1960s science fiction movies that are still worth watching

Joshua Tyler and Drew Dietz | Updated 1 hour ago

The sixties were a turning point in American culture and science fiction.

For sci-fi fans, it is now remembered as the decade that brought us Stanley Kubrick's breakthrough. 2001: A Space Odysseyan adaptation of the beloved HG Wells Time machineand one of the greatest milestones of all time Planet of the Apes.

Unfortunately, much of the decade's other great sci-fi films haven't stuck with modern audiences and are slowly being forgotten. Not if we can do anything about it!

Let's step into our time machine and travel back to an era when ideas were bigger and better than most special effects could create, but still left their mark on film history. These are the sci-fi movies of the 1960s that are still worth watching.

dr. Who and the Daleks (1965)

You know Doctor Who as a television show, but in 1965 the good Doctor got a big screen feature film titled dr. What and the Daleks. It was the first time the Doctor was seen in colour.

Best of all, the Doctor is played by Star Wars' own Grand Moff Tarkin Peter Cushing.

The film is an adaptation of one of the oldest Doctor Who series “The Daleks”. It features Dr. Who and his three young companions travel to the planet Skaro to confront the evil Daleks.

In this continuity, always intended to be separate from the show, the Doctor is actually named Dr. Who. And he's not a time lord, he's a human inventor who builds the TARDIS instead of stealing it. Most of the other changes are cosmetic, but it's still a unique piece of sci-fi history that any fan will want to check out.

The Last Man on Earth (1964)

Before Richard Matheson's landmark novel I am a Legend was turned into a Will Smith blockbuster and Charlton Heston's cheesy delight, the original adaptation starred the legendary Vincent Price, The last man on Earth. After a plague turns the population into vampiric undead, Robert Morgan tries to survive after the world has changed.

The last man on Earth is a bleak little film that is surprisingly effective in its bleak tone thanks to a sustained performance from the always excellent Price. It would inspire George Romero to change the game Night of the Living Deadso if you want to see where this movie came from, The last man on Earth have to look at the cooler.

Barbarella (1968)

Barbarella is not the steamy space babe flick that its reputation would lead you to believe.

Sure, the film does contain some mild depictions of nudity, but it's done in such a naive and innocent way that sometimes you hardly notice it.

Barbarella stars Jane Fonda as a solo space pilot traveling through space in a distant future where Earth has outgrown the need for barbaric things like violence and war. They have also gotten rid of sex, replacing it with the pill.

In this context, Barbarella is sent to track down a galactic villain with plans to restore violence and warfare. Early on in her journey, she discovers that this sex thing that people don't do anymore is actually pretty good. It's also helpful because whenever she does, the man she's dating is often inspired to greater heights. Barbarella literally helps the angel get his wings by making love to him.

That sounds pretty crazy, right? But check out what one of those sex scenes looks like, completely uncensored, in the video at the top of the article.

The sex all happens off-camera, and what you're actually looking at is a series of beautifully constructed sci-fi set pieces with actors of all abilities wearing lovingly designed and completely outlandish costumes. It's clear that their goal here was to create something more than a space movie. They were trying to create a very 60s free love visual art.

Do they succeed? It will be up to you, but we can safely say that there is no other film like it Barbarella and it's a staple of the decade for a reason.

Planet of the Vampires (1965)

Italian genre maestro Mario Bava had one of the biggest influences on science fiction cinema Planet of the Vampires. The story involves a spaceship crew responding to a distress signal on an unexplored planet where they find the remains of a long-dead giant. an alien species.

Sure sounds like another sci-fi horror movie you might know, right? Planet of the Vampires certainly inspired An alien but it's more of an alien zombie movie than a vampire movie. Mario Bava's usual colorful design and poppy tone make this a fun and important part of sci-fi cinema history.

The First Men in the Moon (1964)

Shortly before humans landed on the moon and found out what it was really like, Hollywood created this HG Wells adaptation that uses a sophisticated framing device to hold it all together.

Imagine if Neil Armstrong took his baby step and then found a note from someone in 1899 saying he wasn't the first.

The first men on the moon soon returns to that original, secret 1899 mission and explores what it might have been like if a man had gone to the moon in the Victorian era. The answer is that they may have gone underground and encountered a secret interior of the moon full of awesome Ray Harryhausen monsters. Oh, who doesn't love some Ray Harryhausen stop-motion monsters?

The film was never a box office hit, but soon became a cult success. It is now considered one of the best adaptations of HG Wells' work. George Pal Time machine gets tons of well-deserved love and attention, but The first men on the moon is another 1960s adaptation of a sci-fi classic you won't want to miss.

