My top 10 Sci-Fi Movies of the 1960s
 

As a follow-up to my top 15 Sci-Fi movies of the 1950's, I present my Top 10 of the 60s...

Okay, I'll start with some honourable mentions and also rans...

First, Sci-Fi really blossomed into something special on TV in the 60s, and while this is a movie list, honourable mentions need to be made for the Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, The Time Tunnel, Lost in Space, Voyage to the bottom of the Sea, Land of the Giants, and the mighty Star Trek. British TV didn't lag, producing such things as Dr Who, The Avengers, and The Prisoner.


Second, a number of spy movies seemed to impinge on the arena of Sci-Fi, but none of them cut it as a 1960's Top 10 Sci-Fi movies. These include some of the Bond movies (eg Dr No, You Only Live Twice, Casino Royale), the Flint movies, the Matt Helm movies, and the Man from Uncle movies (most of which were cut together episodes of the TV series...).


Other ones that I liked but didn't cut the top 10 were the plant-fests Little Shop of Horrors, Day of the Triffids, Robinson Crusoe on Mars, First Men in the Moon and Quatermass and the Pit. The only other movie of note that is considered something of a classic but doesn't make my list cos I don't think it's that great (except the swimming pool scene) is Alphaville.



So to the top 10...


10) Barbarella

A cool bit of sci-fi fluff with the beautiful Jane Fonda as Barbarella, and the saucy Anita Pallenberg as the bad girl (I just have to think of her saying, in that secy low voice, 'pretty pretty' to get...well you work it out), and the angel guy and the orgasmatron....okay, not as much fun as it looks at first glance or if you read the blurb on the back of the box, but still plenty of fun anyway...


9) The War Game

This was made in 1965, and still is shocking as hell. Dealing with the build-up and then aftermath of a nuclear attack on an English town in a pseudo-documentary style, and banned by the BBC when it was made(the BBC commissioned it), this is still a powerful little movie that lays down what can happen when decision-making gets detached from plain humanity.

One that should be shown to everyone that thinks that America (or any other nation) would be justified in using nuclear weapons in anything even close to civilian areas.


8) Planet of the Vampires (Terrore nello spazio)

This is a very cool and stylish Italian horror/sci-fi movie, following a similar framework to [i Forbidden Planet[/i] about a intergalactic military craft landing on a planet and then being laid siege to my strange forces that reside there. There are in fact no vampires, but rather aliens taking over the bodies of the crew. Nicely atmospheric, very stylish and cool, with one or two very eerie scenes.

This won't be to everyone's taste (some may find the acting/dialogue a little wooden - not helped by the English dubbing), it is an enjoyable little movie.

Some consider it to be a precursor/inspiration for Alien, BTW.



7) Village of the Damned

A cool little British movie based upon John Wyndham's 'The Midwich Cuckoos', this is the black-and-white gem of the blond-haired kids that seem to think and act as one, and can do things with their mind that makes them creepy and threatening. I mini-masterpiece of build and tension.


6) Dr Who and the Daleks

Okay, I'm betraying my English roots here, but I have a deep and abiding love for this movie, having grown up watching the TV series as a kid, I just love this movie and the sequel 'Dalek Invasion of Earth:2150AD'. Daleks are intrinsically scary and fascinating to children for reasons that are beyond me (at least they were in England...I suspect it's their militaristic/fascistic barking that subconsciously recalls the Nazis - drilled into the British as mortal enemies that were prepared to bomb us to dust - but I don't know for sure). I love this movie and am fully aware of it's studio-bound/script shortcomings, and I make no apologies for rating it 6th.


5) The Time Machine

Based on the H.G.Wells story, this is a fascinating and effective Sci-Fi yarn about travel into the far-future of mankind, and finding it an extreme divergence of humans into different types, based on social patterns from H.G.Wells' time. Some excellent effects, and interesting speculation on what we might become in the far future, a nice, engaging little tale that is always worth watching when it's on.


4) Scream and Scream Again

This is probably the least-seen film on this list by far, another British sci-fi movie that's worth mentioning. It starts with an exciting chase of an individual who finally gets caught, and proceeds to pull off his own hand to escape a handcuff, and resume the chase. He then dives into a pool of liquid, and when the chaser puts in his arm to fish out the guy, he gets horribly burnt...it's a pool of concentrated acid....eeeeewwwwww! It's a twisty-turny story involving manufactured superhumans, people in high places being replaced by body-doubles, and assorted other shennanegins. It stars Vicent Price, Peter Cushing, and Christopher Lee, and is mad 1960's stuff through and through. Thoroughly recommended to afficianados of weird movies, and anyone else who wants to watch something a little different from the usual.

