Synopsis
When mysterious natural disasters begin striking Earth, a New York Jets quarterback named Flash Gordon ends up on a small plane with travel agent Dale Arden. The plane crash-lands into the laboratory of eccentric scientist Dr. Hans Zarkov, who believes the disasters are being caused by an alien ruler. To prove his theory, Zarkov launches himself—and his unwilling passengers—into space aboard a rocket. They arrive on the planet Mongo, ruled by the ruthless emperor Ming the Merciless, who has been triggering catastrophes on Earth simply for his own amusement and power. Flash quickly becomes a thorn in Ming’s side, escaping execution and rallying the various kingdoms of Mongo—such as the Hawkmen and the forest rebels—against the emperor. As Ming tries to crush the rebellion and claim Dale for himself, Flash leads a daring uprising across the planet. With the help of new allies and a lot of swashbuckling heroics, Flash fights to unite Mongo’s factions, defeat Ming, and save Earth from destruction.
Actors & Crew
- Sam Jones (Samuel Gerald Jones) was born August 12, 1954. He is an American actor and former football player, known for playing the title character in Flash Gordon and for starring in the short-lived TV series The Highwayman from 1987-1988. Jones served in the United States Marine Corps after high school, where he played football. After his service, he moved to Seattle hoping to join the Seattle Seahawks, was turned down, and joined their practice squad, the Flyers, as a semi-professional. To supplement his income he began modeling, and in 1975 appeared as a nude centerfold under the alias “Andrew Cooper III” in Playgirl magazine. He later had guest roles on shows like Baywatch, Diagnosis Murder, Walker: Texas Ranger, and Stargate SG-1. Today he works as a high-end security professional in San Diego when he isn’t at ComicCon autograph booths. He was 25 years old when they filmed this movie. He plays Flash Gordon.
- Melody Anderson was born December 3, 1955. She is a former Canadian actress, social worker, and public speaker specializing in the impact of addiction on families. Her most high-profile role was playing Dale Arden in the 1980 adaptation of Flash Gordon. She later starred in the 1986 film Firewalker with Chuck Norris, and appeared on television shows including Welcome Back Kotter, Logan’s Run, Battlestar Galactica, Dallas, T.J. Hooker, CHiPs, The A-Team, Murder She Wrote, and All My Children. She was 24 years old when they filmed this movie. She plays Dale Arden.
- Ornella Muti (born Francesca Romana Rivelli) was born March 9, 1955, and is among the best-known Italian actresses. Muti modeled as a teenager and made her film debut at fourteen in the 1970 film La moglie più bella (The Most Beautiful Wife). She went on to star in two of the most successful comedies in Italian cinema history, The Taming of the Scoundrel and Madly in Love, along with numerous other Italian films. In 2008 she introduced her own jewelry line and opened several shops around the world. In May 2025 she joined the cast of Bertrand Mandico’s upcoming film Roma elastica. She was 25 years old when they filmed this movie. She plays Princess Aura.
- Max von Sydow (born Carl Adolf von Sydow, April 10, 1929 – died March 8, 2020) was a Swedish and French actor with a 70-year career spanning European and American cinema, television, and theatre, appearing in more than 150 films. He was nominated for two Academy Awards: Best Actor for Pelle the Conqueror (1987) and Best Supporting Actor for Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011). In 2015 he played the explorer Lor San Tekka in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and in 2016 he joined HBO’s Game of Thrones as the Three-Eyed Raven, earning his second Primetime Emmy nomination. He was 51 years old when they filmed this movie. He plays Ming the Merciless.
Budget & Shooting Locations
- Release Date: December 5, 1980
- Rated: PG
- Budget: reported as $20-$27 million. The film was promoted as having a $35 million budget, though Variety reported more reliable sources put it closer to $20 million, still a large outlay for the era.
- Box Office: $27.1 million (UK & US)
- Principal photography took place entirely in the United Kingdom, mainly at Shepperton and Elstree Studios, and at a repurposed aircraft hangar in Weybridge. The airfield scene at the beginning of the film, though set in the U.S., was shot at Broadford Airfield in Skye, Scotland.
- For the Hawkmen scene, a sixty-foot-high, 100-foot-wide blue screen was built, lit with clusters of quartz-halogen lights that required a million watts of power.
Rewatch verdict and Cringe Meter
Rotten Tomatoes: 83% Tomatometer (53 reviews) · 69% Popcornmeter (25,000+ ratings). IMDb: 6.5/10 (66K ratings). Metascore: 58, “Mixed or Average” (13 critic reviews). User Score: 6.7 (57 ratings).
Roger Ebert gave it 3 out of 4 stars: “Flash Gordon is played for laughs, and wisely so. It is no more sophisticated than the comic strip it’s based on, and that takes the curse off of material that was old before it was born. Is all of this ridiculous? Of course. Is it fun? Yeah, sort of, it is.”
The New Yorker’s Pauline Kael described it as having “some of the knowing, pleasurable giddiness of the fast-moving Bonds… The director, Mike Hodges, gets right into comic-strip sensibility and pacing.”
Todd McCarthy of Variety called it a “pretty but dumb sci-fi pic” that “lacks the wit and verve of Superman,” though he thought it would be a good holiday moneymaker and that audiences might find the badness of Jones’ performance part of the fun of the film.
