The Sixties

Psycho (Paramount 1960)
Director: Alfred Hitchcock

By now everyone has come in contact with this movie, either in it's original form or the recently released version. The movie has three main sequences that include the death of Janet Leigh's character. Then the murder of the private detective who is investigating the murder; then the discovery of the mummified body in the celler that holds the clue to the murderer.

Thunderball (Eon/UA 1965)
Director: Terence Young James

Bond has become, according to President Reagan, "a hero to inspire our times." In time, Bond has become everything to all men, and remains one thing to some women. In this chapter of a series of successful Bond films, Bond, played by Sean Connery, must recover two nuclear weapons that threaten the future of the world. Of course, there are the gadgets, the car, and women that make a Bond film a Bond film.

2001: A Space Odyssey (MGM 1968)
Director: Stanley Kubrick

With collaborators like writer Arthur C. Clarke and effects specialists like Wally Veevers and Douglas Trumbull, Stanley Kubrick created one of the best science fiction movies ever. 2001: A Space Odyssey became popular with young people who questioned the relationship between Man and Technology. The film itself had only 40 minutes of dialog, and audiences responded to the film as a visual and musical experience. The music in 2001 was extremely important with such pieces as Richard Strauss's tone poem, "Thus Spake Zarathustra", and Johann Strauss's "Blue Danube" waltz. And of course, HAL, the computer that has a nervous breakdown and takes revenge on his creators.

The Seventies        

Jaws (Zanuck-Brown/Universal 1975)
Director: Steven Spielberg

Jaws was a biting success for its time, and still manages to stop couch potatoes from flipping channels while channel surfing. The movie is based on the novel by Peter Benchley. The film is exceptionally done by Spielberg, who doesn't let us see the shark until late in the film; in addition to John Williams haunting shark theme which adds to the suspense and the shock of the shark attacks.

Star Wars (Fox/LucasFilm 1977)
Director: George Lucas

In just twenty years, the Star Wars trilogy has become what can only be called a space opera. It has spawned cartoons that featured two of the most memorable characters, R2D2 and C3PO (DROIDS), as well as another cartoon that featured the Ewoks (The Ewok Adventure and Ewoks: The Battle for Endor). The film featured Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker, Harrison Ford as Han Solo, Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia Organa, Sir Alec Guiness as Obe Wan, and David Prowse/James Earl Jones as Darth Vader.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Columbia 1977)
Director: Steven Spielberg

Richard Dreyfuss plays the hero in this Spielberg classic. He is swept up in an adventure that takes him away from his normal boring life. This is the reason audiences identify themselves with him, many of us often want to be more than we are. The story of is one of man makes contact with aliens from another planet. Communication is done by music and visual senses. The awesome landing of the spacecraft is the ultimate in special effects. Douglas Trumbull of 2001: A Space Odyssey was called in especially for the job of special effects.

The Incredible Hulk
Created by: Stan Lee

Stan Lee created the Incredible Hulk in 1962. His protagonist was Dr. Bruce Banner, a scientist that was accidently altered by an overdose of radiation. The outcome of this, Dr. Banner becomes a huge green body builder type guy when he gets angry. When the monster reverts to his human form, Dr. Banner remembers nothing of the monsters doing. In 1977, the Hulk was to television in a couple of pilot episodes, The Incredible Hulk, and The Return of the Incredible Hulk (1977). When the Hulk made it to television series, Bill Bixby played Dr. Bruce Banner, and Lou Ferrigno replaced him as the Incredible Hulk. The series lasted four years. Later movies followed, The Incredible Hulk Returns (1988), The Trial of the Incredible Hulk (1989), and The Death of the Incredible Hulk (1990).

Superman: The Movie (Salkind/WB 1978)
Director: Richard Donner

"You'll believe you can fly," said the publicity. Closely supervised by Richard Donner and his team of technicians, the effects ensure that this is so. To say that this film was heavily pre-sold is somewhat of an understatement. The merchandising for Superman products ran anywhere from books to lunch boxes. Fortunately, the film was a success the world over. The first of four movies, the first focused on the origin of the Man of Steel and the characters. These included Marlon Brando as Jor-El, Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor, Margot Kidder as the attractive heroine Lois Lane, and the man of steel himself, Christopher Reeve as Clark Kent/Superman.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture (Paramount 1979)
Director: Robert Wise