Oh, and it's apparently directed by one of the jobbing directors of Hawaii 5-0 [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]


3) Planet of the Apes and Beneath the Planet of the Apes

Okay, the first one I'm sure most of us have seen and know backwards. It is of course an excellent piece of cinema, and has a lot going for it in terms of actors, action, make-up and story. My only issue with the first one is the dialogue is hackneyed, obvious and clunky, but that is not that big a deal, frankly. I actually have a big love for the second one, which veered off into some weird storytelling involving underground telepathic mutants and their worship of the Bomb. Scenes like crucified apes and suchlike make it an odd, interesting movie that makes this a solid pair of films. The 3rd in the series toyed with Christ-like imagery (But it wasn't that great), but the 4th drew heavily on a civil-rights/race issue that still shines through angrily - I'm amazed it was greenlit actually, and suspect the director misled the studio into what the movie was about (good for him).


2) Dr Strangelove

This is an amazing, funny, scary movie that is probably the best Kubrick film bar one (can you guess what that was? - I think Clockwork Orange was number 3 and FMJ was number 4 in Kubrick's pantheon myself). I remember watching it before the Berlin wall came down and thinking 'Jeez, this is how it's gonna happen...mistakes, idiocy and lunacy...'. And I remember watching Cheney or Rumsfeld coming on TV prior to the invasion of Afghanistan going on about dozens of secret military bases built into the mountains of Afghanistan and being chillingly reminded of the nutty General in Strangelove...


1) 2001: A Space Odyssey

Of course, THE seminal sci-fi movie of the 1960's. Awesome, slow, mesmerising...one that really needs to be seen on the big screen...Kubrick never bettered it. Nothing else to say.

Re: My top 10 Sci-Fi Movies of the 1960s
 

DB:

I haven't seen the Dr. Who or the Scream movies but I have seen the rest. I'd put Village of the Damned higher at around #3, what a fabulous story. I personally wouldn't call Dr. Strangelove a Sci-Fi movie, but if you do you probably ought to include Manchurian Candidate on that list, somewhere around #5. Good stuff.

Swede

Re: My top 10 Sci-Fi Movies of the 1960s
 

not bad at all...although I'd have to add Journey to the Center of the Earth and maybe Incredible Voyage

Re: My top 10 Sci-Fi Movies of the 1960s
 

You mean Fantasic Voyage.

Re: My top 10 Sci-Fi Movies of the 1960s
 

slide slide slippety slide

come along and ride on the fantastic voyage..

Re: My top 10 Sci-Fi Movies of the 1960s
 

[ QUOTE ]
8) Planet of the Vampires (Terrore nello spazio)

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I'm watching this right now. I have to tell you, it is not looking good. I hate pseudotechnical jargon than a nine year old would know is [censored].

Re: My top 10 Sci-Fi Movies of the 1960s
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
8) Planet of the Vampires (Terrore nello spazio)

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm watching this right now. I have to tell you, it is not looking good. I hate pseudotechnical jargon than a nine year old would know is [censored].

[/ QUOTE ]

Calm down! Concentrate on the pictures, not the naff dubbing. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Re: My top 10 Sci-Fi Movies of the 1960s
 

[ QUOTE ]

Calm down! Concentrate on the pictures, not the naff dubbing. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

English only at the table, please.

Re: My top 10 Sci-Fi Movies of the 1960s
 

In no particular order, some of my faves.

Alphaville. Goddard film. I think it's great, but I'm a big Goddard fan, so it's hard for me to keep him off of film lists. This one is about a PI who goes to a weird town on a distant planet.

Week-End. Goddard again. A french couple go off on a vacation. We soon discover that they aren't in Kansas any more. As far as cultural impact goes, Week-End may behind 2001 and Strangelove, but I think it's my favorite.

There's another Goddard film where the guy keeps waking up. He has an adventure, then wakes up to find he was only dreaming, has another adventure, wakes up, and so on until they run out of film. Maybe it's not a Goddard film. Maybe I only dreamt it. Don't suggest that I'm confusing it with an Italo Calvino novel--I'm not. While I'm forgetting titles...

