Sci-Fi Classic Review: ALIEN (1979)

[@andyromano5837]

I have watched SO many “Alien” retrospectives and reviews on KZbin and I must say, yours is by far the best and most enjoyable and entertaining I have seen. I became an immediate subscriber. Just love what you’re doing and how you’re doing it. Hoping to see your take on “The Black Hole” sometime. I may be in the minority, but I do think it is a sci-fi classic. Gorgeous cinematography, fantastic special effects and a great John Barry score. All the best to you!

[@jgaines4]

My parents saw this in the theater. Afterwards they went to Red Lobster. The couple waiting in line behind them were really quiet until the wife said to her husband, "I just CAN'T STOP SHAKING!" They had also gone to see 'Alien'.

[@CMDR_Verm]

I saw Alien on it's release in 1979 and it's now 2024 and it's still my favourite movie. Mainly due to the Nostromo, a ship designed to perfection for the role it served. Congratulations on including Helen Horton, she never gets a mention. You got a sub from me after watching your review and investigation of Solaris so I'm going through your catalogue and Alien was my first choice. Looking forward to many more of your videos!

[@CaminoAir]

Lucasfilm were concerned about 20th Century Fox's advertising track record for the release of 'SW' in 1977. Fox didn't manage to come up with an effective tag-line, so they ended up using the film's own (A Long Time Ago......). In contrast, Alien's marketing was very innovative and is almost a pre-cursor to viral marketing. Great tag-line, iconic poster, great use of word of mouth, etc.

[@MattMcIrvin]

Alien's teaser campaign was TERRIFYING. Maybe scarier than the movie on some points, and that's saying a lot because that was a damn scary movie.

[@phantomcollector1976]

ALIEN IS AN ABSOLUTE MASTERPIECE

[@kylecurry577]

The perfect movie! Story, actors, director, music, SFX, setting/ mood & the most iconic & terrifying creature, out of nightmares. Perfection… & my favorite movie. I completely agree… “The Thing” is a very, very close 2nd…no, “Alien”:1A & “The Thing”:1B. Both are masterpieces of cinema! Great review!

[@JohnWilliamNowak]

Great stuff, both the review and the original film. It has to be one of the only Alien films where the creature actually behaves like a predator, avoiding groups for most of the film and quietly picking off the ones who are dumb enough to stray from the herd. It also got high marks from a scientist who points out that Ash uses appropriate safety gear and the survivor is the one who follows the guidelines in the book.

[@colindunnigan8621]

This may be apocryphal, but when Veronica Cartwright expressed reservations about her character's "passivity" (for lack of a better word), Scott told her that he visualized Lambert as a sort of Cassandra, which seems to be borne out in the film. I won't say that the character is prophetic, but she's genuinely afraid that this whole thing is a very bad idea. "Let's get the hell out of here..."

[@DCMarvelMultiverse]

I likened Ash's corporate mentality to that of the town in Jaws. The mayor and his people knew of a shark and did the dumb thing about it.

[@TheMormonSorceress]

The movie was a big influence in the videogame industry as it was the inspiration for Metroid. If you look closely Samus Aron is basically Ellen Ripley and the Metroids are the Xenomorphs. BTW now that Disney owns the franchise do you suppose we would see a Xenomorphs-type Heartless in a future Kingdom Hearts game?

[@Keefymonoped]

Really good review, enjoyed it a lot. Interesting that you see the opening shots of the film as the Nostromo waking up, I always thought it was someone actually creeping about the ship prior to the pods awakening the crew. It didn't occur to me on first viewing, but after seeing the actions of Ash later in the film and then seeing it again it struck me that he could have been setting up the whole Mother finding the signal scenario for the company while his crewmates were asleep. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but thats how I see it everytime I watch the film. Congrats on the 5000, you deserve it :)

[@markbarrett4440]

I'd never thought of the opening sequence being a POV of Ash but now it totally makes sense to me with the screen blackout after the computer awakening signifies there's some time elapsed before Ash has re-entered his hyper sleep pod and pretends to awaken with the crew. Makes 'him' even more disturbing. This could explain why the reason Ash jerks his limbs when first we see him out of sight of the others is that some chill from the 'freezerinos' has gotten into his joints.

