''Flesh Gordon'' is a 1974 American

sex comedy Sex comedy, erotic comedy or more broadly sexual comedy is a genre in which comedy is motivated by sexual situations and love affairs. Although "sex comedy" is primarily a description of dramatic forms such as theatre and film, literary works such ...

feature film serving as a spoof of

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

first (of three) ''

Flash Gordon Flash Gordon is the protagonist of a space adventure comic strip created and originally drawn by Alex Raymond. First published January 7, 1934, the strip was inspired by, and created to compete with, the already established ''Buck Rogers'' adve ...

serial film A serial film, film serial (or just serial), movie serial, or chapter play, is a film, motion picture form popular during the first half of the 20th century, consisting of a series of short subjects exhibited in consecutive order at one theater ...

s from the 1930s. The film was produced by Walter R. Cichy,

Bill Osco Bill Osco (born William Osco in 1947) is an American film producer and director. Career Osco's first production job (in an uncredited capacity) was the 1970 film '' Mona'', one of the first adult films, after Andy Warhol's 1969 film '' Blue Mov ...

, and

Howard Ziehm Howard Ziehm (pronounced "zeem") (born April 7, 1940) is a retired American director, director of photography, producer and writer of adult movies. Ziehm is regarded as a pioneer in the porn industry. His 1970 film Mona: The Virgin Nymph was the f ...

. It was co-directed by Ziehm and Michael Benveniste, who also wrote the screenplay. The cast includes Jason Williams, Suzanne Fields, and

William Dennis Hunt William Dennis Hunt (March 1, 1944June 14, 2020) was an American actor. He was known for his role as Emperor Wang the Perverted in ''Flesh Gordon'' (1974) and ''Flesh Gordon Meets the Cosmic Cheerleaders'' (1990). He is also the only actor to app ...

. It was distributed by Mammoth Films. The storyline is reminiscent of the first Universal Pictures ''Flash Gordon'' serial ''

'' (1936), but written and directed with a purposely

campy Camp is an aesthetic style and sensibility that regards something as appealing because of its bad taste and ironic value. Camp aesthetics disrupt many of modernism's notions of what art is and what can be classified as high art by inverting ae ...

adult flavor. The planet Porno (in the serial: Mongo) and major characters are suggestive innuendos: the hero Flesh Gordon (Flash Gordon); his love interest Dale Ardor (Dale Arden); the evil Emperor Wang the Perverted (Ming the Merciless); scientist Dr. Flexi Jerkoff (Dr. Alexi Zarkov); seductive Amora, queen of Magic (Ming's daughter Aura); and effeminate Prince Precious (Prince Barin). The film features production values comparable to the original serial, but with

stop-motion animation Stop motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion or change when the series of frames i ...

of creatures, frequent use of gratuitous nudity, and brief sex scenes.

Plot

Distinguished Professor Gordon explains that Earth is being tormented by periodic "sex rays", which send people into a sexual frenzy. When one of the rays hits the Ford Trimotor passenger aircraft carrying Flesh Gordon and Dale Ardor, the pilots abandon the controls and everyone aboard has manic sex. Realizing no one is flying the plane, Flesh temporarily snap out of the effects of the ray and tries to pilot the vehicle, to no avail. Seeing no other solution, Flesh takes a parachute and escapes with Dale from the imminent crash. They land near the workshop of Dr. Flexi Jerkoff, who has a plan to stop the sex rays at their source. They travel to the planet Porno aboard Jerkoff's phallic rocket ship, and are briefly hit by a sex ray, resulting in a frantic three-way orgy. After being shot down by the minions of Emperor Wang, the heroes crash land. They run away from their persuers and enter a nearby cave, where several one-eyed Penisauruses attack them. Wang's soldiers then shoot down the creatures and imprison the earthlings. They are brought before Wang, who is presiding over a sex orgy of more than a dozen men and women. Jerkoff is sent to work in the palace's laboratory, while Wang announces his intention to marry Dale. Flesh is sentenced to death, but is saved from execution by Queen Amora, who takes him as her sex slave. To achieve this, Amora takes Flesh to her ship, which departs for the stars while she hipnotizes him and they make love. Angry at her rebellious attitude, Wang shoots down Amora's airship, and Flesh is the only survivor. Jerkoff escapes the palace and reunites with Flesh, and they resume their efforts to defeat Emperor Wang. To aid them in their quest, Amora's spirit lends them her "power pasties", which turn out to be powerful weapons against Porno's soldiers. The heroes manage to interrupt Wang and Dale's wedding before it is fully realized, and a fight ensues. During it, Dale is kidnapped by Amazonian lesbians. Their leader, Chief Nellie, attempts to initiate Dale into their warrior sex cult. Flesh and Jerkoff save her, unexpectedly aided by Prince Precious of the Forest Kingdom. With help from their new ally, Jerkoff builds a weapon to destroy the sex ray. During the mission, they confront Wang and trick his "rapist robots" into turning on him. However, Wang escapes, seeking the aid of the towering idol of the Great God Porno. Porno comes to life and captures Dale, blandly commenting all the time as they flee. Shooting the living idol, Jerkoff frees Dale and causes the god to fall on Wang. The crash destroys the sex ray and kills them both. Flesh, Dale, and Jerkoff are celebrated as heroes of the planet Porno and then return to the Earth.