The one where they find the monster while digging the London Subway. It looks like a cockroach, but it's from outer space.

Planet of the Apes. I saw this projected on a bed sheet out in the Nam boonies. I thought it was so cool when we see the Statue of Liberty at the end. At the time, I thought it was about race relations. I don't know what people think about it now.

Fahrenheit 451. Great flick, and, looking back, a little to prescient for comfort.

Destroy all Monsters. Bargain pack of Japanese Sci-fi.

Time Machine. Seeing this as a twelve year old, I thought this flick was loaded with hot babes. When all is said and done, what else could I ask for?

Dr. Strangelove

2001. These last two are great, and have been well described by OP.

Re: My top 10 Sci-Fi Movies of the 1960s
 

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10) Barbarella


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I love Barbarella. It's a great piece of sexploitation, and IMO very funny. It seems every time Jane Fonda walks around a corner she has a costume change. It's pervy, but not so pervy as to make you feel dirty. Nice list, but I can't quite figure out why you'd rank that Kubrick crap ahead of naked Fonda [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

Re: My top 10 Sci-Fi Movies of the 1960s
 

Well finally a couple movies I've seen!

A while back I rented 2001 Space Odyssey. It was when you guys were discussing Clockwork Orange. My first thought was holy crap this movie is old. I kept thinking how it reminded me of the Planet of the Apes (I mean the beginning sequence) with a cheesy 1960's feel. But there's something about science fiction from that era I really like.

Anyway, as I got into it I had two more realizations. First, that Kubrick was a genius to get the effects he did with the older technology, but second, that there was hardly any action or dialogue. So while I loved the premise of the film (the computer trying to thwart mans most important space mission), the pacing was brutal for me and I went back and forth between being in awe to being bored out of my mind. I could barely sit through the whole thing. And the ending...wtf? That is THE most confusing ending I've ever had to sit through.

I like the way Kubrick portrays the loneliness of space and his use of music to fill the silence. Also the voices of Dave and Hal are kind of haunting. It is definitely unique but I don't have any clue as to what Kubrick was trying to say.


Planet of The Apes:
Yah. Yah! I love this movie and its hackneyed dialogue. Charlton Heston rules. "Get your stinking paws off me you damn dirty ape." And that scene where they're being hunted in the corn field...wow. Good call db, this movie is awesome. It’s a great Sunday afternoon movie. I liked Beneath the Planet of the Apes too, though it's pretty weird and dark. Lots of social commentary in these which I find interesting. I'm glad there are others out there who like these films.

Re: My top 10 Sci-Fi Movies of the 1960s
 

"2001: A Space Odyssey" still has the best special effects of any movie ever. It is untrue to say it is dated. The landing on the moon etc are absolutely perfect.

"Dr. Strangeglove" is not science fiction and should not be included on this list.

"Planet of the Apes" is a great second choice.

Re: My top 10 Sci-Fi Movies of the 1960s
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
8) Planet of the Vampires (Terrore nello spazio)

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm watching this right now. I have to tell you, it is not looking good. I hate pseudotechnical jargon than a nine year old would know is [censored].

[/ QUOTE ]

Calm down! Concentrate on the pictures, not the naff dubbing. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

OK, it did turn out to be a decent flick. And the parallels with Alien were sometimes startling; so much so that I wouldn't be surprised if I learned lawsuits had been filed.

I can't decide if I like the gimmick/twist ending or not.

Re: My top 10 Sci-Fi Movies of the 1960s
 

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9) The War Game

This was made in 1965, and still is shocking as hell. Dealing with the build-up and then aftermath of a nuclear attack on an English town in a pseudo-documentary style, and banned by the BBC when it was made(the BBC commissioned it), this is still a powerful little movie that lays down what can happen when decision-making gets detached from plain humanity.

One that should be shown to everyone that thinks that America (or any other nation) would be justified in using nuclear weapons in anything even close to civilian areas.


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It took me a while to remember this one. This is a great pick. When this movie came out, it caused quite a stir in the U.S. also. I saw it in 1972, on a double bill with Culloden, and both flicks had an enormous impact on me. I haven't seen either one since. In fact, this is the first time I've heard a Peter Watkins flick mentioned in decades. "Shocking as hell" is right.