Flash Gordon

The flash leaping toward the camera while shouting "YEAH!" was improvised by Sam J. Jones. No one could figure out how the film should end.

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The entire main cast signed deals for multiple films. Because the first film was not as successful as expected, the sequels were never made.

CHARACTERS & CAST · SOURCED

Max von Sydow's Ming costume weighed over 70 pounds. He could only stay in it for a few minutes at a time.

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Sam J. Jones's dark hair was bleached blond, and Melody Anderson's blond hair was dyed brown. Flash was supposed to have blue eyes, but Jones could not wear contact lenses.

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As a child, George Lucas loved the old Universal Flash Gordon serials and wanted to make a modern version based on the original comic strips. At the time Federico Fellini held the rights, so Lucas wrote Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) instead.

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Klytus did not appear in the original comic strips or the 1930s serials and was created for the film.

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Early in the film, Ming is always shot from below, which places him above the audience. Later, when Flash begins to unite his forces, Ming is shot at the same level as the audience. Toward the end, we begin to see Ming shot from above, symbolizing his defeat.

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One of the feast items in the Hawkmen's kingdom was Twinkies colored with food dye.

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In the finished film, George Harris's dialogue as Prince Thun of Ardentia was dubbed with a much deeper voice. However, Harris's real, unretouched vocal track appears on Queen's soundtrack album, suggesting the change must have been made quite late in post-production. In the original comic strips, Prince Thun was a lion man and one of Flash's most loyal allies, and he did not appear in earlier drafts of the script, nor was any attempt made on Ming's life; instead, Ming demonstrated to Flash, Dale and Zarkov how mindlessly loyal his guards were by having one of them kill himself in front of them.

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Because there were English and Italian crews, there was a significant language barrier on set.

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In the backstory, Flash's T-shirt was given to him as a gift by an unnamed female fan. Flash wore the necklace often, hoping he would eventually meet her.

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According to Sam J. Jones, while filming the fight scene with the spinning disc, the actors were coated in paint from the disc, which had been painted with silver spray. They had to allow extra time between takes to wipe the silver paint off their bodies.

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Melody Anderson came up with Dale's cheerleading during the football game.

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According to an interview in Starlog magazine in August 1981, Dino De Laurentiis really wanted Kurt Russell to play Flash Gordon. Russell turned the role down because he felt it lacked the character's personality.

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According to Peter Wyngarde, the hand that takes Ming's ring at the end of the film belongs to Klytus. Although he dies in the film, there were plans to "revive" him for a possible sequel. Since then, the producers have explained that their plans for a second film were to reveal that there were multiple versions of Klytus, all of them clones of Ming; this was the key to Ming's immortality and the reason Klytus wore the golden mask, meaning that if Ming died, Klytus would take his place and another Klytus clone would awaken.

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In his autobiography "Absolute Pandemonium," Brian Blessed revealed that he was paid thirty thousand pounds for the role of Prince Vultan.

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Brian Blessed had been an avid Flash Gordon fan since childhood. His favorite character was Vultan.

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Dino De Laurentiis considered hiring Sergio Leone to direct the film. Leone turned it down because he believed the script was not faithful to the original comic strips.

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Brian Blessed improvised the scene in which Vultan makes a sexual advance on Dale. Melody Anderson's reaction is understandably genuine.

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A then-unknown Robbie Coltrane appears as the man seen checking Flash and Dale's luggage at the airport and closing the plane door.

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The film was shot by veteran British cinematographer Gilbert Taylor, who had been the director of photography on Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977). Taylor's distinctive camerawork, with its dreamlike, hazy look that emphasizes the fantasy element (achieved through the use of filters), is fully effective here.

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Dino De Laurentiis initially hoped Federico Fellini would direct the film. The director had contributed to the production of the original Flash Gordon serial during World War II.

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John Hollis played one of Klytus's Observers, who wears an electronic "imager" device instead of eyes. Hollis also played Lobot, Lando Calrissian's aide in Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980). Lobot had a similar distinguishing feature: a cybernetic device worn over his ears.

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According to the original story, when Dale is enchanted by Ming's hypnotic ring, she has a vision of being on an erotic picnic with Ming in the 1920s.

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The psychedelic color effects in Ming's universe were achieved by creatively rotating multicolored paints in illuminated water tanks.

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Sam J. Jones was cast after Dino De Laurentiis's mother-in-law saw him on an episode of The Dating Game (1965).

