There was a time, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when science fiction films seemed to be emerging from their cult status, and into the mainstream as films that could express the deepest and highest aspirations of mankind in ways that mere literary sci-fi could not. There were a plethora of intelligent films in that era.
Yes, there had been intelligent sci fi in the decades before. In the 1930s, there was William Cameron Menzies’ Things To Come, based upon the H.G. Wells tale. The 1950s saw such sci-fi films as The Day The Earth Stood Still, On The Beach, Forbidden Planet, The Incredible Shrinking Man, and Invasion Of The Body Snatchers.
But it really was the late 1960s that saw sci-fi reach a greatness besides mere ‘genre greatness.’ Genre greatness is where one can say that a film was a great film noir, sci-fi, romance, etc. But truly great films transcend their genres and become great art regardless of what art genre they originate from.
In this era there were folks who specialized in quality A science fiction films, unlike the B quality sci fi films of the past. These included heavyweight directors like Stanley Kubrick (Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb, 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange) and superstar actors like Charlton Heston (Planet Of The Apes, The Omega Man, Soylent Green).
But there were also many other quality and literate sci fi films like Slaughterhouse 5, The Andromeda Strain, Westworld, THX 1138, Silent Running, and Logan’s Run, just to name the best known. Then came the puerile Star Wars series (from George Lucas, who inexplicably also made the wonderful THX 1138), and sci-fi has never again reached the heights of that Golden Age which the Star Wars franchise killed off.
Yes, there have been a few exceptions- the first two films in both the Alien and The Terminator series, and the 2001 sequel 2010: The Year We Make Contact, but that’s about it. Star Trek does not count, since its franchise films were merely a leveraged television phenomenon.
However, one of the truly terrific sci-fi films that has been criminally neglected critically, is director Joseph Sargent’s hour and forty minute long Colossus: The Forbin Project, based upon D.F. Jones’ 1966 novel Colossus, and adapted for the screen by James Bridges. The film was shorn of any real star power, but the very fact that it lacked A List Hollywood names lends it an authenticity and believability that still carries through today.
Despite this and the also well made The Taking Of Pelham 1-2-3, in 1974, Sargent never made it to A List director status. Yet, Colossus: The Forbin Project is one of the rare genre films that mixes subgenres and succeeds. It is a Doomsday film, which is a vast range including films like On The Beach, Planet Of the Apes, Soylent Green, and The Omega Man, but it also a Frankenstein/Amok Computer film, as well.
Although Colossus, as a character, is never as memorable as HAL 9000 in 2001, it still is a chilling villain that hearkens back to the more innocent-minded 1950s foray into similar territory, The Invisible Boy, even if it is as out of date as its predecessor. It is the typical supercomputer of that era, the size of a vast building, with tape machines, a synthetically tinny robotic voice (done by the incomparable voice artist Paul Frees), and a missionary zeal to fulfill its stated mission - to bring peace to mankind, by whatever means necessary.
Article comments
1 - Ray Ellis
You are kidding, aren't you?
2 - Dan Schneider
No. More specifics?