots for Flash.
After writing the screenplay
for a remake of King Kong (1976) for
legendary Italian movie producer Dino De Laurentiis, Lorenzo Semple Jr. was
given a coffee table book of the Italian translation for the Flash Gordon comic strip and told that
it would be the basis for his movie. He was told to make it funny: “At the
time, I thought that was a possible way to go, but, in hindsight, I realize it
was a terrible mistake. We kept fiddling around with the script, trying to
decide whether to be funny or realistic.” Semple admitted that he didn’t think
the character of Flash in the script was particularly good, but that “there was
no pressure to make it any better.”
Initially, Nicolas Roeg was
hired by De Laurentiis to direct Flash
Gordon. He had just come off another science fiction film, The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976) when
the producer approached him to direct. He wasn’t sure and took some time to
read Raymond’s comic strip. Roeg came to the conclusion that Raymond was a “genius, an absolute genius.” He became
really excited at the prospect of making a Flash
Gordon movie and went off to write the screenplay. His concept for the
movie was Flash as a “metaphysical messiah.” Roeg spent a year writing and
showed it to De Laurentiis who didn’t want to make that version. He wanted to
make his version and Roeg left the project.
Mike Hodges was approached to
direct the sequel and turned down the offer but when Roeg left the project, the
former changes his mind because “it was totally different from what I had
previously done.” The director admitted that he was not a fan of the science
fiction genre and didn’t consider the movie to be part of it but instead wanted
to “keep to the comic book version.” According to Hodges, Raymond’s original
comic strip became the bible that was referenced while making the movie.
One of De Laurentiis’ family
members saw Sam J. Jones on the Dating
Game show and from that he received the call to meet the producer. The
aspiring actor consulted a few friends that were fans of the old Flash Gordon serials and they brought
him up to speed on the character. He was flown into London and interviewed by
De Laurentiis. Soon afterwards, he was cast in the movie and almost immediately
immersed in rehearsals, costume fittings and daily workouts in order to prepare
for the role. In addition, his hair was dyed blonde and he tried on blue
contact lenses but they hurt so much that he did not end up using them. Lacking
in experience, Jones worked with an acting coach on the set every day. Jones
not only did most of his own stuntwork but also helped choreograph all the
action sequences.
Melody Anderson was set to
appear in a television series when she received a phone call from De Laurentiis
who proceeded to convince her to do Flash
Gordon instead. She flew all night from New York City to London only to be
taken immediately to the studio where she had her blonde hair changed to brown,
costume fittings, screen tests and a meeting with Hodges. Twelve days later,
she found herself in Scotland with filming starting the next day. “We didn’t
have any preparation time at all … It’s such a large special effects picture,
the actors really are secondary in it.”
The massive production was
spread over six sound stages at Shepperton Studios, the Star Wars facility at Borehamwood, and an aircraft hangar at
Brooklands. Principal photography was synchronized with the special effects
department because most of the live-action footage would be matched with
opticals in post-production. To add to the chaos, the crew was a mix of Italian
and English crew members who did not know how to speak to each other.” Anderson
said, “The actors were caught in the middle.” Semple blamed the chaos of the
production on the “great leeway given to the art director, Danilo Donati,” who
had worked with Frederico Fellini, among others, describing him as a “crazed
Italian who literally never read the script, but instead went off on his own.”
Semple said that an example of the rampant spending on the production was the
$1 million Donati spent on the Arboria set, which was only used in one shot!
Jones and the rest of the
cast were instructed to play their parts seriously and he said, “When the crew
watched the rushes and were laughing hysterically, Dino said, ‘Why are you
laughing?’ And they discovered they had a comedy.’” Anderson backs up Jones’
approach to acting in Flash Gordon:
“I’m surprised that (people) are laughing, because we weren’t out to make a
funny film. In fact, De Laurentiis was very upset when he showed the film and
people started to laugh, because he thought they were laughing at it and not with it.” Semple said, “And Dino, especially, had no idea what he
wanted. He wanted something Flash Gordon, and I adored Dino, but he didn’t have
much idea about the difference between sort of camp and Star Wars.”
For the movie’s score, Hodges
persuaded De Laurentiis to take a chance and have the popular rock band Queen
compose it. Lead guitarist Brian May said, “As I remember the film’s producer,
Dino De Laurentiis, was not convinced that rock music could work as score i.e.
as background music for a film that was not about rock music!” The band spent a
week creating demos of all the themes for the movie and played them for De
Laurentiis. May recalled, “He was pretty stony-faced. At the end, he said
something like, ‘I don’t think this music is right for my film,” and left. The
band was understandably crest-fallen as a result, but Hodges assured them that
it would work out. A couple days later, they heard that their music was
approved.
Unfortunately, the experience
of making Flash Gordon was a bittersweet
one for Jones who was sued by De Laurentiis for breach of contract. He, in
turn, counter-sued, claiming that he hadn’t been paid according to the original
agreement. This, and the movie’s poor performance at the North American box
office, doomed any prospects of a sequel.
Flash Gordon does what a movie of this kind should – transport us to strange
new worlds that don’t resemble our own. The movie is pure escapist
entertainment. Cinema needs more ambitious oddball movies like it that refuse
to play it safe and dare to risk failure. These fascinating trainwrecks are
often more memorable than the ones that adhere to the same old tired formulas. In
retrospect, the ‘80s was a great time for eccentric genre movies with the likes
of The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai
Across the Eighth Dimension (1984) and Big
Trouble in Little China (1986) managing to navigate their way through the
studio system and find their audience thanks to home video where they could be
rediscovered and watched repeatedly. Watching this movie again, it really is
amazing that something like this exists. Only a European sensibility fused with
the desire to ape the success of an American blockbuster could result in
something like Flash Gordon and the
world is a better place for its existence.
SOURCES
Brender. Alan. “Mike Hodges:
Director of the New Flash Gordon.” Starlog.
March 1981.
Kennedy, Harlan. “Bad Timing.” American Cinema.
January-February 1980.
Khoury, George. “Hail Flash Gordon!” SFX. February
2008.
Swires, Steve. “Lorenzo
Semple, Jr.: The Screenwriter Fans Love to Hate, Part Two.” Starlog.
September 1983.
Willson, Karen E. “Melody
Anderson.” Starlog. December 1980.
Willson, Karen E. “Sam J.
Jones.” Starlog. December 1980.
