I'm Lucky

Rating: Null/10 (16 May 2004)

I saw "Alien" at the theatre in 1979. At the time, I was on a horror/ sci-fi binge. From 1977-1980, I went to the movie house to see STAR WARS, STAR TREK: THE MOVIE, PHANTASM, JAWS, HALLOWEEN, THE LAST WAVE, CARRIE, SUSPIRIA, DAWN OF THE DEAD, and loads of other great and not-so-great films.
I consider myself lucky to have seen films such as ALIEN when they were completely new and unknown. When this movie came out, it was a revelation. While STAR WARS gave us the technology that was so missing in earlier Sci-Fi, ALIEN was a gift of design, hearkening back to such efforts as FORBIDDEN PLANET and 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY. But more than that was the absolute deviltry behind it all. H.R. Giger's symmetrical ideas are the gross marriage of the human organism and the great machine. From the "boneship" which sends out the Warning beacon, to the hydraulic embodiments of the Nostromo, to the Alien itself, Giger's vision is nothing less than disturbing. In contrast, Ash's milky android is merely a shock vehicle. The Alien is, to me, the incarnation of Satan: invincible, unstoppable, human in form but completely alien, malevolent but calculating. The Nostromo becomes Hell for the crew in the same way that THE LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE converted a "haunted house" into a nightmare-world of sordidness. Another great revelation of ALIEN was Kane's demise. For the first-time viewer who has heard nothing (me in 1979), an eye-popping experience awaits.
Imagine being in the audience of the local movie-house, among the first to ever witness this! Another enjoyable feature of the movie was Veronica Cartwright. In 1979, I was 17. When I was 10, 11, 12, 13, LOST IN SPACE had been one of my favorite TV shows in reruns, after school. Does anyone else remember how wonderful those days were? While the character Lambert was not much more than a nervous Nellie, she was to me riveting, as I watched Penny Robinson all grown up, chain-smoking and cussing. Let me comment on the plotline also. I usually find many plot holes in Sci-Fi films. When I saw DEEP IMPACT, for example, I found the plot so objectionable that I actually engaged in a physical altercation with my movie partner. LOL With ALIEN, there was little to quibble over. Sure, Parker should've used the flamethrower rather than attack the Alien by hand; yet I DO understand Parker's unwillingness to put Lambert at risk. Some of the plot vehicles were somewhat convenient, such as the space shuttle's velocity near the end; but that falls under the heading of "possible" more than "improbable." I've seen this film probably a dozen or more times since the first, and it loses very little luster. Of course, I'm no longer surprised where the director intended, but the understated characterizations leave something to the imagination of repeated viewings (unlike the more conventional ALIENS) and Giger's panoply never fails to awe and disgust.