First there was Alien...

Rating: 9/10 (19 August 2012)

I guess in hindsight you can see why Alien was such a sure-fire winner back in 1979. It took important elements of two of the most successful blockbusters of that time. It combined the science fiction of Star Wars with the relentless killer monster of Jaws and put them into a narrative that reflected the cynical anti-corporate feel of many 70's movies. The result was an iconic and brilliantly presented sci-fi horror movie.
Directed by Ridley Scott from a script from Dan O'Bannon, Alien is very intelligently made. None of the cast were stars at the time. This factored into the generation of suspense, as we simply have no idea who will emerge as the hero and who will die - if Charlton Heston was in Alien, for example, you'd have a pretty good idea from the get-go - this casting decision is one that very few subsequent big budget movies have made; to their detriment and to Alien's success. As it was, Sigourney Weaver was the strongest and most capable figure. Apart from a blink-and-you-will-miss-it cameo in Woody Allen's Annie Hall, she hadn't really been in anything before this. Ripley was her calling and she created one of the definitive strong female characters of all time. There are of course other excellent performances from, among others, Ian Holm as the android and John Hurt in the unforgettable role as the first victim.
But as much as anything else, Alien is a triumph of brilliant design work. The looks of the Nostromo and the alien ships are entirely different. Both teams created them in isolation from one another in order to create pure designs 'alien' from one and other. The Nostromo is pleasingly rough, with coffee mugs left lying around etc, it really looks like the kind of place that people live and work. The alien ship and the alien itself are of course the work of surreal artist H. R. Giger. To say that his work is effective would be a gross understatement; the alien itself is a terrifically threatening creation. It's a giant phallic killing machine with jaws within jaws. And this is to say nothing of the eggs, the face-hugger and the chest-buster. Really this is a movie with more creativity than a hundred others.