By Joshua Tyler and Drew Dietsch | Updated
The 60s were a turning point in American culture and science fiction.
For sci-fi movie lovers, it is now remembered as the decade that brought Stanley Kubrick to prominence. 2001: A Space Odysseya popular adaptation of HG Wells’ The Time Machineand one of the biggest twists ever Planet of the Apes.
Unfortunately, many science fiction films do not sit well with modern people and are somewhat forgotten. Not if we can do anything about it!
Let’s step into our time machine and go back to an era when ideas were bigger and better than most special effects they could pull off but still left their mark on movie history.
This is Giant Freakin Robot and these are the 1960s science fiction movies 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 movie called Dr. Who and the Daleks. It was the first time the Doctor had appeared in color.
Best of all, the Doctor is played by Grand Moff Tarkin from Star Wars, Peter Cushing.
The film is adapted from one of the classics Doctor Who series, “The Daleks.” It includes Dr. Who and his three young friends travel to the planet Skaro to face the evil Daleks.
In this continuity—which is always intended to be different from that of the show—the Doctor is actually named Dr. And he’s not a time lord, he’s a human inventor who built the TARDIS rather than stealing it. Most of the other changes are cosmetic in nature, but this still stands as a unique piece of sci-fi history that any fan wants to check out.
The Last Man on Earth (1964)
Before Richard Matheson’s epic novel I am a Legend was turned into a Will Smith and Charlton Heston cheesy blockbuster, starring Vincent Price in the lead role, The Last Man on Earth. After a disease turns the population into vampiric undead, Robert Morgan bends over and tries to survive after the world has changed.
The Last Man on Earth a bleak, understated movie that works surprisingly well for its grim tone, thanks to strong performances from a consistently good cast. It will continue to inspire George Romero’s game changer Night of the Living Deadso if you want to see where that movie is from, The Last Man on Earth it’s a chiller to watch.
Barbarella (1968)
Barbarella it’s not the hot space babe movie its reputation would lead you to believe.
Sure, the movie doesn’t have moderate nudity, but it’s done so casually and innocently that at times, you almost don’t notice.
Barbarella stars Jane Fonda as a solo space pilot in a distant future where Earth has advanced beyond the need for barbaric things like violence and war. Having given up sex, they replaced it with a pill.
In that context, Barbarella is sent to track down a galactic villain with plans to bring back violence and war. At the beginning of his journey, he discovers that this sex thing that people no longer have is actually very good. It also helps, because whenever she does it, the man she marries usually ends up very inspired. Barbarella literally helps an angel get his wings by making love to him.
That sounds silly, doesn’t it? But check out what one of those sex scenes looks like, completely uncensored, in the video above the title.
All the sex takes place off-camera, and what you’re watching is essentially a series of well-crafted sci-fi scenes where actors of various talents wear lovingly designed and highly unusual outfits. It’s clear that their goal here was to create something more than a space movie. They were trying to create a great ’60s kind of free love visual art.
Are they successful? That will be up to you but we can say for sure that there is no other movie like it Barbarella and it’s a staple of the decade for a reason.
Planet of the Vampires (1965)
Italian genre producer Mario Bava made one of the biggest impacts on sci-fi cinema with Planet of the Vampires. The story involves space crews responding to a distress signal on an unexplored planet where they end up finding the remains of a long-dead species.
It sure sounds like another sci-fi horror movie you might be familiar with, doesn’t it? Planet of the Vampires certainly inspired Alien but it’s more of a zombie alien movie than a vampire one. Mario Bava’s classic colorful design and poppy tone make it a fun and important piece of sci-fi cinema history.
First Men in the Moon (1964)
Just before people came to the moon and discovered what it was really like, Hollywood produced this adaptation of HG Wells using a beautiful collage frame to tie it all together.
Imagine if Neil Armstrong took his one small step, then found a note written by someone from 1899 telling him he was not the first.
The First Men on the Moon quickly flashes back to that first, secret mission of 1899 and explores what it would have been like if a man had gone to the moon in Victorian times. The answer is that they may end up underground and encounter a secret lunar interior filled with Ray Harryhausen-esque monsters. Oh, who doesn’t love some Ray Harryhausen stop-motion monsters?
The film was not a box office hit, but it quickly became a cult success. It is now considered one of the best adaptations of HG Wells’ work. George Pal The Time Machine he gets tons of love and attention that he deserves, though The First Men on the Moon another ’60s version of the science fiction classic you won’t want to skip.
