Flash Gordon Movie Review

A campy, updated version of the classic adventures of the blonde, spacefaring hero. The bones of the story are the same: Flash and his gal-pal Dale Arden are forced by nutty Dr. Zarkov to accompany him on a mission to far-off planet Mongo. It seems Mongo's head bad-guy, one Ming the Merciless, is threatening to destroy the Earth, and they Must Stop Him. Sam Jones makes a pretty unconvincing Flash, but if you can overlook his leaden performance, this flick is fast moving, cheerfully sleazy, and a lot of fun. Max von Sydow does a fine job of rehashing Charles Middleton's classic performance as Ming and Brian Blessed is great as Vultan, the blowhard king of the hawkmen. Queen did the soundtrack.

1980 (PG) 111m/C Sam Jones, Melody Anderson, Chaim Topol, Max von Sydow, Ornella Muti, Timothy Dalton, Brian Blessed; D: Mike Hodges; W: Lorenzo Semple Jr.; M: Howard Blake. VHS, Beta, LV MCA