Chariots of the Gods1972

Insane UFO religion pitch from the 1970s that was probably fairly convincing to lay audiences in its day. An enthusiastic narrator attempts to convince us that hyper-advanced aliens visited prehistoric Earth using what looks like Apollo-era technology (how coincidental!) and spent their time here making dirt mounds & carving rocks.

The film postulates that the ancient people of Africa, South America etc were incapable of building pyramids and other great structures - and that instead they were constructed by "light-skinned" aliens. Hmm.

Definitely worth a watch as a time capsule of mid 20th century fringe spiritualism. If you're looking for a documentary on the actual possibilities of extraterrestrial life, this isn't it.

Brought back the wonderful inquisitiveness of the 60s and our dreams of a past connected to the universe and a future in which we might restore that connection. Better yet, all the images of the wonders of antiquity discovered or uncovered in the previous century somehow reflect a very real magic, a genius that permeates human history, whether you are ready to believe it comes from outer space, or just see it as a reflection of the wonders mankind may have created on our own, perhaps as a reflection of the wonders of the universe as they live with ourselves.

Seeing this film made me feel a nostalgia for all that innocence and hopefulness. It is as if we have fallen into a dark age just in the course of my lifetime. My son doesn't believe that a man walked on the moon. It turns out that many people don't believe that basic tenet of the society of my childhood.

Thought provoking, wonderfully dated and with an interesting soundtrack...man.

Only if you watch it while telling yourself it is a farce and supposed to be funny, can it be entertaining. It is truly a load of horrible crap, delusions, and misinformation.

Decades after its release, a film that set out to challenge our perception of the history of civilization has morphed into another kind of film: a rather quaint, even charming Travelogue.

"Chariots of the Gods" is like an old National Geographic documentary dosed with caffeine and trucker speed, jetting from one exotic, remote location to another, camera making epic pans across a landscape of ancient ruins before zooming in on an ancient stone idol and excitedly noting its similarity to the Grumman Lunar Module. Brilliant!

Again and again, the word "Astronaut" comes up in the narration. In 1972, that word was exciting, dynamic; it was a word that meant, "The Future". This was the zenith of the Space Race, the last glorious moment of the Apollo Program before it started to fade from public interest. The planets and the stars seemed within our grasp in 1972, and "Chariots of the Gods," took a moment to contemplate that future, compare and contrast it with our past. Whatever your beliefs (or non-beliefs) on the theory of Ancient Astronauts, "Chariots of the Gods," took a moment to ponder where came from, and where we were supposed to be going.

Many of the dreams of manned space exploration from 1972 have faded, much like the film stock of "Chariots of the Gods." The future--like the film--now seems very different.

Very interesting.

It was very informative and full of physical evidence of ancient astronauts or extraterrestrials.

1970's faux documentary. It's fun and fantastic if you want a retro-experience into fringe theory aliens, the pseudo-origins of the human race, and fanciful technological inceptions. As other reviewers have noted this is an "Insane UFO religion pitch"...

As a narrative document this is great fun. Cool 70s synthesizer soundtrack, colourful images left and right, ...

Of course as a documentary it's a sham. Tons of half arguments, analogies, descriptions that seem to imply something, but no actual point is made.

Still, I'm feeling something like nostaglia watching this. I read Von Danicken and Velikovsky (another sham scientist) when I was too young to know better, and I found it all enormously fascinating. However, none of it holds up to actual scrutiny.

I don't know how to assign a star rating to this. The production values and the music are dated, often hilariously so, but a lot of the footage is remarkable and the ideas still thought-provoking. Worth seeing.

This was way ahead of it's time, and we still have more questions and answers??

A fan of the History Channel's, "Ancient Aliens", I found this movie both wonderful and depressing. We have moved barely an inch in 40 years since Erich von Däniken took the time to find and record these magnificent places. He inspired our imaginations, but we have failed to take this to the next level. Why aren't scientists (and even amateurs) searching every second of every day for answers to such glaring questions. Perhaps some young man or woman will watch this movie and reach yet further, helping us all find the missing pieces of our past.

Realing wonders of our past !

This was so accurate and so true in the assumptions. The data is very outdated now and so much more has been uncovered and theorized from new information and finds. The fact that humans were created by aliens that visited earth some 6000 years ago which coincides with the estimates of the emergence of the new blood types we call Type A and Type B - coincides with "the creation" according to various bibles and even explains the multiple religions where Demi-Gods (you and me) are explained in pretty good detail. Still enjoy the old movies perspective. So many people scoffed at this as absurd conspiracy nonsense at the time. It remains reassuring to know how dead wrong they all were and many still adhere to their certainty and failed dogma today.

fantastic

dr duke

Very professional documentary. Interesting insight into plausible extraterrestrial life forms and visitations. RMB

some good info, some ridiculous stuff too

i like it

I enjoyed this movie much more when I saw it at the drive in theatre, many years ago. Pretty dated now.

This film is in my opinion has but 1 explantion, earth was either visited by space travelers or sometime in our distant future mankind has mastered time travel. Could we be traveling back in time in order to enrich our gene pool which may be in great peril in the future

AWESOME! A must-see.

I love this movie.

good!

it was wonderful in that'70s kind of way ... kind of hoaky now though