Even though I have seen this movie before there were so many things that I noticed which I have never noticed including the crazy cool camera work and framing of the sets! Now that I refreshed myself with this one, on to Aliens and the rest of the franchise!! Thanks for watching! Have a great day! :)
I really appreciate that you admitted you’ve seen this film already. There are dishonest reactors out there who accidentally say things indicating they have seen a movie, but pretend to be shocked at the movie anyway. Your honesty is a big part of your appeal. That, and your terrible dad jokes.
No doubt you will be now inundated with advice to watch the EXTENDED version of the sequel Aliens. If you want a similar stressful experience, watch the THEATRICAL CUT instead. The extended cut had put in extra scenes that ruined the film's original pacing and suspense in the film's first hour. Remember, Aliens was made at a time when movies are self contained and do not need extended cuts. You can check out the extended cut afterwards, but do not ruin it for yourself not seeing the theatrical cut first. Horror and suspense movies can only worked once when you do not know what is going to happen.
I respectfully disagree. I can only ever watch Aliens: Special Edition. The theatrical cut feels like things are missing and the extended version fleshes out Ripley's wanting to be a mother to Newt better.
@@MAGICMONKEY52 the original theatrical cut had provided everything that is needed for the audience to fill in the blanks and come to their own conclusions. One single photograph found in one of the character's hideout tell us everything we needed to know in several seconds that otherwise could've required10 minutes of cut scenes. The first half Aliens is similar to Alien in which it tell you just enough, but not too much and it makes you think and engages your mind. It is a sad commentary that today's movie goers just want everything explained to them.
Theatrical is definitely better, pacing and length is perfect, the special edition is great for fans that have seen the theatrical 100 times already. The sentry gun scene does add suspense and is the only added scene I like personally but when they reuse the same couple alien dummy's exploding and trying to hide it using quick cuts ,it's very noticeable.
The special edition has some cool scenes, but it really spoils the suspense by showing you too much too soon. By the time the main characters get there, you’ve already seen what happened.
The directors cut is superior for numerous reasons, including seeing the alien ship again, showing the company name for the first time, and not the least of which is providing a basis for an emotional moment near the end. Too bad you didn't opt for Ridley Scott's director cut of Alien. It reveals the fate of Dallas and sets up the similar fates of victims in the sequel.
Still a masterpiece after 43 years. Many people will say that Aliens is better. Now, I'm not going to say they're wrong, but.......oh heck, they're wrong. As good as Aliens is (and it is undoubtably one of the best sequels ever) its not quite in this league. Everything about Alien is as close to perfect as you will find in a Hollywood movie. I've seen a lot of reactions to it on YT over the last year or so, but yours is possibly the most insightful. I love how you picked up on the small details, like Ripley not being shown as the lead character right away
I tend to look at it as their two different genres of movie set in the same universe... Aliens is a pure action film, and a very very good one. Alien is a suspense horror, a very very good one... as such people cant actually compare them and shouldnt, and it therefore comes down to what genre you prefer in movies. Me I prefer suspense horror so Alien is my preferred film between them... I also like Alien 3 since its more in line with Alien. My only real gripe with Aliens is the direction it drove the lore concerning the alien... much prefer the deleted scene in Alien with Ripley finding Dallace (even if it does interfere with the pacing).
Totally agree but like Presumptuous said I tend to look at them as 2 different styles but both of them masterpieces in their specific genre. However, I do prefer Alien over Aliens.
Aliens have an 80s look and feel that aged it terribly while Alien looked like it could’ve been shot today. Alien is often considered the pinnacle in its genre of sci fi horror but Aliens have stiff competition for the top spot in its genre of sci fi action. And it is way more difficult to shoot an effective horror film than an action movie.
You mentioned about the short/low doors: the ceilings were intentionally very low to make the sets feel more claustrophobic. In fact, Scott even had them lower some of the ceilings by a few feet after they were built.
Fun fact: This movie is actually a low key remake of 1958’s “IT: The Terror From Beyond Space…”, as it recycles and recreates a lot of ideas and scenes from it, such as the claustrophobic air ventilation shaft scene. So even though it’s a rehash of old ideas, the movie was obviously done so well so that it feels like it’s fresh and original, which is why subconsciously it feels familiar to an extent when watching it (although you could argue that could be because of the horror and slasher elements added).
