Nice effects though.

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Though I loathe this saying, as it's often largely unfounded and nostalgic, Flesh Gordon is precisely the kind of film that could never be made today, particularly with the conviction and the straight-faced persona that it was made with in 1974. Flesh Gordon is a softcore parody of action serials that populated radios and Televisions in the 1950's, particularly Flash Gordon and complete with all the genre's tropes: silly dialog, cliffhangers, cheesy costumes, ridiculous narration, asinine circumstances, and outlandish characters. Throw in gratuitous nudity, an occasional sex-scene, and some utterly banal dialog, and you have one of the strangest parodies of the 1970's and one of porn's most curious oddities.My level of prose will hereby be temporarily lessened as I try to thoughtfully articulate the plot of said film. It all begins with a Professor Gordon (John Hoyt), who discovers that the Earth is being manipulated by "sex rays," which turn people into horndogs. When one of these sex rays winds up striking a plane, carrying Flesh Gordon (Jason Williams) and Dale Ardor (Suzanne Fields), the plane turns into a massive orgy, with Flesh and Dale barely escaping the imminent crash. The two land near the workstation of Dr. Flexi Jerkoff (Joseph Hudgins), who is working to try and defeat the sex rays, which are powered by the evil Emperor Wang the Perverted (William Dennis Hunt) and his army of "Penisauruses." Flesh, Dale, and Dr. Jerkoff and his "assholiness" must find a way to stop Emperor Wang while combatting the forces of the manipulating sex rays.This is precisely the kind of film where intense critical analysis and discussion fails it. The more you think about Flesh Gordon and its preposterous title, plot, and existence, the less infatuated with the idea you'll become. It just about defies every cinematic convention and notion you've come to expect, not expect, and not even dream up just by its existence. It's the very definition of an oddity, and the fact that it belongs to one of the most controversial and divisive periods in American cinema's history only makes it that much more of a treasure.The strange part is that Flesh Gordon, however, doesn't always wind up being funny or erotic, rendering its purpose questionable. The sex scenes are sometimes drearily tame (rumors of footage being seized are scattered all over the internet, making me question whether or not this film was supposed to be racier or not) and the humor is sometimes absent for long stretches of the film. The inconsistencies bog down the film from being some true work of parody genius largely because it can hold its identity for too long without changing course.Nonetheless, this is a film that, again, defies a lot of conventional critical analysis, like most parody films. It's a film that works as little else than a fun deviation from the expected, and if you're a fan of Flash Gordon, and still not crippled by the desire for righteousness and moralism in what you watch, Flesh Gordon is a pleasant stroll through the kind of film that couldn't be made anymore without incessant giggling under the breathes of screenwriter's.Starring: Jason Williams, Suzanne Fields, Joseph Hudgins, William Dennis Hunt, Candy Samples, Mycle Brandy, and John Hoyt. Directed by: Michael Benveniste and Howard Ziehm.

Howard ziehm himself is a great comic fan and so he set up a parody of Flash Gordon in the style of the 30s/40s Tijuana bibles which were essentially porn spoofs of popular comic strips. As a parody the film is actually quite funny with genre parody with lots of elements from the original comic strip but also plain slapstick and silliness. Nevertheless -as Ziehm himself states in the audio commentary- the film is actually about 20-30 minutes too long. Hardcore it is not and Ziehm himself was adamant about the film not being shown in porn cinemas but rather in the art-house circuit. From an F/X point of view the film is actually reasonably well made for its age (released in 74 but shot in 71), particukarly the monster sequences. Flash Gordon is a very suitable object for that sort of treatment as the comic strip always had a massive undercurrent of S/M in it.

Everything from ROBINHOOD to KING KONG gets a whack from this early 1970s parody of the 1930s FLASH GORDON serial, which has a story line in keeping with the sexual revolution of the times. A mysterious "sex" ray that turns otherwise normal people into sex maniacs is plaguing the earth--and is eventually traced to the planet Porno, ruled by evil Emperor Wang. And so our hero Flesh, his lady love Dale Ardor, and their scientific genius Dr. Jerkoff set out for planet Porno to defeat Wang... only to find themselves victims of his REALLY kinky ways!As film-making goes, the quality of this parody is often quite poor, the material itself is extremely uneven, and the performers merely so-so--but what the filmmakers lack in experience they more than make up for in imagination. Witness the attack of the dreaded Penisaurus! Behold Prince Precious' Reward! Beware the initiation of the underground lesbians! With everything from stop-motion animation monsters to some truly Freudian art design, cult-film fans and most others will probably find lots to enjoy.There are two versions of the film, one "uncut." In truth there is little difference between the two. Although I would not describe either as pornography there is a great deal of nudity there are one or two couples well gone into X territory in various crowd scenes--whatever the case, it's not the sort of thing you want to throw in the DVD player for your fifteen year old's birthday party; it's better left to the grown-ups, especially those who recall the period in which it was made.Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer

