"Pathetic Earthlings... Who Can Save You Now?"
File this under the "so bad it's good" category :o)
I remember watching Flash Gordon (the 1980 Mike Hodges film) as a 6 year-old kid and relishing every moment, thinking it was the best damn sci-fi flick I had ever seen, even though it was released 3 years after the initial Star Wars movie, and 12 years after the Kubrick masterpiece, 2001: A Space Odyssey, both significantly stronger entries into the sci-fi adventure genre. I hadn't seen either of those latter 2 films at the time. Neither had I seen The Seventh Seal, the late Ingmar Bergman's opus from 1957, which starred a much younger Max Von Sydow who, by the way, plays Ming The Merciless, evil ruler of the planet Mongo, in Flash Gordon, and who utters the line I used as the title for this entry! Going from surrealist, existential drama to laughable costume pulp probably wasn't expected.
Anyway, as a kid, I watched Flash Gordon so many times that I knew every single line of dialogue, and every piece of music from the Queen created soundtrack! I happened to catch the tail-end of it on television recently, which brought back memories. As I watched, I laughed a lot at just how cheesy, schlocky and just flat out BAD the film is/was. It certainly hasn't aged well.
BUT, 28 years later, I can say unabashedly that I still enjoyed the ride, and will probably see it again if it did air, so that I can laugh some more!
I'm suddenly interested in finding more films that would fit nicely under the "so bad it's good" banner. I think I'll make it a regular feature on this blog... and not only in reference to films.
Go Flash, go! HA!
I remember watching Flash Gordon (the 1980 Mike Hodges film) as a 6 year-old kid and relishing every moment, thinking it was the best damn sci-fi flick I had ever seen, even though it was released 3 years after the initial Star Wars movie, and 12 years after the Kubrick masterpiece, 2001: A Space Odyssey, both significantly stronger entries into the sci-fi adventure genre. I hadn't seen either of those latter 2 films at the time. Neither had I seen The Seventh Seal, the late Ingmar Bergman's opus from 1957, which starred a much younger Max Von Sydow who, by the way, plays Ming The Merciless, evil ruler of the planet Mongo, in Flash Gordon, and who utters the line I used as the title for this entry! Going from surrealist, existential drama to laughable costume pulp probably wasn't expected.
Anyway, as a kid, I watched Flash Gordon so many times that I knew every single line of dialogue, and every piece of music from the Queen created soundtrack! I happened to catch the tail-end of it on television recently, which brought back memories. As I watched, I laughed a lot at just how cheesy, schlocky and just flat out BAD the film is/was. It certainly hasn't aged well.
BUT, 28 years later, I can say unabashedly that I still enjoyed the ride, and will probably see it again if it did air, so that I can laugh some more!
I'm suddenly interested in finding more films that would fit nicely under the "so bad it's good" banner. I think I'll make it a regular feature on this blog... and not only in reference to films.
Go Flash, go! HA!
