12/3/2023 0 Comments Was barb wire a flop![]() The kids might have come for the boobs, but they stayed for the rocking tunes, groundbreaking animation, and thought-provoking satire. The much-loved adaptation of the popular science fiction and fantasy magazine of the same name is a mind-bending, time-hopping anthology film united by a glowing green orb of PURE EVIL that reappears throughout pulpy vignettes and an adolescent boy’s unending fascination with the naked female form at its most cartoonishly buxom. Throw in a primo rock soundtrack featuring Cheap Trick, Devo, Black Sabbath, and Donald Fagen and you have an instant cult classic irresistible to the blacklight-and-bong-in-the-closet crowd. It was produced by Ivan Reitman, co-written by Len Blum and Daniel Goldberg (writers of Reitman-directed hits Meatballs and Stripes) and featured a voice cast that included much of SCTV’s beloved crew (John Candy, Harold Ramis, Joe Flaherty, Eugene Levy), as well as John Vernon and Richard Romanus. The exception is the cult 1981 Canadian animated film Heavy Metal, which is funnier and more genuinely satirical as well, if every bit as juvenile. ![]() (Photo by Columbia Pictures courtesy Everett Collection)įew of Barbarella’s far-flung offspring can match the movie’s pedigree for hipness. But despite its echoes of Star Wars, Flash Gordon owes just as much, if not more, to Barbarella’s combination of BDSM-infused naughtiness and incongruous, child-like innocence.įlash Gordon replaced the free love sexuality of Barbarella with the sweaty, stimulant-fueled sensuality of disco at its most brazenly sensual, with equally explosive and unforgettable results. Both are big-budget, kaleidoscopic science fiction epics produced by Italian super-producer Dino DeLaurentis and overflowing with tawdry sensuality, eye-popping special effects, and enough trippy spectacle to satisfy the most demanding stoner.ĭeLaurentis clearly conceived of Flash Gordon as the next Star Wars - the comic strip was a big influence on George Lucas’ deathless space opera. ![]() If Mike Hodges’ Flash Gordon feels an awful lot like Barbarella, that’s because they were conceived from similar blueprints. (Photo by Universal Pictures courtesy Everett Collection) Barbarella’s not particularly successful combination of kitschy, over-the-top camp comedy, social satire, and stoner spectacle provided just as much a template for the films that followed it as the voyeuristic sexuality for which it became famous. It has inspired some riotous cult classics, but also a lot of sexy science fiction satires that, like Barbarella itself, aren’t particularly sexy, funny, or satirical. That never materialized, nor did a proposed TV adaptation whose pilot was to be directed by Nicolas Wending-Refn.ĭespite its cult fame, Vadim’s 1968 mind-bender has never been followed by a sequel or a remake. But it has nevertheless proven extremely influential, and its DNA can be found in plenty of hits, flops, and obscurities, many of them also based on comic books and featuring badass female protagonists. ![]() In the aughts, Robert Rodriguez was attached to a remake that would have starred his then-girlfriend and muse, Rose McGowan. For decades, rumors have swirled of a sequel, remake, or TV adaptation of the Aquarius-era stoner film about a stunning young woman who sleeps her way through the galaxy. Roger Vadim’s trippy science fiction comedy Barbarella opened on October 10, 1968.
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