The population bomb, pollution, nuclear war, and technology out of control all figured into the mindframe that characterized the majority of science fiction films in the early '70s. The tone of these movies reveal the purveying pessimistic attitude about the planet and it's most destructive species -- the human. Also addressed were new concepts of space, time, and our relationship to nature and the universe. Let's start with FUTURE SHOCK 1973. You might have seen this jazzy and jarring educational flick in social studies class. Narrated by the ever overly verbose Orson Welles, this adaptation of Alvin Toffler’s best seller begins by confronting us with a unsettling montage of contemporary bummers. Car crashes, wars, civil unrest and a menacing android couple in the woods. Welcome to the “plugged-in, clicked-on ”New Society.” More of a global shopping mall than village where the old traditions and institutions are dying out leading us to an instant and disposable world run by those big, old “punch card” computer behemoths. The future is now. Can we keep up with all the rapid changes? Supersonic jets, test tube babies, flower picking robots, bionics, cryonics, facelifts, transplanted organs and transient hitchhikers. As was typical in the early ‘70s, the film presumed a new civilization was emerging in an climate of strikes, equal rights, and protests. By their estimation right now we should all be living in group marriage communes with replaceable limbs and electric socket skulls. Not quite. But they pretty accurately predicted the hectic cyber world we’ve all been programmed to live with and even embrace. Composer Gil Mellé provides a switched-on soundtrack of distressing, discordant sounds and jet set grooves.

The Late Great Planet Earth.....

The world of ZPG (ZERO POPULATION GROWTH) 1971 is particularly bleak. Earth's atmosphere is a permanent thick cloud of smog. To go outside you must have a gas mask. To halt out of control over population, the totalitarian government forbids procreation. To satisfy maternal instincts couples buy creepy, lifelike computerized baby dolls. People wait in line for years to visit a museum of stuffed cats and dogs and other relics of the past. Cornel Wilde's NO BLADE OF GRASS 1970 finds a family fleeing London after a chemical disaster starts killing off the population. They head out to the countryside and meet up with some nasty bikers. Many horrors and tragedies befall them before the unhappy ending. George Lucas' THX-1138 1970 is a major heavy sci fi downer. Everybody's bald, everything is white, sterile, and man-made. After starring in the hugely successful PLANET OF THE APES 1968 Charleton Heston became the early '70s sci fi star. First up, he played the last man alive in the ultimate futuristic bummer THE OMEGA MAN 1971. He spends most of his time driving around a desolate Los Angeles, fighting off both loneliness and albino-like mutant zombies. Kool! Japan got into the act with PROPHESIES OF NOSTRODEMUS 1974.

Satires.....

Not all end-of-the-world flicks were dour distopias. Some infused humor to illustrate the absurdity of modern man. After making the Beatles movies, Richard Lester adapted a play by Goon Show writer Spike Milligan. The result was THE BEDSITTING ROOM 1969 a sad, mad farce as survivors cope with life after The Bomb. People slowly turn into furniture, mutant babies are born. Black comedy also informs A BOY AND HIS DOG 1975. Based on the Harlan Ellison novella, it's set in a post-apocalyptic desert world. We follow Don Johnson as a renegade nomad and his dog Blood who talks to him psychically. THE MONITORS 1969 is a more quirky take on what our future might be. Aliens from outer space with only the best intentions, take control of earth and become controlling moral guardians. Some earthlings rebel because they feel more at home in the irrational violent world man has created. Kinda like a thrift store version of The Avengers, it has an appealing style, but suffers from the presence of stale TV sitcom comedians and their tired shtick. Still, it's an interesting curio worth seeking out. A fun end of the world flick is THE FINAL PROGRAMME (THE LAST DAYS OF MAN ON EARTH) 1974, based on a novel by cult science fiction writer Michael Moorecock. The movie has an irreverent, cartoonish style that sets it apart from other doomsday movies. Lots of colored plastic and pitch black humor. And its de-evolution punchline at the end is a hoot.
If you need a sci-fi excursion where you can turn off your brain, check out TOOMORROW 1970. After helping to create the Monkees, shlockmeister Don Kirshner turned to the concept of sci fi hijinks with a new prefab group called Toomorrow, featuring a teen Olivia Newton John, seen here in her Marsha Brady best. The project didn't take off and all that remains is one flop album and this artifact of bubblegum pop kitsch that plays like a live action version of Josie and the Pusscats. The flimsy plot concerns extraterrestrials, the Alphoids, who have found that this band's sub-Archies drivel, especially their electronic keyboard "the Tonaliser", sends positive vibes that will help their species survive. This is the only flick know in which an analog synthesizer can save a planet. An alien representative tries to recruit them to play on their planet, but the group resists deciding to perform on earth and beam their galactic groove to the heavens. Mingled in all this fluff, is a trite stab at a topical theme with a subplot about campus unrest. The whole time I wished Sun Ra would swoop down and cosmically annihilate these geezers.

A Thinking Persons Sci Fi.....

A handful of the '70s sci-fi stretched out from previous genre cliches. After scoring a hit with DELIVERANCE 1972, 20th Century Fox gave British director/writer John Boorman carte blanche for his next project ZARDOZ 1974 his epic philosophical parable. If not for his previous hit, the studio probably would never have financed such a curious flick. Lofty concepts of evolution are addressed in PHASE IV 1973. The film's ads warned, "A race of super ants delivers an ultimatum to mankind - ADAPT OR DIE!" Experimental filmmaker Jim McBride turned in a unique sci fi bummer with GLEN AND RANDA 1971. Some find this slow paced film boring and hopelessly dated. I really liked it's quiet, documentary-like approach to it's vision of a lawless, post-apocalyptic world.

Before STAR WARS.....

On the other end of the spectrum, Hollywood mostly cranked big-budget sci-fi clunkers in the pre-STAR WARS 1977 days. Other than the fact that they were mostly uninspired, the public rejected these flops for their bleak views of what was to be our near future. They were no match for the old Hollywood-style action/adventure of George Lucas' fairy tale in space. ROLLERBALL 1975 is set around a wildly popular, corporate sponsored blood sport combining football and roller derby. The world of LOGAN'S RUN 1976 is one of shopping malls and '70s looking people with Farrah hair. In fact, the interior city setting was a just constructed Dallas shopping mall. The film was definitely a disappointment. It looks cheap and the drama feels phoney. Still, there's some salvageable moments; the look of Logan and the Sandmen, the psychedelic carousel of death, the Sex Shop, feral sewer children a groovy ice cave. But outside The Dome City the flick grinds to a halt. The later Washington, D.C. scenes with Peter Ustinov are dull and the movie never makes it back to it's more entertaining chintzy disco feel.

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