Barbarella

Comic Strip brought appropriately to life . Tremendous fun, amusing scenes , psychedelic frames and many other things . In the far future, the year is 40,000. The protagonist is a highly sexual woman named Barbarella (Jane Fonda , Sophia Loren turned down the title role) is tasked with finding and stopping the evil Durand-Durand (character famously inspired the band name of 1980s pop stars Duran Duran), a missing scientist (Milo O'Shea). Along the quite sexy way she encounters various unusual people . As Barbarella (whose costume was inspired by designer Paco Rabanne) travels to the evil city called SoGo, it is a reference to Biblical cities Sodom and Gomorrah. On her dangerous trip she teams with blind angel Pygar (John Philip Law), and fights the Great Tyrant (Anita Pallenberg) along with numerous sexual torture devices , but she has to save the world .

Naif Sci-Fi plenty of colors , thrills , brilliant cinematography by Claude Renoir and fantastic images ; surprisingly, for such a diverse melange, it actually works. Knowingly Camp version of comic-book sci-Fi classic written by Jean Claude Forest . In the original comic, Barbarella was not a secret agent but an outlaw, and the movie omits some of the adventures she had on Lythion, including an encounter with an earlier villainess called the Gorgon, whose face changed into a duplicate of the face of anyone who looked at her. Unlike the other space movies of the time, this film emphasized sets and costumes rather than visual effects, and as a result its overall look dates less than many space operas of the late seventies/early eighties .Jane Fonda is simply unbelievable as gorgeous heroine , she plays a feisty Barbarella , a futuristic girl from Earth . The scenes during the opening credits where Barbarella seems to float around her spaceship were filmed by having Jane Fonda lie on a huge piece of plexiglas with a picture of the spaceship underneath her. It was then filmed from above, creating the illusion that she is in zero gravity. Performance-wise, everyone seems to be camping it up like an end-of-term pantomime, though Milo O'Shea somehow seems to give his villain a deliciously style . Barbarella was the first science fiction hero from the comics to be adapted into a feature film as opposed to a serial , Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers, her male predecessors, had only appeared in serials up to this point. A bit later on , there was realized by Mike Hodges ¨Flash Gordon¨ (1980) in similar aesthetic and a TV series titled ¨Buck Rogers¨ . Jolly and catching musical score , including commercial songs , by Charles Fox, who co-wrote the songs for this film, also wrote the theme song for another Sci/Fi flick of 1968, The Green Slime, and future Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour was one of the session musicians who performed the film's original score. The motion picture was originally directed by Roger Vadim who married Brigitte Bardot , in fact , the original author Jean-Claude Forest based the character of Barbarella on Brigitte Bardot - who ironically was director Roger Vadim's previous wife ; Vadim subsequently married Jane Fonda . However this film is listed among The 100 Most Amusingly Bad Movies Ever Made in Golden Raspberry Award .

In the year 40,000, a stunningly attractive adventurer named Barbarella (Jane Fonda) is assigned by the President of the Republic of Earth (Claude Dauphin) to track down an evil scientist. This scientist has invented a weapon in an era of pacifism in this intergalactic society, and has disappeared into an area dubbed Tau Seti. Barbarella will have many interesting experiences, and encounter a rich variety of characters, such as winged man Pygar (John Phillip Law), a nasty but sultry villainess (Anita Pallenberg), and a sadistic Concierge (Milo O'Shea).

The opening striptease by Jane (with the opening credits moved around to help obscure her nudity) may play a pivotal part in why this is so beloved as a cult classic 50 years later. But in truth, this off the wall science fiction tale is plenty goofy, enough so that the movie does have a real sense of fun going for it. It amps up its sex appeal and its psychedelic qualities to the nth degree, and its production design (by Mario Garbuglia) and cinematography (by Claude Renoir) are first-rate. Along with amusing special effects, this results in a non-stop assortment of futuristic and exotic eye candy. Based on a best-seller by Jean-Claude Forest, the script (bearing contributions by EIGHT credited individuals) contains some endearingly literate but silly dialogue.

