I met Sam J. Jones, who played the Titular Flash Gordon, at East Coast Comic Con. He was such a cool guy to talk to, he signed my white and red FLASH shirt, my DVD cover, and an 8×10 photo. At his Q&A panel, he mentioned that before he went into acting, he met an angel. Now, this story is incredibly paraphrased. My phone was on the charger so I could not record it. So the year is 1974-76, before he went to Hollywood and became an actor, he worked at a diner, I forgot what state he mentioned it was located in. While there, a man dressed in a business attire walked to the entrance. Sam walked up to him and asked if he could be seated. The man held up his hand, as if to say, 'Stop'. He then asked Sam, "What do you want to do with your life?" "What?" He just gave a stern look to Sam. Sam then enthusiastically replies, "Oh yeah, I want to Hollywood and you know, become a big name actor and..." the man puts his hand up, and Sam stops talking. The man then said. "THEN WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE? DON'T SAY YOU WANT TO BE, BE WHAT YOU WANT TO BE." Sam just stood there for ten seconds trying to take it in. Sam then turns around and walks to the pay counter to grab a menu, he came back only to find that the man was gone. Later that day, he asked his co workers if they had seen a man in a business attire. They all gave the same answer, "No." Sam specifically remembers asking them, "Wait, you are absolutely sure you didn't see me talking to a man with that description?" all of the co workers were sure. So the next week, he quit his job and went to Hollywood.
You're the one in the right. Anyone who thinks Flash Gordon is lame simply doesn't understand it. It was never supposed to be a rival to Star Wars; it's high camp, halfway to Barbarella or The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Intentionally comedic and ludicrous.
TitanFind Well, also it was right on the end of the disco crazy and all the weird colors and stuff would've really stuck if they had hit the mark better.
Chris Nefearian i love so much the creepy scences........star wars could have more scenes like that, would make it much better do you know its inspired by flash gordon? Since the comic is from the 30ies i believe.
Well, the difference is that "Star Wars" was intended to be more all ages or family friendly while "Flash Gordon" was clearly aimed at a much older audience. I mean the main character spends several scenes in nothing but a pair of leather shorts (small, tight, shorts). Can't image either Luke or Han doing that. :) The movie version is often compared to the porn version "Flesh Gordon" for a reason.
The beauty of this film is that it looks like a giant joke that everybody was in on EXCEPT for poor Sam J. Jones. Stage actors like Brian Blessed, Topol, Dalton, and Von Sydow are completely in their element and look to be having a great time chewing scenery. The inexperienced Jones, however, comes of as if he's going for an Oscar, or at least thinking his entire future as an actor depends on the gravity he can bring to his part. Still though, GREAT popcorn flick, and I agree, mostly due to the fantastic soundtrack.
Which is why subsequent versions of Flash Gordon have been weak at best, especially the last one that aired on the SyFy Channel where they tried to make it realistic and such. It was really bad.
@@philv2529 Good point (and by Michael Fenton!). May did compose 8 tracks--more of it than the others. However, they each composed tracks that were included, and Mercury composed 5 tracks--the second most--and 2 of his are 2 of the best tracks of the film, IMHO: Vultan's Theme (Attack of the Hawk Men) and Football Fight. Those 2 always made the film for me, and were always my 2 favorite scenes due to the music, along with Battle Theme, by May, which is immediately after, and includes distinct references to Vultan's Theme--as do Marriage of Dale and Ming (and Flash Approaching), Crash Dive on Mongo City, Flash's Theme Reprise (Victory Celebration), and The Hero (in other words, every song after it, with the exception of The Wedding March--for obvious reasons.. Not to discount my love of and the importance of Flash's Theme, of course. And, don't forget, Howard Blake contributed a lot to the soundtrack, and at 83 now, he hasn't composed anything that's gone public in the current millenium. Then there's the problem that Queen, even with Mercury, wrote songs for the Highlander soundtrack, and they and the rest of it, by Michael Kamen, were pretty dreadful, IMHO. Of course, this time around, the atmospheric tracks were all composed by a classic orchestral soundtrack composer, with none composed by Queen. There's no denying that those songs and all of the rest of Queen's output post-Flash were very different (along with other changes for the band--wikipedia has a synopsis). I don't think that they could recapture the magic of style of Flash, even if Mercury were still around. But, maybe they're that flexible, if they really wanted to do it.
Fully agree! A film in its very own category...pays homage to, yet trancending both the original material and anything else branded ‘SciFi’ at the time or since.
All the actors just seem to be having such a good time playing their parts and they know this movie is pure cheese but they don't care, their all having too much fun. A fun, silly, cheesy sci-fi adventure movie with a great cast and an awesome soundtrack.
As a kid, I watched this movie always thinking about Flash Gordon as being a kind of He-Man like caracter (I was little obsessed by the cartoon back then). Even the character Klytus to me resembled a Skeletor like figure! Wonderful memories!
Well, MY favorite line of dialogue is "While you await the ceremony, all monitors will display, for your entertainment, the execution of the traitors."
He definitely enjoys his work and loves his fans. I like the enthusiasm he puts into his roles and the fact that he really enjoys talking to the fans as well.
