Flash Gordon is a 1980 space opera superhero film directed by Mike Hodges, based on the King Features comic strip of the same name created by Alex Raymond. The film stars Sam J. Jones in the title role, Melody Anderson, Ornella Muti, Max von Sydow and Topol, with Timothy Dalton, Mariangela Melato, Brian Blessed and Peter Wyngarde in supporting roles. The film follows star football quarterback Flash Gordon (Jones) and his allies Dale Arden (Anderson) and Hans Zarkov (Topol) as they unite the warring factions of the planet Mongo against the oppression of Ming the Merciless (von Sydow), who is intent on destroying Earth.
Producer Dino De Laurentiis, who had previously overseen two other comic book adaptations, Danger: Diabolik and Barbarella (both 1968), had held an interest in making a Flash Gordon film since the 1960s. After a directorial offer from George Lucas was declined (resulting in the creation of Star Wars) and a version that was to be directed by Federico Fellini did not enter production, De Laurentiis hired director Nicolas Roeg and Enter the Dragon writer Michael Allin to lead development on the film in 1977, but replaced them with Hodges and Lorenzo Semple Jr., who had scripted De Laurentiis' remake of King Kong, due to his dissatisfaction with Roeg's vision for the film.
Flash Gordon was primarily filmed in Britain, including on several soundstages at Elstree and Shepperton Studios, and uses a camp style similar to the 1960s TV series Batman (which Semple developed). Due to a dispute with De Laurentiis, Jones left the film prior to the end of principal photography, resulting in much of his dialogue being dubbed by actor Peter Marinker; the circumstances of Jones' departure from the project and his career in the aftermath of its release serve as the key subjects of the documentary Life After Flash. The musical score is by the rock band Queen, featuring orchestral sections by Howard Blake.
Although a box office success in both the United Kingdom and Italy, Flash Gordon performed poorly in other markets. Critical reception during and since the film's initial release has been generally favourable, and it has since gained a significant cult following.
Plot
To relieve his boredom, Emperor Ming the Merciless of the planet Mongo begins Earth's destruction by remotely causing natural disasters. On Earth, football star Gregory "Flash" Gordon boards a small plane and meets travel agent Dale Arden. Mid-flight, the cockpit is hit by a meteor and the pilots die. Flash takes control and manages to crash land into a greenhouse owned by former NASA scientist, Dr. Hans Zarkov. Zarkov believes that the disasters are being caused by extraterrestrials pushing the Moon towards Earth. He has secretly constructed a spacecraft to investigate the attacks. Unable to do it alone, Zarkov lures Flash and Dale aboard. He flies with them to Mongo, where they are captured by Ming's troops.
After looking at the trio, Ming is smitten with Dale and orders Flash executed. At the last minute, Ming's daughter, Princess Aura, saves Flash, with whom she fell in love at first sight. While they escape, Zarkov is brainwashed by Klytus, the head of the secret police. Aura and Flash flee to Arboria, kingdom of Prince Barin. Locked in Ming's bedchamber, Dale escapes, and Zarkov is sent to intercept her. However, Zarkov reveals he resisted the brainwashing, and escapes Mingo City with Dale. They are quickly captured by Prince Vultan's hawkmen and taken to Sky City.
Aura and Flash arrive at Arboria. Aura asks the Prince to keep Flash safe. A distrustful Barin, in love with Aura, agrees not to kill Flash, but then forces him to play a deadly game of chance. With the odds stacked against him, Flash uses a trick to escape. Barin follows him, and they are both captured by the hawkmen.
Aura returns and is taken prisoner and tortured by Klytus and General Kala for her treason. Meanwhile, Ming prepares his wedding to Dale. Flash and Barin are taken to Sky City, where Flash and Dale are briefly reunited. Flash is forced to fight Barin in a death match. However, Flash instead saves Barin's life, causing Barin to join him. Klytus arrives, and Flash and Barin kill him. Knowing this will bring retribution, Vultan and the hawkmen evacuate, leaving Barin, Flash, Dale and Zarkov behind. Ming's ship arrives and captures Barin, Zarkov and Dale. Impressed with Flash, Ming offers him lordship over Earth in exchange for loyalty. Flash refuses and Ming gives the order to destroy Vultan's kingdom along with Flash. Finding a rocket cycle, Flash escapes before Sky City is destroyed.
Flash contacts Vultan, and they plot an attack on Mingo City. To defend the city, General Kala dispatches the war rocket Ajax, which is quickly seized by the hawkmen. Meanwhile, Princess Aura overpowers her guard and frees Barin and Zarkov from the execution chamber. Flash and the hawkmen attack Mingo City in Ajax and Kala activates the defenses as Ming's and Dale's wedding begins. Mingo City's lightning field can only be penetrated by flying Ajax into it at a suicidal speed. Flash volunteers to stay at the helm to ensure success and enable the hawkmen to invade the city.
Barin and Zarkov enter the control room and confront Kala. In the ensuing fight, Barin shoots and kills her.
After fighting through Ming's guards, Barin also manages to deactivate the lightning field before Ajax hits it. Flash flies the rocket ship into the city's wedding hall and impales Ming. Flash offers to spare his life if he stops the attack on Earth. Ming refuses and attempts to use his power ring on Flash, but it falters and nothing happens. He then aims the ring at himself and is seemingly vaporized by its remaining power. A victory celebration ensues.