John Hurt is so good in this film & the chest buster scene became iconic- he was only hired at the very last minute when the original actor fell ill a few days into filming. Jon Finch’s loss was John Hurt’s gain !
It won the Oscar for Best Visual Effects, it put Sigourney Weaver on the map, it made $200 million dollars against an $11 million dollar budget, it spawned 3 Sequels, 2 spinoff films, 2 crossover films, video games, comics, novels, toys, board games, novelizations, and an upcoming live action TV series.
Are you doing an inflation adjustment? The budget was $8.5 million. The box office in '79 was about $77 million. It was number 5 for the year and that summer Rocky II and The Amityville Horror were bigger hits. Apocalypse Now did just as well as Alien in just three theaters. The success for Alien really grew gradually.
I loved Ripley’s tough, take-charge attitude when she screamed, “WILL YOU LISTEN TO ME PARKER??!! SHUT UP!!! We’re going to seal off every bulkhead and vent until we have it cornered and we’ll blow it the FUCK out into space. Is that acceptable to all of you?”
shame is that none of them apologized to her, especially lambert. i mean i know that ash had his programming but the humans could have at least have apologized. and ripley could have said, "i told you so" at any time, but she never did.
Kenner released Alien action figures in 1979. There was a TV spot with blonde, mop topped boys running down a hallway yelling, "Shut the security doors!" and "Another triumph for Alien".
Most of the actors had done big projects by 1979. Tom Skerritt had done MASH in 1970 (you should watch this!) and Yaphet Koto had done Live and Let Die in 1973, but no one stood out as a star. BUT, what you didn't expect was for all the men to die and the female survives and not because the men saved her! BTW, the underwear is small because that was the style back then. I was surprised there wasn't a nude scene because at the time, many leading ladies were contractually obligated to do one. A lot of actresses lost their jobs because they refused to go topless or totally nude just to fill theaters.
Veronica Cartwright was in The Birds (from 1963 ... as young birthday girl Cathy Brenner; that's the one Hitchcock movie without any incidental music) and later she was in the 1978 remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers (a really good thriller).
Regarding the scores for both this and Aliens (James Horner), not much of what was actually written made it into the film as intended. Both Goldsmith and Horner were very frustrated by their experiences. In Goldsmith's case, there was basically no communication from Ridley Scott to Goldsmith, and the way that Goldsmith opted to approach things was not what the producers and director expected. They wanted a more sound-design score like his earlier score for Freud, but they never really told him this, and he took a somewhat more romantic approach. The biggest setpiece of his score left in the film untouched is the landing sequence. Most of his other music was replaced by music intended for different scenes of the film, or scenes from his earlier film Freud. The biggest disappointment would have come from his very romantic end title being replaced by Howard Hanson's romantic symphony. This was done because Ridley Scott wanted a clear happy ending, leaving no doubt that Ripley was safe. Goldsmith's end titles used the same themes as the landing sequence, and still had the air of mystery to them. This is also something that could have been avoided with better communication. In Horner's case on Aliens, there were similar communication issues with James Cameron where Horner sometimes used a completely different mood than what Cameron wanted, and so some music was replaced as a result. Also, he had very little time to write the score, and Cameron was doing re-edits of scenes that Horner had already scored causing him to have to spend many extra hours on a scene that was already completed. Although Horner was more fortunate in that most of the music that he wrote for Aliens was used in the same film, but a lot of music cues were used in the wrong scenes, so it bears little resemblance to the score as he wrote it. A few music cues in the score are not by him - one is a snare drum solo that never sounded very Horner-esque to me, and now I know why (he didn't write it). Another is a cue from Goldsmith's Alien that appears near the end, when the Alien is attacking Parker and Lambert, which was put in because Horner just didn't have time to write a new cue.