Only the starship Enterprise can make as fantastic a trip as Star Trek has. Gene Roddenberry's science fiction television series debuted on NBC in 1966. Science Fiction fans embraced it, but it was a consistent ratings loser. A letter writing campaign after the second season ensured the shows return, however after the third season the show was canceled in 1969. Shortly thereafter the went into syndication reruns and began playing almost daily on local TV stations. By 1974, the show had a loyal cult following (the were referred to as "trekkers"). They urged Roddenberry to revive the show, and so he did. Roddenberry created a made-for-TV movie called Star Trek II (Note that this is not the script of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan), this series would be remade into Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Soon Star Wars came out and Paramount decided to turn its Star Trek into a space opera costing $40 million. Star Trek: The Motion Picture was rushed into theaters for Christmas 1979. Fans made the movie popular, however critics and fans had mixed reviews about the movie being about special effects. Soon after writer Nicholas Meyer took over as director and put the series back on track with Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982), based on the character introduced in the episode "Space Seed". This movie ended with the death of Spock over the planet genesis. Leonard Nimoy (Spock) took over for Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984) and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986), by far the best of the original series movies. William Shatner directed Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989). In 1991, Nicholas Meyer directed Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (dedicated to Gene Roddenberry who died before he could see the end of the original series characters) and signaled the end of the original series movies and crew of the original Enterprise with a promising closing speech by Captain James T. Kirk (Shatner) on the future voyages of the starship Enterprise and the crew that would "...go where no man, or no one has gone before."

The Eighties       

Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark (Paramount 1981)
Director: Steven Spielberg
Story by: George Lucas and Philip Kaufman; screenplay: Lawerance Kasdan

George Lucas set the date to be 1936, a time when so many of his favorite serial were made. He had also noticed that Hitler had been obsessed with the occult, that began the story that he, Spielberg, and Kasdan would write. Lucas wanted the hero have some dark edges and they named him after Lucas's malamute dog. Harrison Ford is Indiana Jones, Jones must find the headpiece of the staff of Rah before the Nazis. If placed on a staff of proper length, it could be used to direct sunlight at the lost city of the ark of the covenant. In the beginning of the film we find that Jones is afraid of snakes, by the end of the film we find that the Jones that did not believe in magic, now does. Harrison Ford plays Indiana again for Temple of Doom (1984) and The Last Crusade (1989).

Heavy Metal (Columbia 1981)
Director: Ivan Reitman

Anthology of films based on the popular comic magazine. The best stories are well thought out, even though most of the stories are of an adolesence nature.

E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (Universal 1982)
Director: Steven Spielberg

Henry Thomas plays Elliot, a young boy who finds an alien (ET) that has been left behind when his ship is forced to make a quick departure. Elliot soon finds out that he has a connection to ET, he feels what ET feels. This is shown comically when ET gets drunk and Elliot while in school about to disect frogs, sets them free. The ending sequence of the film has Elliot and brother Michael and friends riding away on bikes from the adults to the forest so ET can go home.

Ghostbusters (Columbia 1984)
Director: Ivan Reitman

An unexpected hit of 1984, Ghostbusters pitted our four heros against evil forces from another dimensional plane. The boys made a return some years later, but were not as successful as the first time around.

Back to the Future (Univesal MGM 1985)
Director: Robert Zemeckis

Marty Mcfly (Michael J. Fox) goes back in time to 1955 with Doc Browns (Christopher Lloyd) time machine, a converted DeLorean. When Marty gets there his mother (Lea Thompson) falls in love with him. He must then ensure that his mother and father meet at a school dance or his existence would be erased. Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd reprise there roles for Back to the Future II (1989) and III (1990). Part two puts the duo in the future where they must stop Marty and Jennifers kids from going to jail. This soon turns out to be a rescue mission when Jennifer is taken to her home by the local police and the time machine is stolen by Biff (the Biff of that year), the villian the picture. Marty finds himself returning to 1955 to stop the Biff from that time from using a sports almanac that has all the scores of every sports game to the year 2000. Young Biff receives this gift from the Biff of the future. At the end of this movie Doc Brown is in the DeLorean when it is struck by lightening and is sent to the old west. This is where part three takes place. This part is a western and contains and exciting ending sequence where Marty is sent back to 1985, but Doc Brown does not make it. Upon Marty's return the time machine is destroyed when a train runs right through it. Confused yet? Later Doc Brown appears in a train that he has converted into a time machine. He is accompianed by his wife and his two children - Jules and Verne.