12 to the Moon (1960)

Just perfect...

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

A lot of fun.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

The movie took me back to my youth, a space ship going to the moon! I had a great time looking at equipment used to make this and the ignorance the writers had concerning physics. I was so impressed with the plastic lawn chairs that swiveled along with those cheap aluminum frame lawn recliners which my parents actually had in our back yard,attached of course to the wall with two standard electrical conduit clamps, SO HIGH TECH LOL!! Seriously, its a fun movie to watch and they may have gotten some things more right than the fake moon landing NASA claims we did. Imagine how the movies we watch now will be laughed at 50 years from now :) Its kind of funny how the women were treated with respect as a 'weaker' sex unlike today. Also there were no tattoo's, no piercing, and NO SWEARING, very strange! How in the world did they make such a movie without using the Lords name and the F bomb shouted every minute!? Oh, I forgot, they were OUT OF THIS WORLD.

This is entertainment. It tells a story. The science is off, but that's because it is science fiction. There really has never been a film which had "great" science, and even fewer famous science fiction writers really gave us great science, or entertainment for that matter.This is about a united world expedition to the Moon, meaning 12 people of various nationalities with different qualifications.The film is well directed, following the story in a logical progression. While the actions aren't exactly understandable, they are coherent in the progression of the plot. The story is told. And the subplots meld well together.The atmosphere is what really works here. We get the isolated feeling of space travel. A big budget isn't needed, and indeed a film like this keeps a person's interest perked because of looking basic.This is because the film of the Golden Age of Hollywood, which pretty well ended in the sixties, were interesting in the look and technique. Directors knew how to stage a play. With a very few exceptions, modern science fiction puts people to sleep.Is the film cheesy? Yes. But it is deservedly so. It does entertain. It doesn't throw a stupid looking video arcade look at you, the sort of look that merely annoys you. This film astounds you with the basics.This is an exciting film. True entertainment.

This is a magnificent display of boredom. The space ship was unbelievable but then this is a movie, so there. The acting was over dramatic and pretentious. It reminded me of a 6th grade attempt to make a sci-fi movie. (actually, I think the 6th grade attempt would be better.) I am sorry, I wish I could be more generous in my comment. I did give it a 2 out of a generous heart but that is as far as it goes. I was attending movies at the time this was made and I would have probably walked out on it as soon as I had finished my popcorn and drink; unless of course someone enticed me with a candy bar. It just did not come across in a serious light; now as a comedy it might have had potential.

What's fun about this "first men into space" movie is watching how the movie tries so hard to convince the viewer that it is in fact a serious dramatic effort displaying the "cutting edge of science" and then shoots itself in the foot over and over again with laughable special effects and goofs. I almost fell out my chair laughing when the astronauts climbed into the control room and it became instantly obvious that the astronauts were expected to sit in patio lounge chairs to help them endure the crushing stresses of lift off. And then after going through the motions of the trip to the moon - blah blah meteor showers blah blah sonic showers blah blah random lines of dialog meant to convey character and group dynamics...just before the actual embarkation onto the surface, one poor actor has to stand in front of the camera all by himself and babble into his flight log about the 'invisible ray shield' that is supposed to keep his helmet sealed...instead of, you know, a transparent visor or a simple bubble helmet. I mean, geez, considering the quality of the acting in this movie (nothing against the actors - they just don't have ANYTHING to work with) you wouldn't think they'd mind if the helmets obscured the actors' faces, would you? Oh, and apparently cocker spaniels, monkeys and house cats are immune to the forces of lift off, even though it almost kills the oldest astronaut. The dog just sits on the end of a leash tied to a wall, and the cats and moneys ride out the whole thing in cages. And then they are ON the surface of the moon, and it's just ludicrous. It's so obviously a sound-stage made of lathe wood, paper mache and gray paint that it considers vast viewer effort to suspend disbelief and not look too hard. I tended to squint at the screen a lot, and that really helped. And it turns out that the nations of the world spent millions of dollars to send 12 people to the moon, but they only supplied the astronauts with 2 hours of oxygen for their space suits. And let's see, blah blah blah quicksand pit, blah blah meteors blah blah two of the astronauts disappear, blah blah the aliens living in the moon want the cats, blah blah they take off, blah blah another meteor shower (or maybe the same one) on the way back, the aliens decide to freeze the earth, blah blah cooperation and selfless sacrifice, blah blah, and the special effects budget completely runs out and you can clearly see the stick holding the model of the rocket-ship in front of the camera.Then blah blah blah, the selfless sacrifice convinces the aliens, the moral, and THE END. Frankly, I preferred "Rocket Shop X-M" and "First Spaceship to Venus". Why didn't someone think to call Issac Asimov, Arthur Clarke, Murray Leinster or Lester Del Rey, four 'hard science' science fiction writers of the era who would have been available for cheap? And yet, you can't hate a film like this. The actors were given cardboard characters to play (which is natural when you've got TWELVE PEOPLE FIGHTING FOR SCREEN TIME in a two hour movie, unless the screenwriter and directors are geniuses.) but they really did their best with the material. And the movie takes a pretty bold step (way before "Star Trek") by asserting the need for an international crew (including Russians, Jews, and Blacks) in a time when White Manifest Destiny was the rule in the movie industry. As lazy as the movie was with the technical details and the science, it was ABOUT something and had a message of hope and destiny that you rarely see outside of Disney films any more. Don't waste your time seeking this one out, but if it falls into your hands, you might get a kick out of watching.