Fun Fact: The blue light in the egg chamber was a blue laser effect that belonged to the band Pink Floyd. The band loaned it to the production for that quick scene. If you want to find out more tasty behind the scenes facts, get the ALIEN ANTHOLOGY BLU-RAY 📀📀📀 BOX SET. It's got two versions of each movie, including the much better versions of ALIENS and ALIEN 3. Also has hours of tasty bonus features. Also, the main ship Nostromo was the part that landed on the planet. The part that stayed in space was the actual ore refinery. The reason for trying to shove a magazine down Ripley's throat was more out of sexual frustration than wanting to kill her, as he was not built or programmed to function that way. The things you learn when listening to the commentary track. Also, have to give a special shout to Bilaji Bidejo. He was the talented young man who played the titular creature. This was his only film, as he was a university student, and passed away sadly about 20-30 years ago from I think heart trouble, but I could be wrong about that.
I've seen this film about 4 or 5 times, but it's only just occurred to me the symbolism of the sleep pod thingies opening up almost being like a flower opening, symbolising the birth of the characters, only for them to pretty much all die again by the end.
30:30 EVERYBODY is wondering that. The point is that the underwear is so ridiculously revealing and small that everyone will pay it attention and think their opinion of it at that moment, which is precisely what is its purpose. It takes the attention away from the very alien looking pipes and prepares the final jumpscare. That's why
Originally Ripley was supposed to be completely naked in that scene, and the alien was supposed to appear to be 'interested' in her looking at her through the glass... Weaver was up for it, but they changed it. Personally... I wish they'd gone with the original idea, Weaver in tightly whites is Whooah as it is... Weaver out of them, oh yeah.
Good to see that you appreciate the detail and work that went into this sci-fi masterpiece. You should check out H.R. Giger's art. His iconic design work throughout the film broke new grounds. We'd never seen anything like Alien back in 1979/80. Great review 👏
You should watch "Outland" from 1981 starring Sean Connery- it feels like it takes place in the same "universe' as "Alien" and also has some amazing model work and also a score by Jerry Goldsmith...... :)
John Hurt played The Elephant Man. Genius!!! Also in From The Hip w Judd Nelson. Judd Nelson, Bender from The Breakfast Club. Elephant Man n From the Hip... Both worth the watch.
Alien is an absolute classic! What I love about it is that it's like the greatest Rollercoaster ever. Even when you know the scary bits are coming, it never fails to exhilarate you! Even small details pop out at you. Aliens is great too. Either version, theatrical or director's cut, is well worth watching, no matter what, it's still great!
Ripley’s best speech was in the severely underrated Alien Resurrection when the Ripley-clone told that bystander, “There’s a monster in your chest. These guys hijacked your ship and they sold your cryotube to this…HUMAN…and he put an alien inside of you. It’s a really nasty one. And in a few hours, it’s going to burst its way through your ribcage and you’re gonna die……any questions?”
If you look closely enough, when Ripley walks into the lab to scold Ash. You will see for a second behind him the alien inside of Kane's body growing, it's a tiny picture in the screen but then he shuts it off before Ripley sees it. But also, during that scene of the chest burster. Kane and the director and the guy playing Ash were the only ones in on the set scene and so the rest of the crew on set didn't know what was supposed to happen i the next scene they wanted to keep it a surprise and captured true fear and feared reactions from the actors.
Agree. And I do believe that had the Academy Award for best score not been given to Williams for "E.T." in 1982, it most definitely would have been given to Goldsmith for "Poltergeist ".
26:50 Sigourney Weaver was terrified about potentially injuring the cat or scaring the cat so that it would flee the set, because it had such unique stripes that it would ruin the picture if they had to replace it. Jones, though, unbeknownst to Weaver and most of the cast and crew, was actually played by four different cats.
Despite growing up in the 80s,I still haven't seen this one all the way through 🤣 I remember my twin sister and being at our grandparents house once,and our (older) cousin Mike goes "YO Alien is on TV can we watch it??" And Grandpa says "No,the twins will get scared" 🤣🤣🤣
I was 12 when this movie was released. My dad took me with him and my older sister to see it (he didn't want me to feel left out). They had read the book first so they knew the story. God! This movie scared me so much. I slept with a nightlight FOR TWO YEARS after seeing it. LOLOLOL! The sequel, Aliens, is my favorite.
