Author and friend and Erdelac presents his list of the top ten greatest science fiction films of the 1970s below.
Ed writes:
"Mad Max – One of the progenitors of the post-apocalyptic genre (though technically it’s on the cusp of the apocalypse), it’s also one of the most spectacular and visceral automotive action movies ever made, emulating a child’s greatest Matchbox exploits with its roaring crashes and thunderous pursuits. Surpassed only by its own sequel.
Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes – The darkest and most violent of the Apes outings, also a heavy commentary on volatile race relations with a fantastic central performance by Roddy McDowall as the revolutionary ape leader Caesar.
Alien –An unimaginable monster rampages through a monolithic, totally isolated haunted house. Except the guests are world-weary blue collar astronauts, the house is an immense ship and the impenetrable wilderness is the silent void of space. The design of this movie took Star Wars’ revolutionary lived-in look and jumped to hyperspace.
A Clockwork Orange – Kubrick’s ultraviolent tale of the ethics of choice asks us to sympathize or at least empathize with a sociopathic murderer and rapist in a bizarre future London crawling with droogs and sexualized milk bars.
THX 1138 – George Lucas’ first swing at sci-fi is ultimately a bit of a bunt, but its dystopian, sterile, narcotic vision is undeniably striking if a bit baffling at times. It’s also terribly prophetic.
Westworld – What is more intriguing than living out your fantasies in the world and setting of your choosing without consequence? Imagine going to a Ren Faire in costume as an evil knight and being able to romance the wenches and jump into the fray at any time. Well, you can probably do that now in theory, but the end result will probably be the same as this movie. Does this movie predict the rise MMORPG’s? Yul Brynner’s deadly gunslinger definitely anticipates James Cameron’s The Terminator.
Demon Seed – One of the most unsettling movies to come out of the era, about an artificial intelligence which traps a woman in her own house in order to propagate its own biological offspring.
Star Wars – Yeah yeah, it’s more fantasy than sci-fi. But it’s a thrilling Buck Rogers-style adventure that represented the next step in envisioning space-based fiction, with the most startling imagery since 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Godzilla vs. Hedorah – My favorite of the old series, it kicks the latent environmental message of Godzilla right out in the open, peppering a crazy, psychedelic horror with striking images of babies in sewage and kittens threatened by polluting sludge. The first daikaiju movie I can think of that really focuses on the collateral human damage. Plus, Godzilla flies
Quintet – A glacially paced but fascinating Paul Newman vehicle from Robert Altman about the slowly dwindling, sterile inhabitants of a second ice age addicted to playing a complex game whose wager is the only thing they have left; their own lives."
Ed: This is a fantastic list, and I am so happy to see Quintet (1979) make the cut. That's a bleak, despairing, visually-dazzling film. I know the critics despised it, but count me down as one of its long-time admirers. I also love that Demon Seed -- another computer run amok movie -- made your cut.
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