49 replies to this topic

[HildebrandRarity]

Hi everyone.

I just bought Queen's Greatest Videos I and the song/video "Flash" bought back memories of my childhood (as did songs like We Will Rock You/We Are The Champions, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Another One Bites The Dust, et al.)

Now, we know that Timothy was the Prince in this movie.

What are peoples memories of this film during its release.

I only remember the song being popular on radio but never saw the movie in theatres.

Is it worthwhile buying the DVD of the film?

Thoughts?

Edited by HildebrandRarity, 10 May 2007 - 12:43 PM.

[bond87]

Well I wasn't born when the movie came out but it was always one of those films that was like a part of childhood as it were because I always watched it as a kid. I'm actually a big fan and prefer the Buster Crabbe Flash Gordon series' to the 1980 movie but I recently bought the 1980 film on the special edition DVD, along with the soundtrack, and it is well worth the value. I still love the movie and its as great as ever. My favourite actor in the film has to be Topol though...

[Mamadou]

My favourite actor in the film has to be Topol though...

Blasphemy!

[Santa]

Flash Gordon is an absolutely fantastic film! As long as you're not expecting an intellectual masterpiece, I don't see how anyone can fail to enjoy this towering behemoth of camp. Great cast, great music, great villain. Truly brilliant.

[Milovy]

There is a brand new special DVD of this coming out in the U.S. in August, I think.

Yes, this is a very "special" (ahem) film. You either love it or hate it. It has tons of quotable lines ("No! Not the bore worms!") and memorable bits, plus, there's that immortal theme song. It may be campy, but there isn't a single dull moment. I didn't see it in the theater but watched it on TV many times in the early '80s. I have a vivid memory of watching it on TV just after Dalton was announced as the new Bond. There's a line where Prince Barin shouts "Listen to me!" and my sister and I had great fun imitating him and saying "Listen to me! I am the new James Bond!"

I don't know how Timothy Dalton feels about it today, but hopefully something good, because it seems that it's the major reason he got the job in Hot Fuzz! (ie, Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg loved him as Prince Barin)

Edited by Milovy, 09 May 2007 - 02:20 PM.

[Tarl_Cabot]

Flash Gordon is one of my favorite genre films and I always thought "the guy who plays Baron looks like he could be 007" so when I heard Dalton was signed as the new JB I was thrilled. I used to watch Flash Gordon on Saturday mornings bc it always seemed to be on HBO during the summers...simpler days...fond memories.Classic flick.

[james st.john smythe]

Whenever i think of the Flash Gordon film i think of our Tim shouting "FREEZE YOU BLOODY BASTARDS!", and how he looked camp as Christmas in that little green elf outfit.

[Yellow Pinky]

I saw this in the theater opening weekend. At the time I was sorely disappointed by the special effects and mostly by the overt campiness as I really wanted something more serious.

That said, I have to say this flick has really improved with age. It still has a void in its center due to Sam Jones' incredibly vacant performance in the title role, but that serves to also allow one to fully appreciate the full bore degree to which every other performer in the movie chews the scenery with real relish!

I remember Dalton making a particularly strong impression with me instantly. I also felt he brought a high level of class to the whole production. At the time I thought he was a dead ringer for Errol Flynn.

When he was announced as the replacement for Moore I couldn't have been happier and thought he was the absolute most perfect choice imaginable. My opinion of him only escalated upon watching TLD the first time.


Steve

Edited by Yellow Pinky, 09 May 2007 - 09:48 PM.

[dinovelvet]

I don't know how Timothy Dalton feels about it today, but hopefully something good, because it seems that it's the major reason he got the job in Hot Fuzz! (ie, Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg loved him as Prince Barin)

Dalton did mention Flash Gordon on that recent Tavis Smiley interview in the US, can't remember specifically what he said, but I think they were discussing how he hadn't done much comedy, and Tim said Flash as one the examples of comedy he had done.

[Royal Dalton]

My favourite actor in the film has to be Topol though...

Blasphemy!

Too true. It was Brian Blessed.

"Gordon's alive???!!!"

[Milovy]

"Lying bitch."



Sorry, couldn't resist.

[DLibrasnow]

I remember reading the novelization before the movie came out and anxiously awaiting it's arrival in the theaters. I was not aware of the Queen soundtrack, but the cool poster art on the cover of the book, the old black & white serials that my friends and I would watch some Saturday afternoons on the BBC and the novel was a fun read.