To understand where scriptwriter Dan O'Bannon was coming from when he wrote this, it's worth checking out his film school final project turned actual theatrical release, Dark Star, that he worked on with another recognizable name, John Carpenter. It's very much a rough first draft of many of the ideas perfected in Alien: The lived-in "space trucker" aesthetic that is in direct contrast to the sterile clean environments of 2001. An alien on board a space ship that has to be hunted down in vents and access corridors. Artificial Intelligences that are fixated on their own objectives with a casual disregard for the life of the crew.
What’s implied is that the crashed ship they find on the planet isn’t a xenomorph ship but another alien (the huge body in the captain’s seat with the rib cage exploded from within. The ship is sending out not an sos but a warning and then the lower cavity is filled with eggs. It’s creepier in a rewatch when you realize what happened.
Remember a very important fact. There is only ONE other Alien movie, the 1986 Aliens. Fun fact, Sigourney Weaver was the only actor in this film who wasn't well known at the time. So in the minds of the audience at the time it was released, she was the unknown, and therefore the least likely to be the hero. The expectation would be that Dallas, the Captain, would be the hero.
Ridley Scott and the editor recycled stock music from the 1962 film Freud. You can hear Howard Hanson's Symphony No. 2 Romantic when the alien xenomorph dies in the vacuum of space. Goldsmith was upset when his music score was "cut up".
I love it that you keep referring to Ripley as Ridley, because that similarity in the name is how Ridley Scott became a household name. Sigourney Weaver was annoyed at constamtly being passed over for roles so she showed up for the audition in a miniskirt and thigh high boots and waa pushy and bossy and just refused to take no for an answer. Ripley was originally written as a man but Sigourney Weaver was so much in command during the audition that they gave her the tough guy role.
I was 4 when this movie came out. I saw part of it at drive in. It was a double feature thing back in the day but the egg opening will always be stuck in my brain. 😂
Second film is even better, and is a rare case where the sequel is a different movie genre. Watch the theatrical release of Aliens. The extended cut has lots of awesome additions, but wrecks the pacing and spoils a suspenseful part of the film early. It is best only for a re-watch.
John Hurt wasn't super famous but was nominated for best Supporting actor for Midnight Express the year before this. You should check that out. He was great in that. An early John Hurt performance in A Man for all Seasons 1968 is very good too but he has a smaller part in that as well.
Timbits without coffee is like Laurel without Hardy! And I'm not even Canadian, though I do visit Calgary twice a year to see family. Fantastic video as always.
If you've not yet had a chance to try it, I'd urge you to hear the Intrada CD of the ALIEN score, which reveals the original intentions of Jerry Goldsmith for the film. Many viewers prefer the score as it was altered, against his will, for the final cut, but I think Goldsmith was right to trust his instincts, and the results have haunted me since I first heard the record album in 1979.
I agree about practical effects. CGI is great, but it (like all forms of effects and action sequences) should only be used to push the story. Unfortunately, the trend over the last 20 years has been to be more and more over the top. This is why CGI is used so heavily today. Story has taken a back seat to spectacle. As an example, compare the epic car chase in Bullitt (1968) with any of the car chases in the last five The Fast and the Furious movies. They have become so over the top as to become ridiculous. Cars vs tank? Really?!?! Also, look at the Battlestar Galactica hangar set from the reimagined TV series compared to the same set in the Blood and Chrome prequel. Effects today must be so visually jaw dropping that practical effects have become virtually impossible. It seems to me that all of the movie studios are competing to see how many sharks they can jump. Today's scripts are now paint by numbers. There must be this many explosions, that many fight scenes, the monster must be X number of feet tall, etc. Nobody really cares about storytelling anymore. And unfortunately, it's become a winning business strategy.
If you like video games, there is a GREAT game based on Alien called Alien: Isolation that came out in 2014 but still holds up and is one of the BEST game adaptations of a film. You play as Ripley's daughter trying to find out what happened to her mom who ends up getting stranded on an abandoned space station with a Xenomorph. You have to hide in closets and under desks and if the alien finds you, it eats you. They have the music and sound effects from the movie and it makes the game SOOO scary, omg. Definitely worth checking out if you like stealth games. Cheers.
