FLASH GORDON (1980)

• Director: Mike Hodges
• Cast: Sam Jones, Melody Anderson, Brian Blessed, Max Von Sydow
• Film: 111mins | UK & USA | Subtitles + Intermission
• Doors: 6pm | Intro + Film: 6:30pm – 9:30pm [18+]

Cult film night BAR TRASH returns to Beer Merchants Tap with a new season of films — CELLULOID JAM! — an unofficial celebration of 50 years of THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975).

“PATHETIC EARTHLINGS… WHO CAN SAVE YOU NOW?”

An American football player and his friends find themselves fighting the tyranny of Ming the Merciless to save the Earth.

For all its groundbreaking, gender non-conforming mayhem, ROCKY HORROR has always been regarded as “a lovely juvenile distraction” by its principal creator, Richard O’Brien. So what better way to celebrate the show’s deviant DNA than FLASH GORDON (1980), a gorgeously gaudy space opera that has all the glitz and emotional depth of a Christmas bauble?

Referenced in ROCKY HORROR’s lusciously lip-synched opening number — ‘Science Fiction/Double Feature’ — Flash Gordon first appeared in a massively popular comic strip written and drawn by Alex Raymond in 1934. The character then featured in 3 successful ‘serial films’ (1936-1940) shown in cinemas in 16-20 minute episodes (each with its own cliffhanger!) starring Buster Crabbe.

By the 1970s, mega-producer Dino De Laurentiis (MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE, KING KONG) owned the rights for a film version, hiring Nicolas Roeg (THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH) for extended pre-production, before jettisoning his vision and bringing new director Mike Hodges (MORONS FROM OUTER SPACE) and screenwriter Lorenzo Semple Jr. (BATMAN) onboard.

Much has been made of their film’s comic book campery, but it’s also deliriously committed to entertainment, chucking more at the screen than the studio could possibly afford, and crafting the only cinematic edifice capable of containing Brian Blessed. Best known today for its dazzling Queen soundtrack, slip into your silver underwear and get ready to save the universe, one more time!

Polite notice: We are showing FLASH GORDON with subtitles from the best available digital source.

// Part of BAR TRASH: CELLULOID JAM, a fan-powered celebration of THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW. Hosted by queer film fanatic Token Homo (creator of BAR TRASH and QUEER HORROR NIGHTS), all films screen with an introduction, intermission, and subtitles/captions (where possible!). Tickets £6. Adults 18+ only. Follow @tokenhomo on Instagram for news and updates. //