I just watched Movie Fights on Screen Junkies channel and it was asked "defend your favorite movie as a kid." Nobody picked it... but THIS was my favorite movie as a kid. I saw it at age five or six on HBO. I'ts WHY, as an American, QUEEN IS MY FAVORITE BAND. And what's great was after that grey period in my teens, sometime in my twenties I watched it again and GOT ALL THE ADULT THEMES. All those sex innuendos went over my head as a six year old.... not when I'm twenty six. The costumes are so great.... The visuals.. and of course the music. The quotable lines.. "Flying blind on a rocket cycle?" I kinda laughed at the "scary parts" because I remember those.... and I remember those being absent in any TV viewing. All got cut for "time". I'm going to have to watch it tomorrow... just because :) Extremely underrated move.
Gary V .. blu ray edition with surround sound on a big high def tv will mindfuck you.. i saw this 3 times in the theater when it came out and it never looked this good.. fuck this movie was 10 years ahead of its time.
Hands down one of the very few films that actually stuck very close to the source material and brought it to vivid life. Seriously, the majority of the film feels EXACTLY like the original comic strip brought to life. The addition of the amazing Queen soundtrack is the icing on the cake for a very entertaining and enjoyable film.
One of the few true camp classics. Everything that is clunky, or cheap, or overwrought, contributes to a coherent overall aesthetic, and the characters, though they may be comic, never look as though they are mocking or winking at the story they are in. To that extent, they play it completely straight. Obviously Queen are the definitive band for this film, because Mercury was a richly humorous man who was also a very serious musician; with a complete grasp of operatic grandeur, the raw power of rock music and the silly sparkle of disco, and knew that there didn't have to be any contradiction when juxtaposing or combining disparate elements of high and low art.
This film was in itself an affectionate remake of the old serials starring Buster Crabbe, and only wants to be fun. It makes no pretense of realism or world-building, and the fakeness of the effects is, in a way, part of that campy charm, with old-fashioned rocket ships that have the texture of models ( I recall reading in Starlog how the model makers were instructed not to dirty down the models to invoke scale and realism as was typical FX practice.)
de Laurentiis had to rethink Flash after Star Wars. Lucas wanted to real the 3 Flash Gordon serials from the 30s in 1975, but de Laurentiis beat him to the rights. However Lucas beat him to the finish and made his serious adventure movie of his own version of Flash Gordon in 77. Then Flash couldn't be made serious and stand up. Therefore they made Flash as a campy retro comic book on film. A good approach, like Batman of the 60s. When he made Dune a little later, he got to do his serious space opera. What a dead dog that was. Best the way things worked out. BTW, go watch the old 30s Crabbe Flash and you'll see a lot of Star Wars, which Lucas freely admits.
The special effects TECHNIQUES in FG are just things like mattes, blue screens, miniature models, rotoscoping (for the lasers) .. . methods which were very common at the time it was made and used in every other space adventure flick of THAT same era ( including none other than big-britched high'n mighty Star Wars and all ITs wana-be imitators ). Anyway, I'd certainly take the special effects in FG over those stupid COMPUTER GRAPHICS AND ANIMATIONS that you see in every other movie made TODAY.
@@LandersWorkshop that movie was a dead dog and millions agree. Not the novel, but the movie was That 70s Show. I liked the princess as title sequence narrator, and that was it. The film was little better than 50s Science Fiction vaguely inspired by a great novel... with color. Sands blew and dozens of chapters were skipped. The entire purpose of the spice was either misunderstood or rewritten. The witches and the girl was almost comical. OK it was comical. Next Dune movie may be better.
Retrospective review is by far the greatest thing on TH-cam. I queue them all up on 'watch later' and listen to then before going to sleep rather than have the tv on! Keep up the fantastic work marte!
It is worth noting that Mariangela Melato turns in a sublimely hammy performance as the evil General Kala. She is clearly having a lot of fun. Everyone in "Flash" seems to be having a grand time, which is a big part of the film's appeal.
Saw this as a kid under ten and it was simply the most awesome thing I'd seen since Star Wars. The colors, the sounds, the action, the sets, the music, the worlds, hawkmen, arboria...I mean I could go on here. Too cool for school. The rock music with the attack on Ajax General is staying in my brain forever.
I had a vhs of this movie when i was a kid. No dubbing or subtitles and i didn't understand a word of english. It didn't stop me from watching over and over again. I love this movie.
Jones´s Flash Gordon has an incredible good look! i think there are many guys who appreciate that by saying to themselves, "I´d like to be that guy at least for one day!´
Currently watching her in the French-Italian '98 Mini-Series' The Count of Monte Cristo' with Gerard Depardieu. Really enjoying it thus far! What a stunning woman!!
cheers buddy, I think Avengers managed to capture the look and feel of the comic successfully. Its nice seeing comic book movies with great vivid colours instead of everything being dark.
6:50 - 6:58, it's funny that you mentioned that. I somewhat disagree with you, Oli. In the 70s-90s, a new trend was coming forward were alot of films started to focus on not only anti-heroes, but outright villains. We had Scarface, Jaws, Darth Vader, the Xenomorphs, and a boatload of horror film slashers. Even the Burton Batman films were notorious for promoting the villain, also the star of the movie was Jack Nicholson. You could conceivably build a film around a villain, but on your behalf it was risky venture to do so for family movies.
I was 11 years old when I watched this movie in the cinema back in early 1981, when it premiered in my country. This is a very fond memory from my childhood. Thanks Oliver for sharing this review :) "Gordon´s Alive ?....Flying blind on a rocket cycle.." (Prince Vultan / Brian Blessed).
