Barbarella

Last night I watched the 1967 movie Barbarella based on the comic book by Jean-Claude Forest.  The movie was directed by Roger Vadim and stars Jane Fonda as intergalactic agent Barbarella who is ordered to investigate the mysterious disappearance of scientist Durand-Durand and his latest invention, a weapon called the "Positronic Ray".  Along the way, Barbarella faces feral children, carniverous robot dolls, a labyrinth which absorbs people into it's walls and the Great Tyrant (Anita Pallenberg).  However she has help from a hunky blind angel (John Phillip Law), and a dim-witted revolutionary (David Hemmings).

This film is so sixties.  The whole tone is set in the famous opening credits sequence where Barbarella peels off a spacesuit in a zero gravity striptease in her fur-lined spaceship, to a cheery song (called "Barbarella Psychadela"). The film mixes science-fiction, fantasy, comedy mild eroticism into sexy, campy, fun nonsense.  At times it feels like a big budget porn film with all the sex scenes cut out.   It's fun if you're in the mood for it, the special effects are ropey, and some of the acting is pretty hammy, but it is fun.  Also in Barbarella, you have a female lead character, who enjoys and very much takes control of her own sexuality.

It's a massive cult film now and very much part of popular culture.  By the way, the 1980s band Duran Duran took their name from this film.