SHTF: 1970's End of the World Movies

Roll back the Way Back Machine to the era between the late 20's and 1950's and "The Future" as epitomized in pulps and film was a glorious and wonder filled imaginary place of flying cars, finned rocket ships, moderne cities interspersed with aeroplanes, steam powered super trains and massive moving sidewalks.  The future was bright, exciting and we couldn't wait to get there.

Then, society changed and with it came a new skepticism. Between the late 60's and mid 1970's, most science fiction films represented the viewpoint of many in society: things were going to get worse, not better in the future. A number of movies were produced which reflected this viewpoint and which also fit into our blog's theme. Perhaps you might have missed some of these gems over the years (and with five hundred cable/satellite systems unable to show anything more than reality shows), you will have to dig deep to find them.

Soylent Green. The future is overpopulated and hungry. The Soylent Corporation makes New York City's most popular food, but also holds a dark secret.



Rollerball. The world of the future is bleak and run by souless corporations who distract the masses with an insane ultra violet game called RollerBall.



Logans Run. You are young, beautiful and can have anything you want. There's only one catch - You must die at 30.



A Boy and his Dog. After World War 4 has ended, the world is sparsely populated with gangs of wild boys, telepathic dogs and a hive of underground hidden fallout shelters.



Planet Of The Apes. Astronaut Taylor leaves earth and crash lands on a planet entirely run by apes.



The Omega Man! Chuck Heston again as possibly the last man on earth fighting vampires in the ruins of LA.



In 1977, science fiction movies found their happy spot again with the release of Star Wars. Later, we would have hopeful flicks like ET and Close Encounters. While bleak future movies continue to come out, nothing matched the negativity of the wonderful 1970's science fiction scene.

Prepare: End Of The World Movies From The Past

 It's funny. When I was a kid, our TV had three or four VHF channels and maybe two UHF channels. But I could stay up late on a Friday or Saturday night and watch dozens of "B" movies from the 40's and 50's every weekend without fail. Now, I have cable with five billion channels and most of these great (and some very bad movies) never see the light of day anymore. Instead, it's a steady stream of reality shows and made for TV movies.

Thankfully, we have YouTube to solve another of our many problems. During the 40's, 50's and 60's, hundreds of "end of the world" movies were made. Most were forgettable (and forgotten) while a few became classics. Here's a sample of some of the long and forgotten:

The 27th Day! (Yep, that's the same guy from War of the Worlds, Gene Barry!)



The Day the World Ended! (This movie was so "great" they made two versions and I was fortunate enough as a kid to see both. Check out this version with a young Mannix, Mike Connors, as the bad guy)



Invasion USA! (Not the Chuck Norris remake!).

SHTF: SHTF/Survival Movies On YouTube

I read in a forum recently about how hard it was to find a copy of a certain doomer movie at the video store or on Amazon. This is no longer a problem thanks to YouTube.

Here is a good selection of some fine survivalist films available at YouTube.

Damnation Alley!



Omega Man!



No Blade Of Grass! (very rare)



Red Dawn!



The Day After!



Threads (parts of it)



Night of the Comet!



That should be enough to keep you entertained while waiting for a sequel to "Lights Out" or "Deep Winter"!

Advice for the day:
Frugal means packing a sack lunch for work.
Cheap means eating lunch at a restaurant and not leaving a tip.

SHTF: Survivalist Movies 2009

The subject of "survivalist themed movies" is a big one on several other survivalist blogs I read or have visited. (for a list of some of my favorites, check the bottom of this page).

For 2009, there are a bunch of great survivalist themed movies coming out. By great I mean in concept. The trailer can be good, the idea of the plot can be good, but the actual product most likely will be awful. Its an odds thing that Hollywood can't seem to change.

Just a few of the great movies coming out..

I love the Terminator movies and we have a fourth installment. Good.

We have another new film with the world gone upside down - a film sure to please the Mayan calendar crowd as well as the pole shift fanatics out there.

We have a cult comic book brought to life..

And we have a tough guy cleans up the cruddy neighborhood one punk at a time..

So let's get started.

The Terminator series has been one of the most successful franchises in history. Three blockbuster movies (especially Two and One in that order), a TV series and multiple comic books.

Terminator Four: Salvation stars the new post-apocalyptic poster actor for the 21st century, Christian Bale. Bale apparently stars as slightly older John Connor in the years immediately after the machines have unleashed their fury on mankind.

Lot's off shooting, running and gunning. And shocking enough, there are actual scenes which take place in day time. The original Terminator movies always featured the fight at night, when the "Hunter Killers" could be evaded.



Regardless of how good the dialogue is, the fighting and survival scenes in the Terminator movies have always resonated well with the survival crowd. After all, who can forget the scene from the first Terminator when Reese returns to base in the crowded tunnels beneath the ruins of Los Angeles? The children staring at the fire in the television console, the boy hunting rats, the guy eating green goop in a bowl?

Good stuff..


2012

Next we got the "world goes nuts" in the new end of the world film, 2012. The premise is pretty simple. Based upon an interpretation of a Mayan calendar which says the world will end in that calamitous fateful year.

So Hollywood puts together a bunch of cool CGI effects of big things, like the Himalayas, getting kiboshed and off to the races we go.

Here is the downside; We got John Cusack as the lead.

When I think of Cusack, I think of High Fidelity or Better Off Dead. I don't see him in a big time adventure role lead. Plus, Cusack has that whiny uber-liberal shriek to him that leaves me wondering how he can fill the survivalist role without lots of multi-cultural, blame conservatives, celebrate idiocy carp.

Add to that Danny Glover as President Wilson and you know this is going to another Day After Tomorrow "It's all America's fault the world ended!" hand wringing fest. Hey, maybe the special effects will be good?



The Watchmen

If you never read the comic book, go on Amazon and get the compilation as it is one of the best produced works in comic book land ever.

The Watchmen takes place in an alternate universe America where superheroes have helped change the course of history. Only there is one catch, with the exception of a blue super man whose genetics were altered by a nuclear accident in the 1940's, the rest of the Watchmen are regular people in costumes simply fighting crime.

When one of their own is murdered in his home, the gloves come off as retired superheroes come out of hiding to solve the murder and uncover a sinister plot to change the world.

Best Super Hero Character: Rorschach.
Best runner up: The Owl.



Now is Watchmen really an end of the world movie? If you read the book you know it is and in many ways. This movie should be either a great or a big fat mess.


Gran Torino

Finally, we have not really an end of the world movie, just a movie that we like to watch. Really tough old guys who take on young punks and kick their baggy pants wearing butts.

Clint Eastwood's "Gran Torino" - nuff said.