An amusing parody of the legend and mythos the character of Flash Gordon with erotic modifications throughout the film, from phallic crafts, nomenclatures, to blatantly phallic weapons. I recall hearing about this movie once upon a time as I saw it advertised on a billboard and wanted to see it then, and did not let a little thing like 'cronology' stop Me; but it was not until now when a VHS tape was recently excavated during the Lair relocation that I became reminded of its existence, and decided I had to watch and review it.A mysterious "Sex Ray" bombards earth, causing those subjected to be overtaken in orgiastic impulse, until it finally makes contact with an airplane carrying one "Flesh Gordon" {Jason Williams} and "Dale Ardor" {Suzanne Fields} who are also momentarily overwhelmed by its libidonous effects, until the plane is doomed to collision due to the preoccupation of all of the passengers inclusive of the pilot and crew; so he takes Dale in his arms and proceeds to parachute out into the cold night. As they descend, Dale, in a really bad platinum blonde wig, decides to perform fellatio on Flesh until culmination.When they finally land in an expanse of woodland, they are met by a "Dr. Jackoff", a scientist who has constructed a spacecraft, who proceeds to array Flesh and Dale with lurid conspiracy theories {ironically, he would have done well to guest on C2C!}. Eventually, he explains that he has traced the origin of the sex ray to a far off planet with the predictable name of "Porno", which is ruled by an "Emperor Wang" who wears far too much makeup - a planet dedicated to sensual indulgence {rather like The Rocky Horror Picture Show's "Transexual Transylvania"} which is made clearly evident by the majority of the main chamber floor occupied by nude nymphomaniacal lovers constantly undulating in Satantric bliss under the sovereign gaze of Wang, who eventually takes a liking to earth woman Dale Ardor, and plans to 'marry' her to the chagrin of Flesh Gordon, who causes a minor disruption therein, and is therefore at first condemned to immediate execution, but at the behest of The Princess who also happens to be a Sorceress, convinces Wang to "trial by ordeal", which involves a battle with feral cat women. Her desire is rewarded with a dream-like sexual sequence with the so-called "blonde giant" Gordon. They are eventually interrupted and attacked by Wang's forces, and escape to Arboria where they meet with a "Prince Precious", a gay Robin Hood-type with anthropic pretensions {the character actually reminds one of a hippie-Jesus in appearance, ideology, and mannerisms}, and teams up with Gordon and Jackoff to supplement their own rebel group. The only weapon which can counter the sex ray is the Sorceress' {who parishes in the confrontation} nipple pasties which Dr. Jackoff so gallantly applies to himself, lifting his shirt to prepare for battle. Wang whips out the heavy artillery with what he calls "rape robots" with drills for penises, which did inspire a chuckle or two.Dale Ardor is kidnapped by a group of amazonian lesbians and is subjected to their cunnilingual initiation rites until 'rescued' by the group, to which the lesbians release a locust-like creature {which later became known as a "penis fly trap"}. A quick mention is appropriate here of another subterranean monstrous denizen resembling a cyclopean basilisk-like penis {a "penisaurus", a-la the "one-eyed trouser snake" metaphor which blinks!} who earlier on attacked the trio as they made their way into the caves to escape Wang's effeminate guards sent out to retrieve them. In danger of The Palace being overthrown by the earthling interlopers, Wang descends into his own Ritual Chambre wherein resides a demonic statue which, like the Golem, comes to life at his beckoning, and therefore sets out to sexplore the kingdom {I thought it particularly humorous that this creature's voice and attitude resembles that of Barry White's}, and in a decidedly Kong-like manner, abducts Dale and takes her up with him atop "The Murder Tower", were the final conflict with Flesh and company occurs. Of particular note, a line spoken by Wang to the ungrateful invaders when admonished to remove the sex ray, was that he was doing them a favor, and I concur. The perfidious curse must be vanquished, that man's cities may truly become caves for the humanimal beasts of the field, that they may partake their fill without guilt or unreasonable restraint {as opposed to "responsible indulgence"}. And so let humanimals pleasure themselves in all manner of divine perversity - let indulgence reign supreme!Flesh Gordon received an "R" rating only because genital contact was not directly shown, otherwise, it surely had the potential to receive an X - XXX rating. Plenty of nudity to whet the pallet, but because of the "soft-porn" content, ends up more of an erotic "B-movie" with typical porno parody dialogue and amateur acting, which should have really gone into the actual sex acts, which could have made it a legendary pornographic film in the mode of the immortal Caligula, but instead is relegated to obscure B grade fare, although it still makes for naughty laughs and salacious comedy. I commend the Producers for at least "pushing the envelope", as it were, and expanding the erotic-artistic vision of the rating system, crossing the bridge from the off-white screen of the strictly pornographic genre into the silver screen of the cinema, thereby becoming "sinema", thus contributing to the incremental Return of Babylon.