‹ All movies
Alien poster

Alien

year 1979decade 70sdirector Ridley Scottgenre Sci-figenre Horror

116 minutes

IMDbLetterboxdJustWatch
Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

Tom Skerritt Dallas
John Hurt Kane
Ian Holm Ash
Yaphet Kotto Parker
Bolaji Badejo the alien. Badejo
Helen Horton the voice of Mother

Alien | The Rewatchables

host Bill Simmonshost Chris Ryanhost Sean Fennesseyproducer Craig Horlbeck
Explore episodeClose episode

Roger Ebert's review

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 00:11:55Read transcript
  • Ebert’s initial positive response is contrasted with a 2003 reconsideration awarding four stars; no rating scale is spoken. Revising criticism is debated as a legitimate response to time and context.
  • Ebert’s 2003 four-star review praises the film’s thinking as well as its thrills and criticizes imitators that retained only jump scares; no scale is stated.

What’s Aged the Best?

Trailer; tactile future; Weaver; burial; collaborative craft; restraint; humor; company; Cartwright; franchise

In the discussion (15)
Approx. transcript time · 00:28:52Read transcript
  • The trailer is praised as a model for later thriller and horror advertising, using cutting and sound to generate urgency despite a cast without major stars.
  • Spacesuited exploration and the concise opening information card have aged well, establishing mission and crew without an explanatory scene.
  • The tactile, worn spaceship and visibly tired crew make the future feel used and believable, contrasting with cleaner, brighter science-fiction settings.
  • Young Weaver is an aged-best selection.
  • The body's space burial is an aged-best selection.
  • Walter Hill’s contribution is praised alongside the indispensable work of Giger, O’Bannon, Weaver and Scott; the film’s success is collaborative rather than attributable to one person.
  • Scott’s principle of showing little of the monster and letting viewers’ imagination work is praised as enduring advice.
  • Scott’s later technology-heavy Alien films are said to violate that restraint, while some awkward staging of Lambert and Parker’s deaths exposes the original’s practical limitations.
  • The first-hour humor, Kane’s opening remark about feeling dead and biblical or creation imagery gain resonance through later films.
  • Ash’s corporate function recalls HAL, while the minimally explained company becomes a lasting theme; facehugger and chestburster are production terms adopted by audiences despite not being spoken in the film.
  • Cartwright's terrified reactions are an aged-best choice.
  • An unranked five-film list groups Alien, The Birds, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Witches of Eastwick and Inserts as Cartwright in an auteur's nightmare.
  • Inserts is corrected as involving Jessica Harper and Richard Dreyfuss rather than Margot Kidder; a Cartwright SVU appearance is also recalled.
  • The franchise and especially Aliens are enduring benefits; Aliens is considered more fun but sometimes too long, while Alien is scarier.
  • Concept artist Ron Cobb reportedly originated the alien's acid blood; the panel praises both the idea and the shot of acid burning through the ship.

Most Rewatchable Scene

Chestburster dinner

In the discussion (16)
Approx. transcript time · 00:32:02Read transcript
  • The crew waking from hypersleep is nominated for its evocative music and unanswered questions about their long sleep.
  • The first meal is nominated for natural overlapping conversation about food and pay, establishing relationships without expository speeches.
  • Ash reaching for milk gains significance on rewatch, although replenishing his artificial blood is not asserted; his eating behavior is discussed as an ambiguity.
  • The distress signal, landing, space jockey, eggs and facehugger attack form another scene candidate, praised for remarkable design and realism.
  • Kane’s curiosity is defended as an explorer’s plausible response, while others say they would flee moving alien eggs; reactions reveal character.
  • The chestburster dinner is nominated and praised for tight editing, genuine cast shock at blood effects and the swift transition from death to practical action.
  • Brett's death while seeking the cat is a candidate, but the cat search is questioned.
  • Stanton's dislike of monster and space movies reportedly helped make his workmanlike attitude right for the role.
  • Ash’s attack on Ripley is nominated for its accumulating mistrust, shocking artificial-body revelation and the bizarre continuation of conversation after his head is knocked off.
  • The film’s attacks and Giger imagery are interpreted through sexual violation, penetration and reproduction, with Ripley’s exposed final appearance deliberately making an otherwise powerful woman vulnerable.
  • Ash’s rolled-magazine assault, his pressure-point-like disabling of Parker and the sudden decapitation are singled out as especially strange and effective moments.
  • Ripley seeking Jones and the deaths of the remaining crew are additional scene candidates.
  • The ship's destruction and the alien's survival on the escape craft are additional scene candidates.
  • The chestburster is the agreed most-rewatchable scene, with Ash's turn an honorable mention.
  • Dallas's tunnel pursuit is a personal favorite without displacing the final chestburster choice.
  • Dallas’s tracker-driven tunnel pursuit is seen as a major precursor to the sustained tension of Aliens.