Jane is appealing, playing a character who is not all that heroic; she needs saving more than once, and often must rely on the help of others. Her wide-eyed innocence (and that of the likeable hunk Law) is contrasted by the lascivious qualities of the production and the delicious villainy of the characters played by Pallenberg and O'Shea. (Trivia note: a certain 80s rock band took its name from the name of O'Sheas' character.) Memorable contributions are also made by Marcel Marceau, David Hemmings (very funny as a comedy-relief revolutionary), and Ugo Tognazzi.

Complete with a catchy, groovy score and songs (by Charles Fox and Bob Crewe), and Roger Vadim (Janes' husband at the time) directs with great style.

Overall, quite engaging, although clearly not something to be taken seriously.

Seven out of 10.

Barbarella (1968)

** (out of 4)

Campy sci-fi based on the French comics has Jane Fonda playing the title role, a futuristic superhero who is asked by the President of Earth to travel to a distant planet and rescue a doctor. I can understand why this film has gained a cult following over the past few decades but to me this thing is still a pretty big mess and it's somewhat shocking watching the film to day and looking back and wondering what the original producers were thinking. I mean, if you look at the "story" of this thing, it's a complete mess and it's all over the place. I'm not exactly sure what they were trying to do in regards to the story but it's a complete misfire. Not for a single second do you care about Barbarella's adventure nor do you care about anything she's doing in the film. The reason the film remains entertaining is because it's simply so strange and surreal. Visually the film is quite impressive as a bunch of pulp. The set design and costumes are certainly memorable and the now laughable special effects have a mild charm to them. What really keeps the film moving is seeing someone like Fonda doing a role like this. She's very good in the role, there's no doubt about it, as she can handle the campy moments as well as deliver on the sexuality of the character. Her nude striptease that starts the film is certainly the highlight but they needed more of these throughout. John Phillip Law isn't all that "good" in the film but there's no question that his angel character is quite memorable. Director Roger Vadim doesn't bring enough life, energy or fire to any of the scenes to really make them work and that's certainly not good when you're dealing with a film like this one. BARBARELLA certainly deserves its label as a camp classic but it's just not entertaining enough to be fully rewarding.

Take a kaleidoscope to your eye, let it dwell, at the night sky, after a while you just might see, colours conjured, so wild and free, imagination is the game, often wildly insane, a pinch of salt may be required, but this is elegance inspired.

It's as daft as it's delirious, and to some mildly nefarious, but Jane Fonda is a star, and this is an early car, that delivers all her talents, all the things that make her balance, with many tongues in many cheeks, it's most always, worth a peek.

A wonderfully wild ride through a universe long since forgotten, and seldom revisited, that indelibly reminds us of a a time when boundaries needed breaking, and often were.

If you're looking for a cult classic, they don't come much stranger than sexed-up and super-silly BARBARELLA, the peculiar tale of an intergalactic secret agent (Jane Fonda) sent to a rebel planet to find a mad scientist named Duran Duran (Milo O'Shea.) Directed by Fonda's then-husband Roger Vadim, the film is less concerned with creating a coherent storyline than it is in finding inventive ways to strip Fonda of her already skimpy outfits.

In this it is remarkably successful, and Fonda actually has both enough sex appeal and round-eyed innocence to carry the thing off, emerging as something like a Barbie doll; John Philip Law strikes a similar note as the sexy but equally innocent "angel" Pygar. The designs are 1960s psychedelic with as many Freudian twists as the film's makers can come up with, and when all is said and done you can't help but roll your eyes in amusement.

True enough, BARBARELLA was probably much more entertaining back in the days LSD, and indeed one might read the entire thing as an acid trip time machine. No one in the cast takes the film very seriously, and neither should you; when all is said and done it has all the depth of a pancake, not so much funny as merely amusing and appealing to a very high-camp sensibility. But as cult movies go, it ranks right up at the top. Give a party and show it on a double bill with FLESH GORDON! Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer