Alien Lenticular (1979)

Editor's Note Director Ridley Scott's breakthough film, an immensely successful blend of horror and science fiction, is a classic in both genres and spawned a host of sequels and imitators. Starring Sigourney Weaver as warrant officer Ellen Ripley, ALIEN focuses on the crew of the space cargo ship Nostromo, which lands on a moribund planet in response to a faint SOS. Inside a crashed ship, the crew members come upon strange pods, one of which spews forth a repellently fleshy insectile creature that locks on to the face of the unlucky Kane (John Hurt). Despite Ripley's advice, science officer Ash (Ian Holm) allows Kane to return to the ship, where the creature finally releases its grip. Soon, however, in one of the film's most infamous scenes, one of its offspring explodes horribly from Kane's stomach and scurries away. Dallas (Tom Skerritt), the vessel's captain, leads the others in a search for the rapidly growing, acid-dripping alien before it can cut them down--one by one. A triumph of art direction, set design, and special effects, ALIEN gains much of its impact from the contrast between the bleak, antiseptic beauty of the space vessel's interior and the primordial horror of the alien, a brilliantly original fusion of insect, man, and machine designed by Swiss surrealist painter H.R. Giger. The top-notch cast also includes Veronica Cartwright, Yaphet Kotto, and Harry Dean Stanton.

	Harry Dean Stanton
	Ian Holm
	Veronica Cartwright
	John Hurt
	Yaphet Kotto
	Sigourney Weaver
	Tom Skerritt
	Dan O'Bannon - Screenwriter
	Jerry Goldsmith - Composer
	Derek Vanlint - Cinematographer
	Carlo Rambaldi - Special Effects
	Bernard Lodge - Special Effects
	David Giler - Producer
	Walter Hill - Producer
	Michael Seymour - Production Designer
	Dan O'Bannon - Story
	Gordon Carroll - Producer
	Terry Rawlings - Editor
	Ian Whittaker - Set Designer
	Ronald Shusett - Source Writer
	Peter Weatherly - Editor
	John Mollo - Costume Designer
	H. R. Giger - Costume Designer
	Roger Dicken - Costume Designer
	Ridley Scott - Director

Sight and Sound
"...ALIEN outshines all competition in the luminous splendour of its photography..." 09/01/1979 p.258-9

Variety
"...An old-fashioned scary movie set in a highly realistic sci-fi future, made all the more believable by the expert technical craftsmanship....[Weaver] carries it off well..." 05/23/1979

Movieline's Hollywood Life
"...Ridley Scott was a force to be reckoned with..." 11/01/2003 p.117

Total Film
"...With its cliché-confounding cast and plotting, roughneck sensibility and star-making turn from Weaver, ALIEN rewards repeat viewing..." 11/01/2003 p.106

Los Angeles Times
"...Scott's film still shreds nerves....At once graphically elegant and viscerally effective, the future conjured up by Scott was dystopian to the core..." 10/29/2003 p.C3

Entertainment Weekly
"...In ALIEN, you can hear lessons for the sci-fi future in a great milestone from the recent past..." 11/07/2003 p.52

Chicago Sun-Times
"Ridley Scott's 1979 movie is a great original." 10/26/2003 p.5

Premiere
"Weaver's Ripley revolutionized women's roles by introducing the female action hero..." 04/01/2004 p.71