[@rsacchi100]

Great review. After Ash let them inside Lambert smacked Ripley across the face. Among the things I find great about Alien and Aliens is how people act by their position rather than gender. The dynamics of that scene is you had the captain, who was normally in charge, Ripley who was temporarily in command but following protocol, and Ash who was in a position to press the button. Nobody knew yet, but Ash was following protocol, and had no choice. In Aliens the woman on the board tore in to Ripley as hard as any of the male executives. Private Vasquez acted like a Marine rifleman. Do you think a scipt like Alien would get approved today?

[@richosborne1971]

Your channel is extremely enjoyable, and always a welcome distraction from today’s world. Thank you.

[@joseluisherreralepron9987]

I saw this in June or July, 1979. I saw the marquee: "70 mm Dolby 6-track". My father and I went to see it. I was 9 at the time. It was so shocking I told my dad I had to leave during the dinner, chest burster scene. I didn't live that down until we rented it and saw it on CED in the early 80's. Now I love the film, but I was just too young to appreciate it at the time.

[@deathstarkiller]

I love that you have the Death Star blow up on the word Boom ;)

[@TheUnapologeticGeek]

Editing can be fun!

[@JohnWilliamNowak]

@@TheUnapologeticGeek Extra points for using the original explosion.

[@NoMarketMedia]

You know we love it! It is undeniably one of the best Sci-Fi Classics period! The sequels/prequels are of varying quality, but they don't subtract from the OG 😉

[@davidsigler9690]

Excellent as always.....Alien is one of the best of the Cosmic Horror films.

[@wimvanderstraeten6521]

Alien has been described as a haunted house movie in space. The Nostromo is the "haunted house" and the Xenomorph is the "ghost". Alien is definitely a classic and its formula has been copied a countless number of times (interestingly enough James Cameron, the director of Aliens, worked on the Alien rip-off Galaxy of Terror, produced by Roger Corman) . I also like Giger's design of the alien in Species (1995).

[@darrensmith6999]

Brilliant review as always and Congratulations on your 5k subscribers , well deserved (:

[@michaelkeller845]

Excellent review. Subscribed. Alien got me interested in parasitoid wasps the same way Jaws got me interested in sharks. Both films launched a lifelong fascination that continues to influence my scientific education to this day. Now, if you excuse me, I’m off to watch your review of War of the Worlds. Cheers!

[@raw.and.unprepared]

Congratulations again on 5000. Great work on this one.

[@Malvito]

Great video. I absolutely love this movie, especially inasmuch as it takes its time to set the mood and make its point. I do love the James Cameron sequel but find it unfortunate that that one seemed to have more influence on subsequent materials than the original movie. And nobody does James Cameron like James Cameron. I also remember seeing the trailer for ALIEN in the movie theater; I remember it better, in fact, than the movie I was actually there to see. Scared the *redacted* out of me, and it took some convincing to get me to the theater to see ALIEN. Can't wait until the next video; if I hear the hint correctly, I expect that the movie in question will be MILLENIUM. I love that one, in part because the heroine is being advised by a counsel of elders in large test tubes, one of whose face is being held on by twine, which, for a movie released in 1989, is almost as 70s dystopian as you can get.

[@IMOReviews]

Incredible video m8 👏 this one goes crazy in depth! Loved the detail like raspberry juice being used as blood!

[@snapmalloy5556]

Great review as always. I gotta tell ya, your channel has become one of my favorites

[@TheUnapologeticGeek]

Aw, thanks! I appreciate it.

[@elsergecruz]

I love it thank you for teaching me about the film and it’s creators and its history instead of just talking about the movie scene for scene

[@threeparots1]

I saw this movie when I was 6 or 7. Very well done and the facehugger bit stayed with me for a while 😝. Millennium coming up next. Odd film for its day.,good intro and a premise that would do better now with (and even then) with better effects. Seemed to have borrowed a lot from login run for androids, but this may be expected for someone that directed the dambusters many many years earlier. Interested the the Geeks take on it.

[@Young_Jim]

Really enjoyed this look into one of my favourite films, lots of interesting facts that I didn’t know even after all these years

[@rsacchi100]

Congratulations on 5,000!

[@marSLaZZ66]

I saw Alien when it went out in 79 and since i just can't get tired of it. Masterpiece !