Fantastic Voyage (1966)
It was long before Ms. Frizzle took the Magic School Bus and ran into one of her students once Futurama the staff entered Fry’s bowels, A Wonderful Journey inspected the interior of a Soviet defector. The film won multiple awards, featured an all-star cast, and provided the visual language of every movie or television show you’ve seen that goes into the circulatory system.
Released in 1966, A Wonderful Journey it is a technological marvel of its day. The movie’s first trailer announced it as “a new kind of movie experience,” and for once, it wasn’t an exaggeration. It was true.
Isaac Asimov, one of those great sci-fi writers all the while, he wrote a remake of the film, which came out before the film.
Today, A Wonderful Journey stands out as a turning point sci-fi movies by exploring a brand new setting that has never been done on this scale before. It still stands as a technological advancement and an amazing adventure.
Robinson Crusoe on Mars (1964)
Think Matt Damon The Martian if only it had been filmed in the 1960s and paired him with a satiated monkey in space. You would have it Robinson Crusoe on Mars.
The main character of the film is not named Robinson Crusoe, but other than that, it is a good direct adaptation of the classic novel by Daniel Dafoe, if it takes place in space.
Most of Robinson Crusoe on Mars it was filmed in Death Valley, but you wouldn’t know it. The production design is excellent for this period, and does its best to achieve a level of realism that matches the limited scientific knowledge of what it would be like on Mars. And even the non-original parts are really fun.
Check out how these alien spaceships move in the video. I love it.
As a bonus, Adam West appears briefly in the movie as a cocky astronaut. He’s only there long enough to make you wonder why he wasn’t cast as the lead in the film. However, Robinson Crusoe on Mars it was notable enough to be restored and released by the Criterion Collection. That should tell you it’s the right watch.
Seconds (1966)
In Secondsscreen icon Rock Hudson gives one of the best performances of his career as an aging stoic who is lured by a secret company that can change his identity and make him younger, as a way to find happiness without responsibility.
In his new face, he quickly falls in with a bunch of naked hippies and finds himself in a fight with an unhappy woman who has also run away from her boring life. And he’s still not happy.
Seconds it was adapted from a novel by David Ely and directed by Hollywood star John Frankenheimer, who set out to use off-kilter songs to give his film a nostalgic feel and definitely succeeded.
Seconds plays like a great episode The Twilight Zoneand it’s always worth watching The Twilight Zone. Seconds it is not different.
X: The Man with X-Ray Eyes (1963)
Roger Corman has been responsible for a lot of sci-fi flicks over the years, and this is one of his best X: The man with X-Ray eyes. Ray Milland plays a scientist who wants to try to increase the power of human vision. He gets eye drops that give him x ray vision which he can control at first. But soon, he can’t sleep because he sees through his eyelids and things get worse from there.
Because of Milland’s total dedication and the incredible lows the film goes into, X: The man with X-Ray eyes takes what could be a horror gag premise and treats it with a deep exploration of sci-fi and horror.
Professor Nutty (1963)
Steve Urkel tried to copy it.
Eddie Murphy tried to end it.
But Jerry Lewis’ original 1963 version of the classic fantasy turns into a cool, mad science story is still the best version.
Lewis plays a geek who does everything he can to stop being a geek. He also tries to exercise. It’s so bad that her doctor tells her to stop.
But the man of science does not give up. He finds a chemical formula that transforms him into the confident man he’s always wanted to be. Unfortunately, all that confidence quickly turns him into a mess.
Jerry Lewis both wrote and directed the film. He used video playback after each scene to carefully examine what he had done. That is commonly used now, but he was one of the first to do it back in 1963.
The result was an immediate beating. Professor Nutty it is now considered one of Lewis’ best movies and one of the biggest comedies of the decade. Not a bad way to spend less than two hours.
Quatermass and Pit (1967)
Released as Five Million Years on Earth in the US, Quatermass and Pit it’s actually part of a series of sci-fi horror classics around the character of Professor Bernard Quatermass, but this is the best of the bunch.
An ancient Martian spacecraft has been unearthed in London and inside are the corpses of animals that live like insects. Discoveries about the history of human evolution are revealed and ultimately, the specter of the Martian mind force propels civilization into apocalyptic shame. It’s one of the most amazing and powerful sci-fi stories ever put on screen, and if it’s more intense than you might be used to, just wait until that fantastic ending. You won’t regret it.
Do you have a favorite sci-fi movie from the 1960s? Leave your picks in the comments and be sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel for more videos from us here at Giant Freakin Robot.
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