I love this movie to ridiculous amounts and have since I was a child! I know every bit of it by heart! I cannot explain how happy it makes me to see others here in the comments loving on this movie. The football fight scene remains one of my favorites of the film to this day...ah, god, Queen's music, Dale's cheerleading, Prince Vultan's hilarious assistance to Flash's outright defiance, so good! Go, Flash, Go!
Words fail in any attempts to relay how amused and pleased I was when I saw that you included the epic 'lying bitch' line at the very end of this well done video. I ADORE this goofy, fun, over produced, wonderful film...was lucky enough to see it in the cinema as a kid, and it holds up brilliantly to this day as a love letter from the campy, glitzy, wonderful 1980's...GREAT review (LOVED the Blessed clip, he was a truly entertaining entertainer), please keep them comin', Mr. Harper!
Another great review, Mr. Harper. I got to this movie very late, although I remember the promotional pinball game (shows you about how old I am). I agree with your comment that the roles played straight helps a lot- that we laugh along, instead of laughing specifically at the camp and the cheese. This is much why I enjoy the original Xanadu, but had no interest in the later stage play (which was acted very cheesily).
One of the best adaptations of Flash Gordon I think was the Filmation animated film and tv series. they featured a lot of rotoscoping and reusing of animation cells. But the creativity and imagination I thought was impressive.
Luxeley ..actually its not bad at all... see it on blu ray on a big high def tv with surround sound.. this movie looks and sounds fantastic, will blow you away. Every aspect of this movie is spot on and true to the scource material. .remember, what you are seeing in this film is not happening in the real universe, its in the comic book universe. .. its science fiction without science, its outer space without outer space, 1935 is in full effect.
My girlfriend & I watched this again recently and we both enjoyed it so much. It's just such a fun movie, & we both remarked how visually similar it is to the film "Barbarella".
holy cow I was at that brian blessed interview it was at the sfx weekender I think 2013 ? but he was amazing. going to next year's one as well Si fi weekender 2016 and he's going to be there again. Thanks for bringing back the memories.
The greatest thing about this movie is the DVD that has a commentary by BRIAN BLESSED. I saw it in blockbusters once and had to listen, a magnificently wonderful complement to the film. For a fatal drinking game, take a shot every time Brian mentions the colours... th-cam.com/video/QtMulYBE-m0/w-d-xo.html (Also the Defenders of the Earth theme tune was awesome!)
This and Excalibur are my two favorite films. Yes. They are very different in tone. But they are both visually very rich. With strong characters that have to be reminded of virtue’s purpose. Both films filled to the brim with fantastic acting talent and both are filled with temptations and the swaying of power over generations. Flash handles it’s comedy times right next to genuinely emotional growth. Great arcs all throughout.
holy cow I was at that brian blessed interview it was at the sfx weekender I think 2013 ? but he was amazing. going to next year's one as well Si fi weekender 2016 and he's going to be there again. Thanks for bringing back the memories. 😀
First time viewing your channel, but I really appreciate your review. This is a movie I watched many times on HBO, and it really sticks with me. I think you are right about the colors and dedication to the comic look.
You were right about superhero/comic book movies having all gone overly dark and losing their vibrancy. Even the Spider-Man films had suffered that too really. You’ll no doubt already be a fan of Thor: Ragnorock which was inspired by Flash Gordon & brought back bold colours, comic style designs & a sense of unashamed fun back to the genre (along with Guardians Of The Galaxy). Hopefully, their immense success will bring about a shift more in that direction
One thing of note in the film is the multi-colored gaseous nature of the skies in the movie. This is supposed to be aether, or, luminous aether, what some early sci-fi writers of the time believed one would see in space, or at least the upper atmosphere, before space travel, similar to the phlogiston described in the D&D Spelljammer books.
It wasn't a hit in America, but it was a big hit in the Uk and Europe. A great 80s fun Sci fi film from my childhood and a shame they never made the sequel.
I've heard that Brian Blessed story so many times - through working o DoctoWho I have been at a few events with Brian - and you always know he is in the building!!!!
So many hokey lines and cheesy dialog. The prize must go to Dalton for his: "Freeze, ya bloody bastards." Shoots one of them before they even have time to freeze. "FREEZE!" Love it.
yeah I have the CD album. It was part of Queen's catalogue so it shouldn't be hard to track down. eBay is a good bet. But the Howard Blake score to the movie is out of print.
Oliver Harper LA LA Land Records should re-release Howard Blake’s score, or both this, along with Queen’s soundtrack as a special, 2-CD set or re-release it digitally, on iTunes.
Cool Movie. Saw it when I was about 8 years old. Memorable scenes due to unique settings that stand out. Seeing it as an adult; I think the pacing of the movie is good.
Great review, originally director Nicolas Roeg (Don't Look Now) was going to direct Flash Gordon. Roeg wanted to have a Shakesparen feel to the film which De Laurentiis didn't want. So Roeg walked due to creative difference.
I had this taped off of TV when I was a kid and I must have watched it 50 times (even though there was something about it that creeped me out which I still can't put my finger on) I watched it a month or so ago and it was the first time I'd ever seen the first 20 minutes of the film as it was cut off my taped copy, it was so strange to see new scenes to a film I knew so well.
That was a very informative review. Flash Gordon has always been one of my favourite adventure films and I quite agree with you...comic book films are trying to hard to drag themselves into reality, but what I really want to see is the comic books realised in three dimensions rather than altered into boring reality. Annoyingly, I only now realise that there was a lot of stuff cut from the VHS version I recorded off the telly! Can't believe I have not seen the full Klytus death scene till now!