[@paulstan9828]

Always enjoy your sci-fi reviews. 😁👍 You keep it interesting and your good tv announcer voice and diction keep it interesting.

[@TheUnapologeticGeek]

Thanks so much!

[@alantasman8273]

Alien owes much to the movie "It! The Terror from Beyond Space" (1958) about an Alien stowaway on a spaceship bound for Earth that methodically kills the human crew. Spoiler.....Even the ending of the film is similar as the Alien is killed by depressurizing the crew cabin.

[@shonenbag6478]

This is fantastic! Your analysis is always awesome, especially for a film like this one!

[@SylarMagic]

Congrats on the 5k! Fantastic video btw

[@TheUnapologeticGeek]

Legend! (Apparently, this is what the auto-reply feature thinks of you.)

[@thrashpondopons8348]

This is one of those films where it seems every time I watch it I take away something new. & as always TUG you've given us a comprehensive & thoroughly entertaining analysis! Thanks again! & speaking of inspired-bys... ever see 'The Intruder Within'(81)??? A shlocky TV Horror Flic... but a surprising close adaptation.

[@TheUnapologeticGeek]

I haven't even heard of it. I'll check it out!

[@erictaylor5462]

This film was even referenced in the book 2010 Odyssey II. When the American and Soviet engineers first board Discovery, abandoned in space the ship is described as dark, cold, and creepy. The American says, "Well, just watch out for the cat." to witch the Russian complains, "Who thought it would be a good idea to include that movie in a real spaceship!" Clearly he was talking about Alien. You know you've done well when Arthur C. Clarke references you.

[@TheUnapologeticGeek]

Great catch! I’ve read the book several times (one of my favorites), and I didn’t remember that. 👍🏻

[@erictaylor5462]

@@TheUnapologeticGeek It's just as they start to go into the ship. I figure that the crew, at least these two, would have been about my age. I calculated that Frank Pool would have between born around 1968 to 1970 and Bowman would have been a bit older than Pool. I was too young to see Alien in theaters, though I have seen it on VHS and later DVD. It's likely that the Americans would have seen it, but less likely that the Soviets would have seen it. 2010 takes place in an alternate time-line where the USSR never collapsed and the relations between the countries are still quite frosty. So the Russians would have been watching it for the first time on a real spaceship. I have to imagine that it would have been disconcerting, especially when you consider what being aboard a real space ship would be like. Systems would constantly be turning on and off, along with the fans and pumps that would be going. Plenty of stuff to go bump in the night.

[@JohnWilliamNowak]

The film libraries on spaceships is actually discussed in the book Dragonfly, a history of the US missions to the Soviet space station Mir. The doctors want films about people in space working together to solve a problem. I don't know if Alien made it, but Aliens did. After the collision and fire, the crew of Mir watched Apollo 13 and it did work to cheer them up.

[@fredo1070]

Ian Holm was in movies before Alien, for example he played King John in Robin and Marian with Sean Connery.

[@TheUnapologeticGeek]

Yes, I should have said it was his first *major* role in a theatrical film. I think that's what was in my original script, but for whatever reason, I didn't actually say it when I was recording. Good catch!

[@tommydarbe1524]

It scared the crap out of me. None of the other alien sequels matched the horror.

[@fredloeper8579]

By now the iconic Alien no longer inspires fear. The first movie was scary. The second was exciting. After that...well... The beauty of "Alien" is that it is impossible not to ask yourself what you would have done if you were a member of the crew. Would we be level headed like Ripley or fall to pieces like Lambert. (Most of us would be Lambert.) The xenomorph now suffers from overexposure. We'll see how TV does with it.

[@Jabungothemungo]

Great, my favourite film!

[@eduardo_corrochio]

Whenever I want to return to a quality thriller that I know is 100% fun and quality and cinematic art, there are a few titles I consider ... and Alien is always among those jewels, as are Psycho and Jaws. So -censored- good!

[@moritzstrohriegel8724]

great video.

