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Westworld – Meet Zardoz! Crucify The Omega Man! Hollywood’s 70′s Sci-Fi Head Trips!

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Yul Brynner Is Steamed!

Yul Brynner Westworld

Thanks to blu-ray, you can now catch up on films that have been out of the mainstream for decades! For example, a classic Yul Brynner film! Or, you can see James Bond 007 looking like THIS!

zardoz

Shake it off, I know it’s disturbing!

Maybe you want to see Charlton Heston when he had a Jesus complex!

Charlton Heston The Omega Man


The 70′s Are Back With A Sci-Fi Vengeance!

In the 70′s, there were a string of sci-fi movies that twisted your mind and blew your face off, and now you can discover them all again!

westworld


Make Your Own Sci-Fi Double Bill!

In the 70′s, theaters showed double and triple bills – a great chance to see a lot of great stuff cheap!

grindhouse theaters

Check out these pics of 42nd Street in Times Square – in the 70′s, there were side-by-side grindhouse theaters playing everything from mainstream Hollywood hits to low-rent exploitation movies…all day and night…”grinding them out”…

Times Square  42nd street Marquee

It was a great way to see a lot of different movies…and a number of different genres…and there was a period when sci-fi really started getting “trippy”, perhaps a way to take “2001″ to a whole new level…

42nd Street

For sci-fi films in the early 70′s, there was a mix of action and esoteric – and a slew of crazy, 70′s sci-fi movies with some big name Actors!

omega man charlton heston

Charlton Heston kicked some ass, and Yul Brynner took his face off!

westworld

And you will NEVER see a movie “trippier” than the one starring James Bond 007 – Sean Connery – as a warrior of the future – wearing THIS!

zardoz sean-connery

I just can’t get over this…the 70′s were all about some crazy head trips, and I’ve got three to share with you….so sit back and enjoy, because – to use a phrase from Westworld:

Have We Got A Vacation For You!

westworld


Westworld. Where nothing can possibly go worng…

This 70′s classic has a simple premise. As the opening voiceover proclaims: “Delos is the vacation of the future, today. At Delos, you get your choice of the vacation you want. There’s Medieval World, Roman World and, of course, Westworld.”

Here is the movie’s trailer:

westworld

Richard Benjamin and James Brolin star as two friends out for a fun weekend – a weekend where they can dress up and play cowboy….

westworld  brolin and benjamin

Yul Brynner is the Robot designed and operated by the resort – challenging them to gun battles – which of course, the guys always win…

yul brynner westworld

It’s all male fantasty – taking part in shootouts and killing bad guys, but things go very, very wrong…as the movie’s movie poster brilliantly said:

Where Nothing Can Possibly Go W-O-R-N-G…

westworld


John Blane: [after Being Bitten By A Robotic Snake] “The hell, god dammit, that’s not supposed to happen!”

And with that, the two friends find themselves being hunted down by the robot – let the games begin!

yu lBrynner Westworld
Best-selling Author Michael Crichton became inspired to write this film after a trip to Disneyland, where he saw the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, and was impressed by the animatronic characters.

westworld

Crichton also directed the film, which was a huge box office success, and spawned a sequel called “Futureworld.”

yul brynner

And how about this trivia, courtesy of IMDB: “Westworld” used the first computer digitized images as part of a feature film!

Time now to turn to a more “allegorical” sci-fi film: Charlton Heston as Jesus!

omega man charlton heston

[talking to his own image on a TV screen]
Robert Neville: Hi, Big Brother, how’s your ass?

The Omega Man!

Remember the tagline: “The last man on earth is not alone!”

The_Omega_Man

Forget the Will Smith remake “I Am Legend”, this is the original version, with Charlton Heston as the last man on earth – it’s based on the classic sci-fi novel by Richard Matheson:

The Omega Man

Here’s the trailer for the classic movie version – take a look:

omega man 1971

Charlton Heston is the only survivor of an apocalyptic war waged with biological weapons. The plague caused by the war has killed everyone else except for a few hundred deformed, nocturnal people calling themselves “The Family”.

the omega man

The plague has caused them to become sensitive to light, as well as homicidally psychotic. They believe science and technology to be the cause of the war and their punishment, and of course, they want to kill Chuck. But he won’t go easily…

the omega man

The film turns Heston into a Messiah, and they give him a love story with a young black woman, also very edgy for the early 70′s…

The-Omega-Man

A great film for sci-fi fans…and now, time once again for the wackiest sci-fi film of all time! First, check out 007!

zardoz sean-connery

The Gun is good! The Penis is evil!

Um, WHAT?!?!?!?!

I mean – LOOK AT SEAN CONNERY HERE! How can you NOT want to know what in the world is going on here? Well, wonder no more! Here are three examples of mind-blowing cinema…


Zardoz.
1974. Directed by John Boorman.

Ready to have your mind blown? I mean, BLOWN BLOWN BLOWN?

Check out this trailer, and be ready for madness to descend…

This film was directed by John Boorman, who had made the brilliant “Deliverance”…As you can see from the trailer, is is one CRAZY FILM – starring James Bond!

In the distant future Earth is divided into two camps, the barely civilized group and the overly civilized one with mental powers. A plague is attacking the second group, after which its members cease to have any interest in life and become nearly catatonic. When Zed, one of the barbarians, crosses over, the tenuous balance in their world is threatened.

And here are the opening lines of the movie….a a huge huge huge stone head floats over the English countryside…

zardoz-1973

“I am Arthur Frayn, and I am Zardoz. I have lived three hundred years, and I long to die. But death is no longer possible. I am immortal. I present now my story, full of mystery and intrigue – rich in irony, and most satirical. It is set deep in a possible future, so none of these events have yet occurred, but they *may.* Be warned, lest you end as I. In this tale, I am a fake god by occupation – and a magician, by inclination. Merlin is *my* hero! I am the puppet master. I manipulate many of the characters and events you will see. But *I* am invented, too, for your entertainment – and amusement. And you, poor creatures, who conjured *you* out of the clay? Is God in show business too?”

zardoz


AND THEN IT GETS EVEN WEIRDER!!!!!

If you think that opening monologue was crazy, there’s more! Soon after, the Stone Head delivers these gems:


[the gigantic Stone Head hovers before the worshipful horde of Exterminators]
Zardoz: Zardoz speaks to you, His chosen ones.
Exterminators: We are the chosen ones!
Zardoz: You have been raised up from Brutality, to kill the Brutals who multiply, and are legion. To this end, Zardoz your God gave you the gift of the Gun. The Gun is good!

The Gun Is Good! And 007 Dons THIS!

zardoz sean-connery

Exterminators: The Gun is good!
Zardoz: The Penis is evil! The Penis shoots Seeds, and makes new Life to poison the Earth with a plague of men, as once it was. But the Gun shoots Death and purifies the Earth of the filth of Brutals. Go forth, and kill! Zardoz has spoken.

And look at this! Yes, Sean Connery fights back against the “evil penis!”

To completely understand how warped this movie is, stop for a moment: take a deep breath, then get your head around this fact:

zardoz-1973

“Zardoz” is a film that has a giant rock head flying over the countryside saying “the penis is evil!”

Look, this is one warped classic, wildly and weirdly entertaining – if Sean Connery as James Bond 007 wasn’t enough for you, then you have to check out some of his wilder movie efforts like this one – so check it out!

zardoz



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