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Flash Gordon
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Flash Gordon (1980) More at IMDbPro »

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Flash Gordon (1980) -- A football player and his friends travel to the planet Mongo and find themselves fighting the tyrant, Ming the Merciless, to save Earth.

Overview

User Rating:
6.2/10   13,229 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Up 54% in popularity this week. See rank & trends on IMDbPro.
Director:
Mike Hodges
Writers:
Alex Raymond (characters)
Michael Allin (adaptation) ...
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Contact:
View company contact information for Flash Gordon on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
5 December 1980 (USA) more
Tagline:
He'll save every one of us! more
Plot:
A football player and his friends travel to the planet Mongo and find themselves fighting the tyrant, Ming the Merciless, to save Earth. full summary | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
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Awards:
Nominated for 2 BAFTA Film Awards. Another 1 win & 8 nominations more
User Comments:
Cardboard, disposable and tremendous fun more

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)
Sam J. Jones ... Flash Gordon
Melody Anderson ... Dale Arden

Max von Sydow ... The Emperor Ming / Ming's Floating Servant (as Max Von Sydow)
Topol ... Dr. Hans Zarkov
Ornella Muti ... Princess Aura

Timothy Dalton ... Prince Barin
Brian Blessed ... Prince Vultan
Peter Wyngarde ... Klytus
Mariangela Melato ... Kala
John Osborne ... Arborian Priest

Richard O'Brien ... Fico
John Hallam ... Luro
Philip Stone ... Zogi, the High Priest
Suzanne Danielle ... Serving Girl

William Hootkins ... Munson
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Additional Details

Runtime:
111 min
Country:
USA | UK
Language:
English
Color:
Color (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio:
2.20 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Dolby (35 mm prints)

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Leon Greene was re-voiced by David de Keyser. more
Goofs:
Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When Flash and his friends first appear before Ming, the tributes are done first. Ming states "and now the tributes, from Ardentia". However, in the very next sentence, the representative from that country states "We, the people of Ardencia" with a "denc" pronunciation rather than the "dent" stated by Ming. more
Quotes:
[first lines]
The Emperor Ming: Klytus, I'm bored. What play thing can you offer me today?
Klytus: An obscure body in the S-K System, your majesty. The inhabitants refer to it as the planet Earth.
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Movie Connections:
Featured in Queen: Greatest Video Hits 1 (2002) (V) more
Soundtrack:
Flash more

FAQ

Why do the Hawkmen use rocket cycles if they have wings and, therefore, can fly by themselves?
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43 out of 47 people found the following comment useful:-
Cardboard, disposable and tremendous fun, 30 December 2002
Author: bob the moo from Birmingham, UK

After a plane crash in extreme weather, Flash Gordon and his travelling companion Dale Arden after abducted by Dr Zarkov to help pilot his spaceship to confront what he believes is an attack from space. Once in space Flash comes faces to face with the cause of the extreme weather, Ming the Merciless and is sentenced to death. Saved from death by Ming's lustful daughter Flash sets out to save his friends and stop Ming with the help of the leaders of the kingdoms.

Even when this was brand new I suspect it looked out dated and a throwback kind of appeal. More than 20 years later this definitely is appreciated as a laugh by about as many people who genuinely enjoy it on it's own merits. The plot is well known to most people I suspect – I know it from the 25 minute b/w `classic' series that BBC2 repeated in the mornings when I was only a lad in the 80's. But it is easily nutshelled as above. The story moves alone at a good pace despite the poor effects and is actually pretty exciting.

The effects are poor – even for 1980's the back projection is rubbish and the costumes are silly. Compare it to the advances made in Star Wars and stuff years before and it looks weak. However the vision is ambitious and it works well if you accept the weaknesses from the start. Another weakness is the acting from ranges from wooden to just plain hammy. Jones is perfect as Flash, despite being wooden as a tree. He comes over like a 30's matinee idol type, which is just what the fun mood of the film needed. Anderson is awful but again just accept the weaknesses. Von Sydow is good as Ming and Topol is a little unhinged as Zarkov. Blessed hams it up so much you could slice him and serve him with pineapple but he also suits the film well. Dalton, O'Brien, Blue Peter's Peter Duncan and Robbie Coltrane and several other unexpected Brits turn up which is nice.

If you're not sure if this film is for you then watch the first 20 minutes. By that time you'll have seen two key things that sum up the film. Firstly you'll have sat through the extremely cool theme song from Queen. That gets me in the mood every time I hear it! Secondly you'll see a fight with Ming the Merciless' men where Flash takes them on in a form of American Football fighting! Both this scene and the music are a little silly and quite camp but if you like these then the rest of the film will suit you fine.

Personally I love this movie and watch it every repeat I see. It is silly and has plenty of weakness, but more than all these things it is incredibly fun to watch! Sing it with me now – `FLASH! AH-AH! HE'LL SAVE EVERYONE OF US!'

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Saw this on SCI-FI channel yesterday matwsussx
How did Flash defeat Ming in the original comic strip? matwsussx
Swamp scene c-ryan
Flash Gordon Blu Ray Release cyberskiver
Who should play who? (remake) kidgloves2
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