Flesh Gordon

Retro Science Fiction Spoof

1974

Graffiti Productions

Produced by Howard Ziehm & William Osco

Directed by Michael Benveniste & Howard Ziehm

Various releases including R4 from Gryphon DVD

Reviewed: Bob Estreich

This is a wonderful, campy takeoff of the original Flash Gordon (and is not, as we are frequently reminded, to be confused with it). Michael Benveniste’s screenplay was done with a lighthearted look at superheroes, with a low level sex content to add to the parody. There was a rumour that it was originally to be a porno film, but an uncut release showed that the film as released was a bit mild for porn.

The plot uses caricatures of the familiar characters from Flash Gordon. The evil Emperor Wang the Perverted is bathing Earth with a Sex Ray. People are fornicating in the streets wherever the Sex Ray hits, and the end of civilisation is, as usual, nigh. The only person who can save the Earth is Dr Flexi Jerkoff, who has invented a very strange-looking rocket ship while under the influence of the Sex Ray. He needs a crew, and Flesh and Dale Ardor, Flesh’s lightly-clad female traveling companion, are available. They go to the planet Porno where Flesh must destroy the Ray with the help of the locals. These are a suspicious-looking bunch headed by Prince Precious, Chief Nellie, and Queen Amora. Dale loses her clothing at any opportunity, Flesh is the subject of sexual advances from just about everybody, and a jolly good time is had by all. Flesh saves the day (and Dale) by destroying Wang’s monster, a wonderful stop-motion animated creature.

Unlike many films of this genre, sex scenes were not the driving force. The dialogue is genuinely funny, the plot is well developed, and the acting is hammed up to just the right level. There are many good one-liners, such as when the group step out of the spaceship onto the planet Porno. Jerkoff takes a deep breath and says “Good, there’s breathable air on this planet”. Wang’s evil nature is described as the result of an accident when he was a young botanist - his member was bitten off by a rabid Penis Flytrap.

Films in this era were shot on real film, not digital, and the quality of the DVD conversion shows this. The production values were high – this was a fully professional film, not some sleazy porno amateur knockoff. Jason Roberts (Flesh) was an experienced actor who was perfect for the naïve and handsomely blonde leading role. The part of Dale Ardor was wonderfully underplayed by Suzanne Fields, who had a huge range of B-grade movies behind her. William Dennis Hunt (Wang) went on to do more than thirty other B movies.

The film was re-released some years ago and is still available from dealers such as Amazon. If you are not offended by nudity, sexual puns, homosexual and lesbian overtones, crossdressing, leather, orgies, and monsters being penetrated in their anal regions, this film is a real standout for its time.

This review will appear in Volume 2 No.3 (2009) of the digital and print edition of Synergy Magazine.

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