I think this film and QUEENS soundtrack came out just the right time .Very camp film , camp acting, and very camp music from QUEEN I loved it then and still do now BRILLIANT STUFF
Oliver Thanks i enjoyed your video it was a nice watch and lots of info. I remember watching Flash Gordon at a Drive-In Then seeing a few other times in theaters classic Movie for me as a child it was about as cool as Star Wars for me. I remember telling friends just how epic it was but most were not agreeing with me. :) Thanks again
The actor who played Ming is the great and legendary Swedish actor, Max Von Sydow. His career spans back to the late 1940s. He is renowned for appearing in many different films in many different languages such as: Swedish, English, Norwegian, Danish, German, French, Italian, and Spanish. Some of his most memorable film roles include Knight Antonius Block in Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal (1957), the first of his eleven films with Bergman and the film that includes the iconic scenes in which he plays chess with Death; Martin in Through a Glass Darkly (1961); Jesus in The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965); Oktober in The Quiller Memorandum (1966); Karl Oskar Nilsson in The Emigrants (1971); Roy Lindberg in The Apple War (1971); Father Lankester Merrin in The Exorcist (1973); Joubert the assassin in Three Days of the Condor (1975); Ming the Merciless in Flash Gordon (1980); the villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the James Bond film Never Say Never Again (1983); Liet-Kynes in Dune (1984); Frederick in Hannah and Her Sisters (1986); Lassefar in Pelle the Conqueror (1987), for which he received his first Academy Award nomination; Dr Peter Ingham in Awakenings (1990); Lamar Burgess in Minority Report (2002); Josiah Kane in Solomon Kane (2009); Sir Walter Loxley in Robin Hood (2010); and The Renter in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2012), which earned him his second Academy Award nomination; and Lor San Tekka in Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens. In 2016, Sydow joined the cast of HBO's hit series Game of Thrones, playing the role of the Three-eyed Raven for which he received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination.
Interesting that it didn't do so well in North America. I never saw the film, but I do know of and am very fond of the pinball machine. It itself actually did very well (about 10,000 units made), so I wonder how many of those were exported overseas due to the theme being more popular there.
I don't think it's possible to hear "FLASH!" and not go "AHH AHH" afterwards
Challenge excepted.
FLASH!
@@Strideo1 AHH AHH
@@AJKiesel S A V I O R O F T H E U N I V E R S E
You can't go wrong with queen. ❤
"Not the bore worm !"
At that exact instant, puberty kicked in.
Wouldn't you like to bor ornela muti
I met Sam J. Jones, who played the Titular Flash Gordon, at East Coast Comic Con.
He was such a cool guy to talk to, he signed my white and red FLASH shirt, my DVD cover, and an 8×10 photo.
At his Q&A panel, he mentioned that before he went into acting, he met an angel.
Now, this story is incredibly paraphrased. My phone was on the charger so I could not record it.
So the year is 1974-76, before he went to Hollywood and became an actor, he worked at a diner, I forgot what state he mentioned it was located in. While there, a man dressed in a business attire walked to the entrance. Sam walked up to him and asked if he could be seated. The man held up his hand, as if to say, 'Stop'. He then asked Sam,
"What do you want to do with your life?"
"What?"
He just gave a stern look to Sam.
Sam then enthusiastically replies, "Oh yeah, I want to Hollywood and you know, become a big name actor and..." the man puts his hand up, and Sam stops talking. The man then said.
"THEN WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE? DON'T SAY YOU WANT TO BE, BE WHAT YOU WANT TO BE."
Sam just stood there for ten seconds trying to take it in. Sam then turns around and walks to the pay counter to grab a menu, he came back only to find that the man was gone.
Later that day, he asked his co workers if they had seen a man in a business attire. They all gave the same answer, "No."
Sam specifically remembers asking them, "Wait, you are absolutely sure you didn't see me talking to a man with that description?" all of the co workers were sure.
So the next week, he quit his job and went to Hollywood.
Sorry if my grammar was crap.
B1G B0SS It was just fine. And that’s a bloody brilliant story! Thanks for sharing it!
Wow, that is incredible.
I don't care what anyone says, I just love this movie so much. :)
You're the one in the right. Anyone who thinks Flash Gordon is lame simply doesn't understand it. It was never supposed to be a rival to Star Wars; it's high camp, halfway to Barbarella or The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Intentionally comedic and ludicrous.
TitanFind Well, also it was right on the end of the disco crazy and all the weird colors and stuff would've really stuck if they had hit the mark better.
TitanFind
i like both star wars and flash gordon. Klythos is a bit like Vader. At least Emperor Ming will be in star wars VII in a way. :D
Chris Nefearian i love so much the creepy scences........star wars could have more scenes like that, would make it much better do you know its inspired by flash gordon? Since the comic is from the 30ies i believe.
Well, the difference is that "Star Wars" was intended to be more all ages or family friendly while "Flash Gordon" was clearly aimed at a much older audience.
I mean the main character spends several scenes in nothing but a pair of leather shorts (small, tight, shorts). Can't image either Luke or Han doing that. :)
The movie version is often compared to the porn version "Flesh Gordon" for a reason.
The beauty of this film is that it looks like a giant joke that everybody was in on EXCEPT for poor Sam J. Jones. Stage actors like Brian Blessed, Topol, Dalton, and Von Sydow are completely in their element and look to be having a great time chewing scenery. The inexperienced Jones, however, comes of as if he's going for an Oscar, or at least thinking his entire future as an actor depends on the gravity he can bring to his part. Still though, GREAT popcorn flick, and I agree, mostly due to the fantastic soundtrack.
