Old(er) Movies

[Vajras]

Not sure where to put this one but might be a fun topic to keep going, eh?

... does anyone have movies they have seen and are now today reminded were way ahead of the time when they first saw them?

i was reading an interview with Tom Hanks today (he of Apollo 13, Castaway, Forrest Gump, Sleepless in Seattle, Angels and Demons, Da Vinci Code etc) and he was saying that it was seeing Stanley Kubrick's '2001: a Space Odyssey' when he was 13 yo that propelled him into becoming an actor, (and btw, he also said he saw it more than 20 times which is a number that he has in common with a scientist at the LHC in Bern who also saw it the same no. of times Hanks did which is where he was when he was giving the interview!!)

Anyway, one of my "older" favourites is 'Soylent Green', starring Charlton Heston.. yes, he of Ben Hur fame! And why i thought of this idea today was a couple of our major food companies/corporations are now saying that they cannot guarantee the health/safety of their food products in future. That comment kinda makes this movie a bit more prescient than i thought it would be when i first saw it!

So, what are some of yours? and links would be good in your reply  biggrin

Soylent Green Plot:
It's the year 2022... People are still the same. They'll do anything to get what they need. And they need SOYLENT GREEN.
In an overpopulated futuristic Earth, a New York police detective finds himself marked for murder by government agents when he gets too close to a bizarre state secret involving the origins of a revolutionary and needed new foodstuff.

my Links
IMDb - Internet Movie Database
Soylent Green
Charlton Heston
Food coys try but can't guarantee safety

[Agnew]

A few weeks ago I tracked down and ordered the aussie M/cycle movie (in dvd) "Stone" from Argentina, and I'm currents eagerly awaiting the arrival of the 1985 flick "Gulag" starring David Keith &  Malcom McDowell from The Film Finders, usa

[yoda]

I've been trying to get hold of "Electric Dreams" (not to be confused with "Electric Blue") to rent or whatever.  It's on YouTube but that's not the same :)

I first saw that movie decades ago and it was definitely ahead of its time, given the desktop computer seemed to have huge storage capacity and extremely high speed Internet access :)

[veebee]

I remember Soylent Green.. very cool movie.... has all the right "ingredients" to make it very watchable.


What about "Z.P.G"... (Zero Population growth). The movie is set in the "future", when Earth is extremely over populated, and a ZPG law is in place across the planet.

Cant remember who was in it, but the scenes which have always stuck in my mind were of one of the female "star", after a night of sex (or a night with a bit of sex in it..) determines she is pregnant through a device at home, and also terminates the "baby" with a device in the house.

The other scene  shows a man and woman (think it was both) who were found guilty of trying to have a child, being chased down in an eerie night scene with spotlights etc, then a large dome type thing went down over them and they were exterminated for their crimes against the planet .....

I have always loved Sci-fi - always been my favourite movies... would get up ANY time of the night if one was on....

my favourite Sci-fi "telemovie", was "First Men in the moon".. (not ON the moon... IN the moon..)

A scientist discovers/ creates a compound called "Calvarite" which basically makes whatever it is painted on, unaffected by gravity. He makes a "space ship' and they go to the moon, to find evidence of an apparently long gone civilisation....
unfortunately for the Astronauts, the inhabitants are NOT extinct, and are not particularly friendly either.... what can they do to save themselves???

can they befriend the aliens and work with each other??

is there some way that we, Mankind, can help these poor creatures to become civilised and lead better lives?? ....

only one way to find out.... watch the movie !

[yoda]

Hmm I don't know that one Veebee.  But I do remember a movie about people going into a submarine, which is then shrunk and injected into someone's blood. 

They travel to the heart (I think) to make repairs and get attacked by (I think) white blood cells.  A bit like Nano Technology, but with humans rather than bots :)  Anyone remember that one?

[Snowman]

The miniature submarine movie was called Fantastic Voyage (edit: star Racquel Welsh!! The first woman I ever had a crush on!) and it was a blood clot in the brain they went to repair but you're right, they did go via the heart.

I also remember Soylent Green, written by Harry Harrison (the book if I remember correctly).

Some of my favourite movies from childhood are Silent Running (early save the environment film), Dark Star (dark humour) and the Omega Man (also starring Charlton Heston, remade recently by Will Smith in 'I am Legend'). Also, the original Planet of the Apes seemed ahead of it's time with it's attempt at portraying mans destructive nature.

[kashi]

The posts about Sci-fi movies reminded me of Forbidden Planet. It showed that "monsters from the Id" will always be there no matter how advanced human technology and civilisation becomes. :)

Also it was the first movie to have all electronic "music". Many of the plot themes, concepts and style of portrayal were used later in other science fiction movies and TV shows.

Years before I first watched Forbidden Planet on TV I saw a Robby the Robot in person at the Metro, Bondi Junction. I can't remember what movie he was promoting, but it wasn't Forbidden Planet.

Plot: Starship cruiser commander Adams (Leslie Nielsen), and his crew land on Altair-4 to search for survivors from a previous expedition. He finds Dr Edward Morbius, super-scientist and his daughter Altaira who, with Robby the Robot, are the planet's only inhabitants. Morbius has built and utilises technology far too advanced to have been devised by humans.  Soon, attacks begin on the crew's spaceship by an unknown force. The truth needs to be revealed before the entire crew is torn apart!

Forbidden Planet
Louis and Bebe Barron - Electronic Music

[Vajras]

Yep Snowman, Yoda was thinking of "Fantastic Voyage" - great movie and very ahead of its time.

@ Yoda - Electric Dreams i remember too.

and @ Agnew - Stone - a couple of mates of mine were in that movie as extras in the funeral cortege scene on the expressway - one guy was chosen because he had a really cool sidecar but his bike wasn't the one with the coffin!! It was also a cult movie for all the new bikers with their Kwaka 900's - the only bike on the road at the time that could out-run the cops bikes!!!

And speaking of coffins, does anyone remember going to see Harold and Maude? - another great cult movie of the early 70's

[Furlozza]

Clockwork Orange............ The music mainly (love me classical *grin*) But when you think of the senseless violence around the world today........

[Simone]

Not so old, but Gattaca (1997) with all this DNA / Genetic talk in the news past few days

OH and while we're at & all freaked out about swine flu, lets throw in 12 Monkeys

[BF]

Old movies?  Well the first one burned into my memory (when I was 6 years old!!), and the one to start me down the road of Sci-fi addiction was..

Well wait for it, see if you can guess from these clues before scrolling down..




The stars were Michael York, Farrah Fawcett and Peter Ustinov.






It was released either late '76 or early '77  (can't quite remember.., I think I saw it in early '77)






It's a post ( one assumes nuclear ) holocaust movie.






Set in the 23rd century.






Carousel.






Sandman.






Need more clues??






You must die at 30 years of age.






Peter Ustinov's character doesn't have a name and he has lots of cats.







C'mon...







Ok, the answer is....





















Logan's Run!


I still love it 

[veebee]

Yep, great movie BF.. I like it too.

Shame about dying at 30 though.. that would mean I only have a few years left...

[Snowman]

I have Logans Run on dvd. Did you know they are remaking it?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0402344/