Alien (1979)

After investigating an S.O.S. signal on a near-by world, the crew of an industrial spacecraft must fight for survival when a highly aggressive bioform is born in the ship and begins hunting them one by one.

Director:

Ridley Scott

Writers:

Dan O'Bannon (story), Ronald Shusett (story),

Stars:

Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, Veronica Cartwright

Top 250 #40 | Won 1 Oscar. Another 12 wins & 18 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Tom Skerritt	...	Dallas
Sigourney Weaver	...	Ripley
Veronica Cartwright	...	Lambert
Harry Dean Stanton	...	Brett
John Hurt	...	Kane
Ian Holm	...	Ash
Yaphet Kotto	...	Parker
Bolaji Badejo	...	Alien
Helen Horton	...	Mother (voice)

Storyline

The crew of the deep space towing vessel Nostromo are awaken from hypersleep to investigate a strange signal from a nearby planet. While investigating the signal, they discover it was intended as a warning, and not an SOS.

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Plot Keywords:

spaceship | egg | warning | parasite | deep space | 

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Taglines:

Sometimes the scariest things come from within

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Genres:

Horror | Sci-Fi

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for sci-fi violence/gore and language

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook

Country:

USA UK

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

25 May 1979 (USA)

Also Known As:

Alien: The Director's Cut

Filming Locations:

Shepperton Studios, Shepperton, Surrey, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$11,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£208,081 (UK) (31 October 2003)

Gross:

$1,983,690 (USA) (28 November 2003)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Brandywine Productions, Twentieth Century-Fox Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

117 min 116 min (director's cut)

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) Dolby (as Dolby Stereo)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Many of the non-English versions of the film's title translate as something similar to "Alien: The 8th Passenger".

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Goofs

When Dallas, Kane and Lambert are inside the alien ship containing the space jockey, there is light coming from the left side of the screen, despite them being inside an internal chamber of the derelict spacecraft.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Brett: This is the worst shit I've ever seen, man.
Parker: What you say? You got any biscuits over there?
Ripley: Here's some cornbread.
Parker: Cornbread. Yeah.
Lambert: I am cold.
Parker: Still with us, Brett?
Brett: Right.
Kane: Oh, I feel dead.
Parker: Anybody ever tell you you look dead, man?

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Connections

Referenced in Saturday Night Live: Bill Pullman/New Edition (1996)

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Soundtracks

"Eine kleine Nachtmusik'"
by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (as W.A. Mozart)

User Reviews

My favourite tagline for a movie

"In space, no one can hear you scream." This remains my favourite tagline ever for a movie. When 'Alien' was released in 1979, it caused almost as much talk as 'Star Wars' did when released two years earlier. The science fiction genre was being revolutionized at this time and 'Alien' had a horror characteristic to it which was psychological, visually striking and compelling with the type of strength in silence not seen since '2001: A Space Odyssey' in 1968. Definitely a big influence in blockbuster film making, 'Alien' has spawned three sequels so far and is a great horror/science-fiction classic not to be missed. It is director Ridley Scott's best effort on the big screen for making fear the best character in the film.