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IMDbPro

Alien

  • 19791979
  • RR
  • 1h 57m
IMDb RATING
8.5/10
895K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
270
29
Alien (1979)
A mining ship, investigating a suspected SOS, lands on a distant planet. The crew discovers some strange creatures and investigates.
Play trailer2:05
7 Videos
99+ Photos
HorrorSci-Fi
The crew of a commercial spacecraft encounter a deadly lifeform after investigating an unknown transmission.The crew of a commercial spacecraft encounter a deadly lifeform after investigating an unknown transmission.The crew of a commercial spacecraft encounter a deadly lifeform after investigating an unknown transmission.
IMDb RATING
8.5/10
895K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
270
29
  • Director
    • Ridley Scott
  • Writers
    • Dan O'Bannon(screenplay by)
    • Ronald Shusett(story by)
  • Stars
    • Sigourney Weaver
    • Tom Skerritt
    • John Hurt
  • Director
    • Ridley Scott
  • Writers
    • Dan O'Bannon(screenplay by)
    • Ronald Shusett(story by)
  • Stars
    • Sigourney Weaver
    • Tom Skerritt
    • John Hurt
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 1.7KUser reviews
    • 295Critic reviews
    • 89Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
  • Top rated movie #51
    • Won 1 Oscar
      • 18 wins & 22 nominations total

    Videos7

    Theatrical Version
    Trailer 2:05
    Watch Theatrical Version
    Alien
    Trailer 1:06
    Watch Alien
    A Guide to the Films of Ridley Scott
    Clip 1:40
    Watch A Guide to the Films of Ridley Scott
    'The Platform' & Future Films From the IMDb Top 250
    Clip 4:04
    Watch 'The Platform' & Future Films From the IMDb Top 250
    How "Carnival Row" Gets Lovecraft Right
    Clip 3:47
    Watch How "Carnival Row" Gets Lovecraft Right
    Alien | Anniversary Mashup
    Clip 1:17
    Watch Alien | Anniversary Mashup
    How 'Alien' Inspired Ridley Scott on "Raised by Wolves"
    Interview 3:19
    Watch How 'Alien' Inspired Ridley Scott on "Raised by Wolves"

    Photos336

    Sigourney Weaver in Alien (1979)
    John Hurt in Alien (1979)
    Sigourney Weaver and Bolaji Badejo in Alien (1979)
    Sigourney Weaver in Alien (1979)
    Bolaji Badejo in Alien (1979)
    Bolaji Badejo in Alien (1979)
    John Hurt and Ridley Scott in Alien (1979)
    Sigourney Weaver, Ian Holm, John Hurt, Tom Skerritt, Veronica Cartwright, Yaphet Kotto, and Harry Dean Stanton in Alien (1979)
    John Hurt and Percy Edwards in Alien (1979)
    Harry Dean Stanton and Bolaji Badejo in Alien (1979)
    Veronica Cartwright and Bolaji Badejo in Alien (1979)
    John Hurt in Alien (1979)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Sigourney Weaver
    Sigourney Weaver
    • Ripley
    Tom Skerritt
    Tom Skerritt
    • Dallas
    John Hurt
    John Hurt
    • Kane
    Veronica Cartwright
    Veronica Cartwright
    • Lambert
    Harry Dean Stanton
    Harry Dean Stanton
    • Brett
    Ian Holm
    Ian Holm
    • Ash
    Yaphet Kotto
    Yaphet Kotto
    • Parker
    Bolaji Badejo
    Bolaji Badejo
    • Alien
    Helen Horton
    Helen Horton
    • Mother
    • (voice)
    Eddie Powell
    Eddie Powell
    • Alien
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Ridley Scott
    • Writers
      • Dan O'Bannon(screenplay by) (story by)
      • Ronald Shusett(story by)
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    8.7
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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      It was conceptual artist Ron Cobb who came up with the idea that the Alien should bleed acid. This came about when Dan O'Bannon ran into a wall with the screenplay in how to handle the last half of the movie. He needed a good reason for why the crew members don't just shoot the thing and kill it but still not make it an indestructible monster that can't be killed. The acid blood was the idea that solved this problem.
    • Goofs
      (at around 1h 35 mins) A crewman with a black panel of some kind is visible through the smoke as Ripley runs through the corridors at the end of the film.
    • Quotes

      [last lines]

      Ripley: Final report of the commercial starship Nostromo, third officer reporting. The other members of the crew - Kane, Lambert, Parker, Brett, Ash, and Captain Dallas - are dead. Cargo and ship destroyed. I should reach the frontier in about six weeks. With a little luck, the network will pick me up. This is Ripley, last survivor of the Nostromo, signing off.