Cast

* Jason Williams as Flesh Gordon * Suzanne Fields as Dale Ardor * Joseph Hudgins as Dr. Flexi Jerkoff *

as Emperor Wang the Perverted *

John Hoyt John Hoyt (born John McArthur Hoysradt; October 5, 1905 – September 15, 1991) was an American actor. He began his acting career on Broadway, later appearing in numerous films and television series. He is perhaps best known for his film and TV ...

as Professor Gordon * Candy Samples as Chief Nellie * Mycle Brandy as Prince Precious * Nora Wieternik as Amora, Queen of Magic * Lance Larsen as Guard for Emperor Wang * Robert V. Greene (voice) as Narrator *

Craig T. Nelson Craig Theodore Nelson (born April 4, 1944) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Hayden Fox in the sitcom ''Coach'' (for which he won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series), Deputy Ward Wilson in the 19 ...

(uncredited voice) as The Great God Porno

Production

''Flesh Gordon'' was shot in 1971, and according to producer Bill Osco, cost $470,000 to make. Osco intended to hold out for a major distributor to pay a $1 million advance to secure the American release rights. The film initially was assigned a

MPAA The Motion Picture Association (MPA) is an American trade association representing the five major film studios of the United States, as well as the video streaming service Netflix. Founded in 1922 as the Motion Picture Producers and Distribu ...

rating of X, but was then re-edited, receiving a reclassified rating of R. The original running time was 78 minutes, but the later, unrated "collector's edition" video release runs 90 minutes. ''Flesh Gordon'' employed special effects artists who later gained Hollywood fame, including Mike Minor,

Greg Jein Greg Jein (born October 31, 1945 in Los Angeles, USA; died May 22, 2022) was a Chinese American model designer who created miniatures for use in the special effects portions of many films and television series, beginning in the 1970s. Jein was ...

, and

Rick Baker Richard A. Baker (born December 8, 1950), known professionally as Rick Baker, is an American retired special make-up effects creator and actor. He is mostly known for his creature designs and effects. Baker won the Academy Award for Best Makeu ...

. Established effects artists

Jim Danforth James Danforth (born July 13, 1940) is an American stop-motion animator, known for model-animation, matte painting, and for his work on ''When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth'' (1970), a theme-sequel to Ray Harryhausen's ''One Million Years B.C.'' (1 ...

(listed backward in the credits as Mij Htrofnad) and Dave Allen also worked on the film. The low-budget special effects were achieved using old-fashioned techniques: For example, the model of Wang's palace was created using everyday objects, such as drinking glasses, and was designed to resemble

Griffith Observatory Griffith Observatory is an observatory in Los Angeles, California on the south-facing slope of Mount Hollywood in Griffith Park. It commands a view of the Los Angeles Basin including Downtown Los Angeles to the southeast, Hollywood to the sout ...

so actual footage shot at the base of the observatory could be easily integrated into the scenes. Los Angeles-area ''

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...

'' fan and writer

Bjo Trimble Betty JoAnne Trimble (née Conway; born August 15, 1933), known as Bjo (, ), is an American science fiction fan and writer, initially entering fandom in the early 1950s. Introduction to fandom Trimble's introduction to science fiction fandom ...

was a makeup artist on ''Flesh Gordon''; she described these experiences in her book '' On the Good Ship Enterprise: My 15 Years with Star Trek''. Other Los Angeles-area science fiction fans worked, at times, in various capacities on the film, including science fiction and fantasy artist George Barr who designed and illustrated the theatrical release poster, and Cornelius Cole III, who animated the opening title credits sequence. Longtime fan and science fiction and fantasy writer

Tom Reamy Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in '' Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a characte ...

served in the art department as the production's

property master The property master, often called the prop(s) master, is an artistic and organizational employee in a film, television or theatrical production who is responsible for purchasing, acquiring, manufacturing, properly placing, and/or overseeing any p ...

