It was unlike any film ever made, using imagery, symbolism and classical music rather than relying solely on dialogue to tell the story.
The film also famously gave the world the malevolent, thinking, talking mainframe computer, the HAL 9000.
2001 opened to mixed, sometimes hostile, reviews from critics and audiences who didn't "get" it. The New York Times called it "somewhere between hypnotic and immensely boring." Harper's said it was "a monumentally unimaginative movie."
Despite its reception, the film was nominated for four Academy Awards, including a shared screenwriting nod for Clarke and Kubrick. It won one Oscar for best special effects.
Today, 2001 is considered an influential masterpiece. "There have been many science-fiction films, but I don't think any of them are as cerebral or as daring as this one," says film historian Leonard Maltin. It ranks No. 22 on the American Film Institute's list of the top 100 movies of all time.
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