Any reboot of Flash Gordon will suffer in comparison because it won't have QUEEN.
Which is why subsequent versions of Flash Gordon have been weak at best, especially the last one that aired on the SyFy Channel where they tried to make it realistic and such. It was really bad.
Well, Brian May is still alive and he's probably the one that composed it
@@philv2529 Good point (and by Michael Fenton!). May did compose 8 tracks--more of it than the others. However, they each composed tracks that were included, and Mercury composed 5 tracks--the second most--and 2 of his are 2 of the best tracks of the film, IMHO: Vultan's Theme (Attack of the Hawk Men) and Football Fight. Those 2 always made the film for me, and were always my 2 favorite scenes due to the music, along with Battle Theme, by May, which is immediately after, and includes distinct references to Vultan's Theme--as do Marriage of Dale and Ming (and Flash Approaching), Crash Dive on Mongo City, Flash's Theme Reprise (Victory Celebration), and The Hero (in other words, every song after it, with the exception of The Wedding March--for obvious reasons.. Not to discount my love of and the importance of Flash's Theme, of course. And, don't forget, Howard Blake contributed a lot to the soundtrack, and at 83 now, he hasn't composed anything that's gone public in the current millenium.
Then there's the problem that Queen, even with Mercury, wrote songs for the Highlander soundtrack, and they and the rest of it, by Michael Kamen, were pretty dreadful, IMHO. Of course, this time around, the atmospheric tracks were all composed by a classic orchestral soundtrack composer, with none composed by Queen. There's no denying that those songs and all of the rest of Queen's output post-Flash were very different (along with other changes for the band--wikipedia has a synopsis). I don't think that they could recapture the magic of style of Flash, even if Mercury were still around. But, maybe they're that flexible, if they really wanted to do it.
Or Gil Taylor
i rathe rliked the intro o the french made cartoon series ^^
10:45 freddie mercury sitting on darth vader with a flash gordon t shirt. Dont see tht shit everyday
This movie is aging like wine! The older it is, the better it looks. Make us all realize it was a little gem when it first came out.
Fully agree! A film in its very own category...pays homage to, yet trancending both the original material and anything else branded ‘SciFi’ at the time or since.
24 y/o Ornella Muti - the sexiest woman I've ever seen!
Hellz, Yeah!!!! You, sir have Fantastic Taste in Bad Girls.
All the actors just seem to be having such a good time playing their parts and they know this movie is pure cheese but they don't care, their all having too much fun. A fun, silly, cheesy sci-fi adventure movie with a great cast and an awesome soundtrack.
As a kid, I watched this movie always thinking about Flash Gordon as being a kind of He-Man like caracter (I was little obsessed by the cartoon back then). Even the character Klytus to me resembled a Skeletor like figure! Wonderful memories!
Brian Blessed doesn't't really need a microphone... true.
I think the end of the fight between Flash and Barin is one of the best scenes in film history.
"Where you go, I follow"
Agreed! ; )
Gives me chills every time, especially his speech that follows. It made me want to join in the fight!
Well, MY favorite line of dialogue is "While you await the ceremony, all monitors will display, for your entertainment, the execution of the traitors."
Blessed seems he's like forever an eight year old boy!:D
+Morten Rolfson Nah, he's just having a helluva good time with his fans.
He definitely enjoys his work and loves his fans. I like the enthusiasm he puts into his roles and the fact that he really enjoys talking to the fans as well.
He had a fascinating life too, especially while growing up. Met him at a con years ago. Lovely guy.
Morten Rolfson there’s an interesting interview with him called panther on the kitchen table or something like that x
@@alucard624 and Brian was acthully fanboy of flash Gordon growing up
I just watched Movie Fights on Screen Junkies channel and it was asked "defend your favorite movie as a kid." Nobody picked it... but THIS was my favorite movie as a kid. I saw it at age five or six on HBO. I'ts WHY, as an American, QUEEN IS MY FAVORITE BAND.
And what's great was after that grey period in my teens, sometime in my twenties I watched it again and GOT ALL THE ADULT THEMES. All those sex innuendos went over my head as a six year old.... not when I'm twenty six.
The costumes are so great.... The visuals.. and of course the music. The quotable lines.. "Flying blind on a rocket cycle?"
I kinda laughed at the "scary parts" because I remember those.... and I remember those being absent in any TV viewing. All got cut for "time".
I'm going to have to watch it tomorrow... just because :) Extremely underrated move.
Gary V .. blu ray edition with surround sound on a big high def tv will mindfuck you.. i saw this 3 times in the theater when it came out and it never looked this good.. fuck this movie was 10 years ahead of its time.
Brian Blessed is amazing!!!!
Hands down one of the very few films that actually stuck very close to the source material and brought it to vivid life. Seriously, the majority of the film feels EXACTLY like the original comic strip brought to life. The addition of the amazing Queen soundtrack is the icing on the cake for a very entertaining and enjoyable film.
Always have and always will love this movie. Classic
Loved this film when it came out and I think it still holds up today too...
One of the few true camp classics. Everything that is clunky, or cheap, or overwrought, contributes to a coherent overall aesthetic, and the characters, though they may be comic, never look as though they are mocking or winking at the story they are in. To that extent, they play it completely straight. Obviously Queen are the definitive band for this film, because Mercury was a richly humorous man who was also a very serious musician; with a complete grasp of operatic grandeur, the raw power of rock music and the silly sparkle of disco, and knew that there didn't have to be any contradiction when juxtaposing or combining disparate elements of high and low art.