Then the night I went to see it the heating wasn't working in the cinema and my friends and I sat there bundled up in our jackets and loving every minute of it.

Of course I still love it to this day. It's probably my chief guilty pleasure. I listened to the Brian Blessed commentary just a couple of weeks ago.

It's also amazing how many Bond connections there are, from Robbie Coltrane's brief cameo (blink and you'll miss him closing the plane door at the beginning) to Max Von Sydow, Topol and (of course) Timothy Dalton to name just a few.

[Milovy]

Oh, and by the way, if that's the worst costume Dalton was ever forced to wear, he got off easy compared to Connery in Zardoz...

[DaveBond21]

I always loved it as a kid, and it seemed to be on British TV at least once a year.

"Flash" by Queen was the first record I bought, at the age of 5! Quite a cool record for a 5 year old.

Love the movie, great cast including Dalton, Blessed and also including Richard O'Brien, and children's TV presenter Peter Duncan getting bitten by that rock creature.

Very colourful, loud and camp, great fun!

[Blofeld's Cat]

BORAT!

[Trident]

Flash Gordon was great fun back in 1980 (or was that '81? can't remember)! Of course it was camp, but I for one didn't expect anything more serious. After all the original FG-serials were not too serious themselves. A fantasy flick that just aimed to entertain on a comic-book level. The concept was quite a bit self-mocking and the sfx weren't designed to convince the audience of any kind of hyper-realistic space battle as they used to in the Star Wars flicks. I don't think the producers really wanted anything else but jumping the space opera train with a parody of the genre. Was there ever a sequel intended as the question mark behind THE END? suggested?

Btw: In the German version of 'Flash Gordon' Timothy Dalton was dubbed by Frank Glaubrecht, who usually is dubbing for Pierce Brosnan.

[DavidSomerset]

This just in:
Currently being developed by SciFi Channel under a cloak of secrecy is a new television series based on the classic comic book character created by Alex Raymond, Flash Gordon.

See what they say about the Timmy film:
The film was subsequently adapted as a critically reviled 1980 feature film, incomprehensibly directed by Get Carter

[RazorBlade]

Being a fan of the Buster Crubbe Flash Gordon I was all pins and needles for the 1980 release. And I was throughly bummed out by the result. I haven't seen it since but it might be fun to watch now. I remember really liking TD's performance and wondered why he wasn't Flash since, he could, you know, act and stuff. I also remember lots of people in the audience wearing cowboy hats. No, I didn't see it in Abilene Texas.

[thecasinoroyale]

Flash Gordon is sci-fi fluff, and really fun to watch!


There are cheesy elements but it's one of those films that takes itself seriously as a sci-fi epic, and in places it works! The soundtrack is thumpin', the cast is pretty strong and do well and the story is simple!

Some of the set pieces are pretty neat too, like the Swamp, Final Battle and the action in 'Cloud City' (lol).


Dalton is on fine form, and I loved watching this knowing he was an actor who had been James Bond! He hams it up, and as usual, has that charming, gritty streek ala LTK.

Go watch, and check Dalton out in his best role!! (ahem)

[Milovy]

[quote name='DavidSomerset' post='737019' date='10 May 2007 - 08:22']This just in:
Currently being developed by SciFi Channel under a cloak of secrecy is a new television series based on the classic comic book character created by Alex Raymond, Flash Gordon.

See what they say about the Timmy film:
The film was subsequently adapted as a critically reviled 1980 feature film, incomprehensibly directed by Get Carter

Edited by Milovy, 10 May 2007 - 12:24 PM.

[David_M]

I saw this one in the theater and was underwhelmed, to say the least. As a fan of the slam-bang action fest serials with Buster Crabbe, I was really excited at the prospect of a modern, big-budget take on Flash. What we got was...well, something different.

On the other hand, once you got over the fact that it was a different kind of movie altogether (obvious in the first ten minutes), it wasn't that hard to sit back and enjoy the film for what it was. Let's just say as remakes go, DeLaurentis didn't screw over Flash anywhere near as badly as he destroyed King Kong.

Dalton was impressive as Prince Baron, and a good choice based on how the character looked in the original strip. I thought he was tough and a little scary in his intensity, though I confess when he was announced for Bond I didn't remember I'd seen him in "Flash." Topol was also great, and Max Von Sydow was the very image of Ming.

