Movie Flashback: Alien

“Alien“, which was released in 1979, just happened to the be the first Rated-R movie that I was taken to see in a Theater. I was 14yrs old and a freshman in High School at the time. Back in those days, no one really had HBO or SHOWTIME yet, as most people did not even have cable TV, so getting to see an actual Rated-R movie was pretty hard and was pretty much at the mercy of your parents.

My Dad took me to see Alien and for months afterwards, I wished he hadn’t. Though I now credit this movie with first introducing us to the beautiful and great Sigourney Weaver, this movie scared the crap out of me even worse than Jaws did 4 years earlier as a 10yr old.

This movie continues to be one of the most tense and scary films ever made.

The film went on to spawn a bunch of sequels, and while “Aliens” was another great film, the original “Alien” is still the best of them all. Watching the film on DVD or TV takes away from much of the experience. You really had to be in a packed theater to truly appreciate how scary the movie is and was. A classic film!

The film starred:

Sigourney Weaver – Ripley
Tom Skerritt – Dallas
Veronica Cartwright – Lambert
Harry Dean Stanton – Brett
John Hurt – Kane
Ian Holm – Ash
Yaphet Kotto – Parker

The original title of the film was “Star Beast“.

Director Ridley Scott said that casting Ripley ultimately came down to either Meryl Streep, or the unknown Sigourney Weaver. (I cannot picture Streep in that role at all!)

Made for just $11 Million dollars, the film went on to gross nearly $105 Million in theaters.

The entire film was shot on sound stages in London.

The film won the 1979 Academy Award for Visual Effects.

Director Ridley Scott’s only previous Directorial effort was a 1977 film “The Duelists“. After the success of “Alien“, he would go on to direct blockbusters such as “Blade Runner“,”Thelma and Louise“, “Gladiator“, “Blackhawk Down“, and many others.

Alien was Sigourney Weaver’s first major role and would go on to launch a very successful career that to date has included roles in over 50 films and would also be recognized with three Academy Award nominations thus far in her career.