This film was in itself an affectionate remake of the old serials starring Buster Crabbe, and only wants to be fun. It makes no pretense of realism or world-building, and the fakeness of the effects is, in a way, part of that campy charm, with old-fashioned rocket ships that have the texture of models ( I recall reading in Starlog how the model makers were instructed not to dirty down the models to invoke scale and realism as was typical FX practice.)
de Laurentiis had to rethink Flash after Star Wars. Lucas wanted to real the 3 Flash Gordon serials from the 30s in 1975, but de Laurentiis beat him to the rights. However Lucas beat him to the finish and made his serious adventure movie of his own version of Flash Gordon in 77.
Then Flash couldn't be made serious and stand up. Therefore they made Flash as a campy retro comic book on film. A good approach, like Batman of the 60s.
When he made Dune a little later, he got to do his serious space opera. What a dead dog that was. Best the way things worked out.
BTW, go watch the old 30s Crabbe Flash and you'll see a lot of Star Wars, which Lucas freely admits.
The special effects TECHNIQUES in FG are just things like mattes, blue screens, miniature models, rotoscoping (for the lasers) .. . methods which were very common at the time it was made and used in every other space adventure flick of THAT same era ( including none other than big-britched high'n mighty Star Wars and all ITs wana-be imitators ). Anyway, I'd certainly take the special effects in FG over those stupid COMPUTER GRAPHICS AND ANIMATIONS that you see in every other movie made TODAY.
@@STho205 Dune was no dead dog my dude.
@@LandersWorkshop that movie was a dead dog and millions agree. Not the novel, but the movie was That 70s Show.
I liked the princess as title sequence narrator, and that was it. The film was little better than 50s Science Fiction vaguely inspired by a great novel... with color.
Sands blew and dozens of chapters were skipped. The entire purpose of the spice was either misunderstood or rewritten. The witches and the girl was almost comical. OK it was comical.
Next Dune movie may be better.
I have spent my life trying to figure out if either Flash Gordon or Excalibur are my favorite movie.
Those are two underrated films. The lack of attention Excalibur gets is shameful.
A great question.... 🤔
@@NemeanLion- I have excaliber on DVD acthully
Retrospective review is by far the greatest thing on TH-cam. I queue them all up on 'watch later' and listen to then before going to sleep rather than have the tv on! Keep up the fantastic work marte!
It is worth noting that Mariangela Melato turns in a sublimely
hammy performance as the evil General Kala. She is clearly
having a lot of fun. Everyone in "Flash" seems to be having
a grand time, which is a big part of the film's appeal.
Saw this as a kid under ten and it was simply the most awesome thing I'd seen since Star Wars. The colors, the sounds, the action, the sets, the music, the worlds, hawkmen, arboria...I mean I could go on here. Too cool for school. The rock music with the attack on Ajax General is staying in my brain forever.
I had a vhs of this movie when i was a kid. No dubbing or subtitles and i didn't understand a word of english. It didn't stop me from watching over and over again. I love this movie.
Jones´s Flash Gordon has an incredible good look! i think there are many guys who appreciate that by saying to themselves, "I´d like to be that guy at least for one day!´
ORNELLA MUTI
Currently watching her in the French-Italian '98 Mini-Series' The Count of Monte Cristo' with Gerard Depardieu. Really enjoying it thus far! What a stunning woman!!
Watch her in Oscar with Sylvester Stallone.
cheers buddy, I think Avengers managed to capture the look and feel of the comic successfully. Its nice seeing comic book movies with great vivid colours instead of everything being dark.
Oliver spider man another colorful suphero mkvie and aslo what about the fantastic four movies from the 2000s
6:50 - 6:58, it's funny that you mentioned that. I somewhat disagree with you, Oli. In the 70s-90s, a new trend was coming forward were alot of films started to focus on not only anti-heroes, but outright villains. We had Scarface, Jaws, Darth Vader, the Xenomorphs, and a boatload of horror film slashers. Even the Burton Batman films were notorious for promoting the villain, also the star of the movie was Jack Nicholson.
You could conceivably build a film around a villain, but on your behalf it was risky venture to do so for family movies.
Awesome, awesome, awesome film. It's everything a great cinema adventure should be. :)
I was 11 years old when I watched this movie in the cinema back in early 1981, when it premiered in my country.
This is a very fond memory from my childhood. Thanks Oliver for sharing this review :)
"Gordon´s Alive ?....Flying blind on a rocket cycle.." (Prince Vultan / Brian Blessed).
Awesome review. Loved it. And this flick. Great Job.
With the 40th anniversary approaching in a few months, I would urger a remake 30 minutes +.
One of the greatest most underrated movies EVER!
Thumbs up a hundred times!
I love this movie to ridiculous amounts and have since I was a child! I know every bit of it by heart! I cannot explain how happy it makes me to see others here in the comments loving on this movie. The football fight scene remains one of my favorites of the film to this day...ah, god, Queen's music, Dale's cheerleading, Prince Vultan's hilarious assistance to Flash's outright defiance, so good! Go, Flash, Go!
such a fun movie that never took itself too seriously.
Words fail in any attempts to relay how amused and pleased I was when I saw that you included the epic 'lying bitch' line at the very end of this well done video.
