Flash Gordon

Director: Mike Hodges

1980 / 111min / 35mm

Long before the superhero movie boom there was Flash Gordon, based on the long-running King Features comic strip of the same name, in which football star Gregory “Flash” Gordon (Sam J. Jones) travels to the planet Mongo to do battle with Emperor Ming the Merciless (Max von Sydow), with the fate of planet Earth hanging in the balance. Made in a deliberately artificial, high camp style recalling De Laurentiis’s previous comic-to-film adaptations, Danger: Diabolik and Barbarella, and featuring a regally florid rock soundtrack courtesy Queen, it’s a gonzo space opera romp untouched by even a note of self-seriousness.