Flash "Whore"don

As I've said before, I am a complete whore for anything Flash Gordon related. Honestly I don't know why I am so Flash Obsessed, but I am. I think it all started in 1980 when this film first came out. I distinctly recall sitting on the floor at the front of the 4-Star Theater (a total fire hazzard) to watch it with my friends.

I think I saw the film a total of 6 times in the theater. And then a million more when it came to HBO. I also taped it off HBO so I could watch it whenever. Its my favorite "I'm bored and want to watch a film, what should I watch?" movie. (My second favorite in this category is "Romancing the Stone").

Perhaps it is the blatant sexuality of the film. Or the mixture of comicbook camp and outlandish creativity. I don't know- but I love it all. Even some of the painfully bad acting by Flash and Dale (and Hans Zarkov). The foreign actors (Ming, Ora, Klitus, Kala, Prince Baron, and Vultan) are all really decent in the film (must be the shakespearian training...)

What brought this blog on is that I watched the movie again this past Sunday. Things I noticed about the movie are:

The special effects are fairly low-budget and could have been way better done.
The whole, moon-crashing-down-on-earth plot is full of holes
The sets are fairly HIGH budget and very intricate (very art deco and comicbook appropriate)
The costumes are outrageous and awesome.
Sam Jones was fucking HOT, even if he couldn't act.
Why wasn't Dale Arden hotter???
The use of leather and bondage gear is off the charts, and there sure are a LOT of leather-harnessed hawkmen extras running about the movie.
The "initiation" sequence in the Arbor temple was just one hair shy of a gay orgy, and probably gave me a chubby as an 11 year old.
The women all look as if Erte ate chinese and threw up on them- and its freakin' cool.
Max Von Sydow is the perfect Ming.
The battle sequences are actually pretty well done.
The Queen soundtrack somehow mixes cheezy and genius together.

This film will forever be in my top 10 films of all time. I highly recommend watching it again- but with friends around. Drink heavily, groan at all the bad lines and acting, but ooo and ahhh over the sets and costumes.

P.s. I got FLESH gordon for christmas. I will be having a party to watch both films some evening- much like screening party.