Half-Assed Internet Research

Salary; acid blood; lasers; slap; cast tactics; creature effects; spacesuits; cats; deleted footage; casting discovery

In the discussion (14)
Approx. transcript time · 00:36:23Read transcript
  • The production reportedly built planetary terrain in a warehouse and sourced bomber scrap for the designs.
  • Unusual organic materials and children beside oversized landing gear reportedly enhanced the design and perceived scale.
  • Weaver's Alien Resurrection salary reportedly exceeded the entire budget of Alien.
  • The egg chamber's blue lasers reportedly came from the Who rehearsing nearby at Shepperton; the panel discusses the timing around Keith Moon's death.
  • For the director's-cut slap, Cartwright reportedly switched hands at Scott's instruction after Weaver kept ducking, producing a visibly surprising hit.
  • Scott reportedly instructed Kotto to annoy Weaver off camera; the panel questions this directing tactic and jokes about method acting.
  • A German shepherd hidden behind a screen reportedly frightened the cat for its reaction to the descending alien.
  • Ash's artificial head reportedly contained milk, caviar, pasta and glass marbles.
  • Hurt's head and arms projected through the table into a mechanical torso filled with animal guts; the smell and effect reportedly distressed the cast, including Kotto.
  • Actors reportedly fainted in inadequately ventilated spacesuits; Scott reconsidered the problem when his own children fainted during shots using them for scale.
  • The dead facehugger reportedly used oysters, sheep kidney and fresh shellfish.
  • Four different cats reportedly played Jones.
  • The director's cut reportedly followed discovery of one hundred boxes of footage in a London vault in the early 2000s.
  • Walter Hill reportedly noticed Weaver and Michael Beck in a film transcribed as Mad Men, leading to Weaver's Alien opportunity and Beck's Warriors casting; the title remains uncertain in this ASR.

What’s Aged the Worst?

Smoking; quarantine failure; cocoon scene; rejected ending

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 01:01:10Read transcript
  • Smoking inside the spacecraft is considered aged worst, although unusually good ventilation is suggested as a possible defense.
  • The lack of concern and quarantine after Kane’s alien contact is criticized; Ash’s interventions repeatedly prevent protective action, including killing the emerging creature.
  • The cocoon deleted scene is disliked because it opens a distracting alternative understanding of the story; it is not treated as part of every cut.
  • Scott’s planned ending in which the alien kills Ripley and operates the ship is rejected in favor of the satisfying survival ending that still permits sequels.

The Stephen A. Smith Hottest Take Award

Dallas’s death is scarier; Scott’s influence; movie cats are bad

In the discussion (10)
Approx. transcript time · 01:09:20Read transcript
  • One hot take says Dallas’s tunnel death is scarier than the iconic chestburster; The Exorcist III and Friday the 13th provide jump-scare comparisons without a completed ranked list.
  • Another hot take suggests the Rewatchables might not exist without Alien launching Ridley Scott’s influence on Tony Scott.
  • Ridley Scott and Tony Scott are described as foundational to the show's taste; Scott's genre range and enduring set pieces keep his films culturally present.
  • Scott's storyboards, lighting, textures and spaceship details reward repeat viewing, sometimes despite limited attention to actors.
  • The hottest take attacks movie cats and argues Jones mainly leads people toward danger; The Godfather cat and Mr. Bigglesworth are offered as counterexamples but dismissed as villain props.
  • Ripley's late determination to rescue Jones is challenged because earlier crew behavior does not establish comparable attachment and the cat might carry the alien.
  • The pet rescue is compared with James Brolin returning for the dog in The Amityville Horror despite escaping a visibly dangerous house.
  • Alternative defenses suggest the cat provides crew comfort and a narrative parallel between predators; saving it may help audiences identify with Ripley.
  • A personal cat-and-mouse anecdote supports the anti-cat provocation; another speaker defends cats as normal pets while declining to take them into space.
  • Ripley's rescue of Jones is defended as empathy toward innocents, continuing through Newt, the prisoners and the Winona Ryder character; the opposing view depends on not caring about cats.

