My Personal Best Films: Alien (1979)

Alien «««« (rating for both versions)
R, 116m. (1979 original theatrical version)
R, 117m. (2003 director’s cut)

Cast & Credits: Tom Skerritt (Dallas), Sigourney Weaver (Ripley), Veronica Cartwright (Lambert), Harry Dean Stanton (Kane), John Hurt (Kane), Ian Holm (Ash), Yaphet Kotto (Parker), Bolaji Badejo (Alien), Helen Morton (Mother). Screenplay by Dan O’Bannon based on a story by Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett. Directed by Ridley Scott.

1980 Academy Award 
Nominations

Best Art Direction/
Set Decoration

Best Effects/Visual
Effects - Winner

Seeing "Alien" (1979) again on the big screen is like seeing a new movie for the very first time. The re-released film has been labeled a director’s cut as Ridley Scott has gone back making slight changes to his original version just as did to his 1982 cut of "Blade Runner" years ago.

Unless you’ve seen "Alien" over again on cable or video, however, chances are you’ll barely notice anything different. The DVD version came out a couple years ago and features a slew of deleted scenes which, had they been restored into the film, would have given "Alien" a running time of close to 150 minutes. This “director’s cut” at 117 minutes still falls barely under the two hour running time and is only a minute longer than the ‘79 version.

When I saw first saw "Alien" back in 1980 on cable, I never considered it to be one of my favorite movies and to this day, the series is still my least favorite franchise. The only reason why "Aliens" (1986) worked was because Oscar winning director and screenwriter James Cameron was able to take the character and story of Lt. Ellen Ripley played and made famous by Sigourney Weaver into a different direction. That’s where the scary thrills stopped for me, however.

"Alien 3" (1997), although skillfully directed by first-timer David Fincher; who later went on to do more memorably darker, sinister films like "Se7en" (1995), proved despite what director Cameron did that there wasn’t much that could have been done in continuing Ripley’s story to begin with and brought the franchise to a fitting, tragic close. At least that’s what I thought and had hoped for. I mean how many stories can be done where Weaver’s "Rambolina" goes up against the salivating, slobbering life forms? The powers that be, however, meaning the studio bosses at Fox, had other plans.

What we got was the unnecessary "Alien: Resurrection" (1997), which offered the same formulaic premise of woman battling beast and where the only new characteristic the aliens offered is their ability to swim underwater.

"Alien", though, renews just how original the idea really was. It’s a suspenseful cat-and-mouse monster movie that proves you don’t need to scare or shock someone with unlimited gore, like John Carpenter’s "The Thing" (1982) often did. Just the thought of trying to track down the menace inside a dark vent in the bowels of a ship, not knowing which direction to go as the beeping sound on the scanner is getting closer, is scary enough.

The most graphic the film ever got was the shot of the slimy oozing sets of teeth the creature exhibited before attacking. The only other unexpected gory sequence was the signature shot that had audiences talking, if not laughing, where Kane (John Hurt) goes into violent convulsions. His chest exploding, blood spewing all over Lambert’s (Veronica Cartwright) face as a little sharp-toothed life form peaks its newborn head from Kane’s guts making a mad dash for the nearest exit. The rest of the crew (Tom Skerritt, Weaver, Ian Holm, Harry Dean Stanton, Yaphet Kotto) all look on in shock.



Later science fiction films like "Event Horizon" (1997) and the 2002 remake of "Solaris" (1972) attempted to capture the picture’s visual look. "Alien" owes as much to "Star Wars" (1977) as it does to Stanley Kubrick’s "2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968) when it comes to technological eye-candy. The opening shots of the Nostromo, an immense, awkward looking mining ship with looming towers equipped to house just seven crewmen doesn’t even look like a starship. It’s more of an eyesore; an ugly, non-futuristic floating city. You barely hear the hum of the ship’s engines as it moves gracefully through space; hence the notion that you can’t hear anything in space. Or to be more precise with the poster’s advertisement, “In space, no one can hear you scream.”

The scenes and atmosphere echo the way "Star Wars" opened with the sight of a Star Destroyer overtaking the entire screen as it pursued a small ship and the shots of Kubrick’s flying toys in 2001 moving through space at the tune of classical music. All is silent inside the Nostromo as the crew of seven lay in deep sleep. The only thing running is “Mother”, the ship’s on board computer that suddenly springs to life with new orders sent by a nameless corporation as the crew is awakened to investigate life on a nearby planet.

