History of Science Fiction Films - 1970s

1970s

The era of manned trips to the Moon saw a resurgence of interest in the science fiction film in the 1970s. Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, both released in 1977, contained a mystical element reminiscent of 2001: A Space Odyssey. The space discoveries of the 1970s created a growing sense of marvel about the universe that was reflected in these films.

However, the early 1970s also saw the continued theme of paranoia, with humanity under threat from ecological or technological adversaries of its own creation. Notable films of this period included Silent Running (ecology), the sequels to Planet of the Apes (man vs. evolution), Westworld (man vs. robot) and THX 1138 (man vs. the state), and Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange (man vs. brainwashing).

The conspiracy thriller film was a popular staple of this period, where the paranoia of plots by the national government or corporate entities had replaced the implied communist enemy of the 1950s. These films included such efforts as Alien, Capricorn One, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Logan's Run, The Day of the Dolphin, Soylent Green and Futureworld.

The slow-paced Solaris made by Andrei Tarkovsky and released in 1972 (and remade as a much shorter film by Steven Soderbergh in 2002) matches and in some assessments exceeds 2001 in its visuals and philosophic scope, while other critics find it plodding and pretentious.

The science fiction comedy had what may have been its finest hours in the 1970s, with Woody Allen's Sleeper and Dan O'Bannon's Dark Star.

In 1979, three notable science fiction films appeared. Star Trek: The Motion Picture brought the much loved television series to the big screen for the first time. Alien upped the ante on how scary a screen monster could be. And Time After Time pitted H. G. Wells against Jack the Ripper, with a screenplay by Nicholas Meyer, who would later go on to direct two of the installments in the Star Trek film series. The year 1979 also saw Walt Disney Productions' venture into the science fiction genre with The Black Hole, which was poorly received but praised highly for its special effects.