Editorial
An Embarrassment of Riches

I recently received a copy of the book 10 Bad Dates With De Niro: A Book of Alternative Movie Lists, edited by Richard T. Kelly. It includes such oddball lists as 10 Films That Traumatized Me When I Was Younger, 10 Places You Wouldn't Expect to Find a Severed Head and 10 So-Called Turkeys That Are Actually Terrific, with contributions from the likes of Steven Soderbergh, George Pelecanos and the Coen brothers. The book is filled with many cool juxtapositions, but the list that intrigued me the most was 10 Great Films I Haven't Seen, written by Nev Pierce.

Pierce is the editor of the U.K. movie magazine Total Film, so admitting ignorance of famous films could be seen as a foolhardy act. "Some readers may be appalled that the editor of a national film magazine (for what that's worth) hasn't seen such established classics," he writes, before naming Double Indemnity, The Birds and Duck Soup, among others.

Perhaps he's correct, and we who work in cinema journalism should keep such gaps to ourselves. But such admissions can also be seen as cleansing, which Pierce himself goes on to postulate. It can send a message that, hey, we supposed experts have just as many holes in our knowledge as anybody else. Additionally, it can establish a game plan for playing catch-up, forcing us to finally get around to seeing those movies. After all, as Dr. Phil is always saying, you can't fix what you don't acknowledge.

In that spirit of confession, here (in chronological order) are the top 10 most important sci-fi films I've never seen, along with my feeble attempts at rationalizing exactly why I've overlooked them over the years:

On the Beach (1959): I had plenty of opportunities to see this film about an atomic war that destroyed all of Earth except for Australia (a war that took place in the then faraway future of 1964). But most of those chances came on late-night TV when I was a teenager, and the thought of spending any time seeing a Fred Astaire movie in which he wasn't dancing made no sense to me. I've since changed my mind about that, but I've just never gotten around to watching it, and I should, as it's supposed to be one the best of the nuclear-fear films of the '50s.

Alphaville (1965): When I first read of mainstream director Jean-Luc Godard's film in the pages of Castle of Frankenstein magazine, I was afraid that he would be making fun of sci-fi instead of sincerely exploring it. Now that years have passed, the thought of a speculative film from the director of Breathless is intriguing, especially considering that his original title for the film was the irresistible Tarzan versus IBM.

Barbarella (1967): When this first came out, I was too young to be allowed to see it. By the time I was old enough to see it, it seemed too dated to bother with, more a historical document than an enjoyable movie. But there's nothing wrong with seeing what yesterday thought about tomorrow, particularly since at this distance what we're actually seeing more clearly is what they were telling themselves about their own today. Besides, over the years, it seems to have gone from camp to crass to cool.

The Andromeda Strain (1970): I'd read, and liked, Michael Crichton's best-selling novel about an alien organism that could destroy the world, so you'd think I'd have headed off to see the movie. Unlike those first three films, I can't recall having ever made a conscious choice about this one. My only excuse: 1970 was a particularly good year for movies, and I was too busy sneaking into M*A*S*H, Patton, Little Big Man and Five Easy Pieces. (But don't worry, I also had time for Beneath the Planet of the Apes.)

Silent Running (1971): Again, I can think of no good reason why I would have missed this on its first outing, other than the fact that movies came and went quickly, and in the pre-Netflix times it was difficult to catch up, especially with new films continuing to overwhelm us each week. Even without having seen it, though, I know that its environmental message is more relevant than ever.

The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976): This is the first of the films on my list that I deliberately missed due to my love of written SF. My perception of this tale of alien visitation at the time of its release was that it was just Robert A. Heinlein's novel Stranger in a Strange Land filmed under another name, and since I'd been looking forward to an adaptation of the real thing ever since I'd first read it, I was offended. Plus, I had no interest in seeing David Bowie try to act. But from what I've been told, this one should go on the list of films to be seen before I die.

The Thing (1982): The original 1951 film The Thing From Another World was one of my favorites, due to endless viewings as a kid, and it even included one of film's greatest quotes, ending with the lines "Watch the skies, everywhere! Keep looking. Keep watching the skies! " Why would I want to see anyone remake that? But I missed out on a lot, including some of the most stomach-churning special effects ever.

Repo Man (1984): I was suspicious of this one when it first came out. What was it? Surrealism or sci-fi? From this distance, it seems to me to be a mix of Twin Peaks and The X-Files, and a perfect midnight movie. I shouldn't have let it slip by.

Enemy Mine (1985): Again, my love of an original piece of fiction colored my decision. I feared that Hollywood would damage beyond repair Barry Longyear's short story of alien enemies breaking down the walls of war, and since I found it extremely moving ever since I first read it in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, I didn't want to take the risk.

The Fly (1986): I like David Cronenberg, I really do, having seen and enjoyed Videodrome, The Dead Zone, A History of Violence and others, but here's another one I missed entirely out of my feeling that we should leave well enough alone. I'd seen the original 1958 film in endless repeats throughout my childhood and didn't want to take the chance that Jeff Goldblum would overwrite Vincent Price in my memory. (As you can tell from the list, I'm not much for remakes, and my initial reaction on hearing about one is almost always "Hands off, please!") But it's an undeniable classic.

There you have it—the 10 films I'm most embarrassed about never having seen, some deliberately, some foolishly, some accidentally, some because, well, once having missed them, there were always too many new films arriving in theaters ever to catch up.

Now that I've shared what some might call too much information, will you ever again be able to trust anything I have to say to you about sci-fi? I can only hope that you'll forgive me, because you know what? You likely have just as many gaps as I do. They're probably just different ones.

So now that I've shown you the holes in my sci-fi education, will you show me yours?