[WalterBright]

FG laid an egg when it first came out. Over time, FG seems to have gained quite a following and is now a classic.

The usual criticism is it's too over the top, too campy. But they miss the point - it was supposed to be over the top and campy.

The dialog is still funny after 40+ years:

    Klytus: Bring me... the bore worms!
    Princess Aura: No! Not the bore worms!

The movie is just crammed with gems like that. It should have won an Oscar for best screenplay.

[vunderba]

I'm not sure I understand why you find those lines particularly comedic. Campy? Most definitely. They also don't really work out of context, so I sat down and watched the actual scene and well... they're still not a particularly funny line, and I don't think the scene is meant to be funny. Are you suggesting that they're intentionally hamming it up? Honestly, I can't even tell if this point.

Wikipedia seems to support this theory as well:

"Lorenzo Semple Jr. wrote the script. He later recalled:

Dino wanted to make Flash Gordon humorous. At the time, I thought that was a possible way to go, but, in hindsight, I realize it was a terrible mistake. We kept fiddling around with the script, trying to decide whether to be funny or realistic. That was a catastrophic thing to do, with so much money involved... I never thought the character of Flash in the script was particularly good. But there was no pressure to make it any better. Dino had a vision of a comic-strip character treated in a comic style. That was silly, because Flash Gordon was never intended to be funny. The entire film got way out of control."

It seems like the kind of show that would fit well in mystery science theater though. This is likely just one of those things that is more of a time capsule, or a period piece, it's likely very difficult for people who grew up watching this type of show to be able to objectively have an opinion about it without nostalgia creeping in.

Personally, I can't fathom thinking the 1980s Flash Gordon was a good movie while the 1980s Dune movie was not.

[WalterBright]

> Are you suggesting that they're intentionally hamming it up?

Oh, absolutely. They're making fun of the inherent silliness of the Flash Gordon serials.

Another gem is the priest at the wedding:

    "Do you promise not to blast her into space?"
    [Ming gives him a warning look]
    "Until such time as you may grow weary of her?"

[hinkley]

It was supposed to be an acting vehicle for a football player. It's so camp.

But it also has Max von Sydow in it, and Brian Blessed is every bit as over the top as he is in season 1 of Black Adder.

It occupies much the same genre as Big Trouble in Little China and the Evil Dead movies. If you're looking for something deep, you're in the wrong place.

[WalterBright]

> It was supposed to be an acting vehicle for a football player.

The complete ridiculousness is Flash plays it deadpan straight with all the emotion of two by four, while everyone else goes berserk.

It's a turnabout from such things as a Groucho Marx movie, where Groucho has all the funny lines and everyone else plays it straight.