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Best Science fiction Movies of the 1970s
#1 Star Wars (1977) · ★ 8.2 · 22,955 votes · 2h 1m · action, adventure, science-fictionPrincess Leia is captured and held hostage by the evil Imperial forces in their effort to take over the galactic Empire. Venturesome Luke Skywalker and dashing captain Han Solo tea…
#2 Alien (1979) · ★ 8.2 · 16,863 votes · 1h 57m · horror, science-fictionDuring its return to the earth, commercial spaceship Nostromo intercepts a distress signal from a distant planet. When a three-member team of the crew discovers a chamber containin…
#3 A Clockwork Orange (1971) · ★ 8.2 · 14,099 votes · 2h 17m · science-fiction, crimeIn a near-future Britain, young Alexander DeLarge and his pals get their kicks beating and raping anyone they please. When not destroying the lives of others, Alex swoons to the mu…
#4 Stalker (1979) · ★ 8.1 · 2,626 votes · 2h 42m · drama, science-fictionNear a gray and unnamed city is the Zone, a place guarded by barbed wire and soldiers, and where the normal laws of physics are victim to frequent anomalies. A stalker guides two m…
#5 Solaris (1972) · ★ 7.8 · 1,894 votes · 2h 47m · drama, science-fiction, mysteryA psychologist is sent to a space station orbiting a planet called Solaris to investigate the death of a doctor and the mental problems of cosmonauts on the station. He soon discov…
#6 Fantastic Planet (1973) · ★ 7.6 · 1,138 votes · 1h 12m · science-fiction, animationOn the planet Ygam, the Draags, extremely technologically and spiritually advanced blue humanoids, consider the tiny Oms, human beings descendants of Terra's inhabitants, as ignora…
#7 Dawn of the Dead (1978) · ★ 7.5 · 2,384 votes · 2h 7m · horror, science-fictionDuring an ever-growing epidemic of zombies that have risen from the dead, two Philadelphia SWAT team members, a traffic reporter, and his television-executive girlfriend seek refug…
#8 Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) · ★ 7.4 · 4,845 votes · 2h 17m · drama, science-fictionAfter an encounter with UFOs, an electricity linesman feels undeniably drawn to an isolated area in the wilderness where something spectacular is about to happen.…
#9 The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) · ★ 7.4 · 3,235 votes · 1h 40m · comedy, fantasy, horrorAfter getting a flat tire in the middle of nowhere, newly engaged couple Brad and Janet encounter the eerie mansion of the flamboyant, seductive Dr Frank-N-Furter and a variety of…
#10 Eraserhead (1977) · ★ 7.3 · 2,845 votes · 1h 29m · fantasy, horror, science-fictionFirst-time father Henry Spencer tries to survive his industrial environment, his angry girlfriend, and the unbearable screams of his newly born mutant child.…
#11 Superman (1978) · ★ 7.2 · 4,446 votes · 2h 24m · action, adventure, science-fictionMild-mannered Clark Kent works as a reporter at the Daily Planet alongside his crush, Lois Lane. Clark must summon his superhero alter-ego when the nefarious Lex Luthor launches a…
#12 Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) · ★ 7.2 · 1,389 votes · 1h 56m · horror, science-fictionThe residents of San Francisco are becoming drone-like shadows of their former selves, and as the phenomenon spreads, two Department of Health workers uncover the horrifying truth.…
#13 The Andromeda Strain (1971) · ★ 7.1 · 835 votes · 2h 11m · thriller, drama, science-fictionWhen virtually all of the residents of Piedmont, New Mexico are found dead after the return to Earth of a space satellite, the head of the US Air Force's Project Scoop declares an…
#14 Soylent Green (1973) · ★ 6.9 · 1,477 votes · 1h 37m · thriller, science-fiction, crimeIn the year 2022, overcrowding, pollution, and resource depletion have reduced society’s leaders to finding food for the teeming masses. The answer is Soylent Green.…
#15 Sleeper (1973) · ★ 6.9 · 864 votes · 1h 27m · comedy, science-fictionMiles Monroe, a clarinet-playing health food store proprietor, is revived out of cryostasis 200 years into a future world in order to help rebels fight an oppressive government reg…
#16 Westworld (1973) · ★ 6.8 · 1,528 votes · 1h 29m · adventure, science-fiction, westernDelos is a futuristic amusement park that features themed worlds populated by human-like androids. After two patrons have a run-in with a menacing gunslinger in West World, the and…
#17 Capricorn One (1977) · ★ 6.8 · 529 votes · 2h 3m · action, thriller, dramaIn order to protect the reputation of the American space program, a team of NASA administrators turn the first Mars mission into a phony Mars landing. Under threat of harm to their…
#18 Mad Max (1979) · ★ 6.7 · 5,133 votes · 1h 31m · action, adventure, thrillerIn the ravaged near-future, a savage motorcycle gang rules the road. Terrorizing innocent civilians while tearing up the streets, the ruthless gang laughs in the face of a police f…
#19 The Brood (1979) · ★ 6.7 · 846 votes · 1h 32m · horror, science-fictionA man tries to uncover an unconventional psychologist's therapy techniques on his institutionalised wife, amidst a series of brutal murders.…
#20 Logan's Run (1976) · ★ 6.6 · 1,089 votes · 1h 58m · action, science-fictionIn the 23rd century, inhabitants of a domed city freely experience all of life's pleasures — but no one is allowed to live past 30. Citizens can try for a chance at being "renewed"…