When it comes to suspense films like this, it’s hard to get excited when seeing them again because you already know what’s going to happen. Seeing Tom Skerritt’s Captain Dallas shedding his flame thrower on the deadly intruder who patiently sits waiting for him in the dark vent with open arms made me jump the first time, but the thrill doesn’t work the second or third time around.

The desire to see "Alien" again, however, is the opportunity to see how it looks on the big screen as opposed to watching it on your DVD player on a 32’ television screen or larger. It’s the only reason why people go see theatrical re-releases like "The Exorcist" (1972), "Scarface" (1983) and the Star Wars Trilogy (1977, 1980, 1983).

"Alien" reminded me of how great a decade the 1970s was when it came to film making. It was a decade full of promising young directors who gave us breakout hits; all of whom started out making low budget, perhaps mostly forgettable films. Before "The Godfather" (1972) and "The Godfather Part II" (1974) and Apocalypse Now (1979), there was "Dementia 13" (1963), a low budget horror movie helmed by Francis Ford Coppola. George Lucas’ first foray into science fiction was "THX-1138" (1971) before giving us "Star Wars" six years later. Steven Spielberg made a little cat-and-mouse, made-for-tv road movie called "Duel" (1971) before making the shark thriller, Jaws (1976). Richard Donner directed television shows before scoring with the anti-Christ hit, "The Omen" (1976) in which Gregory Peck is the adopted father of Satan, and in what is still the best superhero flick to date, "Superman: The Movie" (1978).

By comparison, the first film Ridley Scott did was the sword wielding drama, "The Duelists" (1977). "Alien" put him on the A-list of known directors. Today, his credits not only include science fiction but fantasy like the Tom Cruise flop, "Legend" (1985). He gave Russell Crowe his first Oscar in "Gladiator" (2000), and sent Susan Sarandon and Gina Davis on the run in the controversial feminist-themed buddy road trip, "Thelma & Louise" (1991). He made "Hannibal" (2001), the second follow-up to "Silence of the Lambs" (1991), a nauseating experience to sit through while the bloody, war themed "Black Hawk Down" (2001) was a no-holds-barred, play-by-play account of an American military operation gone horrifically wrong.

I’m sure it goes without saying that the strongest of the seven characters in "Alien" is Weaver’s Ripley. She’s a no-nonsense, strictly-by-the-book officer who isn't afraid to fight back when Lambert slaps her for not letting them on board without going through decontamination first, despite Kane being injured. Walk away from her when she’s trying to get a point across and Ripley will just hit door switch to keep Captain Dallas in the same room with her. She is the kind of person who is frightened by the situation she and her crew are in, but then immediately switches into take charge mode.

The other characters exhibit little traits that aren’t hard to tell them apart. Aside from Hurt’s Kane becoming the first victim, there is Skerritt’s Dallas who listens to classical music alone in a part of the ship. And while the fragile Lambert is always seen smoking a cigarette, Ash (Holm), the ship’s science officer exhibits all the emotion and interest in exploring new life like Star Trek’s Mr. Spock. When Ripley asks Ash about Kane’s condition, he says something I’d expect the pointy-eared Vulcan to say to the irritable Dr. McCoy in the original Star Trek series.

“I’m still collating it, actually, but I have confirmed that he’s got an outer layer of protein polysaccharides,” Ash says.

If McCoy heard such things, he’d throw a fit.

Then there are the ship’s engineers (Yaphet Kotto and Harry Dean Stanton) who complain about how they won’t do anymore work unless they get paid overtime.

The one thing all of Scott’s movies have in common is how the memorable characters exhibit traits and emotions we could identify with. That’s what made "Alien" work.

The way Ripley records her final message before going into deep sleep, reading off the names of her crew sounds almost tragic, if not haunting. It was those same words we heard her say on a recording at the end of "Alien 3", which was one of that film’s best scenes. Seeing her read off the names of her crew in person seems to take on a different meaning though near the end of "Alien." It’s as if, in some way, we really did care about them and the predicament they were all in.

©2/15/23