When it comes to the best 70s sci-fi movies, the decade grabbed the baton passed by the decades that came before and ran away with it, ten-fold. It’s the decade where franchises were born – from deadly xenomorphs to intergalactic adventures and it was also a time where technology offered new possibilities to cinematic endeavors.
While it was a solid decade for filmmaking in general, the sci-fi genre really got a chance to expand to new heights. In the 1970s, directors were given the chance to test out some other-worldly ideas that had not been possible before. So, whether it’s dystopian nightmares, time travel, extraterrestrials, or epic battles in space, this is the decade that has a little something for everyone. Before we get into the 70s, it’s important to inform you that this list makes up just one part of our “best of…” decades series. There’s more to enjoy once you’re finished here from the best 50s sci-fi movies, to the best 60s sci-fi movies, to the best 80s sci-fi movies, and more.
If you want to take a look at the best out-of-this-world content out there right now, then you should scroll through our guides to the best sci-fi movies and TV shows to stream on Disney Plus, Netflix, Amazon Prime and Paramount Plus.
10. Westworld
- Release date: August 17, 1973
- Cast: Yul Brynner, Richard Benjamin, James Brolin, and more
- Director: Michael Crichton
- RT score: 84% critics, 70% audience
Before the famed HBO TV show, there was the original Westworld movie. In 1973, Michael Crichton wrote and directed this sci-fi masterpiece with a truly unique premise. He imagined a futuristic world where the rich could buy themselves a holiday to adult-themed amusement parks and brought it to life. Across three worlds, one of which is Westworld, androids cater to their guests’ every want and need, however bizarre. That is, until the robots decide they don’t want to anymore.
Alongside the iconic Gunslinger (Yul Brynner), the androids begin to malfunction and turn against the guests, murdering them in an escalating violence that wreaks havoc across the entire park. Among Crichton’s impressive writing and directorial prowess, he also earned the title of being the first movie director to use CGI as a special effect. Although it may appear dated in the modern day, it was truly monumental for its time and has inspired many sci-fi films since.
9. Time After Time
- Release date: September 28, 1979
- Cast: Malcolm McDowell, David Warner, Mary Steenburgen, and more
- Director: Nicholas Meyer
- RT score: 88% critics, 71% audience
In a true mash-up of realities and in iconic sci-fi fashion, a reimagining of realities and timelines occurs in Time After Time with Malcolm McDowell starring as famed author H.G. Wells pursuing Jack the Ripper across time. After Wells shows off a time machine he’s created, the serial killer uses it to head to the future and Wells chases him down in a modern-day San Francisco.
As with a multitude of titles on our list, there’s also the element of romance that carries through the movie as Wells meets bank employee Amy Robbins (Mary Steenburgen) on his travels, who so happens to have been Wells’ real-life wife. The romance continued to grow outside of the movie theater as McDowell and Steenburgen married a year after the movie’s release.
8. Mad Max
- Release date: April 12, 1979
- Cast: Mel Gibson, Joanne Samuel, Hugh Keays-Byrne, and more
- Director: George Miller
- RT score: 90% critics, 70% audience
You’ll begin to notice a pattern here as the groundwork that the 1970s put in has sparked adaptations across the ages. Mad Max, which was revived in 2015 with Tom Hardy as lead, first appeared in 1979 with Mel Gibson as Policeman, Max. And, you guessed it, he’s pretty mad. Made for Australia and set in Australia, the movie envisions a dystopia where the country is missing rules and gangs are causing bedlam.
While ‘Mad Max’ Rockatansky tries to salvage any form of law and order, he pursues a particularly violent motorcycle gang with vengeance on the brain. Initially not-so-well received in the US after a dodgy dubbing job, Mad Max earned itself cult classic status after reverting back to the original audio track and is applauded for its action-packed scenes and incredible stunts.
7. Stalker
- Release date: May 25, 1979
- Cast: Alexander Kaidanovsky, Anatoly Solonitsyn, Alisa Freindlich, and more
- Director: Andrei Tarkovsky
- RT score: 100% critics, 92% audience
Soviet sci-fi movie Stalker bases itself around a man of the same name, played by Alexander Kaidanovsky, who has been tasked with guiding two clients through a hazardous dystopian wasteland called the ‘Zone’. Why would anyone navigate such terrain? In pursuit of a room that apparently grants the person’s ultimate wish.
It’s a land filled with extraterrestrial activity and, as such, is sealed off by the government. Though the trio chooses to enter it of their own attrition, it’s this unique plot and the innovation of director Andrei Tarkovsky that earns Stalker the coveted 100% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes. And you’ll be left philosophizing over what you witnessed for countless days after, although its profound vision splits opinion among movie watchers.
6. A Clockwork Orange
- Release date: December 19, 1971 (NYC), February 2, 1972 (USA)
- Cast: Malcolm McDowell, Adrienne Corri, Patrick Magee, Warren Clarke and more
- Director: Stanley Kubrick
- RT score: 86% critics, 93% audience
Malcolm McDowell returns to lead our seventh entry, the famed A Clockwork Orange from director Stanley Kubrick (also behind our number one entry in the best 60s sci-fi movies). It’s a dystopian future where a delinquent, Alex, leads a group of ‘droogs’ with a penchant for some truly terrible and menacingly violent crimes. Shocking in nature, for the 1970s, it wasn’t readily accepted by critics for its depiction of graphic violence but has become a cult classic over the ages.