#21 Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) · ★ 6.5 · 2,015 votes · 2h 11m · adventure, science-fiction, mysteryWhen an unidentified alien destroys three powerful Klingon cruisers, Captain James T. Kirk returns to the newly transformed U.S.S. Enterprise to take command.…
#22 Phantasm (1979) · ★ 6.5 · 814 votes · 1h 29m · horror, science-fictionA teenage boy and his friends face off against a mysterious grave robber, known only as the Tall Man, who employs a lethal arsenal of unearthly weapons.…
#23 The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976) · ★ 6.5 · 625 votes · 2h 19m · fantasy, drama, science-fictionThomas Jerome Newton is an alien who has come to Earth in search of water to save his home planet. Aided by lawyer Oliver Farnsworth, Thomas uses his knowledge of advanced technolo…
#24 Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971) · ★ 6.4 · 1,274 votes · 1h 38m · action, science-fictionThe world is shocked by the appearance of three talking chimpanzees, who arrived mysteriously in a spacecraft. Intrigued by their intelligence, humans use them for research - until…
#25 THX 1138 (1971) · ★ 6.4 · 1,120 votes · 1h 26m · action, drama, science-fictionPeople in the future live in a totalitarian society. A technician named THX 1138 lives a mundane life between work and taking a controlled consumption of drugs that the government…
#26 Shivers (1975) · ★ 6.4 · 737 votes · 1h 28m · horror, science-fictionThe residents of a suburban high-rise apartment building are infected by parasites that turn them into mindless nymphomaniac fiends.…
#27 Silent Running (1972) · ★ 6.4 · 668 votes · 1h 29m · adventure, drama, science-fictionAfter the entire flora goes extinct, ecologist Lowell maintains a greenhouse aboard a space station for the future with his android companions. However, he rebels after being order…
#28 Rollerball (1975) · ★ 6.3 · 648 votes · 2h 5m · action, drama, science-fictionIn a corporate-controlled future, an ultra-violent sport known as Rollerball represents the world, and one of its powerful athletes is out to defy those who want him out of the gam…
#29 Rabid (1977) · ★ 6.3 · 583 votes · 1h 31m · horror, science-fictionA young woman develops a taste for human blood after experimental plastic surgery, and her victims turn into bloodthirsty zombies, leading into a city-wide epidemic.…
#30 Moonraker (1979) · ★ 6.2 · 2,297 votes · 2h 6m · action, adventure, thrillerAfter Drax Industries' Moonraker space shuttle is hijacked, secret agent James Bond is assigned to investigate, traveling to California to meet the company's owner, the mysterious…
#31 Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970) · ★ 6.2 · 1,527 votes · 1h 35m · adventure, science-fiction, mysteryThe sole survivor of an interplanetary rescue mission lands on the planet of the apes, and uncovers a horrible secret beneath the surface.…
#32 Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972) · ★ 6.2 · 1,124 votes · 1h 28m · action, science-fictionIn a futuristic world that has embraced ape slavery, a chimpanzee named Caesar resurfaces after almost twenty years of hiding from the authorities, and prepares for a revolt agains…
#33 The Omega Man (1971) · ★ 6.2 · 641 votes · 1h 38m · action, thriller, dramaDue to an experimental vaccine, Dr. Robert Neville is the only human survivor of an apocalyptic war waged with biological weapons. Besides him, only a few hundred deformed, nocturn…
#34 Death Race 2000 (1975) · ★ 6.2 · 598 votes · 1h 20m · action, comedy, science-fictionIn a boorish future, the government sponsors a popular, but bloody, cross-country race in which points are scored by mowing down pedestrians. Five teams, each comprised of a male a…
#35 The Gendarme and the Creatures from Outer Space (1979) · ★ 6.1 · 672 votes · 1h 36m · comedy, science-fictionThe bungling inspector Cruchot finds himself trying to save the residents of St. Tropez from some oil-drinking humanoid aliens. The only way to tell the aliens from the real people…
#36 Piranha (1978) · ★ 6.0 · 780 votes · 1h 34m · comedy, horror, science-fictionWhen flesh-eating piranhas are accidentally released into a summer resort's rivers, the guests become their next meal.…
#37 Dark Star (1974) · ★ 6.0 · 674 votes · 1h 23m · comedy, science-fictionA group of scientists are sent on a mission to destroy unstable planets. Twenty years into their mission, they have to battle their alien mascot as well as a "sensitive" and intell…
#38 Zardoz (1974) · ★ 5.9 · 538 votes · 1h 46m · action, fantasy, thrillerIn the far future, a savage trained only to kill finds a way into the community of bored immortals that alone preserves humanity's achievements.…
#39 The Black Hole (1979) · ★ 5.8 · 573 votes · 1h 38m · action, adventure, science-fictionThe explorer craft USS Palomino is returning to Earth after a fruitless 18-month search for extra-terrestrial life when the crew comes upon a supposedly lost ship, the USS Cygnus,…
#40 Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973) · ★ 5.7 · 1,073 votes · 1h 33m · action, science-fictionThe fifth and final episode in the Planet of the Apes series. After the collapse of human civilization, a community of intelligent apes led by Caesar lives in harmony with a group…