Casting What-Ifs

Streep as Ripley; Ford as Dallas; Cartwright casting confusion

In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 01:17:01Read transcript
  • The screenplay reportedly wrote the crew as men while explicitly making all roles interchangeable; Ripley was not originally specified as female.
  • Meryl Streep reportedly competed with Yale classmate Sigourney Weaver for Ripley but was mourning John Cazale; the panel believes Streep could have played the part.
  • Weaver's imposing physical presence distinguishes her from the imagined Streep casting, though Streep's acting ability is not doubted.
  • Harrison Ford reportedly declined Dallas; a speaker believes Ford would improve the acting and chemistry with Weaver, anticipating their Working Girl pairing.
  • Veronica Cartwright reportedly arrived in England believing she would play Ripley and learned during wardrobe fitting that she was Lambert; the panel expresses disbelief at the miscommunication.
  • An anecdote says John Hurt lost another film after being mistaken in South Africa for a similarly named apartheid opponent, then became available for Alien after the replacement actor developed diabetes; the transcript does not reliably distinguish the two names.

Apex Mountain

Hawaiian shirts in space

In the discussion (11)
Approx. transcript time · 01:31:34Read transcript
  • Weaver's Apex is placed later around Ghostbusters, Aliens and Working Girl.
  • Hurt's Apex is placed at The Elephant Man following Alien.
  • Stanton's Apex alternatives include Paris, Texas as an iconic rather than commercially dominant role and his busy 1980s run through Red Dawn, Pretty in Pink and Escape from New York; his long association with Nicholson is jokingly proposed.
  • Skerritt's Apex is Top Gun.
  • Kotto's Apex alternatives are Homicide, Midnight Run and Live and Let Die, with debate about the Bond role's subsequent effect on his opportunities.
  • Scott's Apex is assigned to Gladiator rather than Alien; Blade Runner is rejected on financial-success grounds.
  • Alien movies as a category are rejected for Apex here.
  • Dripping and secreting are proposed as an Apex with joking pushback.
  • Movie cats are disputed against the Godfather cat.
  • Hawaiian shirts in space receive affirmative Apex discussion, praising Stanton's timeless thermal-shirt, Hawaiian-shirt and trucker-hat look.
  • Stealth Joseph Conrad references are proposed for Apex alongside Apocalypse Now, leaving a shared alternative rather than an unqualified sole choice.

Picking Nits

Quarantine and command failure; cat’s presence

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:34:57Read transcript
  • A nitpick argues the crew is insufficiently frightened by Kane's facehugger and the chain of command breaks down; Dallas improperly delegates the crisis to Ash as a science issue.
  • The repeated cat nitpick asks why any pet belongs on a space mission and how its waste is managed; even favored dogs would not justify bringing a pet.
  • Ash's apparently irrational medical decisions become coherent once his corporate mission is understood; concern remains about exposing everyone to an infected crew member and removing protective masks.

Probably Unanswerable Questions

Self-destruct; ore economy; hypersleep and sports; 1970s film-industry job

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 01:36:13Read transcript
  • A possible Lambert–Kane romance is inferred from her affectionate looks, presented as speculation rather than established plot.
  • Unanswerable questions ask why a commercial towing vessel needs self-destruct and how its ore trade and Antarctica destination function in this future economy.
  • Long hypersleep inspires questions about missed sports results; a speaker would prioritize championship and draft outcomes over mainstream news when waking.
  • The hypersleep joke contrasts missing major sports events with waking to an unexpected presidential outcome.
  • A hypothetical late-1970s film-industry assistant job prompts Walter Hill and John Carpenter as cool choices, Spielberg or Lucas for financial security, Coppola as financially unstable, and Scorsese as a desired artistic vantage point despite drug-related objections.

Sequel, Prequel, Limited Series, or All-Black Remake

All-Black cast; existing sequels/prequels and developing television

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 01:38:23Read transcript
  • Existing sequels and prequels plus developing film and television projects make Alien far from untouchable; an all-Black cast is welcomed, with a joking Brooklyn Nets cast and Tyler Perry version.

Is This Movie Better With…?

