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Top 3 Influential UFO movies


jscot

Paranormal Novice
Recently I picked up the Criterion Collection's newly restored 1953 version of George Pal's "War of the Worlds".

I'm a bit biased cause this is my favorite movie of all time. Recall as a kid in the mid-1960's watching this movie for the first time at my school, which had Saturday matinees for awhile. My buddies and I ran out afterwards screaming in excitement at how great this movie was. This is burned in my memory. lol

Anyhow, the sound was completely reworked in 5.1 surround. And a 4K digital restoration carefully done to retain that technicolor vibrancy without looking too sharp like a modern movie. A lot of careful work was done using an original 35mm print as a source upgrading this movie and it shows.

Got me to thinking on which movies influenced me the most regarding the UFO subject. Coming up with a list of three was fairly simple, I suppose some may call these the "big 3".

Would be interested if anyone concurs with my selections or have different ones. That being said the three are.

  • War of the Worlds 1953
  • Day the Earth Stood Still 1952
  • Close Encounters of the Third Kind 1977
The first two got me thinking, Close Encounters got me thinking carefully.
 
Recently I picked up the Criterion Collection's newly restored 1953 version of George Pal's "War of the Worlds".

I'm a bit biased cause this is my favorite movie of all time. Recall as a kid in the mid-1960's watching this movie for the first time at my school, which had Saturday matinees for awhile. My buddies and I ran out afterwards screaming in excitement at how great this movie was. This is burned in my memory. lol

Anyhow, the sound was completely reworked in 5.1 surround. And a 4K digital restoration carefully done to retain that technicolor vibrancy without looking too sharp like a modern movie. A lot of careful work was done using an original 35mm print as a source upgrading this movie and it shows.

Got me to thinking on which movies influenced me the most regarding the UFO subject. Coming up with a list of three was fairly simple, I suppose some may call these the "big 3".

Would be interested if anyone concurs with my selections or have different ones. That being said the three are.

  • War of the Worlds 1953
  • Day the Earth Stood Still 1952
  • Close Encounters of the Third Kind 1977
The first two got me thinking, Close Encounters got me thinking carefully.
I like yourself seen war of the world's in the 60s but my main confusion was why the lead character was not called Detective Burke? Gene Barry was playing Burke's law on our TV at that time and I assumed as a child he was a real person.
 
A few I'd add, some of them terrible but still influential (on me):
  1. Communion. A somewhat terrible movie and Strieber himself appears not to have liked the outcome, but some scenes were downright chilling and resonated with some of my experiences.
  2. Starship Invasions. A downright awful movie in nearly every aspect that I happened to watch as a kid. I forced myself to rewatch it as an adult, and it was still awful - but some of the symbolism and ideas are baffling. Like the underwater pyramid UFO base.
  3. This Island Earth. If only for the scene with the plane being pulled up into a UFO mid flight.
  4. Fire in the Sky. Wow, did they get this movie wrong, but they did humanize Walton and focused quite a bit on how it impacted and changed him.
  5. The Thing. Lovecraftian Flying Saucers. Beware what you might find in the ice... first contact may be very different than we think, and they might not care about us at all. Except as biomass.
  6. Arrival. Wow, this movie.
  7. Escape to Witch Mountain. This movie impacted me deeply as a kid.
 
Recall as a kid in the mid-1960's watching this movie for the first time at my school, which had Saturday matinees for awhile. My buddies and I ran out afterwards screaming in excitement at how great this movie was. This is burned in my memory. lol

Love your comment! They showed us this in elementary school in the 70s and I had a similar experience! As a kid, I was blown away by this movie and I have many fond and nostalgic memories of this!

I wasn't aware they re-mastered this. I haven't seen the original in decades, so I am seriously thinking about buying it now. Amazon, here I come!

@marduk saw most all of those movies and I loved them too. Need to check out the few I didn't see!



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For my 2¢ worth ( including the other picks so far ) add:
  • Starman - 1984 ( There's a UFO in there toward the end )
  • Earth Versus The Flying Saucers - 1956 ( Classic flying saucers )
  • Sphere - 1988 ( USO & UFO )
  • The Abyss - 1989 ( USO )
There must be more. How about District 9? How about the top worst UFO movies?
 
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For my 2¢ worth ( including the other picks so far ) add:
  • Starman - 1984 ( There's a UFO in there toward the end )
  • Earth Versus The Flying Saucers - 1956 ( Classic flying saucers )
  • Sphere - 1988 ( USO & UFO )
  • The Abyss - 1989 ( USO )
There must be more. How about District 9? How about the top worst UFO movies?

Oh, those are goodies too! Although the "Sphere" book was far, far better than the movie. Worth a read.

I also forgot Hangar 18. My uncle ran the projector in my small town when that came out, and he let me into movies all that summer. I must have watched Hangar 18 a dozen times. I remember watching it 2-3x on one Sunday alone.

Oh, Skyline was also pretty cool.

As for worst, I have to think Battlefield Earth has to be on that list. Maybe the remake of Day the Earth Stood Still as well?
 
The re-boot of War of the Worlds' TV Series (2020). Also reminds me of the article by Quantum Mag-15/07/2020 -Scholar Olena Shamahalo ,

'Wormholes Reveal a Way to Manipulate Black Hole' good quote "Of course experiments validation may lag for behind or theoretical speculations. It took 100 years for science to detect gravitational waves on Earth , and 50 years to discover the Higgs Bosons. Both required much ingenuity technology development and monetary investment. 1."

Joe Rogan Show , was very good with top reporter Mr Knapp and his comments on the Soviets was spot on and different person . On Mr Lazar think his on the money and his file is there. Even top contact gave the nod his legitimate and not bullshitting and higher than Chris Mellon. Also NASA Bumps -JWST Launch to Oct, 31st , 2020 . Aviation (2020). and image if these "whatever they are" had there own version of the Wormhole internet highway?
 
Now I'm wasting my time watching Hangar 18 again... looks like the full movie is on Youtube ...
Bordering on synchronicity: I was first introduced to UFOs when I was a young boy during the mid '60s. I decided they needed investigating, so I created my first UFO interest group and adapted the logo from a TV series called The Man From U.N.C.L.E. for our "official" ID cards.. Coincidentally, Robert Vaughn, star of the The Man From U.N.C.L.E. later went on to play a starring role in the Hangar 18 movie you posted above!

 
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