The‘60sand‘70swere a wild time forsci-fimovies. As moviemakers got better at special effects, creative visions expanded beyond the limits of prior generations. The psychedelic era of the mid-60s to ‘70s brought funkier clothing, music, and style to film. Jane Fonda’s costumes inBarbarellaleaned into the mod ‘60s trends, bringing a campier style to the screen.
As the ‘70s progressed, sci-fi shifted its focus to disaster and dystopian: showing just how bad it could get when we allow our imaginations to run wild. Audiences were drawn to the disaster genre as it made for intense and engaging cinema. While the political climate seemed dire, disaster movies were tangible since the events occurred only fictionally. Here are 10 sci-fi movies that show the range of wildness that took place during the ‘60s and ‘70s.
Related:The Best Silly Sci-Fi Movies to Watch With Your Friend Group
10The Andromeda Strain
The Andromeda Strain(1971), directed by Robert Wise (also known forThe HauntingandThe Sound of Music)was the first movie adaptation of a novel by Michael Crichton, more famous forJurassic Park, andCongo, among other films. In the film, a government satellite carrying a microscopic alien organism crashes in a New Mexico town, killing everyone except an old man and a baby. The survivors are brought underground to a secret facility where a team of prepared scientists study them to stop what is happening and prevent it from occurring again.
Known asone of the most popular disaster movies of the 70’s, this movie is unique for its realistic depiction of a deadly organism. Crichton’s background as a doctor shows: besides the alien origins of the organism, the entire plot is something plausible – that is until it shifts into a disaster movie.
9Soylent Green
InSoylent Green, it’s the year 2022 and Earth is polluted and overpopulated. We’ve used all of our natural resources that we depend on for nourishment from Soylent Industries, a company that makes food consisting of plankton from the oceans. Soylent’s member of the board William R. Simonson is murdered in NYC by a burglar, leading to Detective Thorn (Charlton Heston) assigned to investigate the case along with his partner Solomon “Sol” Roth (Edward G. Robinson).
As Thorn pokes around, he discovers a bizarre secret relating to the ingredient used to manufacture Soylent Green. Directed by Richard Fleischer, the 1973 film speaks on the controlling power of big corporations. OnThe Simpsons,Soylent Greenis a running gagthat has appeared or been referred to on several occasions, such as in episodes or scenes that take place in the future.
8The Green Slime
Oh no, a giant asteroid is heading for Earth! To take care of it, a group of astronauts must travel from a nearby space station to blow it up. While the mission is successful, they travel back to the station not realizing that they had brought back a suspicious gooey green substance with them. Soon enough the astronauts are dealing with more than just gooey green stuff as it morphs into a one-eyed tentacled monster that feeds off of electricity; which of course replicates into many of them all over the space station.
Directed by Kinji Fukasaku,The Green Slime(1968) was meant to be taken seriously during its time and not be seen as the campy or goofy movie that we may see it as today.The Green Slimewas also used for the pilot episode of the film-mocking television seriesMystery Science Theater 3000(1988). And while The Razzies nominate the worst movie of the year, The Green Slime Award is given out yearly for the worst science fiction at Buonicon, a convention that takes place in New Mexico.
7Santa Claus Conquers the Martians
In Santa Claus Conquers the Martians(1964), the Martians don’t like that their children have become lazy and joyless due to watching Earth TV shows. Ancient Martian leader Chochem supports the idea that the children on Mars need to have more fun, including a Santa Claus just like the one found on Earth. Supreme leader Lord Kimar prepares an expedition to Earth where they kidnap two children. Once led to the North Pole, they capture the real Santa Claus, bringing him and the two kids back to Mars for an attempt at a happier life for Martian children. Directed by Nicholas Webster, the film stars John Call as Santa Claus.
Matango(1963) is a Japanese horror film directed by Ishirō Honda, a Japanese filmmaker who directed 46 feature films, and was also known as the most internationally successful Japanese filmmaker prior to Hayao Miyazaki. In the film a group of pleasure-seeking young people are stranded on a mysterious island when their boat crashes. One by one they succumb to the lure of the deadly mushrooms. The film was almost banned in Japan since the makeup that some characters wore as they turned into humanoid mushroom creatures was“very reminiscent of how many Japanese people looked after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.”
