Star Wars is the movie that started the current wave of fantasy and sf films. Without the success of Star Wars the Lord of the Rings adaptations may not have been possible.
ejdalisesays
“Like” has subjective interpretations. Also, 30 years ago I was not the person I am now. With that in mind, I think Slaughterhouse Five made the most impact. Can’t exactly put my finger on why, but there you have it.
A close second would be Star Wars because of the revolutionary presentation, but the movie did not age well for me. Last time I tried watching it I did not make it past the first 20 minutes, or roughly when the whiny Luke makes his screen appearance.
There’s more than one that I liked on this list. As a teenager during the late ’70’s I would put Star Wars, Close Encounters, Westworld, and Superman in roughly this same order. Star Trek: TMP was an incomplete movie and looked it on the big screen. The other ones I liked were A Clockwork Orange because I was fascinated by the strangeness of the movie and Malcolm McDowell’s performance as Alex. Logan’s Run was ok. THX1138 was alright even though it suffers from George (Lucas) and is a little long in spots. The original Invasion of the Body Snatchers from the ’50’s to me was a little bit better. About the only other movies from the ’70’s I liked a lot were the “disaster” movies-Earthquake, The Towering Inferno, Swarm, and Andromeda Strain. The only other good one at the time (looking at it now and seeing the clothes people were wearing makes me wonder about society) was Steven Spielberg’s little fish story “Jaws,” which I saw the weekend after getting out of the hospital getting my left kidney ripped out. I was the only one in the theatre laughing when the head rolls out of the submerged rowboat.
I was a SciFi geek before StarWars – I loved watching Trek reruns on cable after school every day. But from the moment I saw the first trailer on TV where Luke swings across the open chasm with Leah hanging on his neck and storm trooper shooting at them, I was hooked. I was in grade school at the time and I blew every dime of that summer’s allowance on matinee tickets at the theater. The same for Empire, and me and my HS buddies line camped for Jedi.
There were some other giants released in that time frame: Logan’s Run, Close Encounters, and Westworld, but no other movie (or series of movies) has come close for me. Heck, I stayed up late on Friday night so I could watch Clone Wars on the DVR after Galactica. None of those other franchises can come remotely close to spanning 4 decades while still staying awesome!
Jason Psays
Clockwork Orange is considered Sci-Fi? I always considered it as a Psychological thriller.
Jason P
Clockwork Orange is told in the future/alternate time-line with technology (treatments for psychotic behavior) that were the speculative portion of the film. So, yes, it’s Sci-fi.
j zepsays
star wars is overrated it is a good movie and ground breaking but. alien is a lot better nuff said
I wish I could have chosen three, then I would have listed them in the following order, though they would all get top honors.: Superman, Star Trek, and Star Wars.
Superman being it’s the first movie my hubby and I saw together and when we renewed our vows, we played the music to the flying sequence when Superman and Lois Lane fly together. For us, Christopher Reeves will always be OUR Superman!
Star Trek because I am a trekkie and I loved the movie.
Star Wars because I loved the action packness of it and fell in love with Harrison Ford.
I voted for “Slaughter House Five” but my all time favorite was missing from the list, “A Boy And His Dog”. Actually, I loved all of the films on this list except for “No Blade of Grass” and “Solaris (1972)”, only because I’ve never seen them, but I have seen the George Clooney version of Solaris and enjoyed it.
Hi, my name is Tim and I’m a Harlan Ellison fan. (is there a 12 step program for that?)
jimp1947says
Star Wars put fun into sci-fi, as well as pushing the envelope of special effects. First really believable starships and robots.
Go back to the 50’s/60’s and give me the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Forbidden Planet, and The Day the Earth Stood Still.
Edward Leesays
Wow. Regardless of whichever one dominates, isn’t that quite an impression list for our genre for the decade? I think so.
Star Wars is the movie that started the current wave of fantasy and sf films. Without the success of Star Wars the Lord of the Rings adaptations may not have been possible.
“Like” has subjective interpretations. Also, 30 years ago I was not the person I am now. With that in mind, I think Slaughterhouse Five made the most impact. Can’t exactly put my finger on why, but there you have it.
A close second would be Star Wars because of the revolutionary presentation, but the movie did not age well for me. Last time I tried watching it I did not make it past the first 20 minutes, or roughly when the whiny Luke makes his screen appearance.
It’s “Slaughterhouse Five” all the way for me.
There’s more than one that I liked on this list. As a teenager during the late ’70’s I would put Star Wars, Close Encounters, Westworld, and Superman in roughly this same order. Star Trek: TMP was an incomplete movie and looked it on the big screen. The other ones I liked were A Clockwork Orange because I was fascinated by the strangeness of the movie and Malcolm McDowell’s performance as Alex. Logan’s Run was ok. THX1138 was alright even though it suffers from George (Lucas) and is a little long in spots. The original Invasion of the Body Snatchers from the ’50’s to me was a little bit better. About the only other movies from the ’70’s I liked a lot were the “disaster” movies-Earthquake, The Towering Inferno, Swarm, and Andromeda Strain. The only other good one at the time (looking at it now and seeing the clothes people were wearing makes me wonder about society) was Steven Spielberg’s little fish story “Jaws,” which I saw the weekend after getting out of the hospital getting my left kidney ripped out. I was the only one in the theatre laughing when the head rolls out of the submerged rowboat.
I was a SciFi geek before StarWars – I loved watching Trek reruns on cable after school every day. But from the moment I saw the first trailer on TV where Luke swings across the open chasm with Leah hanging on his neck and storm trooper shooting at them, I was hooked. I was in grade school at the time and I blew every dime of that summer’s allowance on matinee tickets at the theater. The same for Empire, and me and my HS buddies line camped for Jedi.
There were some other giants released in that time frame: Logan’s Run, Close Encounters, and Westworld, but no other movie (or series of movies) has come close for me. Heck, I stayed up late on Friday night so I could watch Clone Wars on the DVR after Galactica. None of those other franchises can come remotely close to spanning 4 decades while still staying awesome!
Clockwork Orange is considered Sci-Fi? I always considered it as a Psychological thriller.
What qualifies it as Sci-Fi?
Jason P
Clockwork Orange is told in the future/alternate time-line with technology (treatments for psychotic behavior) that were the speculative portion of the film. So, yes, it’s Sci-fi.
star wars is overrated it is a good movie and ground breaking but. alien is a lot better nuff said
I wish I could have chosen three, then I would have listed them in the following order, though they would all get top honors.: Superman, Star Trek, and Star Wars.
Superman being it’s the first movie my hubby and I saw together and when we renewed our vows, we played the music to the flying sequence when Superman and Lois Lane fly together. For us, Christopher Reeves will always be OUR Superman!
Star Trek because I am a trekkie and I loved the movie.
Star Wars because I loved the action packness of it and fell in love with Harrison Ford.
I voted for “Slaughter House Five” but my all time favorite was missing from the list, “A Boy And His Dog”. Actually, I loved all of the films on this list except for “No Blade of Grass” and “Solaris (1972)”, only because I’ve never seen them, but I have seen the George Clooney version of Solaris and enjoyed it.
Hi, my name is Tim and I’m a Harlan Ellison fan. (is there a 12 step program for that?)
Star Wars put fun into sci-fi, as well as pushing the envelope of special effects. First really believable starships and robots.
Go back to the 50’s/60’s and give me the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Forbidden Planet, and The Day the Earth Stood Still.
Wow. Regardless of whichever one dominates, isn’t that quite an impression list for our genre for the decade? I think so.