[@manofkuwaitz1982]

From kuwait … thank u for the reviw

[@KonElKent]

When I was seven years old, my dad let me watch Alien 3 (on LaserDisc) with the usual "don't tell your mother" that accompanied films like the first Terminator, Robocop, and other sci-fi/horror films. For some reason, it managed to do what none of the others did and actually scared me (it was that scene where it came through the vent and grabbed the guy). It's been almost thirty years, and I've held a grudge against the franchise ever since. So I'm gonna go watch the Exorcist for the 25th time, see you all next week...

[@CaminoAir]

You've surpassed yourself with this review. It was well worth all the thought, time, effort and dealing with any issues you had to contend with. It demands a second watch to absorb all the content. Peter Yates would not have been a good choice and Harrison Ford would have been distracting through association with 'SW' (although Dallas' death probably would have had even greater impact). Koto is playing against his established sophisticated character type and he's very convincing as Parker. Part of the post-release issues with 20th Century Fox and 'Alien' was that Alan Ladd Jnr tired of boardroom battles and left to form The Ladd Company. New Fox executives didn't want anything to do with projects from the Ladd era, even successful ones, because they wouldn't get the credit for them. They had to be persuaded to re-release 'SW' in cinemas for a limited run, believing the box office wouldn't justify it. While I think Scott and Terry Rawling's slicing and dicing of Goldsmith's music functions well enough on a first viewing, it becomes obvious on subsequent viewings just how mangled the use of music is. And I think James Horner's end titles for 'Aliens' is the correct mood for the 'Alien' end credits.

[@TheUnapologeticGeek]

I only vaguely knew about the Ladd drama, so thanks for that. I'll be sure to bring it up when I eventually do Aliens. One cool thing that Horner did for that film is take some of Goldsmith's cut music cues and incorporate them in his score.

[@CaminoAir]

@@TheUnapologeticGeek Composers don't have any real influence on decisions in films. Whoever the main force behind a film is (director, producer, or studio) calls the shots on how and when music is used. Cameron and Hurd likely replaced Horner's music with 'Parker's Death' by Goldsmith. Horner likely found out in the cinema. William Goldman said screenwriters were treated on the level of janitors. Same for composers.

[@caldodge]

I was 22 when I first saw this. I knew how it ended. I was still scared to death.

[@indyspotes3310]

This movie manages to overcome an issue even masterpieces like 2001 cannot. The presentation of technology in movies invariably becomes dated rather quickly. But I can easily see the Nostromo having centuries old tech on that heap...

[@erictaylor5462]

28:00 "Look I have one job on this ship. It's stupid, but I'm going to do it!"

[@TheUnapologeticGeek]

😂

[@erictaylor5462]

@@TheUnapologeticGeek Well, Ripley's job, as first officer on this ship wasn't stupid of course. I was pointing out one of the other roles she took. One of my favorites.

[@johnpresnell]

Excellent.

[@CoinOpTV]

Such a classic flick!

[@adambusenlehner3689]

Almost none of Goldsmith's music was used as intended by the composer. Cues were moved around and edited severely. The main title was completely re-scored by Goldsmith (I prefer the re-score TBH). Intrada Records released all music cues on a 2 CD set many years ago.

[@erictaylor5462]

But I waould say the crew are more analogues to merchant marines than truck drivers.

[@DasGimp]

Fucking brilliantly done sir!

[@donovanbelair4544]

Alien is like a 50s sci fi b movie that had the budget it needed, a little bit of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

[@gmanley1]

This is your longest review ever made.

[@calql8er]

Once you've seen the monster, hardly a day goes by where you don't think of it at least once. We can go for years and not think of Godzilla, but not Alien.

[@benquinneyiii7941]

Stuka Cosair Whirlwind

[@siarnne]

Ha Ha! First comment (second viewing).

[@TheUnapologeticGeek]

I suppose it’s fitting, since I stole some footage from your channel. 😎

[@siarnne]

@@TheUnapologeticGeek Oh, you did...and and you caught that most unflattering moment when I realized my kit was not orderly.

[@racookster]

Poor Ripley. She would spend the rest of her waking life in hell.

[@andrewpowell1734]

ALIEN is a better movie than The Thing. A better John Carpenter to compare this to would be Halloween.

[@Homeschoolsw6]

rad. Aliens (1986) is better.

[@Funckle73]

Sorry but we don’t need anyone reviewing this film in the year 2022!!! This flawless film! I suppose if you are 12 this will be interesting