Related:The Best Japanese Sci-Fi Movies Ranked
5Mothra vs. Godzilla
Mothra vs. Godzilla(1964) is known as a classic Japanese monster, or “kaiju” movie. LikeMantagothis film is also directed by Ishirô Honda. The film is the best in the series of Godzilla films released in the 1960s. An enormous egg is found by local villagers while journalists Ichiro Sakai and Junko Nakanishi cover the wreckage of a typhoon. The pair joins up with Professor Miura and the journalists discover that the egg has been sold off to Mr. Kumayama of Happy Enterprises, who wish to exploit the egg.
When Mothra’s fairies arrive, they are aided by the journalists who plead for the egg to return to Mothra and Infant Island. Their requests denied, Godzilla emerges from the wreckage. Wanting to save Japan from Godzilla, Sakai, Junko, and Miura must make a plea to Mothra. While the special effects don’t exactly hold up today,they represent the pinnacle of Toho’s kaiju production efforts at the time. And who doesn’t enjoy endless monster-on-monster battles?
4Barbarella
Jane Fonda starred as the main characterBarbarella(1968) in this cult classic film that was directed by Roger Vadim, Fonda’s husband at the time. In the year 40,000, astronaut Barbarella lands on the frozen planet Lythion after peacefully floating in zero-gravity. She sets out to find renowned scientist Durand Durand in the City of Night, Sogo, where a new sin is invented every hour. Along the way she comes across odd psychedelic occurrences, such as the Excessive Machine, a genuine sex organ on which an expert artist of the keyboard–in this case, Durand Durand himself–can drive a victim to death by pleasure.
While the film is often straight up bizarre, it had impressive special-effects for the time, leading you on the wild ride that was the late ‘60s sci-fi genre. It was recently announced thatEuphoria’sSydney Sweeney will star and executive produce a new version of the movie. Fonda expressed her uncertainty about the film being redone and also stated that she had an idea on how to redo the film at one time, but that Dino De Laurentiis (the original producer), when he was still alive, wouldn’t listen to it. Fonda went on to say that “it could have been a truly feminist movie.”
3The X from Outer Space
Directed by Kazui Nihonmatsu,The X from Outer Space(1967) is ridiculously good fun. In the movie the spaceship AAB-Gamma is dispatched from FAFC headquarters in Japan and is set to make a landing on the planet Mars. Once they come close to Mars, they come across a suspicious UFO that coats the ship’s hull with unusual spores. They take one of the specimens back to earth, where it soon develops and grows into a giant chicken-lizard-alien monster that tramples Japan.
Film historianChuck Stephensdescribed the film as having “a well-deserved reputation as one of the silliest and, as a consequence, most beloved rubber-suit monster movies ever made.” Perhaps a cliché Japanese monster flick in many ways, the film is still enjoyable as one of the wildest sci-fi films of this era.
2The Crawling Hand
Directed by Herbert L. Strock,The Crawling Hand(1963) is another wild sci-fi movie that is easy to make fun of, but also has a lot of craft when analyzed for what it was during its time. In the film an astronaut space capsule is detonated in orbit, leading a teenager to find a severed arm on a beach, among wreckage on earth. The arm then returns to life to murder and possess the young man’s mind. Like many of the wild films from this era, you can watch this film with theMystery Science Theater 3000commentary and enjoy all the themed jokes and punsyou can get your hands on(Season 1 Episode 6).
1Laserblast
Laserblast(1978) is another one of those ‘70s sci-fi movies where you can say its “so bad that it’s good.” The film, starring Kim Milford, Cheryl Smith, and Gianni Russo was directed by Michael Rae and produced by Charles Band, who was well known for producing B movies. In this bizarre plot, an alien creature kills a mutated alien creature in the California desert. A loner teacher stumbles upon its remains, a high-tech laser gun and power source accidentally left behind.The power source causes the teenager to mutate too, causing him to go on a murderous rampage. Enjoy the wacky commentary fromMystery Science Theater 3000for this one, too (Season 7 episode 6).