Wayne Jenkins

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 01:39:13Read transcript
  • Wayne Jenkins is imagined intervening in Ash's attack and loudly opposing Ripley's return for the cat.

Just One Oscar

Ridley Scott (directing)

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:40:07Read transcript
  • Ridley Scott for directing is the extra-Oscar choice; the panel compares the 1979 directing nominees and argues Alien belongs among the retrospective five.
  • The directing nominees are enumerated as Robert Benton for Kramer vs. Kramer, Bob Fosse for All That Jazz, Francis Ford Coppola for Apocalypse Now, Peter Yates for Breaking Away and Édouard Molinaro for La Cage aux Folles; the Best Picture nominees instead include Norma Rae in place of La Cage aux Folles.

Best Double Feature

Alien poster
Alien
Poster unavailable
Aliens
Poster unavailable
Prometheus
Poster unavailable
Dark Star
In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:47:26Read transcript
  • Aliens is the emphatic double-feature choice because it expands Ripley's story.
  • Prometheus is an alternative double feature that a speaker most wanted to revisit for its connection to Scott's unresolved questions.
  • Dark Star is another double-feature alternative because O'Bannon's worn-down spaceship comedy helped precede Alien's horror approach.

What Piece of Memorabilia Would You Want From This Movie?

Nostromo jacket; flamethrower; facehugger mask; original alien design

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:48:42Read transcript
  • Dallas's Nostromo jacket, the flamethrower and Kane's facehugger mask are memorabilia choices.
  • Ash's head is proposed as memorabilia but rejected as too disturbing to keep in a room.
  • The original alien design is another desired memorabilia object; a tangent recalls the unaffordable auction price of the Shawshank Bible.

Producer review

All-time favorite; practical craft holds up

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 01:51:16Read transcript
  • Alien is called an all-time favorite and praises its lasting visual quality, connecting practical restrictions with strong design, lighting, acting and direction. — Craig Horlbeck

