I Watch 'Em So You Don't Have To

Old Movies Revisited Just For The Fun Of It


Flash Gordon (1980)


This of course is not a horror movie. It wasn't even a great movie. Even seeing it as a kid (I WAS one of those once) I remember thinking how cheesy it was - but it was still fun. And if you can forget all the inconsistencies, the continuity (or lack of, it really doesn't have any) and bad special effects you can just sit back and enjoy a silly ride.


My biggest enjoyment with this movie was the soundtrack, entirely played by Queen. I remember listening to that album (You know - those black round things that made music when a needle touched them?) over and over again. Because of it, I have a lot of the dialogue tattooed on my brain even after 32 years.


Flash Gordon is an British-American film that was shot in Scotland and England with, of course, an English band performing the soundtrack.


Flash, played by Sam Jones with tongue firmly in cheek, of course must save the world from the evil Emperor Ming the Merciless (somehow they got Max von Sydow to do this role) who plans on crashing the moon into planet Earth. Flash, together with Dale (Melody Anderson) get into all types of trouble and danger but managing to come out super clean and picture perfect no matter what happens to them (Flash not only appears in each new scene with clean clothes, but showered and his hair freshly blow-dried - doesn't matter if he's been in a fight, gotten cut with a whip, fallen into a swamp or swallowed by a monster. Super duper clean. He's the might Flash after all.....).

Timothy Dalton

Watching the movie now is even more fun now that some of the actors have done a lot more things and we recognize them in their early appearances. These include Timothy Dalton (a future incarnation of James Bond), Brian Blessed (an English actor, I know him best as Blackadder's father in Blackadder I) and Richard O'Brien (the ever present and singing Riff-Raff from Rocky Horror Picture Show).


Now it's rumored that Sam Jones had a hissy toward the end of post production and quit the whole thing, making them find a person to dub his dialogue (imitating his voice) and ending any hope of a sequel. Don't know if that is a fact but it is kind of funny. Flash Gordon didn't do well in America but was a big hit in the UK.


So don't be cynical (like I've just been) and pretend you're watching a cartoon - which is basically what it is anyway. And listen to the cool soundtrack. You won't be sorry.

Brian Blessed

Richard O'Brien

Ornella Muti and Max von Sydow