Ridley Scott's Alien (1979)

One of my all time favorites. I would live to see the 3 hour rough cut.

I got to see it back in the early 80's at the local mall during midnight showings and the extended rerelease cut a number of years ago.

 

I agree it's a brilliant movie. One of my all time favorites for sure. Love the atmosphere of this one. Love pretty much everything about it. The sequels are pretty good, but do not approach the brilliance of the original.

Love the soundtrack of this one too.

 

I still love this movie more than ever. I certainly think it has one of the best casts ever assembled. The Derelict ship and the Space Jockey still creep me out to this day. RIP, Mr. Giger...

 

The mission was also a bit different from your usual sci-fi flick- it was a commercial mission and some crew members were ticked about the pay, creating tension well before the alien appeared.

 

I really like Alien but I like Aliens more, the rest of the sequels not so much.

 

I saw this when it just came out in video (can't remember if it was Beta or VHS as it was back in the days when you could rent the machine too instead of buying one) when I was around 10. As I was a sci-fi freak and couldn't see it in the theatre as it was rated R here, I loved every minute. Seeing Sigourney Weaver in her undies near the end was an added bonus.

 

I saw it when it first was released. About a dozen people exited the theater after the alien popped out of John Hurt's stomach.

 

"Prometheus" is certainly flawed but it has its moments. I believe that Scott shouldn't have tied this in to "Alien" at all since we don't really need the answers to the questions from "Alien" (sometimes the answers can be disappointing).

If the film had been a stand-alone movie and if logic, clarity hadn't been sacrificed and if too many writers hadn't been involved, it could have turned out much, much stronger.

Of course the original script was a "Alien vs. Predator" project. Obviously Scott could get a bigger budget tying it into "Alien" vs. being a stand alone film.

It looks great on the big screen but the blu-ray is a truly stunning transfer that (depending on your monitor) comes really close to its original theatrical presentation.

 

Love Alien, saw at the theater on first release. Recently received the 6 disc bluray box set and enjoyed it again. The newly made making of disc in the box set really takes you inside making the film and the sets. he set designers discussed how they would take apart an old 1940s plane and use all the odds and ends for adding to the set realism. Great stuff if you haven't seen it.

 

Snuck-in to the theater to see 'Alien' back in '79 as a 14 year-old. All my buddies chickened & ran before it started, so I watched it alone. The atmosphere & music for the opening credits scared me so bad I believe I wet myself right then and there. But I stuck it out & had the most awesome, scariest time of my life. I was definitely the coolest kid in Grade 9 the next day at school...

 

I never saw Alien in the theater so I do feel like I'm missing out. I was pretty young, probably 4-5 years old.

I started with the VHS version my father brought home. Later had the laserdisc, and then the DVD. Now I have the Blu-Ray, and it looks great of course.

On a side note: Anyone notice that "purge" video screen was later used on Blade Runner? Were they recycling effects (which would have made perfect sense, considering how resourceful those guys were!), or was Ridley trying to imply the two could be in the same universe?

 

I recognized the computer sounds - exactly the same as those used in the Blade Runner image enhancer scene.

I recently saw an unknown cut that included scenes of Dallas in a cocoon asked to be killed.

I have the soundtrack on lp. Apparently going for some $$ now.
http://s44.photobucket.com/user/zizoi77/media/alien.jpg.html

How the heck do I post images now?

 

Groovy! I noticed the same thing. Maybe as 'Alien' is happening in space, 'Blade Runner' is happening on Earth? Sort-of like '2001' & 'Clockwork Orange'...

 

That scene was added to the alternate version included with the blu-ray. I happen to agree with Scott that the scene "stops" the film in its tracks and it works better without it. It is such a startling scene and stops the momentum of the attempt to get off the ship that it doesn't work for me.

Scott deliberately recycled the visual and some of the sound effects. I'm sure he was implying that they were related but didn't do much beyond using those elements to link the film. I just think he was fond of the them.

I never got the impression that Kubrick was linking the two films at all and doubt that he really thought of that.

It's brilliantly cast and the performances are terrific and believable praticularly due to the fact that none of them were big stars.

If they made it now they would fill it iwth an all star cast which would dilute the impact IMHO.

What makes the film work evening knowing everything that will happen is the atmosphere of unrelenting dread and the perfectly realized characters. Part of the latter was due to Walter Hill not Dan O'Bannon--although Hill was denied a writer's credit on the film, he and his producing partner David Giler did a substanial rewrite on the film (as did O'Bannon) and it was their idea to introduce the Sythetic Ash as a conspirator on the ship.