More from the conversation

Bill Simmons introduces Sean Fennessey and Chris Ryan; Alien is Ryan’s requested selection after Simmons offers options from an airline catalog.
Approx. transcript time · 00:01:22Read transcript
The film is praised as horror, science fiction and a workplace movie, elevating a B-movie premise through Scott’s direction, production craft and a working-class crew.
Approx. transcript time · 00:03:13Read transcript
Its influences include 1950s science fiction and comics, Jaws, Star Wars and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, while the crew’s ordinary labor grounds the setting.
Approx. transcript time · 00:04:39Read transcript
The film’s future date is uncertain in discussion; Escape from New York and Blade Runner illustrate how passing real-world dates can overtake science-fiction predictions.
Approx. transcript time · 00:06:04Read transcript
Late-1970s and early-1980s successes from Star Wars and Close Encounters through Superman, Alien, Empire, E.T. and Jedi established aliens and space as enduring commercial subjects.
Approx. transcript time · 00:07:30Read transcript
Scott’s admiration for 2001 and the combination of Kubrick, horror, popular science fiction and Francis Bacon are credited with producing something original.
Approx. transcript time · 00:09:14Read transcript
The patient buildup and largely unseen threat are praised; a modern version might replace suspense with continuous pursuit and shocks.
Approx. transcript time · 00:09:41Read transcript
Pauline Kael’s dismissal and other mixed early reviews are considered failures to recognize the film’s lasting achievement.
Approx. transcript time · 00:10:32Read transcript
The film’s unusual intensity and craft may have made contemporary assessment difficult; later sequels provide a different frame for appreciating it.
Approx. transcript time · 00:13:17Read transcript
An accidental childhood viewing of the chestburster scene on a home movie service caused lasting fear and initially seemed like the ending; a later complete viewing before Aliens revealed the film’s quality.
Approx. transcript time · 00:14:08Read transcript
Weaver’s intelligence, physical presence and theatrical training make Ripley unusually convincing; a young Charlize Theron is an imaginable alternative, with Angelina Jolie also discussed among women who could lead action films.
Approx. transcript time · 00:15:59Read transcript
The apparent prominence of Skerritt, Kotto, Stanton and Hurt initially disguises Ripley’s eventual position as the central character.
Approx. transcript time · 00:17:21Read transcript
The ensemble staging keeps attention distributed across the crew rather than announcing a sole hero, with repeated viewings revealing more detail.
Approx. transcript time · 00:18:19Read transcript
The chestburster belongs among widely known shock scenes alongside The Godfather, The Exorcist, Scanners, Scarface and The Shining.
Approx. transcript time · 00:19:38Read transcript
Weaver’s range and frequent collaborations with Reitman, Scott and Cameron are praised; Dave, Eyewitness and the initially surprising Ghostbusters casting illustrate different uses of her presence.
Approx. transcript time · 00:20:56Read transcript
Alien and Blade Runner shaped later viewers’ images of the future, with Blade Runner’s changing cuts and replicant debate illustrating Scott’s revisiting of his films.
Approx. transcript time · 00:22:15Read transcript
The Alien director’s cut is preferred for tighter pacing despite adding moments such as Lambert striking Ripley and Dallas’s return; this is contrasted with the expansion of Kingdom of Heaven.
Approx. transcript time · 00:24:04Read transcript
Childhood awareness of the chestburster, reports of audience distress and the later Spaceballs recreation demonstrate the scene’s reach.
Approx. transcript time · 00:25:22Read transcript
Hurt’s Alien, The Elephant Man and Heaven’s Gate run is praised; another actor’s diabetes reportedly created the opening for him in Alien.
Approx. transcript time · 00:25:49Read transcript
Kotto’s performances in Live and Let Die, Alien, Midnight Run, Brubaker, The Running Man and Blue Collar are praised, with television guest work preceding Homicide’s lasting visibility.
Approx. transcript time · 00:26:42Read transcript
O’Bannon and Shusett’s project reportedly gained traction after Star Wars; the film won Visual Effects and is described as earning 184 million dollars on an 11 million budget.
Approx. transcript time · 00:28:00Read transcript
The space-opera label is disputed because most of the film functions as an enclosed chamber drama or mystery, despite striking exterior and space-jockey sequences.
Approx. transcript time · 00:30:13Read transcript
The alien performer is described as a six-foot-ten Nigerian student whose subsequent career was obscure; the transcript renders his name imprecisely and jokes about his disappearance.
Approx. transcript time · 01:20:28Read transcript
James Cameron's criticism of Ripley's underwear scene is discussed; the panel partly agrees about objectification but defends its vulnerability and questions Cameron's consistency given Titanic.
Approx. transcript time · 01:28:59Read transcript
The panel debates possible Walter Hill rewatches including a title transcribed as Southern Cross, Streets of Fire, Another 48 Hrs. and Last Man Standing, with dissent about the quality of some titles; the spoken title rendered Southern Cross is uncertain.
Approx. transcript time · 01:31:08Read transcript
Recent photographs of Nicholson prompt relief at seeing him and speculation about his withdrawal from public life; no medical condition is established.
Approx. transcript time · 01:32:25Read transcript
Alien is placed around the top twenty or twenty-five personal favorites by one speaker, with another declining a top-twenty-five placement; the distinction between favorites and greatest films is clarified.
Approx. transcript time · 01:41:24Read transcript
A remembered 1992 favorites list contains 48 Hrs., Halloween, Midnight Run and The Godfather; this is a four-film recollection, not an enumerated top twenty-five.
Approx. transcript time · 01:41:49Read transcript
Alien is confirmed as a top-twenty favorite and preferred to Arrival in the science-fiction comparison.
Approx. transcript time · 01:42:15Read transcript
A movie about Scorsese and Robbie Robertson spending a summer on cocaine and monster movies is imagined with Shia LaBeouf and Adam Driver.
Approx. transcript time · 01:46:59Read transcript
The group favors practical effects and real stunts over conspicuously artificial imagery, discussing Deliverance, Cruise and the new Indiana Jones trailer; awareness of physically built sets itself enhances enjoyment.
Approx. transcript time · 01:52:07Read transcript
Jurassic Park is acknowledged as an example where computer effects meaningfully enhance filmmaking and emotion, while a joke proposes digitally filling Rocky's empty arena seats.
Approx. transcript time · 01:53:26Read transcript
A closing family tangent imagines a teenager interrupting Alien for livestreams and discusses changing slang and a son's increasing physical strength.
Approx. transcript time · 01:53:51Read transcript
The closing credits explicitly thank Craig Horlbeck, followed by Corey and the hosts; the episode's later YouTube release and FanDuel TV studio are mentioned.
Approx. transcript time · 01:54:43Read transcript

Mentions across The Rewatchables