Flash Gordon

               

Mike Hodges' Flash Gordon, from 1980, is a movie that has stuck with me through the years and now, after a recent viewing, I can begrudgingly and belatedly acknowledge its qualities. It was a staple of late night cable television in my college years and I must have watched it a half dozen times in bits and pieces. I took is as a given that it was a tacky, lowbrow Dino De Laurentiis piece of crap, but with each viewing I came away more impressed with Mike Hodges' efforts to wring some fun and even thoughtful moments out of this half-assed feature.

From my first viewing, I was taken aback how unsettling the initiation scenes on the Timothy Dalton helmed planet were. Hodges' is able to convey a real sense of dread and mystery in what is a hopelessly hokey venture. Along with this whiff of Thanatos, Hodges is able to wring a playfully perverse erotic charge out of his villains. Max von Sydow, as the Emperor Ming, and the delectable Ornella Muti as his daughter, Aura, camp it up while entertainingly yearning for the anodyne Flash and his gal, Dale. Brian Blessed, Dalton and, especially, Mariangela Melato likewise impersonate their characters with high style and gusto.

Unfortunately, the actor portraying Flash, Sam J. Jones, is among the most wooden players in the history of cinema and Melody Anderson as Dale is not much better. Both saw their careers disappear into the vapor after the commercial demise of the film. Flash Gordon's colors are striking as are the costumes and sets, though the overall effect is similar to many De Laurentiis productions in that it is both gaudy and chintzy at the same time. De Laurentiis wanted to match the success of Star Wars, but, as usual, scrimped on the budget. The football sequence, among others, attests to the improvisatory nature of a big budget feature that often looks like a B feature and lacks a coherent narrative.

Still, Hodges managed to wring out a few interesting sequences. The one where Topol is having his brain wiped and we see his memories of the Holocaust lingers in the mind. Hodges has made one masterpiece, Croupier, and a number of good features, but it is a testament to his directorial mettle that he could keep a firm hand on the tiller on such a hopeless project as Flash Gordon.