      [to Jonesy the cat]

      Ripley: Come on, cat.

    • Crazy credits
      The title of the movie is slowly created one line at a time at the top of the screen during the opening credits, starting out with the I, then the slash in A and the backslash in N, and then the vertical lines in L and E (so it looks like / I I I \). After that, the ensuing lines of each letter are added slowly one at a time until the title is fully visible.
    • Alternate versions
      The 2003 DVD release plasters the 1979 version of the 20th Century Fox logo with the 1980's version.
    • Connections
      Edited into Bride of Monster Mania (2000)
    • Soundtracks
      Incidental music from 'Symphony No. 2 ('Romantic')'
      by Howard Hanson

      [Played over end credits]

    User reviews1.7K

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    9/10
    "Alien" is not just the monster, it's the atmosphere and the way you feel!
    In "Alien" we follow a seven man crew en-route to earth on board the huge space freighter "Nostromo". The crew is in cryosleep, but the on board computer interrupts the journey when a foreign radio signal is picked up. It originates from an uninhabited planet and the crew lands to investigate. There they make contact with an alien life-form...

    What makes Alien so great is the constant feel of uneasiness. Right from the beginning you have a feeling that something is wrong. The crew is not particularly friendly towards each other, and you truly feel all the in-group tension. The ship itself is a huge worn out industrial-style maze of halls and corridors, and it feels more like a prison than a place to live. It is as if not only the alien but also the ship itself is against the humans. The Alien itself is the scariest monster in history because it is a ruthless, soul-less parasite completely devoid of any human or civilized traits. The design of the monster is a stroke of genius. Sure it has a humanoid form, but it has no facial traits or anything else which could give away emotions or intentions. Its actions reveals no weaknesses nor civilized intelligence. The Alien is more or less the opposite of everything human and civilized, plus the creature is more well-adapted to the inhumane interior of the ship than the humans who build it. To sum up, you then have a setting where the humans are caught in a web of in-group tensions, an inhospitable ship and the perfect killer which thrives in the ships intestines. You almost get the feel that the humans are the ones who are alienated to each other and to their own ship.

    Ridley Scott tells the story with a perfectly synchronized blend of visuals and sounds.

    The actors do a superb job, portraying their characters in a subtle but very realistic way. The seven man crew is not a bunch of Hollywood heroes. They are ordinary people with strengths and weaknesses, likes and dislikes. In this way they all seem so fragile when confronted with the enemy.

    As mentioned the ship is very claustrophobic and Ridley Scott adds to the eeriness by using camera movement, lights and shadows in an effective way. The living quarters are bright and should be comfortable to the crew, but there is something sterile about it all. The rest of the ship is basically a huge basement.

    The music by Jerry Goldsmith underlines the eeriness so well, and the movie wouldn't have worked without his score. Combined with the sounds of the ship it all adds to the uneasiness.

    This is not a story about heroic people who boldly teams up against evil. It's a story about ordinary people facing true fear, which is the fear without a face. The fear we can't understand and can't negotiate with, because its only goal is to survive on the expense of us. It's a story where some people bravely fight back whilst others are destroyed by the terror. It's a story where people a killed in a completely random way. There is no higher-order justice behind who gets to live and who dies. All seven characters are just part of a race where the fittest - not necessarily the most righteous - will prevail, and all seven characters start the race on an equal footing. None of them are true heroes, and none of them are true villains.

    All the above makes Alien so great as a horror movie. The terror isn't just the Alien itself, it's the entire atmosphere which gets so effectively under your skin, that you just can't shrug it off after the end credits like you can with so many other Hollywood horror movies. The title "Alien" doesn't just refer to the monster, it is the theme of the movie and it is the feeling you have during and after the movie. 9/10
    helpful•375
    97
    • chrishn
    • Feb 6, 2005

    FAQ34

    • Where is the planetoid the Nostromo visits, and does it have a name?
    • How does the spaceship create gravity? The spaceship does not seem to be rotating, although rotation is necessary to create gravity in the space.
    • Why can the alien be alive in the atmosphere in the spaceship, which contains much more oxygen, which should be toxic to the alien, than in the planet the alien resides?

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • June 22, 1979 (United States)
    • Countries of origin
      • United Kingdom
      • United States
    • Official sites
      • Official Disney+ Hotstar (id)
      • Official Facebook
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Alien: The Director's Cut
    • Filming locations
      • Shepperton Studios, Shepperton, Surrey, England, UK(Studio)
    • Production company
      • Brandywine Productions
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $11,000,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $81,900,459
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $3,527,881
      • May 28, 1979
    • Gross worldwide
      • $106,285,522
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 57 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Aspect ratio
      • 2.39 : 1

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