Flesh Gordon

This is a wonderful parody of the original serial version from the mid 1930s. The quality of acting, writing, directing, budget, costuming, and effects is dead on, almost a one-for-one match. Lots of great dialog, very quotable ("Good, there's Oxygen on this planet.").

There are two versions of this film floating around, the unrated version and a cut "R" version. The unrated version is the one to see! Most films can have "X" material edited out of them with no consequence, but not here. Whole sections of the plot (as thin as it is) are missing without the deleted footage.

This film features early work from Greg Jein, David Allen, Rick Baker, and Jim Danforth (who is listed with his name spelled backwards "Mij Htrofnad"). All went on to greater things in their careers.

Avoid the sequal from 1989, it tried too hard and fell flat on all fronts.

Flesh Gordon (aka Flash Gordon) returns in a sex comedy.

I have never reviewed a porno flick so I feel a bit out of my element here. The title of the movie suggests that we are in for male nudity but the camera is more interested in zooming in on the naked female body, in other words - this film is made for guys!

The special effects range from terrible to outstanding.

The jokes are mostly funny.

Science fiction and comedy are two genres that don't always work when put together, however sometimes we get gems like Star Trek 4: The Voyage Home (1986). But generally speaking, the two themes just don't mix (see TV's Lost In Space season 2).

This puts Flesh Gordon in a unique position as it has some very funny moments and its King Kong-spoof would have to rank as one of the most amusing things seen on the screen since Adam West Batman (1966).

Granted, the bigger budget 1980 movie had better sets but if you want an all round fun flick - Flesh Gordon is the show for you!

This unique film breaks the barriers on porn by bringing us semi-high-tech special effects (okay...they were bad), dialogue (that was bad also), interesting costumes, and (oh my gosh!) a plot!...(okay it was bad also). The main plot is a mysterious sexbeam is striking the earth, from the distant Planet Porno. Flesh, Dale(his helpless girl sidekick), and Dr. Flexi Jerkoff join forces to over-throw the evil plot made by the Evil Emperor Wang. They encounter "peni-sourauses", a ferocious lesbian tribe, and an all-out orgy in the lairs of Wang. I would also like to commend this movie on its "liberalism", due to the fact that the original owners of Planet Porno are all gay, and the writers aviod the temptation of gay bashing...there was even a very brief scene with Flesh and one of the "merry men of the forest." So, as an overview, I would say that this is a MUST SEE for anyone who loves campy and cult classics, or anyone who still believes that porn can be more than just sex-If you do not fall one of these two catogories...stay away from it! Through all of this, the movie stands as a real gem in the vast universe of cult and pornographic movies.

The filmmakers of Flesh Gordon spent so much effort lovingly recreating the look and feel of the original Flash Gordon serials of the 1930s that they actually created a soft porn movie with real (if very modest) cinematic worth. In fact, it's in some ways superior to the original Gordon flicks - particularly its special effects - with an extensive and surprisingly good use of stop-action animation.

Fortunately, sub-par acting is common in both porn and the old serials and this adds to the authentic feel of this parody. But there is also some genuine acting going on too. The best actors in the movie deliberately over-play their roles to wonderful effect. Emperor Wang and Dr. Flexi Jerkoff brilliantly recreate the essence of Emperor Ming and Dr. Zarkov. Craig T. Nelson gives the voice of the monster a kind of laid back (yet lewd) sophistication. It's a voice that reminds me of Bing Crosby, which makes the scene just plain weird.

What makes this film work is that instead following the usual porn formula of using the plot as a mere device to show sex, Flesh Gordon uses sex as the fundamental source its humor, enthusiastically blending the rather banal soft-core porn of the seventies with the hackneyed storylines of the thirties. The sex takes the hackney out of the story, and the story takes the banality out of the sex scenes.

Is this movie a masterpiece? Clearly... OBVIOUSLY... not. But it is distinctive and original. Flesh Gordon is an unusual case where the quite good and the very bad somehow manage to complement each other and average out to make a very entertaining movie.

If this is supposed to be a "porn" movie it is the funniest one I have ever seen. Reminds me of the old Keystone cop and Sinbad The Pirate movies. Love the character Emperor Wang, such a dildo. Have seen the original Flash Gordon and all the cartoons and this sorta kinda resembles them. This movie is hilarious, great fun!!!