Alien (film) – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the 1979 science-fiction film. For its sequel, see Aliens (film).

Alien is a 1979 British-American science-fiction horror film directed by Ridley Scott, and starring Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm and Yaphet Kotto. The film's title refers to a highly aggressive extraterrestrial creature that stalks and kills the crew of a spaceship. Dan O'Bannon wrote the screenplay from a story he wrote with Ronald Shusett, drawing influence from previous works of science fiction and horror. The film was produced by Gordon Carroll, David Giler and Walter Hill through their Brandywine Productions and distributed by 20th Century Fox. Giler and Hill made revisions and additions to the script. Shusett was executive producer. The eponymous Alien and its accompanying elements were designed by Swiss surrealist artist H. R. Giger, while concept artists Ron Cobb and Chris Foss designed the human aspects of the film. Alien was the first film produced in the Alien franchise and is the second chronologically in the narratives, following Prometheus.

Alien received both critical acclaim and box office success, receiving an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects,[5][6]Saturn Awards for Best Science Fiction Film, Best Direction for Scott, and Best Supporting Actress for Cartwright,[7] and a Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, along with numerous other award nominations.[8] It has remained highly praised in subsequent decades, being considered one of the greatest films of all time and being inducted into the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress in 2002 for historical preservation as a film which is "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[8][9][10] In 2008, it was ranked as the seventh-best film in the science fiction genre by the American Film Institute, and as the 33rd greatest film of all time by Empire magazine.[11][12]

The success of Alien spawned a media franchise of novels, comic books, video games, and toys. It also launched Weaver's acting career by providing her with her first lead role, and the story of her character Ripley's encounters with the Alien creatures became the thematic thread that ran through the sequels Aliens (1986), Alien 3 (1992) and Alien: Resurrection (1997).[13] A fourth sequel directed by Neill Blomkamp, is under development.

In the year 2122, the commercial spacecraft Nostromo is on a return trip to Earth with a seven-member crew in stasis. Detecting a mysterious transmission, possibly a distress signal, from a nearby planetoid, the ship's computer, MOTHER, awakens the crew. Under prior orders from their employers, the Nostromo lands on the planetoid and Captain Dallas, Executive Officer Kane, and Navigator Lambert head out to investigate. They discover the signal is coming from a derelict alien spacecraft. Inside, they find the remains of a large creature whose ribcage appears to have exploded from the inside.

On the Nostromo, Warrant Officer Ripley determines that the transmission is not a distress signal but a warning. In the alien ship, Kane discovers a chamber containing thousands of eggs. As he inspects one, a creature springs out and attaches itself to his face. Dallas and Lambert carry the unconscious Kane back to the Nostromo. As acting senior officer, Ripley refuses to let them aboard, citing quarantine regulations, but Science Officer Ash violates protocol by overriding Ripley's lock and letting them in. The crew are unable to remove the creature from Kane's face, as its grip is strong and its blood is an extremely corrosive molecular acid. It eventually lets go, crawls away, and dies.

Kane awakens having suffered a nightmare involving smothering. During the crew's final meal before re-entering stasis, Kane begins to choke and convulses in pain before a small alien creature bursts from his chest, killing him, and escapes into the depths of the ship. Since attacking the creature with conventional weapons could result in its corrosive blood breaching the ship's hull, the crew attempts to locate and capture it with motion trackers, nets, electric prods, and flamethrowers.

After Engineer Brett is sent to look for the crew's cat, Jones, the now fully-grown alien attacks him and disappears with his body into the air shafts. After a heated discussion, the group devises a plan to jettison the creature out of the ship. Dallas enters the Nostromo's labyrinthine ventilation shafts, intending to force the alien into an airlock, but it ambushes him. Lambert, realizing the alien is killing the crew one by one, implores the others to escape in the ship's shuttle. Now in command, Ripley explains that the shuttle will not support four people, and recommends that they continue with Dallas' plan of flushing the alien out.

Accessing MOTHER, Ripley discovers that Ash has secretly been ordered to return the alien to the crew's employers, who consider the crew expendable. When Ripley confronts Ash, he tries to choke her to death; Lambert and engineer Parker intervene, decapitating Ash, revealing him as an android. Parker reanimates Ash's head and interrogates him. They learn he was assigned to the Nostromo to convince the crew to capture the creature and return for analysis, even at the expense of the human personnel. Ash taunts them about their chances of survival against the "perfect organism"; they incinerate him.

Ripley, Lambert and Parker agree to set the Nostromo to self-destruct and escape in the shuttle. However, Parker and Lambert are ambushed and killed by the alien while gathering life-support supplies. Ripley initiates the self-destruct sequence and heads for the shuttle with Jones, but the alien blocks her path. She retreats and unsuccessfully attempts to abort the self-destruct sequence, then returns to retrieve Jones, finding the alien gone. She narrowly escapes in the shuttle as the Nostromo explodes.

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Alien (film) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Reviewed and Recommended by Erik Baquero