There was also dialogue that was cut where Weaver and Cartwright's character talk about the guys they've slept with on the ship both noting that neither had slept with Ash and imply that there's something "off" about him. It's evident in the performance by Holm so it wasn't necessary to include that scene.

There's no doubt that O'Bannon's original concept was carried over to "Prometheus" as well (and that H.R. Giger's original designs played an influence as well beyond the additional work he did on the film) and I feel he should have gotten story credit but, because he was deceased, there really wasn't anyone to argue the point.

 

Agreed on all points. Btw, Ridley and I were born on the same day. Different years. And my name is Scott.

 

I saw it with my dad in its initial theatrical release. I have never seen an audience react as strongly to another scene in a movie as they did to that one. A few people almost jumped out of their seats, and a lot more screamed. It was totally unexpected, and shocking in its suddenness and violence.

Back in the day, the CAV laserdisc set was the perfect tool to enable one to run through the sequence frame by frame.

 

I used to love "Alien" back in the day. I read the novelization at least a dozen times, and had a book with hundreds of still images from the film, with accompanying dialogue.

I read an interview (or maybe it was a DVD commentary) where writer Dan O'Bannon mentioned that "Alien" was a horror movie based on the fear of rape. Hence the sexual imagery from Giger, the way John Hurt gets 'impregnated', etc. Ewww.

--Geoff

 

To me, Alien- was one of the real first heralding movies , trumpeting resolute determined feminism in action.. The men in the space ship crew - continually defy advice, instructions and orders of a woman. These men then pay the ultimate price .

At that point of the movie. (regarding John Hurt's stomach) -through others around the theatre were screaming their heads off, I deliberately loudly laughed. What was then amazing was, no one in the audience then screamed at any point, during the rest of the movie.
At that time, my then professional career ...had made me both familiar with ...and continually seeing often, such hideous type human horror situations in real life. Today , with changed personal circumstances and nature, I would recoil at such sights.

 

Here 'I will throw the proverbial spanner in the works'.......
To me , the scene in 2001 where Kier Dullea in space suit is looking at what is really his own dead corpse in the bed, is more linked to something similar , like the last 12 minutes of Malick's Tree of Life To justify that judgement... I personally...had 'a real touch & go' medical experience (which I am now, fully over) just on a year ago, where specialist doctors gave me - at best 5% chance of survival at one stage.. They then deliberately made me unconscious for just on 18 days. During which I still maintain, I went to 'the other side'. Yet I am not a person of 'any held beliefs'. Unlike dreams one has...and quickly forgets over perhaps days or even weeks.... to this day I could describe vividly all the detailed and lengthy aspects of it. Something a mere dream .....has never afforded me to do.
On buying a copy of the Blu-Ray of Malick's Tree of Life... and witnessing THAT last 12 minutes....'I simply blew a fuse' ... I could/ can now .... finally relate in visual terms to others, the type of rich rewarding, comforting experience I had.

 

Wicked.

 

'Alien' ?. It's about the male fear of pregnancy, isn't it?.

 

The whole "bonus situation" was brilliant. And the way Yaphet Koto and Harry Dean Stanton were so relentless about it was hysterical funny. Right up there with "we need a bigger boat." Alien is probably the 2nd best sci-fi movie ever made. Right next to "2001" in my pantheon. Agree with others, it was near perfect in acting and direction. The script was superb, too. Best of all, it scares the bejezus out of you. Perfect mix of suspense and gore. Brilliant.

That's the understatement of the century. What a let down that miserable movie was. Looked great, stupid as hell. I dragged my tired butt to a midnight screening, too! All the hardcore sci-fi fans walked out of that first showing going "Huh, what? Wha' happened?"

 

Love it. It's the perfect Friday night film.

 

What I read, or saw (can't remember) was that it was less "too many writers" and more "Ridley running wild with ideas." I believe it was Damon Lindelof that was talking about how they'd settle on a script change and by morning, Ridley Scott would burst in and throw another idea out there that they had to incorporate. When I heard that, the film's problems all made sense. There was a solid idea in there, but it's thrown off track by weird, random things (like the black goo behaving differently with little or no explanation, or Rooney Mara's boyfriend turning into essentially a twisted-up zombie (because of said goo)). I hated it immediately after seeing it; I've softened over time in order to get some enjoyment out of it. Being a big Alien-franchise fan, I have to give it the benefit of the doubt - I don't mind Alien Resurrection, so how can I hate Prometheus so much?

 

Best of the series.
All darkness and tone and low-key, understated dialogue.
Even the sound in this movie was scary.
Great secondary characters. Especially Ian Holm, Tom Skerritt and Yaphet Kotto.
It is easy to forget how groundbreaking this film was, especially portraying a woman - Sigourney is fabulous - as the hero.