Top 100 sci-fi movies of the 70s

2. TIME AFTER TIME [1979] dir. Nicholas Meyer

3. Solaris (1972)  dir. Andrey Tarkovskiy

The fever I'm packing right now is preventing me from typing any more.

4. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)

"You'll never sleep again"...No shit, this time the commie alien bastards win, and win hard

5.  STAR WARS

Let's just get this one out of the way, shall we?

6. Alien (1979 - d. Ridley Scott)

7. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), dir. Steven Spielberg

"He says the sun came out last night.  He says it sang to him."

8. A Clockwork Orange (1971) d. Stanley Kubrick

No explanation needed here. A monumental classic.

9. Westworld (1973) d. Michael Crichton

The original Terminator.

10. THX 1138

11.  Silent Running (1972), directed by visual effects pioneer Douglas Trumbull

"On Earth, everywhere you go, the temperature is 75 degrees. Everything is the same; all the people are exactly the same. Now what kind of life is that?"

12. Logan's Run (1976) d. Michael Anderson

Two words: Jenny Agutter.

13. Phase IV (1974) d. Saul Bass

This creepily effective film from one-time director Bass delivers slow burn shivers.

14.  Mad Max (1979), dir. George Miller

"The chain in those handcuffs is high-tensile steel. It'd take you ten minutes to hack through it with this. Now, if you're lucky, you could hack through your ankle in five minutes. Go."

15. The Final Programme (aka The Last Days Of Man On Earth, 1973) d. Robert Fuest

A bleak, mind-bending psychedelic sci-fi/black comedy drenched in free sex & druggy violence. A classic to the few that "get it".

16: Dark Star.  Just total, offbeat, low budget greatness.

oh and 17: Capricorn One.  Freaked me the fuck out when I caught it on TV as a kid.  It all seemed to plausible..

18. Superman (1978) d. Richard Donner

The role Christopher Reeve was born to play.

19. Zardoz (1974) d. John Boorman

Connery didn't "get" The Matrix or The Lord Of The fuckin' Rings but he "got" this?! Incredible. Still, this is 70s Sci-fi at it's boldest...and most baffling.

20. Damnation Alley (1977)

A post-apocalyptic cult classic. It borders on cheese at times, but for the most part really works. The Landmaster vehicle rules!

21.  Soylent Green (1973), dir. Richard Fleischer

"Soylent Green is PEOPLE!  It's PEEEEEEOPLE!" 

ps.  I love every flick on this list so far, except The Final Programme, which I've never seen but now must!

21. A Boy and His Dog (1975) dir L.Q. Jones

Based on the story by Harlan Ellison, who also had a hand in the script, its about the relationship of a young Don Johnson and his telepathic dog after the apocalypse. Filled with off-beat humor and the best unbelievably fucked up but happy ending I've just about ever seen in a film.  It's on Netflix Instant currently and I highly recommend it.

23. Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970) d. Joseph Sargent

"Hey! If you combine Westworld with Colossus, the you'd have something!" - James Cameron's brain, 1980

24. The Andromeda Strain (1971) d. Robert Wise

Michael Crichton (again)

25. Rollerball (1975) d. Norman Jewison

27. Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) d. Robert Wise

Bloated, painfully self-serious yet uniquely majestic, thematically fascinating, & handsome as fuck.

28. Sleeper (1973) d. Woody Allen

....hey Art, re: the Colossus/Cameron link..if you didn't know...google "Harlan Ellison Terminator"

29.  The Day of the Dolphin (1973), dir. Mike Nichols

"Fa loves Pa!"  This movie destroyed me as a kid. 

30. Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970)

My favorite sequel of the series. Not the masterpiece that the original is but man, talk about a 70's ending!

31. Demon Seed  (1977) d. Donald Cammell

32. The Man Who Fell To Earth (1976) d. Nicolas Roeg

Cripes, how could I have forgotten my all-time favourite film!

33. The Stepford Wives (1975), dir. Bryan Forbes

"Why did you do that?  I thought we were friends... Why did you do that?  I thought we were friends..."  A brilliant scifi response to the feminist movement.  Amazing flick.

34.  "Space: 1999" (1975-77)

As a really little kid, the spaceship on this show was the coolest thing ever until STAR WARS

Serious, intelligent, and imaginitive, it was the best sci-fi show since the original "Star Trek".

35.  The Island of Dr. Moreau (1977), dir. Don Taylor

"Are we not men?"  The second but by no means last adaptation of H.G. Wells' brilliant classic is fun, albeit a little campy, but with then-breakthrough effects by makeup legend John Chambers.  And how can you resist that tagline!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fat Elvis 

34.  "Space: 1999" (1975-77)

 

As a really little kid, the spaceship on this show was the coolest thing ever until STAR WARS

 

Serious, intelligent, and imaginitive, it was the best sci-fi show since the original "Star Trek".

 

Also starred Barbara Bain so clearly I got lots of "is that your mum? hehehhe" at primary school.  I used to LOVE the Eagle designs.  That was one cool ass ship.  And the shapeshifter chick was weirdly hot.

36. Death Race 2000 (1975) d. Paul Bartel

Funny and violent Roger Corman produced B-movie. Classic.

37.  SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE

Who says that time has to be linear?

38.  WIZARDS

Ralph Bakshi's best film, in my opinion.  I remember my brother taking me to see this in the movie theater when I was 7.  Good memories.

39. Godzilla vs Hedorah

  Because it gave us a flying Godzilla. The DVD chapter for this scene is: There is something you don't see everyday.

40. ...

You heard me.  Night of the Lepus!  (1972), dir. William F. Claxton

"Attention! Attention! Ladies and gentlemen, attention! There is a herd of killer rabbits headed this way and we desperately need your help!"

41. The Black Hole (1979) d. Gary Nelson

I love this silly movie. John Barry's score is incredible & the production design/FX work still holds a great deal of atmospheric wonder.

yt, you left out starring Deforest Kelly.

Art Decade the scene in Hell is pretty trippy.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Judas Booth 

37.  SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE

 

 

Who says that time has to be linear?

Damn, I want that poster.

42.  Bug (1975), dir. Jeannot Szwarc

Fire-setting cockroaches get the hot-potato treatment from '70s actors and gruesome fun ensues.  What's not to love?  Also: William Castle's last film. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by yt 

42.  Bug (1975), dir. Jeannot Szwarc

 

 

Fire-setting cockroaches get the hot-potato treatment from '70s actors and gruesome fun ensues.  What's not to love?  Also: William Castle's last film. 

is that the film where at one point all the bugs spell out "WE LIVE" on a wall?  If so that freaked me out when it was on the TV

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andy Bain 

is that the film where at one point all the bugs spell out "WE LIVE" on a wall?  If so that freaked me out when it was on the TV

 

Oh yes!  I own it on VHS, even though I don't even have a VHS player anymore, but I just found that the entire movie is on youtube!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BQ45Vnk2OQ&feature=related

43. Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972, J. Lee Thompson)

44) Battlestar Galactica 1979 Richard A. Colla.  The best of the numerous knockoffs of...Star Wars is just...Awesome!  While it was a tv series, in May of 1979 Battlestar Galactica was released in US theaters.  The Survivors of the 12 Colonies, search for the missing 13th tribe...Earth, after a devastating sneak attack by the Cylon Empire!  Good vs...EEEEEEvil was never so much fun!

45) Buck Rogers In The 25th Century 1979 Daniel Haller.  Gil Gerard is Captain William "Buck" Rogers!  Buck arrives...500 years in the future to battle Pamela Hensley and the Draconian Empire...EEEEEEEEEEvil Doers who want Conquest of Earth!