. He tracked down many of the screen-used props, including authentic, full-sized Ford Trimotor wicker passenger seats (matching the film's Tri-Motor aircraft miniature) used in an early scene. The towering creature was not originally intended to speak, but it proved so expressive that dialogue was dubbed over to match its mouth movements. Addressed as the Great God Porno in this dialogue, the special effects crew named him Nesuahyrrah, a tribute to

master

Ray Harryhausen Raymond Frederick Harryhausen (June 29, 1920 – May 7, 2013) was an American-British animator and special effects creator who created a form of stop motion model animation known as "Dynamation". His works include the animation for '' Might ...

, spelling his name backwards. According to Ziehm's DVD audio commentary, the film was shot using scenes of straight and gay hardcore pornography. These were cut after Ziehm found himself in legal trouble: Producing pornography in Los Angeles was legally viewed as pandering at that time. The X-rated footage was surrendered to L.A. vice police. Although some explicit shots can be briefly seen during Wang's throne room orgy scenes, the "collector's edition" video, labelled "the original, uncensored version", is no more explicit than any of the earlier video releases. Also according to Ziehm's DVD audio commentary,

Universal Studios Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

was planning to sue Graffiti Productions over the first part of ''Flesh Gordon'' being too similar to the first chapter of Universal's 1936 ''

'' serial film that it bordered on plagiarism. To avoid a lawsuit, Ziehm added an opening text scroll that stated that ''Flesh Gordon'' was a burlesque style parody of the Depression Era superheroes of America's past; he also added "Not to be confused with the original Flash Gordon" to all advertising materials.

Critical reception

Vivian Sobchack Vivian Carol Sobchack is an American cinema and media theorist and cultural critic. Sobchack's work on science fiction films and phenomenology of film is perhaps her most recognized. She is a prolific writer and has authored numerous books and a ...

commented that ''Flesh Gordon'' is "a skin flick hilariously molded around the Flash Gordon serials, and fully and lovingly aware of genre conventions from special effects to dialogue." Vincent Canby of ''The New York Times'' wrote: "What wit the film posseses had gone into the physical production ..The acting is broad, which may be as it should be, although it quickly becomes monotonous unless you have a high tolorence for contemporary camp." ''Variety'' was more pointed in its review: "Purile is the word for this softcore spoof of the sci-fi serials of the 1930s. By attempting to combine sexplicity and low-level camp, pic emerges as an expensive-looking mish-mash of obvious double-entendres, idiotic characterizations and dull situations." The film was nominated for the 1975 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation (the only indie production nominated that year), but lost to

Mel Brooks Mel Brooks (born Melvin James Kaminsky; June 28, 1926) is an American actor, comedian and filmmaker. With a career spanning over seven decades, he is known as a writer and director of a variety of successful broad farces and parodies. He began ...

' ''

Young Frankenstein ''Young Frankenstein'' is a 1974 American comedy horror film directed by Mel Brooks. The screenplay was co-written by Brooks and Gene Wilder. Wilder also starred in the lead role as the title character, a descendant of the infamous Dr. Victor F ...

''. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

the film has a rating of 67% based on reviews from 6 critics.

Legacy

The sequel ''

Flesh Gordon Meets the Cosmic Cheerleaders ''Flesh Gordon Meets the Cosmic Cheerleaders'' (aka ''Flesh Gordon 2: Flesh Gordon Meets the Cosmic Cheerleaders'') is a 1990 sex comedy film, and the sequel to the sex comedy ''Flesh Gordon''. Like the original, it spoofs the ''Flash Gordon'' ...

'' was released in 1990. A four-issue comic book, written by Daniel Wilson and published by Aircel Comics, was published in 1992.''Flesh Gordon Special Edition #1-4'' (1992) Famous Flesh Gordon's was a strip club operating in London, Ontario. The club was closed in 2015 after the provincial government revoked its liquor license due to the owner's connection with the

Hells Angels The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (HAMC) is a worldwide outlaw motorcycle club whose members typically ride Harley-Davidson motorcycles. In the United States and Canada, the Hells Angels are incorporated as the Hells Angels Motorcycle Corporati ...

References

External links

* *
''Flesh Gordon'' on ''The Encyclopedia of Fantastic Film and Television'' (EOFFTV)

Bizarro Masterpiece Theatre review
(

The Second Supper The Second Supper was a web site and newspaper published in La Crosse, Wisconsin. The newspaper was published weekly from its headquarters in Downtown La Crosse. Originally created as a satirical newspaper, The Second Supper has since 2007 become ...

) {{Flash Gordon Flash Gordon 1974 films 1970s adventure comedy films 1970s science fiction comedy films American pornographic films American adventure comedy films American science fiction comedy films American space adventure films American independent films American parody films American satirical films American sex comedy films American sexploitation films 1970s English-language films Erotic fantasy films Films set on fictional planets Films using stop-motion animation 1970s parody films 1970s pornographic films 1970s sex comedy films 1974 comedy films 1970s American films Pornographic parody films