What 1950s/60s Sci Fi movies have you watched recently?

For me it’s The Atomic Submarine right now. Really bad stuff. But I’m talking more like Them! and such. Have at it.

Does the MST3K catalog count?

Why not?

One of my favorites. The Angry Red Planet. State of the art at the time.

None lately, but I do own a blu-ray of the Forbidden Planet. The score, made completely with synthesizers, is wild.

I too own a Blu-ray of Forbidden Planet, it’s one of my all time faves of science fiction.

Whoops, forgot there is no “the.”

The Andromeda Strain and Soylent Green are as far back as I’ve gone recently, and those are very much early-70s creations.

No, wait, that’s not right. I recall watching the Day the Earth Stood Still in the last six months, because I can remember doing IMDB searches for Michael Renner.

Pre-70s sci-fi, with that exception, is pretty much just cheese-filled schlock to me.

I watched Godard’s Alphaville for the first time recently and I’d submit it as another clear exception to this. On the other hand, I also watched Barbarella for the second time since I wanted some more bizarro Euro takes on the genre from that era and while it is certainly atomic-grade cheese, it is just so weird that it’s hard not to like. It’s not a great movie, but it is a shame that it wasn’t more influential. But, yeah, it barely makes sense. To be honest, Alphaville probably isn’t quite great either, but it’s not schlocky.

Good Lord I hope you are excepting 2001: A Space Odyssey from that particular characterization.

There’s also Metropolis, which, while a hot mess, is pretty amazing in its way.

This is where I would mostly channel Westerns and Kurosawa. No sci-fi. (because I think it is bad, cheesy, etc)

And here is where I smack you with @krayzkrok’s list.

Planet of the Apes, when I was really young, did seem exceedingly cheesy. The masks and effects seemed so bad compared to modern films like Jurassic Park.

But once I got older, probably high school, I remember watching them on late night TBS marathon. And it clicked, the whole social commentary angle? Man all of a sudden I got what was so great about it.

The Day the Earth Stood Sill, the original? A true classic as well.

John Chambers got an honorary Oscar specifically for the makeup in Planet of the Apes.

I was always pissed that 2001 wasn’t recognized - the proto-humans in that film are still almost totally convincing to me. (Also, it didn’t get a Best Picture nomination, but Funny Girl did…)

Admittedly, the needs of the makeup in Apes are very different. The actors actually have to emote and recite dialogue in all that stuff, not just shriek. Anyway, cheesy or not, it has become iconic. As you say, the movie works.

The prosthetics in 2001 were so realistic, they thought they were really apes.

Kubrick would have protested but he was too busy faking the moon landing.

Watched The Green Slime recently because it and I had a slight bit of unfinished business. It is very much a cheese fest, but it has its moments. I do love the creature design.