| Flesh Gordon |
Theatrical release poster. |
| Directed by |
Michael Benveniste
Howard Ziehm |
| Produced by |
Walter R. Cichy
Bill Osco
Howard Ziehm |
| Written by |
Michael Benveniste |
| Starring |
Jason Williams
Suzanne Fields
Joseph Hudgins
William Dennis Hunt
Candy Samples
Mycle Brandy
John Hoyt
Craig T. Nelson |
| Music by |
Ralph Ferraro |
| Cinematography |
Howard Ziehm |
| Editing by |
Abbas Amin |
| Distributed by |
Mammoth Films
Allied Entertainment Group |
| Release date(s) |
July 30, 1974 |
| Running time |
78 min. (original)
72 min. (cut)
90 min. (collector's edition) |
| Country |
 |
| Language |
English |
| Budget |
$700,000 |
| Gross revenue |
$906,000 |
| Followed by |
Flesh Gordon Meets the Cosmic Cheerleaders (1989) |
Flesh Gordon is a 1974 science fiction and comedy adventure film. It is an erotic spoof of the Flash Gordon serial films from the 1930s.[1] The screenplay was written by Michael Benveniste, who also co-directed the film with Howard Ziehm. The cast includes Jason Williams, Suzanne Fields, and William Dennis Hunt.
The film had an MPAA rating of X, but was also re-edited for a reduced rating of R. It has a run time of 78 minutes, and the collector's edition released later runs for 90 minutes. The picture was filmed in color, the sound is mono, and the dialogue is in English.
Plot
The storyline is familiar to anyone who has seen the original Flash Gordon films, but with a generally campy sexual flavor to it. The character names are weak sexual innuendos, with the hero Flesh Gordon (Williams), his lust interest Dale Ardor (Fields), the evil Emperor Wang the Perverted (Hunt), and names such as Dr. Flexi Jerkoff and Amora, Queen of Magic.
The plot has the Emperor Wang aiming a "Sex Ray" at the Earth from his home world of Porno. The entire planet becomes hopelessly sexually obsessed, and it is up to Gordon to stop the rays. The film uses nudity whenever possible, and the scenes are shot in a style nearly identical to the original Flash Gordon serials. As an example of the dialogue, the rocket ship has just landed on the planet Porno. A long necked, sauropod dinosaur with a glans-like head is seen out the window in the landscape. Flesh asks Dr."J", "What's that"? "Must be some kind of penisaurus", Dr. "J" replies matter-of-factly.
A towering, demonic-looking creature, the Great God Porno (voiced by Craig T. Nelson), brought out of hibernation by Emperor Wang steals the show with his brief appearance, muttering all manner of obscenities in a very un-monster-like velvety voice. Example: Flipping the bird at the title character and grumbling, "Up yours, Gordon!" The monster's fate is a major plot point.
Cast
- Jason Williams as Flesh Gordon
- Suzanne Fields as Dale Ardor
- Joseph Hudgins as Dr. Flexi Jerkoff
- William Dennis Hunt as Emperor Wang the Perverted
- Candy Samples as Chief Nellie
- Mycle Brandy as Princess Amoura
- John Hoyt as Prof. Gordon
- Craig T. Nelson as Great God Porno (voice; uncredited)
- Lance Larsen
- Robert V. Greene as Narrator (voice)
Production
The film employed a number of young special effects artists who would go on to greater fame, among them Mike Minor, Greg Jein, John Dykstra, and Rick Baker. Established effects artists such as Jim Danforth (credited as Mij Htrofnad) and Dave Allen also participated.
The film's low-budget effects were achieved through the clever use of some very old-fashioned techniques. For instance, the model of Wang's palace was created using everyday objects like drinking glasses, and was designed to resemble Griffith Observatory so that footage of actors shot at the base of the observatory could be blended in with the model.
Well known Star Trek fan and author Bjo Trimble was a makeup artist on Flesh Gordon, and wrote about her experiences working on the film in her book On The Good Ship Enterprise: My 15 Years With Star Trek.
The film's climactic monster was not originally designed with a voice, but proved so expressive during animation that one was dubbed in later, with dialogue devised to match his pre-existing mouth movements. Despite being addressed as the Great God Porno in dialogue, the effects crew named him "Nesuahyrrah," in tribute to stop-motion master Ray Harryhausen; it is his last name spelled backwards.[2]
According to the DVD's audio commentary by Ziehm, the film was originally done with scenes of straight and gay hardcore pornography. These were cut out after Ziehm found himself in legal trouble (Producing pornography was still viewed by law enforcement as pandering at that time). The footage was surrendered to Los Angeles vice cops and presumably lost. However, the aforementioned "collector's edition" video release was labelled "the original, uncensored version" yet was scarcely more explicit than any prior release.
Reviews
Vivian Sobchack commented that this film is "a skin flick hilariously molded around the Flash Gordon serials, and fully and lovingly aware of genre conventions from special effects to dialogue".[1]
Sequels
A sequel, Flesh Gordon Meets the Cosmic Cheerleaders, eventually followed in 1989, and a four-issue comic book miniseries by Aircel Comics was published in 1992[3].
In other languages
In 2009, to the dismay of the Ulster Unionist Party, Flesh Gordon was screened in Ireland and accompanied by a live translation in Ulster Scots from three local comedians (Bloglingua 2009).
References
- ^ a b Sobchack, Vivian Carol (1997). Screening space: the American science fiction film (2nd ed.). Rutgers University Press. p. 165. ISBN 081352492X.
- ^ Pettigrew, Neil, The Stop Motion Filmography, MacFarland and Company, Inc., 1999, p.251; Pettigrew contradicts himself by noting the creature's actual name then, in his very next sentence, attributing the crew's giving it one of their own to a lack of a name in the film.
- ^ Flesh Gordon Special Edition #1-4 (1992)
External links
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