Fantastic Voyage (1966)

Long before Mrs. Frizzle boarded one of her students on the Magic School Bus and Futurama the crew entered Fry's bowels, Fantastic trip explored the inside of a Soviet defector. It won multiple awards, has an all-star cast, and has provided the visual language for every movie or television show you've ever seen that enters your bloodstream.

Released in 1966, Fantastic trip is a technological marvel of its time. The film's original trailer touted it as “a new kind of moviegoing experience,” and for once, it wasn't exaggerating. It was a fact.

Isaac Asimov, one of the the greatest science fiction authors all the while writing a novelization of the film that came out before the film.

Today Fantastic trip stands out as a turning point science fiction films, exploring a brand new setting that had never been done before on this scale. It is still a technical achievement and a wonderful adventure.

Robinson Crusoe on Mars (1964)

Think Matt Damon The Martian if it had been filmed in the 1960s and paired him with a monkey in a space suit. You would have Robinson Crusoe on Mars.

The film's main character isn't named Robinson Crusoe, but other than that, it's a pretty straightforward adaptation of Daniel Dafoe's classic novel, if it takes place in space.

Most of the Robinson Crusoe on Mars was filmed in Death Valley, but you'd never know it. The production design is great for the era and does its best to find a level of realism that matches the very limited scientific knowledge of what it might be like on Mars. And even the unrealistic parts are actually fun.

Watch a video of how these alien spaceships move. i like it

As a bonus, Adam West makes a brief appearance in the film as a cocky astronaut. He's there long enough to make you wonder why he wasn't cast as the lead in the movie. However Robinson Crusoe on Mars was notable enough to be reinstated and released from the benchmark collection. That should say it's worth a watch.

Seconds (1966)

In Secondsscreen icon Rock Hudson gives one of the best performances of his career as an aging stoic who is drawn to a secret company that can change his identity and rejuvenate him to find happiness without obligations.

In his new identity, he soon falls in with a bunch of naked hippies and tangles with a troubled woman who has also run away from her boring life. And he's still not happy.

Seconds was adapted from David Ely's novel and directed by legendary Hollywood luminary John Frankenheimer, who decided to use unusual compositions to give the film an unsettling feel, and he certainly succeeded.

Seconds plays like a particularly good episode The twilight zoneand it's always worth watching The twilight zone. Seconds does not differ.

X: The Man With X-Ray Eyes (1963)

Roger Corman is responsible for many science fiction films over the years and one of his best films of all time is X: Man with x-ray eyes. Ray Milland plays a scientist who wants to experiment with expanding human vision. He develops eye drops that give him x-ray vision, which he can initially control. But soon he can't sleep because he can see through his eyelids, and things get worse from there.

Thanks to Milland's sheer determination and the nightmarish decline the film descends into, X: Man with x-ray eyes takes what could be a terrible gag premise and treats it with serious sci-fi scrutiny and horror.

The Useless Professor (1963)

Steve Urkel tried to copy it.

Eddie Murphy tried to supplement it.

But Jerry Lewis' original 1963 version of the classic nerd-turned-cool-mad-science story is still the best.

Lewis plays a geek who does everything he can to stop being a geek. He even tries to work out. It's going so bad that the doctor tells him to give it up.

But a man of science never gives up. He finds a chemical formula that turns him into the confident man he always wanted to be. Unfortunately, all this confidence quickly turns him into a total jerk.

Jerry Lewis co-wrote and directed the film. After each scene, he used video playback to carefully assess what he had done. It is commonly used now, but he was one of the first to do it in 1963.

The result was an instant hit. The Nutty Professor is now considered one of Lewis' best films and one of the best comedies of the decade. Not a bad way to spend less than two hours.

Quatermass and pit (1967)

Released as Five million years to Earth USA, Quatermass and pit is actually part of a sci-fi horror classic that covers the character of Professor Bernard Quarmas, but this is the best of the bunch.

An ancient Martian spacecraft is discovered in London and contains insect corpses aliens. Revelations are made about the history of human evolution, and in the end, the specter of Martian psychic energy drives civilization into an apocalyptic frenzy. It's one of the most incredible and powerful sci-fi stories ever to grace the screen, and if it's more intense than you might be used to, just wait until that stunning finale. You won't regret it.

Do you have any favorite sci-fi movies from the 1960s? Leave your picks in the comments and be sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel for even more videos from us here at Giant Freakin Robot.