Science Fiction Films of the Seventies

by Craig W. Anderson

Why the seventies? This decade produced some of the best and the worst ever in the science fiction genre-but more importantly the seventies supplied the public with entertainment so popular, and so lucrative, that films like Star Wars, Close Encounters, Alien, and Superman set new standards for box-office gross, one after another. In 1970 only 5 percent of movie rentals were science fiction films-by 1980 more than 35 percent were! An incredible decade... A reference work filled with wry insight, production anecdotes, guided tours through tortured plots, informed guffaws over actor gaffes, and solid critical information both artistic and technical. Cast and credits listing are given in complete detail for each film.

271 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1985

About the author

Writer for 25 years on business and agriculture; editor; published author, book "Science Fiction Films of the Seventies" and in national venues such as Asimov's, Starlog, Night Cry, Twilight Zone Magazine; science fiction illustrator and artist; raised in Central Valley, attended San Jose State; partnered with father in a retail business; worked as a business consultant and public speaker; international sales with Dole Pineapple; coached high school track & field, soccer for 21 years.

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book about science fiction films from a very fruitful period. It covers the whole gamut from Omega Man to Solaris. Written during a time when science fiction wasn't being taken particularly seriously by major critics. The author weighs the relative merits of each film he covers and offers good film criticism that doesn't praise the quality of the idea while ignoring the quality of the execution and presentation. He takes shots at ambitious failures like Soylent Green, The Black Hole, and The Island of Dr. Moreau and rightly praises THX-1138, Solaris, among others. I remember in his discussion of Star Wars he talked a lot about its surprise success and how a lot of critics at the time didn't know what to make of it because it was a movie that was trying to be merely fun and not something deathly serious.

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

pretty good...but there are few times when i wondered if the author actually saw a film he was commenting on.