Must-see movies are futuristic classics that shouldn’t be missed. Of course, not every must-see is perfect. That’s why we’ve rated them 1-5 on the patented “crunchy goodness” scale.
Title: Barbarella
Date: 1968
Vitals: Based on a smutty French comic book, this is the groovy tale of intergalactic fox Barbarella, who roams the universe in her fur-lined ship having adventures and getting it on with a panoply of alien dudes (and one church organ/sex machine). Barbarella not only helped rejuvenate science fiction as a genre after a decade-long dry spell, but also proved that the geeky world of spaceships and aliens could be sexy as hell.
Famous names: Jane Fonda
Crunchy goodness: 3
Sight you’ll never unsee: Pretty much any outfit Barbarella wears (or strips out of) will be embossed on your retinas forever: contemplate, for example, the plastic-bubble bra in her silver bustier, or the furry tail trailing behind another bustier, or the blood-daubed, proto-punk rips in her stockings after she fights the angry dolls.
Stunt casting: Jane Fonda in her Hanoi Jane phase exuded hippie cred and brought that crucial sexual revolution zeitgeist to what could have been just another bad B-movie role.
Copycat: Band of seemingly alien 1980s pop stars Duran Duran is named after the supervillain in this flick.