I ADORE this goofy, fun, over produced, wonderful film...was lucky enough to see it in the cinema as a kid, and it holds up brilliantly to this day as a love letter from the campy, glitzy, wonderful 1980's...GREAT review (LOVED the Blessed clip, he was a truly entertaining entertainer), please keep them comin', Mr. Harper!
"YEAH!!!"
Flash Jump!
Another great review, Mr. Harper. I got to this movie very late, although I remember the promotional pinball game (shows you about how old I am). I agree with your comment that the roles played straight helps a lot- that we laugh along, instead of laughing specifically at the camp and the cheese. This is much why I enjoy the original Xanadu, but had no interest in the later stage play (which was acted very cheesily).
One of the best adaptations of Flash Gordon I think was the Filmation animated film and tv series. they featured a lot of rotoscoping and reusing of animation cells. But the creativity and imagination I thought was impressive.
RIP Max you were great in this! (and in everything really)
Wasn't too bad a movie, but it sure felt like was made for TV.
This movie is sooo bad that it is actually a genuine classic. And it also explains why the New York Jets still don't have a decent QB.
Luxeley ..actually its not bad at all... see it on blu ray on a big high def tv with surround sound.. this movie looks and sounds fantastic, will blow you away. Every aspect of this movie is spot on and true to the scource material. .remember, what you are seeing in this film is not happening in the real universe, its in the comic book universe. .. its science fiction without science, its outer space without outer space, 1935 is in full effect.
If it was bad, it wouldn’t be watchable. I play this movie all the time.
love this film :) and it also features Robbie Coltrane as the guy who shuts the planes door at beginning of the film :)
Absolutely loved this movie, watched it so many times.
My girlfriend & I watched this again recently and we both enjoyed it so much. It's just such a fun movie, & we both remarked how visually similar it is to the film "Barbarella".
holy cow I was at that brian blessed interview it was at the sfx weekender I think 2013 ? but he was amazing. going to next year's one as well Si fi weekender 2016 and he's going to be there again. Thanks for bringing back the memories.
I love how since you've done this review what with marvel and the MCU comic book films are finally starting to show there colour
The greatest thing about this movie is the DVD that has a commentary by BRIAN BLESSED. I saw it in blockbusters once and had to listen, a magnificently wonderful complement to the film. For a fatal drinking game, take a shot every time Brian mentions the colours... th-cam.com/video/QtMulYBE-m0/w-d-xo.html
(Also the Defenders of the Earth theme tune was awesome!)
This and Excalibur are my two favorite films. Yes. They are very different in tone. But they are both visually very rich. With strong characters that have to be reminded of virtue’s purpose. Both films filled to the brim with fantastic acting talent and both are filled with temptations and the swaying of power over generations. Flash handles it’s comedy times right next to genuinely emotional growth. Great arcs all throughout.
holy cow I was at that brian blessed interview it was at the sfx weekender I think 2013 ? but he was amazing. going to next year's one as well Si fi weekender 2016 and he's going to be there again. Thanks for bringing back the memories. 😀
First time viewing your channel, but I really appreciate your review. This is a movie I watched many times on HBO, and it really sticks with me. I think you are right about the colors and dedication to the comic look.
Great review. Loved this campy movie as a kid. I'm also glad I'm not the only one who was also freaked out by it too... 11:55
You say "I think" and "I believe" but you don't have to. You're spot on.
I've always thought the campy Flash Gordon movie is how Superman The Movie might have turned out if Richard Donner hadn't stepped in.
True. What worked for Flash Gordon I seriously doubt would have worked for Superman. Perfect example: Superman III.
Great review... you nailed it. The costuming is outstanding, the actors are excellent and its blast to watch. Cheers!
I love Flash Gordon as a kid. I been a big fan of Mike Hodges fan with films like Get Carter, Pulp, The Terminal Man & Black Rainbow.
You were right about superhero/comic book movies having all gone overly dark and losing their vibrancy. Even the Spider-Man films had suffered that too really. You’ll no doubt already be a fan of Thor: Ragnorock which was inspired by Flash Gordon & brought back bold colours, comic style designs & a sense of unashamed fun back to the genre (along with Guardians Of The Galaxy). Hopefully, their immense success will bring about a shift more in that direction
One thing of note in the film is the multi-colored gaseous nature of the skies in the movie. This is supposed to be aether, or, luminous aether, what some early sci-fi writers of the time believed one would see in space, or at least the upper atmosphere, before space travel, similar to the phlogiston described in the D&D Spelljammer books.
I saw this with my parents in the cinema - I was 7 or so, and remember it well , especially the "scary" scenes.Remember Klytus getting spiked!
Awesome film and Awesome soundtrack from Queen!
Cheers mate!
It wasn't a hit in America, but it was a big hit in the Uk and Europe. A great 80s fun Sci fi film from my childhood and a shame they never made the sequel.
The theme tune for D O T E .is Epic
Favourite quote by zarkov to monson ".. Get your toothbrush and whatever."
I've heard that Brian Blessed story so many times - through working o DoctoWho I have been at a few events with Brian - and you always know he is in the building!!!!
Great review! Love that movie!
So many hokey lines and cheesy dialog. The prize must go to Dalton for his:
"Freeze, ya bloody bastards."
Shoots one of them before they even have time to freeze.
"FREEZE!"
Love it.
yeah I have the CD album. It was part of Queen's catalogue so it shouldn't be hard to track down. eBay is a good bet. But the Howard Blake score to the movie is out of print.
