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Science fiction cinema change a peck throughout the seventies . It ’s a genre that has alwaysused inquisitive concepts and futurist setting to explore contemporaneous societal issue , and with the Vietnam War dress down on and the Watergate scandal rocking the American political landscape painting , there was stack to explore in the ‘ 70s .
The runaway winner of George Lucas’Star Wars , a movie that everyone including its financier expected to fail , led to a surge of motion picture set in outer distance in the later ‘ seventy — some dependable , some bad . Here are the five good and five defective sci - fi movies from the 1970s .
Best: Close Encounters Of The Third Kind (1977)
Steven Spielberg has never been interested in making movies about alien visitant who want to tally major U.S. cities and dominate the Earth . alternatively , his film about humans making contact with stranger lifeexplore inscrutable conception than that .
InClose Encounters of the Third Kind , Spielberg told a story about outlander arriving on Earth as a government conspiracy , which drew parallel to the then - recent Watergate outrage .
Worst: Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)
WhenStar Trekboldly went into multiplex to grow its tv set enfranchisement into a movie franchise , it got off to a very bumpy starting . While the franchise would go on to produce greats likeThe Wrath of KhanandThe Voyage Home , its first accounting entry is a full dud .
Like a lot of the worstmovies adapted from idiot box show , Star Trek : The Motion Picturefeels more like an extended installment than a movie . And it ’s not even a good one , with a script hashed together from various contradictory selective service .
Best: Star Wars (1977)
George Lucas’Star Warschanged everything . Throughout production , studio apartment executives dismissed it as a unearthly little space movie that would tank at the box office and even endeavor to bury its theatrical release . But when the film score theatre , it quick becamea ethnic phenomenonthatstill has n’t worn off .
Hollywood has since copiedLucas ’ eddy on Joseph Campbell ’s “ torpedo ’s journey ” narrative structurein almost every single summertime megahit , and none of them have issue forth close tothe timeless artistic genius of Lucas ’ futuristic samurai western fairy fib .
Worst: Futureworld (1976)
Michael Crichton conform his own novelWestworldfor the sieve in 1973 , and while it ’s far from staring , it ’s a riveting thriller anchored by Yul Brynner ’s portrayal of a relentless putting to death machine .
Its 1976 sequel , Futureworld , has a plot with little connectedness to the original , and a fraction of the contemplation and excitement .
Best: Solaris (1972)
Along with Akira Kurosawa and Jean - Luc Godard , Andrei Tarkovsky is one of the untouchable gods of populace picture palace . Many of Tarkovsky ’s greatest works , likeStalker , brought an arthouse esthesia to sci - fi spectacle .
1972’sSolarisis the finest example of this , lay out on a space place where an important commission is stalled because the scientists onboard are losing their minds . It ’s a thought - provoking chef-d’oeuvre .
Worst: Tentacles (1977)
John Huston is scar against a mutant octopus inTentacles , a movie that is altogether devoid of suspense , excitement , entertainment , or creativity of any form .
The output squad reportedly plunked down a huge chunk of the budget for a gargantuan octopus airplane propeller that fall off immediately and got lost at sea on the first day of cinematography . This behind - the - prospect disaster is a middling apt metaphor for the picture itself .
Best: Alien (1979)
Upon being hire to directAlien , Fox executives simply wanted Ridley Scott to delivera ghost star sign movie set in spacethat they could use to capitalize on the unprecedented success ofStar Wars . The director was expected to phone in a B - movie .
However , he went a few steps further and helmedone of the base of both sci - fi and revulsion movie house ; a masterclass in pacing and suspense - building . Plus , Sigourney Weaver ’s performance as Ellen Ripley was inherent in giving rise to distaff action heroes .
Worst: Zaat (1971)
With a great deal of alternate title includingBlood Waters of Dr. ZandAttack of the Swamp Creatures , Zaatis a pillar of schlocky sci - fi cinema . It ’s about a unhinged scientist turning himself into a fish ogre , and the result is just as cheesy as it sounds .
The plastic film went virtually unnoticed by moviegoer until it was boast onMystery Science Theater 3000 , which is n’t the good way for your picture to get exposure .
Best: A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Martin Scorsese once said that Stanley Kubrick ’s work is so obtuse and detail that the deepness of one of his films is equal to the depth of 10 of another theater director ’s moving-picture show . Kubrick ’s adaption of Anthony Burgess ’ dystopian masterworkA Clockwork Orangeexemplifies that brilliantly .
The film is mostly remember for its graphic violence , which fuck off it banned in certain countries , but there ’s a stack of thematic content and social comment attached to that violence .
Worst: Rollerball (1975)
After Roger Corman provided low-pitched - budget thrills withDeath airstream 2000 , United Artists resolve to give moviegoers a braggy - budget alternative star James Caan . The movie ’s societal commentary is addle and banal , while its action at law is uninspired .
Worldbuilding should never be aim gently . You ’re create a whole new earthly concern and transmit audiences there ; you have to really call back it through . Unfortunately , that was n’t the showcase withRollerball .
NEXT : The 5 good ( & 5 Worst ) 2010s Sci - Fi Movies
