Alien 1979

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Yesterdays Movies on Tuesday: Alien 1979

16 June 2009One CommentPosted by Phil

Beware of minor spoilers for a 30 year old movie.

Last week, I missed out on posting a Tuesday review. I'm sorry but I had a reason for not posting it. After writing the whole thing out, then going back to re-read the article, I realized that my review of the Steven Spielberg film Amistad became way to political. This is not a political site, so I dumped it. At that point, I didn't have the strength in me to write about something else so I simply skipped it. Let's be honest, the views of a conservative even if it is just on film will be met with hostel reaction from the other side of the aisle, so I figured I spare myself and you from that.

Since then, I've picked a new movie to talk about and that is the Ridley Scott classic, Alien. With all of the news circulating about the potential prequel to Alien and since it has been a very long time since I've seen it, I decided to go back and watch it - and what an amazing film it turned out to be, even more today than ever. I'm a huge fan of some of Ridley Scott's early work, work that includes Blade Runner and Legend - they're some of my favorite genre films. All three films, including Alien, were developed one after another in a span of 6 years from 1979 to 1985. Among many of Scott's great work over the years, those are my personal favorites.

Everyone who enjoys movies has seen Alien, or at the least, heard of it. It's a franchise that has had a long history which includes three sequels and two cross-over features with the other popular alien franchise, Predator. None of those, except for Aliens (James Cameron's film), have ever been able to match up to what Scott put on screen with this film.

"In the near future, during its return to the earth, a commercial spaceship Nostromo intercepts a distress SOS from a distant planet. The seven-member crew are woken up from the hypersleep and the spaceship subsequently descends on the planet. While exploring the planet, a three-member team of the crew discovers a derelict spaceship and a huge chamber inside it containing thousands of eggs. When a curious team member goes too near the egg the parasite inside the egg attacks him, rendering him unconscious. He is brought back aboard, the spaceship takes off. After a little while the parasite dies and his host wakes up seemingly unruffled. But other crew members are unaware of the living nightmare which is going to descend upon them when the alien creature planted inside its unfortunate host would emerge." [IMDB] Directed by the great Ridley Scott, Alien stars Sigourney Weaver in a break out performance as Ripley. Also starring is Tom Skerritt as Dallas, Ian Holm as Ash, John Hurt Kane, Veronica Cartwright as Lambert, Harry Dean Stanton as Brett, Yaphet Kotto as Parker and Bolaji Badejo as the Alien.

The story behind the creation of Alien is an interesting one - it even involves (some what) John Carpenter who's become well known in the movie business. I'm not going to go over that story because this article isn't about that, it's about my thoughts on the film itself. If you'd like to read up on Alien, head on over to Wikipedia or, of course, check out the special features on the DVD.

I remember seeing Alien as a kid - it scared the shit out of me. I've mentioned many times before I'm not a fan of horror films, however, Alien is also science fiction (obviously). So, in short, being a science fiction film was probably the reason why I watched it in the first place. A lot of horror films are based on a lot of elements - zombies, vampires, crazy murderers, demons, etc. For the most part, that never interested me (until lately) but aliens, I was always a sucker for that. Looking back, two movies that scared me to death was this film and Fire in the Sky - films about aliens, creatures from space that either killed or did very strange torturous things.

The concept, designs, and acting in this film is incredible. Compared to today's movies, there is so much to appreciate from science fiction of the 70s and 80s. I've spoken about this so many times and I sound like a broken record but the thing that I love about movies from then is how everything is real - facehuggers, eggs, the ships, landscapes, and the Alien are all built, to an extent. There was no CGI in 1979 and in some ways they were better for it because it forced the filmmakers to actually create and craft their movie. Although I'm not clear on most of the creative aspects in Alien, there is still so much to admire; the design of the facehuggers, the alien suit and in particular the derelict spaceship (the inside, the pilot etc.).

I love the isolation story - the dark, gritty and frightening nature of being alone in space. What makes this movie so convincing is the breakout performance of Sigourney Weaver who's sexy, strong and bad ass. Ian Holm was especially awesome as the android Ash and what about John Hurt!? I didn't even realize it was him. You'd recognize Hurt in Hellboy, but in Alien he was so young - they all were.

I could go on-and-on about how awesome Alien is but I've gone on for long enough. I actually meant this to be a short quick thought on this film but I've rambled long enough. Alien is a movie that is a must see for all - for scifi fans and general movies fans. I love it and you'll love it or at least you should.

For more movie reviews from the past, check out Yesterdays Movies on Tuesday!