Barin and Aura become the new leaders in Ming's place. Barin names Vultan the general of their armies. Flash, Dale and Zarkov discuss returning to Earth. Zarkov says he does not know how they will get back, but they will try.
Meanwhile, Ming's ring is picked up by an unseen person. Ming's evil laugh is heard closely after.
Cast
Sam J. Jones as Flash Gordon Peter Marinker as Flash Gordon (some overdubbed lines) Melody Anderson as Dale Arden Max von Sydow as Emperor Ming the Merciless Topol as Dr. Hans Zarkov Ornella Muti as Princess Aura Timothy Dalton as Prince Barin Brian Blessed as Prince Vultan Peter Wyngarde as General Klytus Mariangela Melato as General Kala Richard O'Brien as Fico John Osborne as Arborian Priest Philip Stone as Zogi the High Priest John Hallam as General Luro Suzanne Danielle as Serving Girl John Morton as Airline pilot William Hootkins as Munson, Dr. Zarkov's assistant Robbie Coltrane as Man at Airfield Peter Duncan as Young Treeman John Hollis as Klytus Observer No. 2 Leon Greene as Colonel of Battle Control Room Tony Scannell as Ming's officer Bogdan Kominowski as a lieutenant of Ming's Air Force George Harris as Prince Thun Deep Roy as Fellini, Princess Aura's pet Bob Goody as Azurian Man Kenny Baker as Dwarf Malcolm Dixon as Dwarf
Production
Development Since the 1960s, producer Dino De Laurentiis, having produced Danger: Diabolik and Barbarella, became interested in making a film based on Flash Gordon. Initially, De Laurentiis wanted Italian director Federico Fellini to direct the picture; although Fellini optioned the Flash Gordon rights from De Laurentiis, he never made the film. A character named Fellini (Deep Roy) was included in the film as a nod to the director, and the film featured lavish sets and costumes designed by his usual production designer Danilo Donati.
George Lucas attempted to make a Flash Gordon film in the 1970s; unable to acquire the rights from De Laurentiis, Lucas decided to create Star Wars instead. De Laurentiis then hired Nicolas Roeg to make the film, with Ferdinando Scarfiotti as production designer. Roeg, an admirer of the original Alex Raymond comic strips, spent a year in pre-production work. However, De Laurentiis was unhappy with Roeg's treatment of Flash Gordon, and Roeg left the project. De Laurentiis also considered hiring Sergio Leone to direct the Flash Gordon film; Leone refused, because he believed the script was not faithful to the original Raymond comic strips. De Laurentiis then hired Mike Hodges to direct, and Danilo Donati as production designer.
Lorenzo Semple Jr. wrote the script. He later recalled: Dino wanted to make Flash Gordon humorous. 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. That was a catastrophic thing to do, with so much money involved... I never thought the character of Flash in the script was particularly good. But there was no pressure to make it any better. Dino had a vision of a comic-strip character treated in a comic style. That was silly, because Flash Gordon was never intended to be funny. The entire film got way out of control.
Casting Newcomer Sam J. Jones was cast by De Laurentiis, after his mother-in-law Ivy Webb saw the actor on an episode of The Dating Game. At the time, Jones' only prior acting appearance was a supporting role in the romantic comedy 10 (1979). Jones bested both Kurt Russell and Arnold Schwarzenegger for the part. In preparation for the part, Jones would run for six-miles in London's Hyde Park twice a week, and studied Taekwondo.
Canadian model Dayle Haddon was originally cast as Dale Arden, but De Laurentiis replaced her with Melody Anderson after she showed-up to set looking "emaciated".
Filming Principal photography took place entirely in the United Kingdom, mainly at Shepperton and Elstree Studios, and at a repurposed aircraft hangar in Weybridge. The airfield scene at the beginning of the film, although set in the U.S., was shot at the Broadford Airfield in Skye, Scotland.
For the Hawkmen scene, a sixty feet high and 100 feet wide blue-screen was built. To light the screen the team used clusters of quartz-halogen lights which required a million watts of power.
The production used a new optical compositing process created by visual effects expert Frank Van der Veer, which he claimed would cut the cost of the film's visual effects in half.
The film was promoted as having a budget of $35 million however, Variety noted more reliable sources suggested it was around $20 million, which they said was still a large outlay of money for such frivolity.
Post-production According to a 2012 interview in Maxim, Sam J. Jones had disagreements with De Laurentiis of some kind and departed prior to post-production, which resulted in a substantial portion of his dialogue being dubbed by Canadian actor Peter Marinker; whose identity was long considered unknown, even to Jones. In 2020 interview in Yahoo! Movies, Mike Hodges stated Marinker only dubbed "five or ten minutes of dialogue." A sequel was proposed, but the departure of Jones effectively ended any such prospects.
Soundtrack
The film's soundtrack was composed and performed by the rock band Queen. Flash Gordon was one of the earliest high-budget feature films to use a score primarily composed and performed by a rock band (an earlier example is The Who's Tommy, 1975). Additional orchestral score pieces were composed by Howard Blake. Blake's pieces from the film have been released on CD, alongside his score from Amityville 3-D.
Release The film was originally released in North America via Universal Studios. Universal has retained the domestic theatrical and home video rights, while the international rights passed on through different distributors, eventually residing with StudioCanal. However, the film's UK distributor, Thorn EMI, controlled U.S. TV rights. Although StudioCanal currently holds those rights due to ownership of the EMI film library, they licensed them to MGM for U.S. syndication.
Reception Box office