Flash Gordon 1980 POLL

yeah we watched it again the other day too, such a fun movie, everything is kinda perfect in it. voting for Princess Aura because she makes my tummy feel funny.

I want to vote for the set designer/costumer.

yeah the look of it is what makes it, plus the best possible use of Queen in any imaginable context. i remember seeing it at the pictures when it came out and my mind being kinda blown, was thinking there was a finally flowering of semi-Britishes B-movies in this era with this and Hawk the Slayer and some other stuff i've suddenly forgotten

I think the international element is a big part of what makes it work- these white bread, square all-american leads arriving in this lurid sexualised Euro-glam world, and then the cast has people like Peter Duncan and Howard from Ever Decreasing Circles playing alongside them

have never seen, a couple close calls

movies that were greenlit solely bcz of Star Wars' success might be a poll

http://www.sliceofscifi.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/black-hole-movie.jpg

'Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone' AKA 'What if we try and rip off Star Wars and Mad Max at the same time'

Morbs i had a feeling you might like this one, it's done about as well as this kind of thing could be, tongue in cheek but played straight down the line except for Brian Blessed and well, it's Brian Blessed. and as e.mily said the thing is luridly ravishing

the picture at the top of the thread, somewhere between de Mille and Busby Berkeley, sums it up

I like the idea these three people arriving in a world where everyone is is bastard

so #blessed

all the stuff Topol comes out with about the wonder of human kindness etc is sort of wonderfully half-arsed and tacked on, the whole thing is gleeful about taking pleasure in seeing all these people do horrible things

Blessed's performance is pretty understated for him, actually. The oft-quoted "GORDON'S ALIVE!!!" is nowhere near as overblown as people remember. And he does play the leader of the flying hawkmen, who live in a floating sky city, so he's actually fitting in with the movie. It's not like his hammy performance in Doctor Who, where it's just BB and Colin Baker trying to upstage each other.

nah he's fine within context but he doesn't have the straight face that Topol or Timothy Dalton manage when they're delivering their bullshit, even as a kid i had BB pegged as the comic relief

it's gleefully adult for a kids movie, you feel like you're on the verge of watching a softcore flick most of the time

these white bread, square all-american leads arriving in this lurid sexualised Euro-glam world

Love this reading; obv the American-ness is played overtly but never really considered Mongo as 'European' cosmopolitanism.

xxp Well he is, but there are more serious moments in his performance as well, like just after the flying city is destroyed and Vultan thinks that Gordon is dead, or where Gordon is outlining his plan to save Earth by suicidally crashing a rocket into Mingo City.

is it comparable to Barbarella on a bigger budget?

I figure it must be better than Dune, cripes

the idea of these super-square characters arriving in this weirdo sexualised world makes me think of Rocky Horror- also the idea that this environment is awaking perversions they already secretly had, 'such responsiveness', Flash accidentally telepathically broadcasting 'this girl's really turning me on!' to Dale as he's getting off with Princess Aura

^^^ Rocky Horror is spot on

i think i love Barbarella more but it's been longer since i last watched it. again, the comparison is quite apt

well i like B p well, never really "got" Rocky in my one viewing (ie, too gay)

I'd say it's comparable to Barbarella, yeah. Insane design, colourful, overblown (in a good way), sci-fi - the sex is not quite as explicit in Flash but still very present. I found Dune horrifically tedious, so I'm probably not the best person to judge, but obviously I think FG is way better.

speaking of Dune, wasn't Dino De Laurentiis also involved in financing David Lynch's Blue Velvet? I think I read something about it with the angle that it was an amusingly incongruous combination, but Blue Velvet is more clean cut young Americans being swept into these bizarre worlds of sex and violence

last scene Blue Velvet reminds me a bit of Zarkov's 'triumph of the human spirit' bits in Flash Gordon, like it's intentionally perfunctory

Dino's company produced Blue Velvet, yeah, but then Mel Brooks' company produced The Elephant Man.

Think Mike Hodges has a lot to do w/ the charm and success of this movie - there's a commentary track where, iirc, he talks about looking at Euro comic strip artists like Crepax for inspiration, which might account for the softcore vibe that NV mentions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5xqukXdkmY

peak blessed

Ornella Muti, cor blimey, phew etc etc

Peter Wyngarde as General Klytus

Ah! Saw this recently I was trying to place that sublime voice!

So Pr. Aura vs. Gen Klytus for me... but Ornella Muti, cor blimey, phew etc etc

i really like John Hallam too, Vultan's (please forgive me) wingman. great British TV character actor

Yeah, great face that guy

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

patriarchy run this thread

klytus, i'm bored

watching the youtube fan edit of the 1936 series

turns out flash is his actual name and when he isn't saving the world he plays POLO

not sure if i've actually ever seen FLASH GORDON (1980) in full tho i have seen FLESH GORDON (1974) so i am fully clued in

"it's using rays!"

^^^zarkov fully on top of the alien science here

these robotmen are all booty

"Ha! I thought it was one of the prime numbers of the Zeeman series. I haven't changed!" - zarkov with the best line in the 1980 film.

the effort to present emperor ming of the planet mongo (capital city: mingo) as a stereotyped oriental despot is so perfunctory it nearly isn't even racist

(it is racist)

everyone is horny for everyone else in this series

zarkov is an idiot in this version (except for the science i guess)

all those cliffhangers handwaved away by an extra shot at the start of the next episode ruined my trust in cinema

this fan edit seems to dispense with them!

they would look weird stuck together in real time tbf

it's smoothly edited into one somewhat bumpy two-hour film

every time one of the various emperors or kings gives an order the underling being bellowed at visibly wilts, like kif in futurama

king voltan: "shut the doors!"
underling: *sighs deeply*

this is interminable