When you think of the best fantasy movies of the 1970s, you probably go to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, animator Ralph Bakshi’s Lord of the Rings, or even Bedknobs and Broomsticks, which stands out by ending with Angela Lansbury fighting off a Nazi invasion of England with magic. But lesser-known or appreciated films deserve love, too, and kids who grew up in that decade definitely have their favorites.
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Here are our picks for three unsung 1970s fantasy movies we watched growing up, and still love dearly.
3) Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger
1973’s The Golden Voyage of Sinbad is better regarded – and, honestly, way better – than this 1977 follow-up. But Eye of the Tiger still has charming, stop-motion creature effects by the legendary Ray Harryhausen and a solid supporting cast that also includes one Time Lord (Doctor Who’s Patrick Troughton, in this case; Golden Voyage had Tom Baker).
The theme in this one is monstrous, real-world beasts, which is great news if you’ve ever wanted to watch a movie in which a bunch of very serious men battle a giant wasp and a huge walrus. They also meet a troglodyte (though he’s a friend) and square off against a defrosted smilodon.
Though it’s the least good of the Sinbad movies, Eye of the Tiger remains a fun time, and that wasp scene remains seared on our brains.
2) The Point!
The Point! is an animated, made-for-TV movie based on an album by Henry Nilsson. The songwriter came up with the concept while on drugs, which is actually the backstory for most of the stuff kids watched in the ’70s.
This film – narrated by Dustin Hoffman, Alan Barzman, Alan Thicke, or Ringo Starr, depending on which version you were watching – tells the story of Oblio, the only round-headed person in the Land of Point. An evil count insists on Oblio’s banishment due to his “pointlessness,” so the boy and his dog, Arrow, are exiled to the Pointless Forest, where they learn that even things that don’t have a point still have a point. Again, this story is the product of recreational drug use.
The Point! is colorful and fun, with a good message and a motif that goes ever so slightly too far. But it’s nice.
1) The Phantom Tollbooth
Warner Bros. animation legend Chuck Jones co-directed this adaptation of the children’s book of the same name. Milo is a bored child who lives in San Francisco and struggles with apathy. One day, he receives a huge package containing a tollbooth that takes him to the Kingdom of Wisdom in the Lands Beyond.
While the beginning and ending of the story are live-action, it all switches to animation for Milo’s journey. The people he meets have voices from a stable of renowned voice actors, including Mel Blanc, Daws Butler, and June Foray.
The Phantom Tollbooth was not a commercial success, and the original book’s author, Norton Juster, despised it. We liked it, though, so. There’s that.
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