Oliver Harper LA LA Land Records should re-release Howard Blake’s score, or both this, along with Queen’s soundtrack as a special, 2-CD set or re-release it digitally, on iTunes.
Cool Movie. Saw it when I was about 8 years old. Memorable scenes due to unique settings that stand out. Seeing it as an adult; I think the pacing of the movie is good.
I love the intro music to Defenders Of The Earth.
Great review, originally director Nicolas Roeg (Don't Look Now) was going to direct Flash Gordon. Roeg wanted to have a Shakesparen feel to the film which De Laurentiis didn't want. So Roeg walked due to creative difference.
flash gordon also looks amazing in black and white
And the actress who played General Kala the trio of Ming Klytus and Kala were perfect and didn't step on each others toes like in other movies.
I only seen snippets of this movie on encore, maybe I should give it a full watch sometime.
I had this taped off of TV when I was a kid and I must have watched it 50 times (even though there was something about it that creeped me out which I still can't put my finger on)
I watched it a month or so ago and it was the first time I'd ever seen the first 20 minutes of the film as it was cut off my taped copy, it was so strange to see new scenes to a film I knew so well.
I saw FLASH GORDON at the Original Cine Capri Theater in PHX AZ, and had the 8-Track Cassette.
FLASH!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!
He'll save every one of us
He's for every one of us
FLASH!!! AAAAA-AAAAAHHHHHH!!!! Without the hyphen its just different : D
So lucky I got to see this in the theatre, as great as it is it's a whole different experience on the big screen.
A great retrospective! I saw this one in the theaters, when it came out. A lavish and ambitious film. I'm glad it found it's way into legend.
That was a very informative review. Flash Gordon has always been one of my favourite adventure films and I quite agree with you...comic book films are trying to hard to drag themselves into reality, but what I really want to see is the comic books realised in three dimensions rather than altered into boring reality. Annoyingly, I only now realise that there was a lot of stuff cut from the VHS version I recorded off the telly! Can't believe I have not seen the full Klytus death scene till now!
You forgot to mention the last scene, where Ming reaches out and grabs his ring while laughing! Muhahahahaa
I do really like this movie. I used to watch the original serial on Creature Features.
Great review as always
I think this film and QUEENS soundtrack came out just the right time .Very camp film , camp acting, and very camp music from QUEEN I loved it then and still do now BRILLIANT STUFF
Oliver Thanks i enjoyed your video it was a nice watch and lots of info. I remember watching Flash Gordon at a Drive-In Then seeing a few other times in theaters classic Movie for me as a child it was about as cool as Star Wars for me. I remember telling friends just how epic it was but most were not agreeing with me. :) Thanks again
I had this on VHS and now on DVD....one of the best films ever made
I feel like Thor Ragnarok did a good job of bringing back the Flash Gorden feel with costume and color choices and it worked well for them.
Except for the lack of Queen :-)
@@stevewhite3424 yeh but they used another old school brit rock band that being led zeppelin
Still love this movie.
The guy who played Ming can easily rival Sean Bean, I mean like Sean, he died in every thing I've seen him in. lol
The actor who played Ming is the great and legendary Swedish actor, Max Von Sydow. His career spans back to the late 1940s. He is renowned for appearing in many different films in many different languages such as: Swedish, English, Norwegian, Danish, German, French, Italian, and Spanish. Some of his most memorable film roles include Knight Antonius Block in Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal (1957), the first of his eleven films with Bergman and the film that includes the iconic scenes in which he plays chess with Death; Martin in Through a Glass Darkly (1961); Jesus in The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965); Oktober in The Quiller Memorandum (1966); Karl Oskar Nilsson in The Emigrants (1971); Roy Lindberg in The Apple War (1971); Father Lankester Merrin in The Exorcist (1973); Joubert the assassin in Three Days of the Condor (1975); Ming the Merciless in Flash Gordon (1980); the villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the James Bond film Never Say Never Again (1983); Liet-Kynes in Dune (1984); Frederick in Hannah and Her Sisters (1986); Lassefar in Pelle the Conqueror (1987), for which he received his first Academy Award nomination; Dr Peter Ingham in Awakenings (1990); Lamar Burgess in Minority Report (2002); Josiah Kane in Solomon Kane (2009); Sir Walter Loxley in Robin Hood (2010); and The Renter in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2012), which earned him his second Academy Award nomination; and Lor San Tekka in Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens. In 2016, Sydow joined the cast of HBO's hit series Game of Thrones, playing the role of the Three-eyed Raven for which he received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination.
May Brian Blessed live on forever!
The most successful camp movie in history that has become a classic over time
i love this film!
Defender of the earth had an awesome intro tune!
this movie is CLASSIC!!! the 80s were the best. this movie still holds up today.
Visually its iconic--- needs to be remade with the same look/feel.
Dude Flash Gordon 1980 is a masterpiece
Interesting that it didn't do so well in North America. I never saw the film, but I do know of and am very fond of the pinball machine. It itself actually did very well (about 10,000 units made), so I wonder how many of those were exported overseas due to the theme being more popular there.
I had to go by myself to see it (I was only 10) no one else would go.
I saw this in the theatre as a kid also.
12:06 Love the music. Klytus always reminds me of Doctor Doom.
Brian blessed was good as mentor on space 1999 as maya's father...he was also in a season 1 episode
Yeah the soundtrack is easily available. Should be on itunes.