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Trash Movies With Mom 2

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In a previous post, I went heavy on the nostalgia about my mom and I enjoying trash sci-fi in the beginning of the Reagan era. The object of my reminiscence was Xanadu, but I thought I’d write about another favorite: 1981’s Flash Gordon.

The plot is ridiculous. It features:

  • A Saturday-afternoon-matinee plot for morons
  • A key escape that hinges on…football plays
  • A key protagonist suddenly doing football cheerleading to said plays…
  • And a whole lot of weirdly S&M tropes…

It also featured:

  • One of the most iconic soundtrack singles ever (or as my wife called it, a “jingle”). To wit:
  • A fairly innovative set and costume régime
  • Sublime scenery chewing by Brian Blessed
  • A pretty racy (thankfully I didn’t grok this) S&M / Discoitalia erotic charge

We certainly watched this dozens of times. I still have a visceral reaction to: the duel on the tilting floor with nails scene.

Don’t fall off the soundstage!

Don’t fall off the soundstage!

Speaking of visceral reactions, uh, yeah:

She must be flogged for her own good. Oh, my.

She must be flogged for her own good. Oh, my.

Mercifully, those scenes wouldn’t register their impact until much, much later, while we were not watching together.

Oh, my. Oh, oh, my indeed.

Oh, my. Oh, oh, my indeed.

Anyway, I suppose it was a gift that I got to spend a good bit of my early years loading up on nonsense, Cheez-Balls, and sci-fi derring-do with Mom. I’ve never lost an appreciation for high camp space opera moments like this, and I’m glad I was shown the way by mom back in the day. Lean into it, and, as she often quoted while about the house: DIVE!