In an attempt to correct his psychiatric penchant for brutality, he’s ordered into a rehabilitation program that experiments with a psychological conditioning technique that cleanses him of his love of violence. But, in doing so, he’s subjected to a new threat. When this movie was adapted from the novel by Anthony Burgess, it was actually pulled from British cinemas and banned in multiple countries.
5. Invasion of the Body Snatchers
- Release date: December 22, 1978
- Cast: Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Leonard Nimoy, Jeff Goldblum, and more
- Director: Philip Kaufman
- RT score: 93% critics, 82% audience
While the original is featured in our best 50s sci-fi movies list, the remake is excellent in its own right. Two decades on, it’s applauded for doing a stellar job at bringing the visuals and technology of the 70s to recreate this movie. Plus, there’s a multitude of impressive actors including Donald Sutherland, Leonard Nimoy, and Jeff Goldblum all starring. In this gripping drama, it’s 1978 San Francisco as mysterious pods begin to grow and invade the residents. Snatching bodies, no less.
Health inspector, Matthew Bennell (Sutherland) begins to hear of strange goings-on, which really only get worse and worse. You’ll feel uneasy and we’d love to tell you there’s a shiny happy ending to look forward to, but in keeping with true sci-fi construct, we’re afraid we can’t.
4. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
- Release date: November 16, 1977
- Cast: Richard Dreyfuss, Teri Garr, Melinda Dillon, and more
- Director: Steven Spielberg
- RT score: 90% critics, 85% audience
Off the back of Spielberg’s iconic Jaws and its box office success, he wrote and directed this next entry on our list. Close Encounters of the Third Kind tells the story of Roy Neary, your everyday kind of guy from just outside Muncie, Indiana. That is until he encounters a UFO, which ultimately takes over his entire life as he obsesses over it to the extreme.
While numerous leading actors were pursued by Spielberg – including Steve McQueen, James Caan, Al Pacino, Jack Nicholson, and Dustin Hoffman – Richard Dreyfuss famously talked Spielberg into giving him the part. Despite a slow release, it propelled to fame and sits in the National Film Registry after the US Library of Congress deemed it “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”
3. Solaris
- Release date: May 13, 1972
- Cast: Donatas Banionis, Natalya Bondarchuk, Jüri Järvet, and more
- Director: Andrei Tarkovsky
- RT score: 93% critics, 89% audience
While Tarkovsky has already appeared on our best 70s sci-fi movies list, it was his 1972 movie Solaris that garnered him the most praise in the genre. Based on the novel by Stanislaw Lem, a space crew goes steadily insane as they orbit aimlessly around the fictional planet of Solaris. Psychologist Kris Kelvin (Donatas Banionis) is sent to the station to see what’s going on, but it’s not long before he starts to feel the insanity growing within himself too.
It’s set almost entirely on the space station with only flashbacks drawing viewers back to the experiences of the main characters’ time on Earth. While a remake was made in 2002 starring George Clooney, it isn’t as highly praised as this original, which added a real emotional depth to the sci-fi genre.
2. Alien
- Release date: May 25, 1979
- Cast: Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, John Hurt, and more
- Director: Ridley Scott
- RT score: 93% critics, 94% audience
Alien is arguably one of the most famous sci-fi franchises ever, with the most famous topping our list next. And it all started in 1979 when Sigourney Weaver led the crew of the commercial space tug, Nostromo, as strong female lead, Ellen Ripley. A role she would reprise for four of the Alien movies.
After the crew of the Nostromo respond to an unusual signal, they are introduced to the deadly and terrifying xenomorphs for the first time as the alien being wreaks havoc on their vessel. The horror, tension-building, and gore are brought to life by Ridley Scott’s iconic and impressive directorial prowess and truly shaped the sci-fi genre for what it has become today. And it’s all of this and more that puts Alien in the top spot of our Alien movies ranked – worst to best list.
1. Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope
- Release date: May 25, 1977
- Cast: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, and more
- Director: George Lucas
- RT score: 93% critics, 96% audience
Topping or best 70s sci-fi movies is, as previously mentioned, the movie that started the most famous sci-fi franchise of all time. In 1977, Luke Skywalker was introduced for the first time, leaving his life behind to rescue and free a Princess. It’s everything you could want from the sci-fi genre from intergalactic missions, an iconic villain, great visual effects, and a fully immersive experience set firmly in space. It’s no surprise it has spawned movies, TV shows, video games, books, and even theme parks.
While it’s 1980’s The Empire Strikes Back that tops our Star Wars movies, ranked worst to best list, A New Hope sits firmly in second – and, of course, it’s all down to personal opinion. Star Wars has impressed sci-fi fans across decades, and galaxies, and we can thank the 1970s (and George Lucas) for bringing this space opera to life. A monumental movie for a monumental decade.
