Alien (1979)
Alien was a film that sparked a legacy of 7 (so far) sequels. Combining science fiction and horror, it juxtaposes humanity’s curiosity with it’s fear of the unknown, and comes away with an original chilling tale. The cryogenics and inter-galactic travel as it is portrayed is still beyond our reach, but has become widely accepted within the scifi genre and is there by conceivable given that the movie’s timeline is 100 years in our future. But perhaps the most compelling aspect of believably is the underlying politics, exploited (read expendable) workers versus corporate greed. Where employees, (not all men, or even all white) sign on for a grunt job, while being kept ignorant of the risks and even the nature of their activities.
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For me, Alien is a great film because of Sigourney Weaver as Ripley. Forget the R rating and her running around in white panties, Sigourney plays a heroine that we can follow. First she is a leader among her working crew; she even assumes this role when her superiors are compromised. But more than that she has the stature, and calm focus that people can look up too. Then when things get really heated, she doesn’t rely on superpowers or some fantastical skill, she just puts her wits and the tools at hand against the enemy and narrowly escapes. For me she did an intergalactic “Die-Hard” almost 10 years before Bruce Willis, but then again the book on which his film was based was written in 1979…could this have inspired its writer?
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The Alien franchise includes of films includes 4 with Sigourney Weaver, as well as a prequel. There are also 2 spin off alien monster battle movies (reminiscent of Godzilla) combining this acid bleeding toothy widemouthed Alien with the game-hunting alien of the Predator movies. Alien struck a cord with the public, and has been entered into the collective psyche, through films, novels, comics, and video games. Why not watch the movie that started it all?