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Thirteen actors from the James Bond films appear in this film: Max von Sydow - Blofeld in Never Say Never Again (1983); Topol - Milos Columbo in For Your Eyes Only (1981); Timothy Dalton - James Bond in The Living Daylights (1987) and Licence to Kill (1989); Andy Bradford - 009 in Octopussy (1983); Robbie Coltrane - Valentin Zukovsky in GoldenEye (1995) and The World Is Not Enough (1999); Philip Stone - SPECTRE #5 in Thunderball (1965); Burnell Tucker - Hawaii Control Room Technician in You Only Live Twice (1967); John Hollis - Blofeld in For Your Eyes Only (1981) and Fred in Casino Royale (1967); Bogdan Kominowski - Klotkoff in A View to a Kill (1985); Peter Brace - Cowboy in Casino Royale (1967), who also did stunts on many of the films; Leslie Crawford - Waiter in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), who also did stunts on many of the films; Terry Richards - Carver's Thug in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), Scottish Strong Man in Casino Royale (1967), and stunts on various films; and Eddie Powell - Man in Casino in Casino Royale (1967), who also did stunts on various films. In addition, seven men in acting roles in this film did stunts on various Bond films: Graeme Crowther, Eddie Stacey, Mike Potter, Terry Forrestal, Roy Scammell, Chris Webb and John Gallant, bringing the total number of cast members with connections to the Bond universe to 20.

BEHIND THE SCENES · SOURCED

Ming's symbol (which Klytus also wears on his gloves) is borrowed from the Masonic square and compasses. Ming also makes a Masonic gesture during the film.

DEEPER MEANING · SOURCED

The first draft of the script, among other things, had no Kala, had Klytus as a medium, had a Lion Man who helps Flash, had a group of Amazon warriors belonging to Ming, and had a proper sword fight between Flash and Ming.

PRODUCTION STORY · SOURCED

CRAZY CREDITS: During the opening title sequence, each cast credit is accompanied by drawings of that character from the original comic strip. As a result, you see all the main characters in cartoon form before seeing the cast who play them.

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According to the film biography book "Easy Riders, Raging Bulls," Star Wars came about because George Lucas really wanted to make an update of Flash Gordon with lavish production values. When he could not get the rights to the film, he made his own version, which was far more successful than all the earlier Flash Gordon films. Ironically, the success of Star Wars led to this 1980 Flash Gordon reboot.

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The film came about when producer Lou Scheimer approached Dino De Laurentiis, who was seeking additional financing for the NBC animated TV movie Flash Gordon: The Greatest Adventure of All (1982); De Laurentiis agreed to help if Scheimer secured the rights for him to make a theatrical film. Impressed by Scheimer's results and the prospect of profiting from a theatrical version, NBC shelved the animated film for several years, had Scheimer's company re-edit it, and turned it into the Saturday-morning series Flash Gordon (1979).

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Mike Hodges was the eighth director chosen.

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The original Flash Gordon serials had a major influence on George Lucas's Star Wars films. This film was made largely in response to the success of the first film. It also features two future Star Wars actors: Brian Blessed appeared in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) and Max von Sydow in Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015).

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In the original script, Flash and Dale first meet at a Canadian resort called Dark Harbor. Although they flirt with each other, they do not know each other until they share the ill-fated plane trip to New York. Dale later briefly mentions Dark Harbor during her tearful meeting with Flash before his execution.

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Because of his height, the 1.90-metre-tall Sam J. Jones performed most of his own stunts and choreographed them himself.

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Since the merciless Ming is bald in the comic strip, Max von Sydow shaved his head for the role of Ming the Merciless.

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With Nicolas Roeg directing, Debbie Harry was to play Princess Aura and Keith Carradine was to play Ming the Merciless.

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Mike Hodges considered hiring Pink Floyd to compose the music.

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All the kingdoms and continents on Mongo are floating islands.

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During the football match, a group of bikini-clad women wearing plastic helmets and plastic coats appears in the background; they are the retinue of Queen Fria, from Frigia, Mongo's ice kingdom, where the weather is too cold to wear plastic suits.

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Richard O'Brien found the experience of making the film boring. He greatly enjoyed sitting in the managers' personalised chairs, however. His mischievous behaviour was never restrained. He knew Mike Hodges well enough to astonish the film's stars, who complained about him regularly on set.

