82. Alien (1979)

Directed by Ridley Scott

Written by Dan O’Bannon

Produced by Gordon, Carroll. David Giler and Walter Hill

Starring Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm and Yaphet Koblo

Country: United Kingdom and USA

Release Date: May 25, 1979.

Why you should watch it?

Alien is a 1979 science fiction horror film, the title refers to its primary antagonist which was designed by the Swiss surrealist artist H.R. Giger in its alien form while concept artist Rob Cobb and Chriss Foss designed the human suspect of the film.

The movie has influenced by “Star Wars” and “2001: A space odyssey” and “The thing” from another world. Alien was the first space movie to feature a homicidal monster and the first movie to blend the space with the haunted house stories successfully. Alien became the blueprint for dozen of rip-offs and three sequels.

Aliens blends graphic horror with science fiction and one of the first films to feature a female action hero, Ellen Ripley. She had become the measure to judge any other women playing an action hero. Alien follows the ways of Jaws and Hitchock, gradually elevating the level of energy and anticipation in a motion picture. Alien begins slowly and calmly to grow into a nightmare.

PLOT

The commercial towing spaceship Nostromo, owned and operated by Earth mega-corporation Weyland-Yutani, is on a return trip to Earth hauling a refinery and twenty million tons of mineral ore and carrying its seven-member crew in stasis. Detecting a transmission of unknown origin from a nearby planetoid, the ship’s computer awakens the crew. Acting on standing orders from their corporate employers, they set out to investigate the transmission’s source. Some damage is incurred whilst landing the Nostromo’s tractor ship on the planetoid, so Captain Dallas Arthur, Executive Officer Gilbert Kane, and Navigator Joan Lambert set out to investigate the signal while Warrant Officer Ellen Ripley, Science Officer Ash , and Engineers Samuel Brett and Dennis Parker stay behind to make repairs.

Dallas, Kane, and Lambert discover that the signal is coming from a derelict alien spacecraft. Inside they find the remains of a large alien creature whose ribs appear to have been broken outward from the inside. Meanwhile, the Nostromo‘s computer partially deciphers the transmission, which Ripley determines to be some type of warning. Kane discovers a vast chamber containing numerous eggs, one of which releases a creature that attaches to his face. Rendered unconscious, Kane is retrieved and carried back to the Nostromo. Acting on improper orders from Dallas, Ash violates quarantine protocol by opening the airlock, allowing the exploratory team aboard. After an unsuccessful attempt by Ash to surgically remove the creature from Kane’s face, the crew discover that the creature’s blood contained a corrosive acid. The creature eventually detaches from Kane’s face by itself and is found dead. With the ship partially repaired, the crew is able to return to the refinery platform left in orbit and resume their trip to Earth.

Kane awakens from his ordeal with some memory loss but no other apparent ill-effects. During the crew’s final dinner before re-entering hypersleep, he chokes and convulses until an alien creature bursts from his chest, killing him and escaping into the ship. Lacking conventional weapons, the crew attempt to locate and capture the creature by fashioning motion trackers, electric prods, and flamethrowers. The Alien, by now fully-grown, attacks Brett and disappears with his body into an airshaft. Dallas enters the airshaft network intending to force the Alien into an airlock, but it ambushes him. Realising that the alien is aggressive and intent on killing the entire crew, Lambert implores the remaining crew members to escape in the ship’s shuttle, but Ripley, now in command, explains that the shuttle will not support four people, and that they should continue with Dallas’ plan of cornering and flushing out the alien.

Accessing the ship’s computer, Ripley discovers that Ash has been ordered to return the Alien to the Nostromo‘s corporate employers even at the expense of the crew’s lives. Ash attacks her, but Parker and Lambert intervene, decapitating and impaling Ash, revealing him to be an android. Before being destroyed, Ash predicts that the others will not survive. The remaining three crew members plan to arm the Nostromo‘s self-destruct mechanism and escape in the shuttle, but Parker and Lambert are killed by the Alien while gathering the necessary coolant supplies. Ripley initiates the self-destruct sequence herself and heads for the shuttle with the crew’s cat, but finds the Alien blocking her way. She unsuccessfully attempts to abort the self-destruct, then returns to find the Alien gone and narrowly escapes in the shuttle as the Nostromo explodes.

As she prepares to enter stasis, Ripley discovers that the Alien has hidden aboard the shuttle. She puts on a spacesuit and opens the hatch, causing explosive decompressionwhich forces the Alien to the open doorway. She propels it out by shooting it with a grappling hook, but the gun catches in the closing door, tethering the Alien to the shuttle. As it attempts to crawl into one of the engines, Ripley activates them and blasts the alien into space. She then puts herself and the cat into stasis, hoping to be picked up by another ship.