U.S.A. | 1979 Directed by Ridley Scott Starring Tom Skerritt Sigourney Weaver Ian Holm Color | 117 Minutes | R Format: Blu-ray (Region A) Fox Home Entertainment Also available: James Cameron's ALIENS Stand-alone BD edition ALIEN ANTHOLOGY BD Box Set

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		Review by Troy Howarth Film:9 BD:10

The crew of the Nostromo, a spacecraft on a mining mission, finds themselves in jeopardy when they answer a distress signal from a distant planet...

In terms of the bare bones of its story, Alien really didn't offer audiences in 1979 anything new. The basic concept of a spacecraft under attack by an alien menace had already been done to death by that point, and indeed major parallels can be drawn between the film and such B-grade sci-fi epics as It! The Terror from Beyond Space (1958) and Mario Bava's Planet of the Vampires (1965). In the hands of director Ridley Scott, however, the film transcends the limitations of its screenplay to become a stylish, legitimately scary melding of sci-fi and horror.

Scott came to the project hot off The Duellists (1977), which had proven him to be a gifted visual stylist. It nearly didn't work out that way, however. Originally Walter Hill (48 Hours) was slated to direct, but he decided to hand the project over to Scott, who plunged into the project with enthusiasm. Granted a higher-than-usual (for this type of film) budget by the powers-that-be at 20th Century Fox, Scott assembled a crack team of actors and craftsman to bring his vision to life. Truth be told, however, one of the key contributors to the film's success was suggested not by Scott, but by screenwriter Dan O'Bannon, whose own contributions to the picture should not be underestimated. It was O'Bannon who brought aboard Swiss artist H.R. Giger to design the titular creature, and his fiendish creation continues to impress to this day. O'Bannon, incidentally, came up with the story for Alien due to his own frustration with the way his early collaboration with director John Carpenter, Dark Star (1974), had turned out. While Carpenter elected to adopt a zany, comedic tone to offset that picture's impoverished budget, O'Bannon was vocal in his desire for a more serious end product. Alien was therefore conceived as the anti-Dark Star — a sci-fi epic, rich in scope, with scares and shocks worthy of the strongest horror pictures.

Fortunately for O'Bannon, Scott was sympathetic to his vision — though he would make many changes to the screenplay during shooting. Smarting over criticisms that The Duellists offered strong visuals but weak characterizations, Scott set out to give Alien a strong human core. He therefore worked extensively with his cast, encouraging them to improvise and create a sense of reality amid all the mayhem. The actors he selected brought ample skill and charisma to the project, making Alien one of the strongest ensemble pieces in the history of its genre. Tom Skerritt (M*A*S*H) gives a strong performance as the laid back Captain Dallas, while Sigourney Weaver (Ghostbusters) tears into the role that made her a star. Cast as officer Ripley, Weaver was able to steer clear of the clichés that dogged so many females in the horror and sci-fi genre; Ripley is not merely there to add sex appeal, nor does she function as a simple minded damsel in distress — she proves to be a capable, resourceful character in her own right, and her attempts to do things by the book don't always put her in good standing with her crewmates. Veronica Cartwright (The Birds) has often been criticized as being shrill and over the top as Lambert, but in fact she reacts much as most of us in the audience would react — she is far and away the most recognizably human and fragile of the characters, and she registers terror in a fully believable manner. John Hurt (The Elephant Man) doesn't have as much to do as one would like, but he does get to participate in one of the cinema's all-time great shock scenes; Hurt was reportedly cast after actor Jon Finch (Frenzy) was forced to pass owing to an illness... Both are fine actors in their own right, and while it would have been interesting to see what Finch could have done with the part, Hurt is no poor substitute. Ian Holm (The Lord of the Rings) is icily effective as the ship's medical officer, Ash, who has a surprise or two of his own up his sleeve, while the crew's 'blue collar' section is wonderfully represented by Yaphet Kotto (Live and Let Die) and Harry Dean Stanton (Escape from New York). Kotto and Stanton make for a particularly endearing and amusing pair of mercenaries.

In addition to the excellent performances and stylish direction, Alien is blessed with a wonderful soundtrack by Jerry Goldsmith and top notch effects work by a slew of gifted technicians, including Carlo Rambaldi (Deep Red, Tragic Ceremony). Interestingly, Scott was displeased with Goldsmith's score, feeling it to be too intrusive, so he cut down its presence and replaced some tracks with pieces written for (and ultimately discarded from) John Huston's biopic Freud (1962). Needless to say, the Oscar-winning composer was none too thrilled with the alterations, but the score works beautifully as it is — no doubt Scott was correct to pare it down somewhat, as the use of sound is particularly skillful throughout in terms of building tension and suspense.

Alien is, at its core, very much a horror movie. Scott and company no doubt bristled at this claim when it was released in 1979, but genre fans have always seen it this way — and for good reason. The concept may be sci-fi, but in its execution it's very much an 'old dark house' thriller set in space. Scott wheels out all the beloved clichés (loud, sudden noises, a cat jumping out all of a sudden, fleeting shadows) and he actually makes them work. All of this merely serves to remind one of what a fine filmmaker he really was for a period of time, before he appeared to sell out to the Hollywood machine, where he continues to make increasingly soulless and impersonal product. Alien may not be a masterpiece — it drops the ball in a big, frustrating way in the finale — but it's still a terrific film, preferable to the variable sequels that followed in its wake.

Fox first released Alien along with its sequels in a (pricey) box set, but they have now issued the four films as stand alone releases. Happily, the Blu-ray offers both the original theatrical edit, as well as Scott's 2003 Director's Cut. Given that Scott (like James Cameron, who made the first, and best, of the sequels, 1986's Aliens) is fond of tinkering with his films on home video, it's no surprise that he elected to 'upgrade' Alien as well. On the upside, the 2003 edit is no disgrace — it reinstates some good character oriented material and also allowed the director to smooth over some effects that looked a bit dodgy in the current marketplace. Which edit one prefers is a matter of taste, but I would vote for the theatrical edit, as it is a tighter, more satisfying experience on the whole. Regardless, both edits look superb on Blu-ray. Presented in 2.35:1/1080p, both versions offer vivid color, strong detail, and a nice coating of grain. The new 5.1 tracks afforded to both edits are plenty strong, with the theatrical edit also having an optional 4.1 track, as well. The theatrical edit also preserves the original surround sound track. No matter how you listen to it, Alien sounds terrific — dialogue is clear, the sound effects have real presence, and Goldsmith's score never sounded more ominous. Extras include a commentary track for both edits — the theatrical edit allows Scott and various cast and crew members to talk about the film, while the 2003 edit has Scott holding forth on his own. Both tracks are informative and well worth listening to. Scott also does an on-camera intro for the 2003 edit, wherein he gives a general overview of why he elected to tinker with the film after so many years. There are also two isolated score tracks; the first allows one to listen to the score as it was presented in the film, while the other allows Goldsmith's full score to be heard as he originally conceived it. The differences are startling and give full credibility to Scott's decision to alter the soundtrack. There's also a slew of deleted and extended scenes. 6/13/11

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