Tuesday, August 30, 2011

The Movie Club #22: Zardoz and Flash Gordon

0:00 - 2:07 -- Intro/Roll Call
2:08 - 57:38 -- Zardoz
57:42 - 1:46:32 -- Flash Gordon
1:46:33 - 1:49:24 -- Next Month/Outro




» Download MP3 (75.1 MB)





Zardoz (1974)
Directed by: John Boorman
Starring: Sean Connery, Charlotte Rampling, Niall Buggy

» Zardoz and Book of Eli comparison
» French Zardoz trailer





















Flash Gordon (1980)
Directed by: Mike Hodges
Starring: Sam J. Jones, Melody Anderson, Max von Sydow, Topol, Ornella Muti, Timothy Dalton, Brian Blessed


» Opening title sequence

13 comments:

Kurt Halfyard said...

With that hilariously appropriate mash-up intro, and the similarity of the two films posters, and the complete 180 degree look at humanity in these two films. the world needs a Flash vs. Zardoz film along the lines of Freddie vs. Jason or Alien vs. Predator.

Man, talk about production design heaven!

Anonymous said...

iPoons please :).

alechs said...

If you were in an architectural history course on modernism and post-modernity Zardoz is the perfect film to watch. If you look at the work of Superstudio, Raynor Banham (check out his environmental bubble, his theories on the mythological American West and his fetishism for technology, particularly guns) Archigram, and Buckminister Fuller, you start to understand where Boorman is extracting all of his utopian/dystopian iconography (last three sources are also all English).

Oh, Flash Gordon is also amazing. I never thought I would cheer for an American football player in my entire life.

Kurt Halfyard said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Nat said...

Is it Kurt or Andrew who's lighting up?

Kurt Halfyard said...

Yes, I guess Buckminster Fuller and his Geodesic Domes in Vancouver, Montreal, and other world fairs/expos fit the time. Nevertheless, Zardoz has aged delightfully exotic, regardless of its contemporary sources.

Anonymous said...

Some of the comments about Flash Gordon defy the logic of the purpose of the film. Perhaps some should review obscure boring Art films and leave the enlightenment of comic book based films from a time prior to what is current tech to those who actually grew up with the films?

Omar Hauksson said...

Sad to see that no one mentioned the awesome porn parody Flesh Gordon, big budget soft core comedy that's also pretty funny and features early FX work from Rick Baker.

Omar Hauksson said...

Sad to see that no one mentioned the awesome porn parody Flesh Gordon, big budget soft core comedy that's also pretty funny and features early FX work from Rick Baker.

Kurt Halfyard said...

Hah! I totally forgot about FLESH GORDON, one of the few porn films you can actually watch from end to end and enjoy!

Kurt Halfyard said...

...It's been years, but they would, I believe, occasionally broadcast that on CITY-TV (a local independent TV station) at late, late, late hours in the night in the mid 1980s.

drewbacca said...

"enlightenment of comic book based films"

That joke writes itself doesn't it?

Anonymous said...

This was one of the worst podcasts featured, it pains me to say, after having listened to several of the previous Movie Clubs.

One can excuse stupidity, but it's pretty hard to forgive laziness...
It's not that Boorman failed in presenting his ideas, it's mainly audiences and critics not wanting to think.

May you all be sentenced to a lifetime of Michael Bay movies...