Monday, February 01, 2010

The Best of Post-Apocalyptic Cinema

Mad Max


James Rummel has a post listing and describing what he considers to be the best movies in the post-apocalyptic genre. We've previously discussed the literature (as has James), so let's consider the cinema. These are his picks:

1. Mad Max 2:The Road Warrior (1981)
2. A Boy and His Dog (1975)
3. Wizards (1977)
4. Planet of the Apes (1968)
5. The Omega Man (1971)
6. Logan’s Run (1976)

You can read the post for James' arguments for each of these movies. Although I enjoyed Planet of the Apes and Logan's Run, none of these movies really grabbed me. I guess I prefer to read the genre, rather than watch it, because of the greater development available in long fiction.

What post-apocalyptic movies do you like?

5 comments:

wrf3 said...

"A Boy and His Dog" is one of my favorite novellas. The movie adaptation ruined the ending.

Johnny Cat said...

From what I hear, and will soon confirm for myself, The Road is dreadfully faithful to the book, which I think was the closest we'll get to a heavyweight classic a' la Hemingway or Steinbeck in our own time.

Cormac McCarthy seems to write in post-apocalyptic prose.

bob said...

I liked the Road Warrior it's kind of campy and for a movie that depicts some grusome violence it made me laugh in places.

Soylent Green is also excellent, the first time I saw it I didn't know how it ended.

John said...

I read The Road and enjoyed it. Well, as much as one can such a depressing book. But it was a quick and engaging read, and I'd recommend it.

I didn't know that A Boy and His Dog started out in print. But since it's Harlan Ellison, I'll give it a shot. That fella knew how to write short fiction.

I'm afraid that Soylent Green will be spoiled for me because I know the ending. Something about Charleton Heston in the 70s -- it was a decade that he just didn't fit in. Heston could be a young man or an old man, but he didn't work well as a late middle aged man.

Divers and Sundry said...

I've been looking through some of the lists, and of the ones based on written works I like the book better. Of these 6 I've seen all but Wizards, and my least favorite of them is Omega Man. I remember seeing Soylent Green back in the day and liked it.

I remember seeing Threads when it came out and having been deeply affected at the time. That one stuck with me.