Flash Gordon is a 1980 space opera[6] superhero film[7][8] directed by Mike Hodges, based on the King Features comic strip of the same name created by Alex Raymond.

The film follows star football quarterback Flash Gordon (Jones) and his allies Dale Arden (Anderson) and Hans Zarkov (Topol) as they unite the warring factions of the planet Mongo against the oppression of Ming the Merciless (von Sydow), who is intent on destroying Earth.

Producer Dino De Laurentiis, who had previously overseen two other comic book adaptations, Danger: Diabolik and Barbarella (both 1968), had held an interest in making a Flash Gordon film since the 1960s.

[9] After a directorial offer from George Lucas was declined (resulting in the creation of Star Wars) and a version that was to be directed by Federico Fellini did not enter production, De Laurentiis hired director Nicolas Roeg and Enter the Dragon writer Michael Allin to lead development on the film in 1977, but replaced them with Hodges and Lorenzo Semple Jr., who had scripted De Laurentiis' remake of King Kong, due to his dissatisfaction with Roeg's vision for the film.

Flash Gordon was primarily filmed in Britain, including on several soundstages at Elstree and Shepperton Studios, and uses a camp style similar to the 1960s TV series Batman (which Semple developed).

[10] Due to a dispute with De Laurentiis, Jones left the film prior to the end of principal photography, resulting in much of his dialogue being dubbed by actor Peter Marinker;[11] the circumstances of Jones' departure from the project and his career in the aftermath of its release serve as the key subjects of the documentary Life After Flash.

[12] The film is notable for its musical score by the rock band Queen, featuring orchestral sections by Howard Blake.

[13] To relieve his boredom, Emperor Ming the Merciless of the planet Mongo begins Earth's destruction by remotely causing natural disasters.

On Earth, football star Gregory "Flash" Gordon boards a small plane and meets travel agent Dale Arden.

Flash takes control and manages to crash land into a greenhouse owned by former NASA scientist, Dr. Hans Zarkov.

A distrustful Barin, in love with Aura, agrees not to kill Flash, but then forces him to play a deadly game of chance.

Flash and the hawkmen attack Mingo City in Ajax and Kala activates the defences as Ming's and Dale's wedding begins.

[18] Canadian model Dayle Haddon was originally cast as Dale Arden, but De Laurentiis replaced her with Melody Anderson after she showed up to set looking "emaciated".

[18] Principal photography took place entirely in the United Kingdom, mainly at Shepperton and Elstree Studios, and at a repurposed aircraft hangar in Weybridge.

Flash Gordon was one of the earliest high-budget feature films to use a score primarily composed and performed by a rock band (an earlier example is The Who's Tommy, 1975).

This is space opera, a genre invented by Edgar Rice Burroughs and Hugo Gernsback and other men of unlimited imagination harnessed to definitely limited skills.

[6] In contrast, Leslie Halliwell wrote in 1981 that the film was "another addition to the increasing numbers of such things being restaged at enormous expense fifty years after their prime".

[38] Godfrey Fitzsimmons of The Irish Times said "Flash Gordon is a hodge-podge...the humour is not very funny and much of the "serious" element is hilarious, which makes for an unsatisfying film".

[39] Von Sydow (Ming) received a good deal of praise for his performance, but Jones (Gordon) was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actor.

Before the film's run in theaters, a sequel was considered and according to Brian Blessed on the Region 2 DVD commentary for Flash Gordon – Silver Anniversary Edition, the sequel was going to be set on Mars, as a possible update of the very successful Universal Pictures Flash Gordon serials starring Buster Crabbe.

[42] Peter Nicholls in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction gave a negative verdict on Flash Gordon: "Apart from the fetishistic costumes...there is little of interest in this tongue-in-cheek, lurid fantasy, which tries to make a comic-strip virtue of wooden acting".

[47] Horror punk musician Wednesday 13 based the song "Hail Ming" on his album The Dixie Dead (2013) on the film.

Blessed's performance as Prince Vultan lodged the veteran stage and screen actor into the United Kingdom's collective consciousness for the utterance of a single line – "Gordon's alive?!"

[54] Life After Flash not only celebrates the 1980 classic featuring interviews with cast, crew and fans including Melody Anderson, Brian Blessed, Peter Wyngarde, Mark Millar, Robert Rodriguez, Stan Lee and Brian May, but also explores the aftermath of when star Sam J. Jones went up against one of the most powerful producers in Hollywood: Dino De Laurentiis.

[12] A comic book adaptation, written by Bruce Jones and illustrated by classic Flash Gordon artist Al Williamson (himself not a fan of the film due to its overall campy nature, numerous script changes and resulting alterations to his artwork[55]), was released by Western Publishing to coincide with the film's release.

It was serialised in three issues of the Flash Gordon comic book (#31–33) and released in a single large format softcover and hardcover editions.

[56] To coincide with and promote the film, Bally Manufacturing produced and released a Flash Gordon pinball machine in early 1981.

In November 2007, Sam J. Jones and Melody Anderson together created a new commentary track for the StudioCanal DVD edition of the film.

[61] In 2012, Universal released Flash Gordon in a four-feature DVD set along with Battlestar Galactica: Saga of a Star World, The Last Starfighter and Dune.

[65] 20th Century Fox hired JD Payne and Patrick McKay as screenwriters, while Matthew Vaughn was in talks to direct.