Sure,
Sunday was a big night for the band Queen when Bohemian Rhapsody won several Oscars, including Best Actor, but
there is no question their finest cinematic moment came when they composed and performed
the soundtrack to the 1980 fan favorite Flash
Gordon (but their songs for Highlander
would also be an acceptable answer). It released after Star Wars and reaped a disappointing box-office take, but it has a
special place in the hearts of genre fans who grew up in the 1980s. For those
of us, Sam J. Jones will always be Flash Gordon. That typecasting has been a
curse and a blessing for Jones, who takes stock of his life and career in Lisa
Downs’ Life After Flash, which
releases today on VOD platforms.
It
is only vaguely alluded to in the film (most likely out of respect to Jones’
Evangelical faith), but his first claim to fame was a pictorial in Playgirl. Somehow, this brought him to
the attention of larger-than-life producer Dino De Laurentiis, who eventually
cast him as the lead in his ambitious Flash
Gordon reboot. Their relationship would be . . . rocky. Jones still had
plenty of career ahead of him, so it would be unfair to compare Klinton Spilsbury
who crashed and burned in The Legend of
the Lone Ranger from 1981, but some parallels could be drawn between Jones
and George “One-and-Done-James-Bond” Lazenby, except Jones very definitely
wanted to continue playing Flash.
As
you would hope, there are a lot of behind-the-scenes stories about the making
of the film, with extended reminiscences from Melody Anderson, Brian Blessed
(who really came to play), Topol, Peter Wyngarde, Richard “Rocky Horror” O’Brien,
and Brian May from Queen. Not surprisingly, Timothy Dalton and Max von Sydow
are missing in action, but that was a real mistake on their part, because nobody
likes a snob. In fact, the participating cast-members and other assorted
talking heads make a compelling case for the film, especially Blessed, who
argues: “its not camp, its cartoon strip.”
However,
the real surprise is how interesting Jones’ life after Flash Gordon has been. He has done plenty of low budget movies and
guest appearances on episodic television, but viewers will really want to hear
more about his second career as a personal security specialist (bodyguard),
specializing in escorting VIPs across the Mexican border.
Jones
also talks quite a bit about his family and his Christian faith. He always
sounds sincere, largely because he so readily admits his past shortcomings and
transgressions. Frankly, given his military background, Jones definitely sounds
like he is out of step with most of his Hollywood colleagues (or at least
everyone of them not named Gary Sinise or Clint Eastwood).
All
things considered, Jones’ post-Flash survival
story is downright inspiring. It isn’t just him. Anderson and Topol have also
gone on to contribute to society in ways beyond their acting careers. Yet,
there is no question Life After Flash serves
up generous helpings of nostalgia for fans of late 1970s and early 1980s
science fiction. Revisiting Flash Gordon puts
us in the mood for retrospectives of Jones, Topol, and director Mike Hodges. It
all makes for unexpectedly engaging viewing. Highly recommended for the
Eighties generation, Life After Flash releases
today (2/26) on VOD.