Blimey, I feel old, really old, the other day I saw Back To The Future in the cinema again and after I had the chance to finally get to see the Flash Gordon 40th Anniversary Edition on the big screen at a reopened Cineworld over in Broughton.
Back in 1980 I sadly didn’t get the chance to see the adventures of Flash Gordon on the big screen, but over the years I watched it so many times in the various formats from VHS to DVD, so now that Cinemas are back open in Wales and it’s the 40th Anniversary of the movie I really didn’t want to miss the chance to see Sam Jones and Brian Blessed on the big screen in the cult 80s movie.
Directed by Mike Hodges and starring Sam J. Jones, Brian Blessed, Melody Anderson, Max von Sydow and many more great names of the time, Flash Gordon went through some turbulent times in bringing the character to the big screen, but over the years the film has built a cult following and fans love the film.
Flash Gordon may have its flaws, such as some of the dodgy special effects such as seeing the background through semi-translucent characters but this all adds to the charm of the film, it does for me and although you can certainly see these issues much more on the big screen it doesn’t distract you from the fun and craziness of the film.
Based on the comic-strip and the 1930s serials that kids would rush to the cinemas to see on a Saturday morning, this 80s version of the story of Flash Gordon (Sam J. Jones), Dale Arden (Melody Anderson) and Dr Hans Zarkov (Topol) as they escape the destruction of Earth and find themselves in the clutches of the evil tyrant The Emporer Ming (Max von Sydow) on the planet Mongo.
As they try to save the Earth they meet and team up with other inhabitants of the planet including Prince Vulcan (Brian Blessed) and Prince Barin (Timothy Dalton), with the fight to save Earth and Mongo from the tyranny of Ming, Flash Gordon takes us on an adventure of Sci-Fi delicious and action along with a brilliant soundtrack from rock gods Queen and Howard Blake.
Yes, Flash Gordon does seem dated now and even before our screening we had a large text warning that said “This film has outdated attitudes, language and cultural depictions which may cause offence today“, this may be down to a scene with Klytus (Peter Wyngarde) and him admiring Hilter!
It’s rather strange watching a film in the cinema these days with a stereo soundtrack, but you get used to it, although our screening did have a volume issue with the sound being rather quiet at first before the cinema tech turned the volume up, but hey it’s the first day back of opening up the cinema so there are bound to be some gremlins.
Flash Gordon is still a fun movie to watch and to finally see it on the big screen has been an experience that I’m so glad I finally got to do, so thank you Cineworld in Broughton for the chance to enjoy the movie as it should be seen.
Gordon's Allive!!
Movie title: Flash Gordon (1980) 40th Anniversary
Movie description: A football player and his friends travel to the planet Mongo and find themselves fighting the tyranny of Ming the Merciless to save Earth.
Date published: December 11, 1980
Country: UK
Duration: 1h 51min
Director(s): Mike Hodges
Actor(s): Sam J. Jones, Brian Blessed, Melody Anderson, Max von Sydow
Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Karen Woodham is the founder and owner of the Blazing Minds. She is also a Cinema reviewer and works with RealD 3D reviewing the latest 3D releases and IMAX, she has also had several articles published in various publications including the first edition of SFW Magazine. In 2015 she became an Award Winning Blogger and also has her website listed as one of the UK’s Top 10 Film Blogs.