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It is the favourite film of the famous comic-book artist Alex Ross. For the miniseries Marvels (1994), published by Marvel Comics, Ross modelled Tony Stark after Timothy Dalton.

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Brian Blessed's sandals for the role of Prince Vultan featured small heels and gold greaves that further emphasised the actor's already remarkable height.

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Ming's two chief lieutenants, Klytus and Kala, were rivals for their ruler's favour. Ming set them against each other to prevent them from forming a faction against him. This was downplayed in the film to keep the story flowing.

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The music that plays when Vultan's men begin their attack was later used in the Atari video game Vanguard.

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Ming's attack on Earth was carried out by bombarding the Moon with force beams and knocking it out of orbit. The meteors that prevent Flash's plane from flying were burning debris from the Moon.

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The 2020 UK cinema re-release was rated 12A and initially carried a warning that attitudes at the time the film was made were different. The 40th Anniversary Blu-ray release, issued two weeks later, was rated PG with no warning at all.

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Princess Aura's "pet" is named Fellini. Production designer Danilo Donati worked on many Federico Fellini films.

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Dennis Hopper was considered for the role of Dr. Zarkov.

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Buster Crabbe (the original 1936 Flash Gordon actor) admitted after watching the 1980 film Flash Gordon that he did not like it.

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Freddie Mercury was to appear in the film.

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Early in his career, Richard O'Brien mentions Flash Gordon in the opening song of the cult hit The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975).

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After the success of the Buck Rogers comic strip, King Properties Syndicate approached Edgar Rice Burroughs about publishing a comic strip based on the character John Carter, but no deal was reached. King instead worked with Alex Raymond, one of its staff artists, to create Flash Gordon. The first story, about an athletic hero, his girlfriend and a scientist travelling by rocket ship to a threatening approaching planet, was inspired by Philip Wylie's novel When Worlds Collide.

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After production wrapped, Max von Sydow made a cameo as King Osric in Conan the Barbarian (1982). Arnold Schwarzenegger, who played Conan in that film, was originally set to take the role of Flash Gordon but was rejected because of his accent.

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Frank Herbert contributed to the screenplay without being listed in the title rewrites.

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John Goodman, then still an unknown actor, originally auditioned for the role of Flash Gordon but was never considered by the studio.

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Nikki Kelly was offered a role in the film but chose to accept the job on Hi-de-Hi! (1980) instead, a decision that would mean longer-term work.

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This was Frances Ward's last film.

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It is one of Edgar Wright's favourite films.

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The opening ("Klytus, I'm bored.") was shot after principal photography had finished, by which time Max von Sydow had already gone home. Von Sydow recorded additional dialogue for the scene, but Ming was played by a stand-in.

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Leon Greene was voiced by David de Keyser.

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This was Jim Carter's first film.

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While signing copies of People magazine, the paperback he takes from his luggage is Michael Crichton's "The Great Train Robbery". Early in his career, director Mike Hodges had directed Terminal Man (1974), an adaptation of another Crichton novel.

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In the plane scene with Dale and Flash, when the moon meteors strike the cockpit, Ming's face can be seen in the sky.

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The aircraft used in the opening scenes is a deHavilland Dove DH.104 fixed-wing twin-engine plane (each engine a 400 hp inline six-cylinder).

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The planet Mongo is depicted in the film as a police state. Klytus and his secret police surveil courtiers and their movements and report everything to the Emperor, reinforcing the idea that Ming holds absolute control over his subjects. In a subplot, Princess Aura suggests to her father that Klytus has a secret agenda of his own and is feeding the Emperor false information. In real life, various secret police forces over the centuries have been suspected of acting as a state within a state, undermining the very regimes they supposedly served.

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George Harris's (Prince Thun) dialogue was dubbed for the film. The original dialogue track can be heard on the film's soundtrack album.

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Mike Hodges had previously cast John Osborne in Get Carter (1971).

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The merciless Ming and Prince Barin were the inspiration for Darth Vader and Han Solo respectively. Max von Sydow (Ming) and James Earl Jones (Vader) appeared together in Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977) and Conan the Barbarian (1982), and Timothy Dalton (Barin) and Harrison Ford (Solo) appeared together in 1923 (2022).

DEEPER MEANING · SOURCED

It is one of Mark Millar's favourite films.

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Early in the film, when Dale and Flash are on the plane (at about 6 minutes 6 seconds), Dale has a Mad Magazine in her lap. It is visible for only about 2 seconds.

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