For me, the battle with Flash on that crazy rotating disc with spikes was a highlight of the film. Not only because they handled the action pretty well (always a strong suit for Tim) but also because it gave us a few happy moments where Sam Jones had no dialog.

Incidentally, there's a series of very realistic-looking action figures coming later this year based on the movie. I think Flash and Ming are up first, but if they do well maybe Barin will be in a future set.

[HildebrandRarity]

...I recently bought the 1980 film on the special edition DVD, along with the soundtrack, and it is well worth the value.

Has the special edition DVD gotten the 'surround sound' treatment?

[Brian May of Queen, the man responsible for the Flash Gordon score (I believe), has given the old Queen videos the 5.1 treatment...and stuff like "Bohemian Rhapsody" sounds outstandingly awsome when you put on the DVD.]


...Or...should I wait for:

There is a brand new special DVD of this coming out in the U.S. in August, I think.

??

Edited by HildebrandRarity, 10 May 2007 - 12:55 PM.

[jaguar007]

I was 12 when this movie came out and absolutely loved it. I saw it a few times in the theater. It was the first movie I ever saw Dalton in so when he was announced as Bond, I knew right away who he was. I remember my mom taking me and the neighborhood kids to see the movie and my mom and the girl down the street commenting on how good looking Prince Barin was.

As far as the movie, just remember it was produced by the same guy who made the 1960's Batman TV series. Like Batman, it is full of camp. The two leads (Sam Jones and Melody Anderson) are two of the worst actors to ever grace the screen, but they are offset by an incredibly good supporting cast that seem "to get" that the movie is camp.

[Turn]

I got hooked on the Flash Gordon serials when my local afternoon local TV kids show used to play them. I had the comics and a Flash water pistol and all that stuff. By the time the 1980 film came out, we had already seen the wonders of Star Wars and a Buck Rogers film and TV series, so Flash kind of seemed like an afterthought.

I saw it on opening weekend in 1980 and enjoyed it. When we got our first VCR back in 1982 (a good old Beta), Flash Gordon was one of the first films we taped off of HBO. It wasn't played all that much over the years it didn't seem like. But I always enjoyed it.

When Dalton was named as the new Bond in '86, Flash Gordon was the only thing I remembered seeing him in. And I remember associating Topol's name with the film when he was cast in FYEO.

[DLibrasnow]

I recently bought the 1980 film on the special edition DVD, along with the soundtrack, and it is well worth the value.

I bought the special edition also, even though I already owned the movie on DVD. I thought the Brian Blessed commentary was the better of the two.

I remember when Dalton was announced as James Bond back in 1986 the magazine Starburst ran an interview he gave for FLASH GORDON saying he might as well have been talking about James Bond.

[HildebrandRarity]

I recently bought the 1980 film on the special edition DVD, along with the soundtrack, and it is well worth the value.

I bought the special edition also, even though I already owned the movie on DVD.

Yes...but does it have the 5.1 or surround sound treatment?

[Milovy]

I heard that the U.S. DVD won't have Brian Blessed's commentary on it. For those of us not lucky enough to see the UK DVD, does Brian have anything to say about Tim in the commentary?

[bond87]

I heard that the U.S. DVD won't have Brian Blessed's commentary on it. For those of us not lucky enough to see the UK DVD, does Brian have anything to say about Tim in the commentary?

That is a real shame! Brian Blessed's commentary is a gem and reflects his pure energy and love for the film. It is quite hilarious at times and he does mention Tim Dalton a great deal throughout the commentary and it does come across as though he really enjoyed working with him. He describes Dalton as being “always marvellous and effective” and that he was surprised by how Dalton closely resembled Errol Flynn in the film. Apparently Dalton always, to Blessed's surprise, consulted him before almost every scene and that he would ask Blessed questions such as for example whether or not he should be playing Barin like Flynn etc. Blessed also seems pretty impressed by Dalton

Edited by bond87, 12 May 2007 - 06:14 PM.

[Lady Rose]

Brian Blessed and Timothy Dalton went on to work together in the 1984 version of
The Master of Ballantrae.

[bond87]

Hey
I

Edited by bond87, 14 May 2007 - 09:35 AM.