Space Truckers make 1st contact.... It goes about as well as you would expect. Hilarity ensues! Just like Marvel, welcome to the franchise there is a lot to unpack here... FUN FACT: When doing Alien infestation math, it is not 1:1 per facehugger. They can actually breed 1 Xenomorph Chestburster per 50kg of host victim. ~The More You Know🌈~
'Aliens' is right up there as one of the great sequels of the 80s and 90s (Empire, Wrath of Khan, T2). Be sure to watch the extended cut. Not much different from the theatric release, but includes some moments that add additional depth to Ripley and a couple other characters.
24:15 The android has protocols involving the 3 laws of robotics: A robot cannot harm a human or through inaction allow a human to be harmed. Why he opened the door to save John Hurt. A robot must obey all orders given to it by a human except where such orders conflict with the first law. A robot must act to preserve its own existence as long as that protrction does not conflict with the first two laws. So then it has this directive to kill Ripley but cannot, so it pushes a rolled-up magazine at her mouth. It is absolutely the best it could do to obey the command to kill. It really tried.
A repeat viewer is boarding the "Nostromo." It's time to tick off the jump scares, gross outs, and violence in this "on company orders, a freighter crew does Science on an unexplored planet" movie. It's all done with matte paintings, models, Props department works of Art and children in costume. Practical effects, fully developed characters, and a coherent story, devoid of politics make for a Classic movie. Second Officer Kane did a great "Zapp Brannigan"-like impression in 1979. 23:17 For that extra creepy effect, imagine Douglas Rain (The voice of "HAL 9000") reading out Special Order 937! 24:12 Now imagine Louise Fletcher ("Nurse Ratched" of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest") saying: "Second Officer Ripley, you are much too agitated. I have medication that will calm you." 31:24 Now for some concierge chatter: "Tonight's entree on the shuttle 'Narcissus' is Steamed Xenomorph in Shell." 31:52 The concierge continues: "Correction, Char-Broiled Xenomorph.";)
i love the ship/refinery design! and the creature design blew my mind! i'll take practical effects over CG any day. love the music in this and aliens, too! and this film has a stellar cast! great reaction, sir! and kudos for watching 2001 Space Odyssey. that film can be difficult to appreciate. oh and the blue effect was done with an oscillating laser in the room with fog/mist. they use the same effect in the beginning of Aliens when the robot arm scans the inside of ripley's shuttle
You have to watch "Aliens" director's cut, but I also recommend to watch "Alien 3" theatrical version first, because almost half director's cut (called Assembly Cut) is different. In my country "Alien" has title "Obcy - ósmy pasażer Nostromo" (Alien - Eight Passenger of Nostromo).
@@PungiFungi I actually watched director's cut first not knowing that was director's cut and when I bought VHS with this movie I was suprised where are all those scenes. Theatrical cut is so, let's say, handicapped in comparison to director's cut.
17:09 - He was the only one who knew how the scene was going to go beforehand. So none of the reactions are scripted. All they knew was that he was going to die in a horrible way.
The air shaft sequence is even more stressful when you think about it afterwards. In just mere seconds, Dallas realizes 1) the tracking device is rigged, 2) Ash rigged it, 3) the Company is behind this whole nightmare, and finally, 4) they are all doomed. So he descends to where the Alien is waiting, lays down his weapon, closes his eyes, and thinks “Make it quick.” P.S. I’m ignoring the Directors Cut. I think the theatrical version was better.
Recently I found out that they still build gigantic sets for Prometheus and Covenant, I thought that, as in most movies, they used only CGI, but no, they still do it old school.
I am excited to see your review for Alien³ which I know is a very divisive film due to its shift in tone, but I personally liked it, even if an even better film could have been made to follow up Aliens.
You may have already recorded the reaction for editing but I'll say it anyways. Aliens Directors Cut. They even used to play it on tv when I was a kid so that's how I first saw it.
Hence you missed the original intense theaterical experience of the movie's suspense in the first hour. The extended scenes were interesting but ultimately added little to the overall story line.
17:20 For the chest burster sequence, John Hurt was on the set and made-up with prosthetics before the rest of the cast were brought in and they were told to simply react to his agony. Nobody told them that he was in special effects makeup, so all the reactions during just that bit are totally genuine.
