Directed by Ridley Scott
Written by Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shuset
1979/US/U.K.
IMDb page
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
Ripley: Micro changes in air density, my ass.
Ridley Scott shows himself to be a master of suspense in this horror/sci-fi thriller.
Whatever the year, space travel has become a commonplace grind, albeit a dangerous one. Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) is second in command on a space ship that must stop off on an icy planet to make repairs. The crew goes to explore and brings back some organic material. Against Ripley’s advice, they bring the material aboard. Of course it becomes a face-hugging, chest-exploding alien.
Science officer Ash (Ian Holm) foils all efforts to destroy the disgusting creature. It is Ripley that must conquer or perish. With an excellent supporting cast including Tom Skerrit, Harry Dean Stanton, Yaphet Kotto, and Veronica Cartwright.
This certainly deserved to be a blockbuster. The production and effects are amazing for the time period and Scott makes his three-hour film fly by like lightening. But it is Weaver that makes the movie. What a truly bad-ass heroine! Recommended.
I do love this movie. One of the things I like about it is how much of it works because of the set. The ship feels like its own character in a lot of ways.
It’s also a “dirty” sci-fi film in the sense that it looks lived in. A lot of science fiction to this point looked very sterile. Look at 2001, for instance–that’s a film that looks antiseptic in a lot of ways. The Nostromo looks like a place where people actually live. It’s got dirt and grime on it, and so it feels very real and lived-in. It’s a detail like that that makes the connection to essentially a haunted house story a lot more real.
I really liked the mood too. Everybody was bored and cranky and fed up with the management. It certainly exceeded my expectations. The rare sci-fi film with real characters.
I will use that quote next time my boss starts talking about power curve adjustments due to small changes in air density…
This is such a brilliant movie. I am not into monster or horror movies, but this is so much beyond both. Space would never be the same again.
I knew people loved it and now I know why. It’s like Jaws meets The Thing.