All 8 Godzilla Movies From the 1960s, Ranked (original) (raw)
Image via Toho
Published Jan 10, 2025, 6:00 PM EST
Jeremy has more than 2500 published articles on Collider to his name, and has been writing for the site since February 2022. He's an omnivore when it comes to his movie-watching diet, so will gladly watch and write about almost anything, from old Godzilla films to gangster flicks to samurai movies to classic musicals to the French New Wave to the MCU... well, maybe not the Disney+ shows.
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You may have heard, at some point in the last 70+ years, that Godzilla, as a series, is kind of a big deal. The first movie came out in 1954, and while it didn’t come up with the idea of making a film revolving around a giant monster, it tackled such a concept with a degree of seriousness and horror that was admirable for its time, and still makes the film hit hard when watched today. Its sequels, by and large, were a little more light-hearted, but replaced the solemness with action and, more often than not, other giant monsters for its titular one to fight.
The sheer number of Godzilla movies makes him more than worthy of holding the title of king of the monsters, with numerous releases in the 1970s, 1990s, 2000s, and even the 2010s helping to keep him relevant. Going back to the 1960s is interesting, though, because that’s when Godzilla really started to develop and find its identity as a series, given the 1950s only saw the release of two films: the original, and then 1955’s Godzilla Raids Again. All eight movies featuring the king of the monsters released in the 1960s are ranked below, starting with the forgettable and ending with the iconic.
8 'All Monsters Attack' (1969)
Directed by Ishirō Honda
Image via Toho
The only truly irredeemable Godzilla movie from the 1960s is All Monsters Attack, as it’s one that kind of taints the legacy of the series, to some extent. It’s best ignored entirely, especially if you’re watching the series in order and have seen every Godzilla movie made before 1969. Everything that might be good here, if you haven’t seen those films, is just repurposed footage from older movies. Much of it plays out like a feature-length Godzilla clip show.
It's very kid-focused, with the plot here involving a human kid and Godzilla’s son, Minilla, forming an odd kind of bond through dreams the former has. The kid dreams about stock footage a great deal, it turns out, with pretty much all the action here being from earlier movies. This makes All Monsters Attack very boring, and also particularly frustrating if you don’t particularly like the character of Minilla, because most of the “original” stuff focusing on the monster side of things just features scenes with him.
7 'Son of Godzilla' (1967)
Directed by Jun Fukuda
Image via Toho
The bad news regarding Son of Godzilla is that it, like All Monsters Attack, features Minilla quite prominently, but the good news is that even then, it’s still a good deal better than that aforementioned 1969 movie. All Monsters Attack felt cobbled together and a bit like a quick cash grab, whereas Son of Godzilla – while still being a bit kiddish and plodding at times – does function more like an actual Godzilla movie, and certainly has its moments; just enough to make it worthwhile for fans of the series.
As you might have guessed from the title, Son of Godzilla is all about Godzilla getting an adopted son, clashing with him a great deal at first (that stuff is pretty hilarious) before eventually accepting him, even though he is super ugly and clumsy. It’s also hard to be too critical of a movie when it contains a scene like this, as the infamous rock fight is weirdly iconic.
6 'Ebirah, Horror of the Deep' (1966)
Directed by Jun Fukuda
Image via Toho
The titular Ebirah is a pretty under-utilized Godzilla foe overall. Sure, it might not be one of the greatest or most iconic monsters that Godzilla has gone up against, but Ebirah at least looks distinctive and was neat enough to be a title monster, featured in 1966’s Ebirah, Horror of the Deep. “_Horror_” might be overstating it a little, with the alternate title of Godzilla, Ebirah, Mothra: Great Duel in the South Seas being both cooler and more fitting.
The wacky plot here sees bad guys controlling a giant crustacean monster for their inevitably nefarious purposes, and both Godzilla and Mothra in turn being the only ones who can save the day. Like Son of Godzilla, it was directed by Jun Fukuda, whose Godzilla films from the 1960s don’t quite stack up to most of the ones Ishirō Honda directed… the exception, naturally, being All Monsters Attack. Thanks to that film, Honda was responsible for directing the worst Godzilla movie of the 1960s, alongside, of course, the five best ones.
5 'Invasion of Astro-Monster' (1965)
Directed by Ishirō Honda
Similar to what happened with Mechagodzilla in the 1970s, King Ghidorah proved to be an iconic enough rival monster for Godzilla that he appeared as the central antagonist in two movies, back-to-back. The second (and lesser) of those was Invasion of Astro-Monster, which has a plot involving a mysterious alien race contacting Earth and offering to make it worth humanity’s while if they're willing to “lend” the alien race Godzilla and Rodan.
Aliens in Godzilla movies generally aren’t to be trusted, though, and betrayal is inevitable… perhaps, so is a return of Ghidorah. It feels a bit like a retread of the previous movie in the series, but Invasion of Astro-Monster still mostly works as kaiju entertainment. It’s also well-remembered for a short sequence that involves Godzilla performing a victory dance, and come on, that’s hard to resist.