Never heard anyone call it The Last Supper before. Nice. And you are right about it. It is better than most of the films out there (it was a perfect storm of talents coming together on a project). Saw It in the early 80s when I was a little kid...knew it was not like Star Wars right away...
This movie was the bane of my existence when I was young. It traumatized me when I saw it and i had an irrational fear of this movie afterwards as if the xenomorph was my nemesis. I grew out of it in my teens and I came to LOVE the Alien series -- even the much hated Alien resurrection. Yes I said it. But it totally lost me at Prometheus. And i never bothered with covenant. Anyhow, BUCKLE UP for Aliens.
Who's Ridley? Ellen Ripley is the warrant officer of Nostromo. She's in for a horrible surprise when she reaches Earth! Yes, she's in Aliens. She was the only witness to the monster that the colonial marines could consult with! Aliens is a military/suspense, the way that Alien was conceptionalized as a "haunted house" film -- claustrophobic, dimly lit sets & no idea when the monster will show up!
I'm one of the biggest fan of the alien franchise I love every movie I hope if you decide to do the sequels you go all the way through one through four regardless of what anyone else says they're all great
When you reach Alien 3, be sure to react to the extended Assembly Cut, as the theatrical cut is a butchered mess. Aliens also has an extended version (which I personally find preferable), but the theatrical is in that case equally as good, so reacting to either of them will do just fine.
The voice of "Mother" is so iconic, in my honest opinion. There's something unnerving about a cold feminine voice counting down to your death. It wasn't until GLaDOS in Portal (2007) that we rediscovered that a computerized female voice can be absolutely creepy. Highly recommend the extended version for the sequel. Fun Fact: In H.R. Giger's original illustrations that inspired the look of the Xenomorph, the creature had eyes. For the movie, Giger insisted that the creature have no eyes, thus giving the bleak appearance of a cold and emotionless beast that hunts by smell. Practically Gross Fact: The dead facehugger that Ash (Ian Holm) autopsies was made using fresh shellfish, four oysters, and a sheep kidney to re-create the internal organs. Filming had to be done quickly because the organic material would go bad very fast under the studio lights. Conceptual Creation Fact: It was conceptual artist Ron Cobb who came up with the idea that the Alien should bleed acid. This came about when Dan O'Bannon ran into a wall with the screenplay in how to handle the last half of the movie. He needed a good reason for why the crew members don't just shoot the thing and kill it but still not make it an indestructible monster that can't be killed. The acid blood was the idea that solved this problem.
33:00 So the second one is called *Aliens* and most people believe the third one is *Alien3* but if you look closely at that "3" two things become obvious: First: the "3" is in the exponent position, suggesting it should be called: *Alien To The Third Power*. Second: That's not a "3" at all but a cursive "Z", suggesting it should be called: *Alienz.* Either way, it is certainly not: "Alien 3".
Thank you, Oliver! 👾 My favorite of the franchise is ALIENS (1986). The other sequels don't do too much for me. But the prequels, PROMETHEUS (2012) and ALIEN: COVENANT (2017) are pretty good, too. #RolyPolyOllie #RidleyScott #Alien #Alien1979
This one and Aliens are the best two. James Cameron says the third best is "Aliens vs Predator". I agree, it's either AVP or Covenant as third best. Fourth best is Resurrection. The worst is Alien 3 and The Predator 2018. However, I'm looking forward to the new film and the new Hulu show in 2023
I never noticed that you hadn't reviewed these films before. The sequel Aliens is a different subgenre, action versus haunted house. Each of them is excellent in its own right. Yes, a number of people (myself included) are going to say that this series, like Terminator and Predator, goes off the rails after the second installment. Others will say keep on going. You're the one in the driver's seat. Whether you do the theatrical or extended cut of Aliens is probably a horse apiece. If you can find a cut of Alien3 that uses the half-hour or so of footage that studio marketing cut out from the theatrical release, that'd probably be nice; it's still an inferior film, but the continuity would be better. If you do keep going, remember that besides the three sequels there are also the prequels Prometheus and Alien Covenant.
You are giving too much away already. I remember watching Aliens which it first premiered in theaters with absolutely no idea what direction the movie was going to take.