4 'King Kong vs. Godzilla' (1962)
Directed by Ishirō Honda
Godzilla and King Kong go mano-a-mano in 'King Kong vs. Godzilla'
Image via Toho
There are flaws to be found in King Kong vs. Godzilla, sure, but it’s also easy to forgive many of them when the movie foregrounds a battle between two legendary movie monsters. Like with 2021’s Godzilla vs. Kong, 1962’s King Kong vs. Godzilla might be more of a King Kong movie than a Godzilla one, but that’s perhaps understandable when one considers the first Godzilla movie had only been around for eight years at this point, while King Kong’s history dated back almost 30 years.
All that matters is that in King Kong vs. Godzilla, King Kong fights Godzilla, and the big showdown remains fun to watch to this day. It’s also noteworthy for being the first Godzilla movie (of many) to feature the word “_vs._” in its title, and for also being the first entry in the series to be shot in color.
Release Date
August 11, 1962
Runtime
97 Minutes
Director
Ishirô Honda, Norman Tokar
Writers
Willis H. O'Brien, Shinichi Sekizawa
Franchise(s)
Godzilla, King Kong
3 'Mothra vs. Godzilla' (1964)
Directed by Ishirō Honda
Godzilla fights Mothra's larvae in Mothra vs. Godzilla.
Image via Toho
Like with King Kong vs. Godzilla, 1964’s Mothra vs. Godzilla saw the king of the monsters surprisingly getting second billing in the title. Mothra had been introduced just three years earlier in her own solo movie, but for whatever reason was deemed worthy of being the first monster mentioned in the title here (possibly because Mothra’s the hero here, come to think of it). Things changed in the 1990s, though, because 1992 saw the release of the similarly-titled Godzilla vs. Mothra, the names now swapped.
Anyway, with 1964’s Mothra vs. Godzilla, it has the two monsters squaring off, which is odd to see nowadays, considering they're usually allies. Also, after this point, Godzilla stopped being a villain during the Showa era, because here, Mothra is positioned as the one who needs to stop Godzilla from causing potential damage and death. It’s solid, and does pretty much everything you'd want a kaiju movie from the 1960s to do.
Release Date
April 29, 1964
Runtime
89 minutes
Director
Ishirō Honda
Writers
Shinichi Sekizawa
Producers
Sanezumi Fujimoto
Cast
Akira Takarada
Ichiro "Ichi" Sakai
Yuriko Hoshi
Junko Nakanishi
Hiroshi Koizumi
Professor Shunsuke Miura
Mothra's egg washes ashore and is claimed by greedy entrepreneurs who refuse to return it to her fairies. As Godzilla arises near Nagoya, the people of Infant Island must decide if they are willing to answer Japan's own pleas for help.
2 'Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster' (1964)
Directed by Ishirō Honda
Image Via Toho
Coming out the same year as Mothra vs. Godzilla, and preceding the aforementioned Invasion of Astro-Monster, Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster was pivotal for providing King Ghidorah an appropriately grand entrance into the Godzilla series. Godzilla doesn’t even get to be in the title here, but is positioned in a more heroic role than in earlier films, battling Ghidorah alongside both Mothra and Rodan.
This was an important film in turning Godzilla from a villain to more of a hero, and it was also the largest-scale monster rumble in the series to date, benefitting greatly from showcasing several monsters within the one film. Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster thereby created something of a blueprint for many other Showa era films to follow, perhaps being the second-most important film of _Godzilla_’s first era, as a result (after only the 1954 original, of course).
Release Date
December 20, 1964
Runtime
85 Minutes
Director
Ishirô Honda
Writers
Shin'ichi Sekizawa
Producers
Tomoyuki Tanaka
Cast
Yôsuke Natsuki
Naoko Shindo
Yuriko Hoshi
Detective Shindo
1 'Destroy All Monsters' (1968)
Directed by Ishirō Honda
Godzilla and Rodan at Mt. Fuji
Image via Toho
Yet for as good as Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster was, Destroy All Monsters was even better, when judged both as an all-out monster-fest and as just a Godzilla film, plain and simple. It is a movie that pretty much goes for broke, and though it would’ve been sad for the series to end here, Destroy All Monsters would at least have been a fitting send-off for Godzilla, had they not made any others.
In a premise that feels similar to the even more gonzo Godzilla: Final Wars (2004), Destroy All Monsters revolves around numerous monsters getting released and causing havoc across Earth. Aliens end up being behind it all, and things turn around once their plan is revealed and subsequently thwarted. Along the way, plenty of iconic monsters get to show up, and it all concludes with a massively fun set piece. Call it all a bit silly if you want, but it’s also hard to deny that Destroy All Monsters is a ton of fun.
Release Date
August 1, 1968
Runtime
89 minutes
Director
Ishirō Honda
Writers
Ishirō Honda, Takeshi Kimura
Producers
Tomoyuki Tanaka
At the end of the 20th century, all of Earth's monsters have been safely rounded up and sent to Monsterland for scientific study. Chaos erupts when a race of she-aliens known as the Kilaaks unleashes the monsters on the world.